Saturn SSF?

[KyaeroSaber]

lordmonkus said In the bat file I have the following @echo off start /wait "" "SSF.exe" "C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe" -unmount 0 Then for each game go to the additional apps tab add an application and point it to the BAT file and check "Automatically Run After Main Application".

I have a lot of Saturn games in .bin/.cue format compressed as .rar. I wrote a batch to automatically unzip, mount, start emulator, and unmount game. All I have to do is add the .cue files to LaunchBox as Saturn roms, designate SSF.bat (seen below) as the emulator, then click on any Saturn game in LaunchBox to start playing. No need to add additional apps.

@echo off set game=%1% set dest=<strong>"***SATURN .cue FOLDER***"</strong> set unrar=<strong>"C:\Program Files\WinRAR\UnRAR.exe"</strong> set daemon=<strong>"C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Pro\DTAgent.exe"</strong> set emu=<strong>"***SSF.exe LOCATION***\SSF.exe"</strong> set backup=%game:.cue=.rar% ::set backup=%backup:<strong>***SATURN .cue FOLDER***=***STORAGE FOLDER***</strong>% %unrar% e -o- %backup% * %dest% %daemon% -mount 0, %game% start /wait "" %emu% %daemon% -unmount 0

For this code to unrar, the .rar has to be the same filename as the .cue. You don't have to zip/rar anything, the game .cue will still mount and play as long it ends up in the same folder as its corresponding .bin, .mp3s, etc. The long line commented out is one I use to store .rars and LaunchBox .cues in different locations, but it isn't required. Hope this is useful.

[Lordmonkus]

@KyaeroSaber Interesting way of doing it. I don't bother with keeping my games compressed since I have way more hard drive space than needed. I didn't come up with the way I load my Saturn games, I found it here on the forums a few months ago when I was setting my stuff up then and I am not good at writing BAT files. What would be the bat file needed to just straight load the cue like your way but without all the uncompressing which I do not need ? All my games are in their own separate folders.

[KyaeroSaber]

Hmm... as bare bones as possible would look something like this:

@echo off set game=%1% set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Pro\DTAgent.exe" set emu="***SSF.exe LOCATION***\SSF.exe" %daemon% -mount 0, %game% start /wait "" %emu% %daemon% -unmount 0

As long as each game's .cue is in the same folder as its .bin/.mp3s/etc then the .cues you imported into LaunchBox as Saturn roms should mount and play just fine; .mdf/.mds should work the same way as .bin/.cue. The other .cues don't have to be in the same folder, it's just the quirky way I do it (makes mass rom import easier).

[KyaeroSaber]

Apparently code doesn't display properly in bold. The long code from earlier should've looked like this:

@echo off set game=%1% set dest="***SATURN .cue FOLDER***" set unrar="C:\Program Files\WinRAR\UnRAR.exe" set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Pro\DTAgent.exe" set emu="***SSF.exe LOCATION***\SSF.exe" set backup=%game:.cue=.rar% ::set backup=%backup:***SATURN .cue FOLDER***=***STORAGE FOLDER***% %unrar% e -o- %backup% * %dest% %daemon% -mount 0, %game% start /wait "" %emu% %daemon% -unmount 0

[Lordmonkus]

Awesome, that worked with a small tweak. Had to change the Daemon Tools since I was using the free Lite version. @echo off set game=%1% set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\DAEMON Tools Lite\DTLite.exe" set emu="Path to SSF.exe" %daemon% -mount 0, %game% start /wait "" %emu% %daemon% -unmount 0

[SagaXIV]

If anyone is using VirtualCloneDrive (free) here is the modified script: (don't forget to check 'unarchive rom, if you'r file is zipped" @echo off set game=%1% set emu="E:\Emulation\Emulators\Sega\SSF_TestVer\SSF.exe" SEt daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive\VCDmount.exe" %daemon% %1% start /wait "", %emu% %daemon% /u

[Lordmonkus]

@SagaXIV I would love to use Virtual Clone Drive over the crap that is Daemon Tools but when I tried using your bat file I get the message that VCD cannot mount the cue file. I copied your script and set my emu path to my SSF.exe and the daemon path to VCDmount.exe but still no luck.

[DOS76]

I started messing with VCD yesterday and it won't load .cue but it loads .bin files for some reason.

