Possibly a simpler US-JP saturn switch mod?

[thumpin_termis]

While looking at the jumper table chart, I actually just got an idea to potentially simplify the US-JP region switch mod with an SPDT switch and only 3 soldering points.

How?  Well, the known mod right now requires a DPDT switch (and thus 6 wires) because it needs to switch 2 jumper positions - JP6/7 and JP10/11 to switch between the 2 countries.

Region - JP6/7 - JP8/9 - JP10/11 - JP12/13
----------------------------------------------
US - JP6 - JP9 - JP10 - JP13
Japan - JP7 - JP9 - JP11 - JP13


However, you only need to switch ONE jumper position - JP8/9 - to switch between US and Korean regions. (if the jumper table shown here is correct.)  This would only require a simple SPDT switch, with only 3 soldering points on the board!

Region - JP6/7 - JP8/9 - JP10/11 - JP12/13
----------------------------------------------
US - JP6 - JP9 - JP10 - JP13
Korea - JP6 - JP8 - JP10 - JP13

Now you ask, why the hell would anyone want to switch to the Korean region?  Because after researching a bit, Japanese and Korean systems are supposedly able to play 100% of each other's games.  I actually own 2 Korean Saturn games myself (Virtual On and El Hazard), and they work perfectly fine when my Saturn is in JP mode.

I'm actually gonna try this out on one of my spare saturns in the next few days to see if it works...   If it does, this really should make the Saturn one of the easiest systems to mod.

[thumpin_termis]

Just did the mod - and interesting results...

First, I saw that the main menu saw displayed the familiar region 4 (US) on one side of the switch, and region 6 on the other - I guess this is Korea.

So when in US mode, everything booted and played fine as it was supposed to.

Turned off the machine, flicked the region switch and put in a Japanese game... Saturn went to the main menu displaying "game not suitable for this region" message.  Ugh, so maybe there IS a region check between Korean and Japanese games.

So I threw in a Korean Saturn game and... it didn't play that either!  (and remember, they played fine when my other Saturn was in Japanese mode).

So after this experiment, I can come to a few possible conclusions - from least to most likely, in my opinion.

1.  I goofed on the mod somewhere.
2.  Region 6 really isn't the Korean region.  It's some other random place.
3.  Although Sega originally included a different regional setting for the Korean market, this was actually never used, and Korean games were actually released with the region 1 (Japanese) stamp.  

#1 isn't likely, because had I goofed, the US side of the switch probably wouldn't have worked perfectly, and it also wouldn't have displayed an unknown region (region 6) in the main menu for the Korean side of the switch.  It most likely wouldn't even have booted normally had I really messed up somewhere on the mod itself.

Maybe #2, but I can't verify unless someone with a Korean Samsung Saturn can verify that their saturn displays region 6 in the main menu of the screen (or checked the jumper settings).  I don't even know if Samsung Saturns display this info on the main menu, considering a Japanese Saturn unit I have do not display it.

Most likely #3 - this would explain the supposed 100% interchangeability of games between Korean and Japanese regions, and why my Korean saturn games boot up on region 1 (Japanese), and NOT region 6.

So in the end, in didn't work as I planned, but I learned something out of it.  Hopefully it was of interest to some people out there...

[Guest]

Very interesting mod, too bad it didn't work. I'm a bit curious about something (fairly) unrelated though... Where can you see the region number on your console? On my PAL unit, it isn't displayed anywhere (that I know of).

By the way, you might want to fiddle around with regions and maybe burn a "real" Korean region ISO and try it with your mod. You can use SatHeader to change it.

[FM-77]

Very interesting mod, too bad it didn't work. I'm a bit curious about something (fairly) unrelated though... Where can you see the region number on your console? On my PAL unit, it isn't displayed anywhere (that I know of).

By the way, you might want to fiddle around with regions and maybe burn a "real" Korean region ISO and try it with your mod. You can use SatHeader to change it.

(I accidentally posted as a guest earlier, please remove that post if it shows up.)

[Lawrence]

Sega did, in fact, reduce the original number of regions to just a few.  I have the specs somewhere in my documentation, I'll dig it up, but if memory serves they eventually went with a 3-region (or 4) system.

