Saturn Stopped Loading/Working After 13.19 Update!

[Ipman559]

Hello - After the 13.19 update my Launchbox cannot run Sega Saturn when using Retroarch as the emulator. It just loads into the Saturn bios as if there were no disk in the console. I had no problem loading and playing Saturn games before the update. 
please help

Thank you.

[Ipman559]

The game file formats I'm using are .CHD and .CUE. Neither of them will launch through Launchbox or Bigbox. However I can play them in Retroarch if I don't use Launchbox.

[faeran]

The first thing you'd want to do is to look at the following places in LaunchBox in order to trace what is going on.

Choose one of your games and follow this trail:

• Edit the game, go into the Launching section and make sure the path to the game makes sense and that the file it's pointing to is there
• Go into the Emulation section and make sure it's using your correct emulator
• Enter into the Emulator section and make sure settings look correct
• Click on the Associated Platforms section and make sure Sega Saturn is listed there and that the settings for it look correct

If you can't find anything wrong, take screenshots of each section and post them here for others to look at.

[Ipman559]

Hi @faeran, Here are some screenshots of the above mentioned areas to look into for my Saturn emulation setup. Everything looks good to me, have a look. Thanks

[Tsik]

Hello there Ipman559 

I assume that the game is loading through RetroArch as stand alone, it looks like your paths are messed up...

> Retroarch path should start with something something like ..\

> Rom path should be something like ..\

Please take the time and re-browse for the files both Retroarch.exe and the Rom file and test again. 

*(I say re-browse using the "Browse" button and not just edit the path so that Launchbox could auto-compensate the paths correctly as they should be)

> Also un-tick the box "attempt to hide console window" in Retroarch edit.

 

Edited Saturday at 07:45 AM by Tsik

[Ipman559]

Hi @Tsik, I am able to load games through Retroarch standalone.

 

I tried adding the ..\ to the emulator path.

 

But that created this error.

 

I believe the .. is a visual indication when you have a long file path. the dots don't really do anything. However I did go through and verify that my file paths were correct by using the "Browse" technique. Same issue.

I appreciate the help. Thanks

[Tsik]

Actually the ..\ is not there just for visual, its there for "relativity" or "portability" reasons meaning that your system (LaunchBox) is independent of the drive letter that its installed (if lets say you have installed it in a external hard drive G:\ considering the relative paths between LaunchBox and the files used).

If the system throws an error like this then there is definitively something going on with the way you installed everything and i mean the installed locations/paths or something like this. 

In Post 2 i noticed that the paths don't match:

the "ARCADE" part is missing from LaunchBox and the 'Sega Saturn' part perhaps has more than once space between the words!

Again use the browse button in the emulator edit window and point to the actual RetroArch.exe file (no adding anything by hand) and also the in the launching section of the game edit to point to the actual rom file where your rom .chd "lives", this ensures that the paths used are pointing correctly to the files they suppose to.

If Retroarch is installed inside LaunchBox\Emulators it must be like this:

The ..\ part is automatically added by Launchbox only if the emulator is installed outside the Launchbox directory.

Also in the game edit window in the Launching tab the path will be something like this:

(Notice that I'm using one space between '\Sega Saturn\' and no '\Astal (USA) (3S)\' folder but that's just me, you can leave those if you want 😁)

Edited Saturday at 09:50 PM by Tsik

[Ipman559]

Hi @Tsik I tried taking the Astal rom file out of its folder and placed it directly into the rom folder to eliminate the extra folder as the issue.

I then re-browsed its file location. Still no dice!

 

Might you share with me which Libretro Core you are using for both the standalone Retroarch and the Launchbox Associated Platform?

The only Libretro core that works for my Retroarch standalone is Beatle Saturn, all the other cores freeze when I try using them i.e. Yabause and Yabasanshiro.

 

Because Beatle Saturn works in the Standalone I choose mednafen_saturn_libretro in the Launchbox Associated Platforms because the internet says mednafen is the same as Beatle Saturn.

 

I was hoping you could share with me which cores you use on Retroarch and which core you associate with on Launchbox.

 

FYI - I have tried every Saturn Libretro available within the Associated Platform of Launchbox. I get the same result every time no matter which one I pick.