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah loading the bin will load the game just fine but you don't get the music.

[DOS76]

I didn't notice that. I had sound and I think all of my Saturn games are one .bin one .cue so if the cue is just directions to the bin without any audio files I wouldn't think it would change anything anyway. Do others have different roms that include audio files for Saturn games.

[Lordmonkus]

All my Saturn games are cue and bin. The game I use as my tester is Darius Gaiden which works great on SSF but Yabause plays it without sound effects and the music is amazing but when I loaded it using VCD to mount the bin it plays just fine with sound effects but no music.

[Zombeaver]

If it's like PSX, it depends on how the music was implemented - which is on a per-game basis. Any instances that use actual CD audio need a .cue to indicate when/where each specific track should be played - without them it has no idea when/where the music tracks should be played and there's no music as result. Not all of the games function like this though. I believe Saturn specifically used something called Redbook audio which is a little different, but as far as I know the impact is the same. It still needs something indicating what to play and when (which is what the .cue sheet is designed to do).

[KyaeroSaber]

I tried using some other virtual drive programs to see how well they worked with SSF: - Virtual Clone Drive can't mount from .cue (tried it myself, confirmed on forums elsewhere) - PowerISO will mount but the drive isn't recognized by SSF. - Alcohol 120% works just fine. In case you want to use Alcohol 120 you can use this SSF.bat as your Saturn emulator:

@echo off set game=%1% set daemon="C:\Program Files (x86)\Alcohol 120\AxCmd.exe" set emu="***PATH TO SSF.EXE***" %daemon% H: /M:%1% start /wait "" %emu% %daemon% H: /U

If yall know of any other good virtual drive programs let me know - I'd like to find one that's compatible with as many emulators and formats as possible.

[Lordmonkus]

That's unfortunate that VCD doesn't mount the cue sheets because it is the best no spyware / adware infested crap disk mounting software I have used. I will stick to using Daemon Tools Lite since it is installed and setup already without any of the adware garbage. Maybe we should email the makers of VCD and ask them to implement cue sheet mounting support. Edit: I sent them a quick email to ask them.

[RolandofGilead]

This thread has been really helpful, but I still have one more issue. How do you handle multiple regions? Right now I manually change it, but I don't want to do that once I have SSF integrated with LaunchBox. I figure I could have three versions of SSF with each set to either America, Europe, or Japan, and then point LaunchBox to the correct one depending on the region of the game. Is there an easier way? Maybe some kind of multi-region bios or hack?

[Zombeaver]

There is a region-free bios out there. Obviously it can't be linked here, but it exists.

[DOS76]

3 versions would work. If there is a better solution I don't know it I use this trick to handle a few emulators in LB (Demul needs different settings to run arcade and Dreamcast and I use it for DS to for differently rotated games).

[Zombeaver]

DOS76 said 3 versions would work. If there is a better solution I don't know it I use this trick to handle a few emulators in LB (Demul needs different settings to run arcade and Dreamcast and I use it for DS to for differently rotated games).

I do this for for Demul as well, though I do it because certain games run better with certain settings like software vs hardware rendering and some games have controls that are awkward with a normal control scheme like Bangai-O and Outtrigger so I just have multiple copies of Demul and set them up as separate emulators in LB. I haven't had the need to do this with SSF though. As I said, there is a multi-region bios out there that can be used with SSF. That's not to say that there's anything wrong with using separate entries, I just haven't had the need for it personally. The other problem is that the way that I currently use SSF in LB is such that multiple entries wouldn't actually do anything - because you're not "using an emulator" with that method.

[DOS76]

Since SSF works without a bios is this even an issue? I don't know because currently my library is only US games except some Shining Force Translations that I know work. When they translate games do they switch the region also?

[Zombeaver]

DOS76 said Since SSF works without a bios is this even an issue?

That's a bit of an oversimplification. SSF itself allows you to attempt to run games without a bios, yes, and in some cases that works, but not always. Some games will not play correctly (or at all) without an actual bios, I can say that with 100% certainty because I ran into them first hand. By bypassing the bios you're introducing the potential for compatibility issues. They mention that in the setting guide as well, which I would recommend any SSF user read.

DOS76 said When they translate games do they switch the region also?

Not typically, no.