Reason #3 is my first guess as well.  I didn't think it would work from the start, but I kept quiet hoping I'd be proven wrong.  =/

[thumpin_termis]

Uhwell, what happened is now in the books.  After finding out that it didn't work so well, I just fixed the mod and the system is now running the usual US-JP regions.

I actually just made an iso image of one of the Korean games, and read the header info with the SatHeader program, and my suspicions were confirmed.  The Korean copy of the game El Hazard had 2 region codes - Korean region was NOT stamped, but rather Japan and interestingly enough, Taiwan (according to the SatHeader program).  Strange.  Were there even official Taiwan-specific releases?  

I'm thinking that maybe what was labeled Taiwan in the SatHeader program to be what is "Asia NTSC" in the gamesx saturn country code chart, since I didn't see a separate list for Taiwan in here.  This would somewhat more sense, considering Korea is an NTSC Asian country.  

So that's that!


As for the region info being displayed on the system, this is from John Hokanson's Sega Saturn faq -

------------------------------------------------------
3.4 What's the deal with the different BIOS revisions?
------------------------------------------------------

Every US and European Saturn will display its set television standard,
regional ID, and BIOS revision number. This information is located on
the lower right hand corner of the system settings screen (main
menu).

I believe the middle number indicates what region coded software the
Saturn is set to play. This number will change if you have a language
switch installed.

1) Japan
2) <--------| Does anybody have any idea
3) <--------| what these two were used for?
4) US
C) Europe (or at least the German example I saw)

If anybody wants to confirm this. Please feel free.

The NTSC/PAL identification will also change to reflect what
television standard you're set to run on if the Saturn is modified
(ie. an NTSC/PAL switch is installed.)

For instance:

NTSC-1-v1.00a

...indicates that the system is set at at 60Hz NTSC, runs Japanese
software, and has a version 1.00a BIOS.

Japanese Saturns display the BIOS version during the bootup sequence.
For example:

"SEGA ENTERPRISES LTD. 1994 Ver. 1.00"

...is displayed on a Japanese gray Saturn.

Furthermore, Japanese BIOSes and Non-Japanese BIOSes don't appear to
be the same.

1.00   - Japan
1.00a  - US and Europe
1.01   - Japan
1.01a  - US and Europe

As to what was fixed or added in each BIOS revision; I honestly have
no idea. It's probably also something the fanbase won't be able to
find out for quite a while. Perhaps some documentation will be
released? Or perhaps an emulator author will stumble across something
and be able to tell us more?

[Guest_dj898]

actually there's no such thing as Korean region.
It's JPN as all system sold in Korea were in fact the JPN system w/ bit of language mod and etc.

Even PS2/Xbox sold in Korea were JPN system - more more accurate Asian system with the same NTSC-J region.

[panoan]

this is my 8th month trying to get a saturn emulator to work... im fed up

can somone please tell me an emulator that WORKS ....as in...  W O R K S

yes thats W. O . R. K. S , as supposed to NOT WORKING


another note... (more curious) -- why when i try us bios & euro bios.... all the menus
are STILL in japanese (ill presume its japanese)



can somone please help me... im really starting to think this is impossible


 

[kendrick]

All Saturn BIOS versions supported all language menus (except for odd Asian regions like Korea.) Even after you switch the BIOS, you have to select the language you want to see.

Your problem with emulation isn't strictly relevant to this thread. If you have a new topic to discuss, please start a new subject from the root of this forum.

-KKC

[thumpin_termis]

actually there's no such thing as Korean region.
It's JPN as all system sold in Korea were in fact the JPN system w/ bit of language mod and etc.

Even PS2/Xbox sold in Korea were JPN system - more more accurate Asian system with the same NTSC-J region.

Not strictly related to the original mod, but regarding that the Korean PS2 being a JP unit, yes and no.  It'll boot JP games no problem like you said - it simply runs JP region code as far as I'm concerned, BUT...

The DVD region between two systems are different.  Also, the power supply is different, since Korea uses the European-style (I think) 2-round prong 220v, where as Japan is more like the NA style 100v/110v flat 2-prong pin w/o ground.

So similar?  Yes.  Same exact system?  Not really.  

I dunno about the X-box, but I reckon it'd be the same story.

But as far as older pre-DVD systems go, you're right.  The Korean-released consoles were functionally identical to either the North American or JP systems.