 

Theoretically - If I can use Beatle Saturn Core in Retroarch standalone then I should be able to use it as the Associated Platform for Launchbox.

 

Thank you for your continued help and patience 😅

[Tsik]

1 hour ago, Ipman559 said:

Might you share with me which Libretro Core you are using for both the standalone Retroarch and the Launchbox Associated Platform?

Sure why not 😀, I play all my Saturn games with Beetle Saturn (mednafen_saturn_libretro) [including Astal] and Kronos (Kronos_libretro) for STV, 

Yabause and YabaSanshiro are a bit outdated and are not recommended as it says here and here. 

1 hour ago, Ipman559 said:

because the internet says mednafen is the same as Beatle Saturn

Mednafen is indeed a fork Beetle Saturn (Libreto Link).

(Skip the --appendconfig...cfg part above as it doesn't matter, keeping only the default -f)

Now lets take it from the start using only 'Beetle Saturn' shall we? 🙂...

Let me ask some questions (assuming your paths in LaunchBox are correct):

- Was the problem about freezing or not booting the game (loads to Bios only)?

- Does the problem occurs in all of your Saturn games or just Astal? (If you have any other than that..)

- Did the bios files needed for Beetle Saturn are the correct? (look in the core info for the md5)

- Did you try to remove the Beetle Saturn config options (Beetle Saturn.opt) file from the config folder in order to reset the options? (I use all the default ones)

- What version of RetroArch/Core are you using?  

As the last step try a temporary fresh installation of Lunchbox/Retroarch in another location and import your game/s just for that System.

[Tsik]

Oh wait... I just saw that the 'Extract Roms' boxes for all your platforms are ticked !!!

2 hours ago, Ipman559 said:

If your rom file is in .chd format this option is not needed.!

It is only used if the rom file is .zip compressed.🙂

Edited yesterday at 01:49 AM by Tsik

[Ipman559]

@Tsik 

In response to your questions

My problem is the game won't boot, it goes directly to the bios every time.

Yes, the problem occurs no matter which Saturn game I try to launch.

Yes, my bios files match your screenshot exactly... See below

I removed the Beetle Saturn config file .opt and restarted and launched a game through Retroarch.

Here is the version I am running

Everything seems to be correct. I am running the latest version of both Retroarch and Launchbox. I never used to have a problem launching Saturn games via Launchbox until I updated to 13.19. I even updated to and am currently running 13.20. 

 

I'd sure hate to uninstall and reinstall Launchbox. I've never had to do that before. Is there a way to do that without loosing all my media files? My current Launchbox file size is 130 GB 😭

[Ipman559]

Just found this folder with older versions of LB, maybe I can try rolling it back to a previous version.

[Tsik]

Hey, I hope I caught you.!

You don't have to uninstall anything, first did you uncheck the the 'Extract Roms' boxes from the Platform assoc. window? (this option is 'off' by default)

You can install Launchbox a second time in a separate temporary location just for testing.

When I am doing test with beta releases for example i temporary rename my current installation folder to let's say "Launchbox [Bauckup]" and then reinstall an other instance in the same Location as before or in another folder,

After testing just delele the LaunchBox-test folder and rename "LaunchBox [Backup]" back to "LaunchBox" everything will be back to normal.

Remember Launchbox is made that it is completely system independent and DRM free so you can have as may installations as you want in the same machine.

I' am pretty sure that your problem does not associated with your Launcbox version because i am using the latest 13.19 in my Win10/11 PC without any problems.🙂

Edited 21 hours ago by Tsik

[Ipman559]

@Tsik Okay, I figured out my problem. I did as you suggested above. I setup a new instance of Launchbox. Did a fresh install and downloaded a few Saturn roms from the Archive. Without any setup modifications at all the games simply launched and played just fine without issue.

I then went back to my current build of Launchbox. Deleted the Saturn Platform and imported the new rom files I just downloaded and without issue the games launched as they should.

I guess I just needed to dump my Saturn roms and start fresh!

Thanks for the help.

[Tsik]

That's very good news! 😄 I'm glad I'd  helped you found your solution! 🥳 

Game On! 🎮

Edited 15 hours ago by Tsik