Burning Saturn Discs – the Ultimate Guide

Let’s face facts: Saturn titles are amongst the most expensive retro games around, and unless you were keen to collect them when they were current or shortly thereafter, money becomes a huge factor.  That said, there are hundreds of worthwhile gameplay experiences just waiting to be played on Saturn, and there are several methods to play these games today outside of original discs. Primarily this boils down to emulation + disc images, an optical drive emulator (ODE) which replaces the Saturn’s physical CD drive with a small board that accepts SD cards instead of discs, or the most common method: burning discs to play on real hardware. This article serves as a comprehensive guide on how to successfully verify, test, and burn Saturn Disc Images on Microsoft Windows Platforms.

Before we begin, we need to acknowledge the obvious: burning discs is frowned upon by the industry as it almost always involves some level of piracy. Legally, one is only permitted to make copies of titles they already own. That said, with the Saturn, or any retro platform that is no longer officially supported there is no way to simply buy games in such a manner that the profits make their way back to SEGA. Especially with the Saturn, there is no Virtual Console or PSN Store, etc. where one can buy digitally and download to play on their favorite modern device. Gamers intent on having a more rounded Saturn experience must resort to alternate methods of playing the games.

In this in-depth guide, we dive into the process of correctly burning reliable Saturn discs.

SOME THINGS YOU’LL NEED:

– A way to open archive files. Common archive types include Zip, 7Zip/7z, and Rar. On Windows systems, we recommend 7z to handle all of these file types. It’s free and works great.

https://www.7-zip.org/

– A Hash file value checker. Any hash check program can be used; we primarily use CRC32 for our hash values.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/hash_my_files.html

– A Saturn Emulator that supports playing disc images. We normally use Yabause, but there are quite a few options available these days.

https://www.emuparadise.me/Sega_Saturn_Emulators/Windows/3

– A Burning Program. We strongly suggest CloneCD, and will even provide Saturn disc read/burn profiles for CloneCD users. CloneCD is not free, however it is highly reliable. We have yet to experience a bad burn using CloneCD.

There are other options of course, such as the much more popular (and free) ImgBurn. However, ImgBurn can’t burn RAW images, which means that an image has to be altered to be burnt using ImgBurn if the image has Sub-Channel data in it. This limitation doesn’t really affect Saturn Games as the Saturn doesn’t specifically USE the Sub-Channel data in its discs, but from a preservation standpoint, the data still exists and therefore an accurate image likely includes this data.

The original PlayStation utilized this data often.

ImgBurn does have some limited CCD compatibility (it can handle a CCD image if there is no reference to the sub-channel data at all), but in our experience it is likely users will produce occasional bad burns, and that means your CD-R has become a handy coaster, or Frisbee. For this reason, we will keep recommending CloneCD.

https://www.redfox.bz/en/clonecd.html

– Optional: a virtual disc drive. Traditionally we use Daemon Tools Lite as a virtual drive, however recent versions potentially try to install spyware on your PC, so proceed with caution. You can also use Virtual Clone Drive from the makers of CloneCD. We use that as well, but not nearly as often as Daemon Tools Lite as we have run into compatibility issues with some 3rd party programs and Virtual Clone Drive.

Using a virtual disc drive allows you to “mount” a disc image as a drive which can then be used to test emulators like SSF that don’t permit the use of disc images.

– Optional, but HIGHLY recommended: CD Lens Cleaner.

Run a CD Lens Cleaner through your Saturn before attempting to play burns.

– Optional: Saturn Region Patcher 3.0 Gold

We do not recommend patching the region on game images. Instead, you should install a region switch or Universal BIOS, or just get an appropriate Region Lockout Bypass cart (Action Replay, Saturn Gamer’s Cart, Satellite, etc.). But, if you can’t/won’t get a cart, you can’t/won’t install a region lock bypass modification, and you INSIST on patching the region, you’ll need the tool linked below.

Please, do NOT spread region patched images around. The tool is very easy to use and region patched images have hashes that differ from the verified hashes at Redump, so there’s not really any good way to ensure the patch was applied correctly or to check a patched image for data integrity.

http://madroms.satakore.com/#SRP

– Optional: Pseudo Saturn Patcher and Compatibility List.

