Trouble with disc swapping on sega saturn (panzer dragoon saga)

[Keev]

After a long fight to even get Panzer Dragoon Saga functional on emulation, I finally got it up and running and was able to beat the first disc. However, I've run into a problem with trying to load the second disc. I have the m3u file with all the file names set up, everything was running smoothly until I finished the disc and tried to move to the next one. Whenever I try to run the next disc, it won't read properly. On the Saturn screen where you swap discs, it doesn't read the second disc file as an application, and instead just tries to read two audio tracks—the menu theme and what I assume is cutscene dialogue. The button that says "Start Application" for the first disc now says "Set CD+G Channel". Same goes for the other disc files that aren't disc 1. I'm not sure what is wrong, and if I have to replay the first disc for a third time (had to replay it once due to not using the m3u file the first time around) I'm probably going to go insane.

I'm using the Mednafen emulator to run Panzer through Launchbox, and my roms are from Romhustler, if that helps any. What can I do?

[Keev]

bump because i just want to play some panzer y'all

[Lordmonkus]

I would recommend using the Retroarch Beetle Saturn core which is built off Mednafen, it has a great disk swap feature.

[Keev]

alright. gonna have to replay yet again (and try to remap because i dont like how the retroarch version isnt letting me use my joysticks for some reason), but here's hoping it works this time.

[Lordmonkus]

Not sure if save files are compatible from the stand alone with RA or not, you could try it out to see if it saves you some time.

[DOS76]

I believe the quick menu should have options to enable analog controls. If I'm remembering correctly.

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah, in the Quick Menu > Controls switch the controller from Control Pad to 3D Control Pad.

[Keev]

Got the sticks to work, thank you, but unfortunately I'm not having any luck trying to import my save. It looks like the file formats for retroarch and mednafen's save and sav folders respectively are the same (a conglomeration of BCR, BKR, and SMPC) but simply plopping the mednafen ones in doesnt work, as retroarch doesn't read them as saves.

[Lordmonkus]

7 minutes ago, Keev said:

but simply plopping the mednafen ones in doesnt work

That's unfortunate, hopefully the disk swapping works out better for you though. I haven't used it for Saturn but I have used it for some of the computer based systems like the X68000 and it worked nicely.

[DOS76]

to test it in Saturn without playing a game launch Enemy Zero disc 1 (maybe labeled as disc 0) its a demo disc from there see if you can load the next disc to start the game.

[Keev]

Not sure if Enemy Zero is included in retroarch or mednafen since I can't find it in them, either that or I am horribly misinterpreting your instructions. Probably the latter, so I am sorry.

[DOS76]

yeah there aren't any games included in the emulators. I was assuming you had a collection of Saturn games which I guess I shouldn't have done.

[DOS76]

In testing I can't get disc 1 to switch to disc 2 for some reason if I unload the drive and then load the 2nd disc Saturn screen comes up and says there is no disc loaded after opening the tray and appending the next disc

 

[Keev]

On retroarch or mednafen? Because if retroarch is having that issue as well as mednafen, then I'm not sure what else to do.

[DOS76]

yeah in RetroArch I don't mess with Mednafen stand alone.

[Keev]

Fair enough. So if Retroarch is being finicky with the disc swapping, what now?

[Lordmonkus]

Have you checked the Mednafen documentation ?

https://mednafen.github.io/documentation/

F6    Select medium(CD, floppy disk, etc.) for selected drive.    select_disk
F8    Insert/Eject medium(CD, floppy disk, etc.) for selected drive.    insert_eject_disk

No idea how to swap to a specific disk though.

 

[Keev]

Yes, every time I try to swap with F6 and F8 it doesn't read disc files 2, 3, or 4 as viable game files. It only lets me play disc 1.

[Lordmonkus]

I just tried this with Enemy Zero using stand alone Mednafen and it works. F8 opens the tray, then F6 inserts the next disk in queue, then F8 again to close the tray, then you have to press the button on the CD control screen to start the next disk.

I also tried it with Panzer Dragoon Saga and it did work even though I do not have a save file. The 2nd disk loaded up fine and said Continue on the screen but of course it asked what save file to use.

Retroarch Saturn disk swapping still might be busted, I was looking at an older thread from 2016 here on the forums and @Zombeaver said it was broken then and it did not work for me when I just tried it. It does work for other systems though.

[Keev]

Mine doesn't do that, though. It doesn't read them as proper applications and instead starts playing audio. Do you think it might just be the fault of the rom I have, not the program?