While Pseudo Saturn is FANTASTIC, it is not 100% compatible with every game out of the box. Some games, such as Batman Forever: The Arcade Game (US) requires a compatibility patch to allow it to work. Other games (Panzer Dragoon Zwei/Saga) *WILL* work unpatched on MOST Saturns, but you need to use the JHL loader (0.832) instead of the CWX loader (0.831). If it doesn’t work for you, use the Pseudo Saturn CDPatcher and try again. Both the patcher and the list can be found here:

http://ppcenter.webou.net/pskai/compat/

THE GUIDE

We have tried to write this guide in as much detail as possible, to ensure you have a good experience with burning Saturn discs.

1. Always obtain your images from verified sources, or sources that have hashes for you to review.

This can mean you make your own images, obtain them from someone who knows how to properly and accurately make the images, or check images you get against a database hash like Redump. We cannot recommend you simply go to a random ROMs website like emuparadise. The goal for those sites has little to do with data preservation or accuracy. We have seen the same image with different titles, all broken.

2. Stick with one type of image (at least until you get consistently successful results)

To start, we recommend CloneCD (CCD+IMG+SUB) to obtain burnt discs that are more closely accurate to the original disc and because it puts all tracks into a single file. Others use BIN+CUE. Redump’s images tend to be in BIN+CUE if they go public, but our goal is to maintain a CCD+IMG+SUB version of every file eventually.

Whatever you use, stick with it once you get it working. Variables and changes are a great way to introduce uncertainty in your burns.

Once you’ve gotten a few burns done with this image type, you can consider setting up a different burning program for different images, but follow the same steps!

3. DON’T USE “ISO+XXX” OR “YYY+MP3/WAV” IMAGES!!!

These images are simply no good in the modern age and should be wiped from existence UNLESS there is no other image for that game. The ISO format can’t even handle certain kinds of Saturn images at all, and MP3s are compressed so you lose data regardless of how much it “sounds” like the original. Avoid like the plague!

4. Download and Extract Your image

Wherever you got your image from, it is probably in an archive format such as RAR, ZIP, or 7Z. You’ll need to use a program to extract the files from the archive. Make sure you extract them all, and it is best to keep all the files from a single archive in a single folder, also separate from any other files.

Picture 3 shows a BIN+CUE image in 7z.

Picture 4 shows a CloneCD Image in 7z

Picture 5 shows the CloneCD image extracted to a folder in windows

If you get an error message from your Archive program, STOP and re-download the image, this generally indicates a corrupted download. If it continually happens, contact the group or person who provided the file and let them know what you’re experiencing.

5. Open up the Redump listing for the game you’re working with

If you can’t find a game, it may not have been dumped yet, or you might be looking at the wrong region or system option.

For this example, I (Ke) used Batsugun, found at http://redump.org/disc/5043/ (Picture 6)

6. Verify the hash of each appropriate file in the archive

If you have a BIN+CUE image, you’ll need to verify every single track against the appropriate hash value. This means putting each track into “Hash My Files” and comparing the appropriate hash value against the list of hash values in Redump for those tracks. (Picture 7)

If you have a CCD+IMG+SUB image, you only need to worry about the IMG file. You’ll compare the CRC-32 hash of this file against the value on Redump indicating TOTAL CRC-32 (Picture 8)

If all the hashes you check match up, you can rest assured that your image has been verified as not corrupted and unaltered, so you can eliminate the possibility of a “bad disc image” from potential problems.

If you run into an error or mismatch for any hash check, re-extract the image and check again.

Note: Ke has converted the entire 2018 Redump Saturn archive into CCD+IMG+SUB from the BIN+CUE images, but has NOT as of yet verified all those image CRCs, so keep this in mind if testing a CloneCD-based image Ke makes available. It takes a LONG time to properly verify 2050 disc images if it isn’t being done with some level of automation .

7. (Optional but VERY recommended) Test Image in an emulator

Most modern emulators will take an image file straight. Some (like SSF) will only work with a disc drive. Find what works for you. Emulator selection and setup is out of scope for this guide, but there are plenty of helpful Saturn community members.

Once you have your chosen emulator functional, load up your disc image as appropriate and see if the game launches.

If the game launches, you can rest assured that the image as provided will work with Mod Boards/Mod Chips. If the image was in CloneCD format, you can also rest assured that the image will work with Rhea/Phoebe as is.

8. (Optional) Check Pseudo Saturn Compatibility Chart to see if the game you’re working with has any notes/Known issues

The Pseudo Saturn Compatibility Chart shows fairly good information about the compatibility of various games with Pseudo Saturn. Check here to see if the game you’re working with needs to be Pseudo Patched to be used on your Pseudo Saturn cart.

http://ppcenter.webou.net/pskai/compat/

9. Panzer Dragoon Zwei/Saga Only

For ages, Panzer Dragoon Saga has been considered difficult to successfully play off a burnt disc without a mod board / modchip.

The game isn’t compatible with Pseudo Saturn 0.830 or 0.831, also known as the CWX Loading Methods.

One thing that is not very well documented is that Panzer Dragoon Saga (US) is completely compatible Pseudo Saturn 0.832 (implemented in Pseudo Saturn Kai as the JHL Loading Method) on MOST Saturn system revisions, even without patching. This was confirmed multiple times by Ke from the moment 0.832 hit the scene, and again when Shiro researched Panzer Dragoon Saga for Claire’s article last year.

However, we are not in possession of every single motherboard revision out there, and reports have come in that some motherboard revisions don’t allow you to play this game using Pseudo Saturn without applying the Pseudo Saturn Compatibility Patch first.

http://ppcenter.webou.net/pskai/#download (Pseudo Saturn CDPatch)

Note that despite Saga not ALWAYS requiring a patch to play on JHL/0.832, there is code within the game that detects what kind of cart you have in the system, and if the detection check “fails”, your cart is coming back as incompatible with the game. Generally speaking this check was to detect cheat devices and to detect carts that might allow for piracy. You can by pass this check using a game shark/action replay code, or you can attempt to patch it out using one of the Panzer Dragoon Saga Cheat Detection Bypass patches out there. Just be sure to only use that patcher if you absolutely have to, and only use such a patcher on a verified image.

10. Burning Your Game

General Tips:

– Use media with a good reputation. A brief Google search should help you determine whether your chosen brand has a quality reputation.

– Until you’ve gotten a few successful burns under your belt, shut down ALL other applications before you start your burns, initiate the burn as slowly as your system/media/burner/burning program will allow, and don’t do anything until the burn completes. As you get more successful, you’ll find that modern computers can handle multitasking quite well, but you don’t want to introduce variables into your process until you’ve knocked a few out.

– Until you’ve gotten a few successful burns under your belt, and again whenever you run into a problem, you should try to verify your burn. When the burn is done, if your burning program offers it, do a verification of the burnt data. CloneCD doesn’t allow for this but ImgBurn does, so keep that in mind. Since ImgBurn can’t deal with sub-channel data anyway, we will sometimes burn a Verified CCD+IMG+SUB image with CloneCD and then have ImgBurn do a verification check against a BIN+CUE image of the game that is a verified match.

– If you DON’T have a method to play imports on your system such as a Universal BIOS mod (aka “region free” bios, though that is not a correct term for what that mod does), Region Bypass Cart (Saturn Gamer’s Cart, Action Replay, Satellite, etc.), or a Region Switch, you’ll want to patch your image with SRP 3.0 Gold, listed in the opening section. Remember, please don’t share region patched images.

Pictures 9 through 16 show how to burn using CloneCD, including what settings you should use for Saturn games. Ke has created a profile that you can add to your CloneCD installation that will have these settings ready to go for you. The profile is 1 KB in size and in .ccp format – once downloaded, move it into the Clone CD Profiles folder, normally at C:\Program Files\Red Fox\CloneCD Profiles 2017. It should then appear in your list of profiles when you open CloneCD.

11. (Optional) Test the burnt game with an emulator

Test the burnt game using the emulator you might have used in step 7 above. If the emulator plays it, you have made a burn that should work with a real Saturn using a mod board/mod chip, provided you used good media and have a solid working laser in your Saturn.

12. Test the burn with your system

If you have a mod board, all you need to do is pop the disc in the system, close the CD lid, and power the system on. Most mod boards have a feature that disable the mod board if the system is powered on with the disc lid open, so be sure to have that lid closed before powering the system on.

If you are using Pseudo Saturn / Pseudo Saturn Kai, be sure to update to the latest version of the firmware, or the firmware compatible with the game you’re working with (see notes on Panzer Dragoon Saga and the Pseudo Saturn Compatibility List).

Unless you’re trying to use the Netlink modem cart with a burnt Netlink compatible game, I suggest Cafe-Alpha’s Pseudo Saturn Kai firmware as a firmware base as it is much more full featured than the original Pseudo Saturn releases. You’ll need the Kai Lite firmware for carts based on the Action Replay, but can use the Kai Full with the Saturn Gamer’s Cart.

If you are trying to use a Netlink modem cart and a burnt Netlink game on a retail Saturn, then I’d suggest the original Pseudo Saturn 0.831 firmware instead of any of the Kai variants. While the originals are lacking in features compared to the Kai versions, the originals have a very easy to identify stop point that allows you to “hot swap” the pseudo flashed cart for the Netlink Modem before loading the game. We DO NOT recommend this in general as hot swapping can damage your Saturn, but we have performed this ourselves repeatedly with retail systems and have never noticed issues or detrimental effects. On debug/dev kit systems, there is additional power going to the cart slot which will cause the system to reboot if the cart is swapped, so avoid that.

Ideally, if you’re planning to use the Netlink, we recommend you invest in a mod board instead of Pseudo Saturn.

13. Troubleshooting Questions

1. Have you successfully burnt discs, and then played those same burnt discs with your current setup (computer, operating system, burner, media, burning program, burning speed, Saturn, backup boot method) in the past?

2. Did you get your image from a known reliable and/or verifiable source?

3. Did you verify your image’s hash value(s) before attempting any patching?

4. Did the unpatched image work in an emulator?

5. Is the game known to be compatible with your method of playing backups? If yes, is a patch required for that game to use that backup playing method?

6. If you applied a patch to the image, did the patched image work in an emulator?

7. Did you use media with a good reputation for quality?

8. Did you quit out of all other programs before burning?

9. Did you burn as slowly as possible for your media/system/burner?

10. Did you make sure to not do anything else while burning (troubleshooting only. If you aren’t troubleshooting, you don’t need to be in this section anyway, right?)?

11. Did you allow the burning program to verify the data burnt to the disc (CloneCD can’t on its own, but there are other tools out there)?

12. Does the burnt disc work in an emulator?

13. Has your Saturn backup solution ever worked properly? If yes, can you boot other backups still?

14. Did you recently clean your Saturn laser pickup lens?

15, Have you tried the same disc in a Different Saturn using the same backup solution?

16. Have you tried the same disc in a Different Saturn with a DIFFERENT backup solution?

14. Addendum:

“Why should i use CloneCD/CCD+IMG+SUB instead of ImgBurn/BIN+CUE?”

For Saturn, many in the preservation community argue that the Saturn does absolutely nothing with Sub-Channel data, so whatever data is in the Sub-Channel is essentially useless.

As a preservationist, Ke believes that the closer we come to an accurate backup of an original disc, the better off everyone is in the end, regardless of if the original system reads that data or not. Accuracy is important.

Ultimately, we do not dislike BIN+CUE so much as we dislike having multiple disc image formats for the same disc.

Deunan (creator of the GEDMU and Rhea/Phoebe Optical Drive Emulators) and Ke had a conversation about trying to find a disc image option that was universal across all platforms (Mac, *NIX, and Windows), and why Rhea/Phoebe didn’t support certain image types. He came away from that conversation with a LOT more understanding, and dropped the hope of a universal format. He was already a CloneCD fan/user, but now He appreciates it so much more.

Also, while CCD+IMG+SUB isn’t compatible with Mac or *NIX machines, those systems can often run Windows in a virtual environment or via dual booting, which solves the compatibility problem.

Here are some snippets from that conversation; all Deunan’s words but lightly edited for spelling or context, as well an an excerpt from his blog post in 2014 about supported formats for Rhea:

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In short:

– CUE is a broken format, too simplistic for anything but the most common audio CDs

– it’s broken even for CDs with seamless audio tracks, it gets worse with games

– recent non-standard extensions tried to correct that by adding missing TOC data

– but many programs do it their own way, or not at all, plus you still can’t have subcode (EDIT: aka sub-channel) data attached to the image/tracks anyway

– older dumps don’t have that extended data and will break anyway, I’ve already had “bug reports” for games converted from CUE to other formats

– and there are CUEs with compressed audio tracks…

Let me just say that ALL current ripping methods are equally flawed, it’s just some programs at least try to get it as good as possible given the limitations of typical PC hardware.

In reality there is no such thing as rip accuracy, but if you use the same software, hardware and method you should end up with a bit-exact result. So while you can verify the rip, it does not really mean this one particular variant is the “correct” one and all others are not. In general though, most discs mastered mid-90’s or later should be well enough structured to produce identical results even with different Hardware and tools.

For personal usage just stick to general ripping guidelines like correct settings, non-broken formats, and that’s it. All those efforts to re-rip all games for a given platform every few years are just wasted time mostly, unless the storage format is really superior. This would be the case when replacing CUEs with CCD or CDI for example, but CUE to CUE is at best fixing the really broken dumps, but not really improving the quality of the rest.

CloneCD is pretty good when it comes to CDs. I’m also a fan of open formats but unfortunately all of them are rather lacking. Well it’s not really a surprise the best solution is the one you have to pay for 🙂

So, stick to CCD I guess. I’m probably going to as well as CDI is discontinued and will eventually fade into obscurity as it stops working with more modern OSes and HW.

– Deunan

– Source: Private email conversation

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After some initial issues Rhea has been upgraded to V1.5 and works pretty stable now. As in boots everything I throw at it. Which brings me to subject at hand: Many of the existing images of Saturn CD-ROMs are pretty poor.

I’m going to have to put a line somewhere because I don’t want users to complain about the device not working properly when the problem is with the dump itself. Only certain formats will be supported, and as always I urge you to make your own dumps. It’s not that complicated, Saturn discs can be read on a normal PC drive – no special hardware needed.

Supported formats:

CDI – Preferred. Needs to be either RAW or (optional) RAW+SUB format. CDIs include pregaps (index 0 parts of the tracks) by default which is good.

MDS/MDF – I’ve just added preliminary support for this format. The only few images I have are in RAW+SUB format, but just RAW should be fine as well.

BIN – Only for single track images, needs RAW sectors. Since I haven’t seen a single track game yet I don’t think this one will be of much use – perhaps for homebrew.

I’m looking at CCD/IMG format now, I might add some limited support for that as well since it’s popular. Please note that having the dump in supported format doesn’t yet mean it will definitely work – the file format is one thing, and the quality of what’s actually inside is another.

Not supported:

CUE – Anything that depends on CUE will not work. I’m not even talking about ISO+MP3 tracks, which are the worst, but the whole format in general. There are many ad-hoc extensions to the so-called standard CUE, and the tracks can be multiple files, single file, RAW or MODE1, even compressed via MP3 or FLAC, or converted to WAVE instead of raw audio data. Single file “pregaps” are just zero-filled space even for data tracks. And to add insult to injury the MSF address of each track is always +2 seconds, pregap or not, because it was more funny this way.

Some CUE based dumps can be converted to a more sane format and will work. I’ve tested it by mounting the image in Daemon Tools Lite and re-ripping it with DiscJuggler to CDI. For some reason DJ doesn’t see WinCDEmu virtual drives, so that’s why DT. That’s just one possible option, and obviously if the dump was bad to begin with this will not produce a working image. But might be worth a try if your disc is damaged and unreadable and CUE is all you’ve got.

It’s always best to stick to properly made dumps, even if these need to be converted you know the data is good. I can’t guarantee correct operation otherwise.

– Source: Deunan’s GDEMU Blog,

– https://gdemu.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/saturn-rings/

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You’ll note that my email conversation with him happened about a year after his blog post, as his preference for CDI had shifted to a preference for CCD, which was FANTASTIC since i haven’t had a working DiscJuggler setup in years.

15. Addendum 2: But I use Mac/*NIX and can’t burn CCD+IMG+SUB files!!!

Dual Boot or run a Virtual Machine that allows access to your disc burner.

16. Conclusion

Burning Saturn games doesn’t have to be difficult, but one of the most famous lines in data management has always been “Garbage In, Garbage Out”. This stresses the fact that computers can only do so much with the data provided to them, and only with the tools available to it. If you provide an unverified disc image to a burning program, you introduce the possibility of problems with the image itself, on top of any potential issues with your computer, your burning software, your burner, your backup playing method, or your Saturn laser itself.

Systematically eliminating the possibility of a point of failure makes it that much easier to troubleshoot when something goes wrong.

This is a LONG and TEDIOUS process, designed to root out problems you might have with a burnt disc before it gets to the burning stage. Once you’ve done this process 4-5 times successfully, the amount of steps can be reduced, but the moment you run into a snag, zero back to this guide and follow it step by step to see where your point of failure actually is.

Above all else, remember… You MUST play SEGA Saturn!