[GUIDE/INFO] Flash Carts, ODE, and more!

[Ziggy]

For those not following the Patreon, there was some good news regarding Action Replay carts recently. If flashed with Pseudo Kai, you can hold XYZ at startup to bypass the Action Replay boot menu and enter the Satiator. That will allow you to still use the RAM cart functionality.

That's cool. I'm wondering if they can do something similar with the Fenrir.

Does anyone know of any official announcement or bug reporting channels for the Fenrir? I only see it on 8bitmods.com, and the official site, fenrir-ode.fr, which is still under construction. It works great as-is, but I'm wondering what's panned for updates. I know multi-disc support and WiFi support is coming, but I'm just curious if there's anything else. Here's some things I think would be awesome to get in updates...

1) I would like to see the drive activity light get implemented, as pointless as it is it's sort of a staple of the model 1 Saturn.

2) Having a button combo to bypass the Action Replay menu would be neat. Currently, if you're using the AR cart for RAM, you have to first load the AR menu, then load the Fenrir menu, then load the game. Skipping the AR menu would save some time if you're only using it as RAM.

3) Having a long reset to go back to the Fenrir menu would be nice. Currently pressing reset simply resets the game that's currently loaded. You have to power cycle to get back to the Fenrir menu. It would be neat if you could press reset once to reset the game, and something like ~5 seconds to return to the Fenrir menu. Or, if this isn't possible, some devices have an option for how you want reset to act: Either reset the game or return to the device's menu.

4) Going in and out of the Saturn's system menu could be improved. Currently, you first boot into the Fenrir menu then press a button to enter the system's menu. Once you're in the system's menu, it seems that the "launch application" option will load whatever the first game on your SD card is. Instead of loading the first game, it should instead be used to return to the Fenrir menu. As it is now, if you're in the system menu and want to return to the Fenrir menu you have to power cycle.

5) Another improvement would be implementing the drive door open detection, which I'm assuming will be implemented to fix multi-disc games that don't save in between discs. If the drive open detection is implemented, it would be nice to have this also shortcut you to the system menu. As it is now, whenever you boot the console you go straight to the Fenrir menu (unless you have an AR cart inserting and see that menu first). Drive open detection is ignored. It would be nice if you could turn on or reset the console with the drive door open and boot straight into the system's menu instead of the Fenrir menu.

[bmoc]

My Satiator "shipped" last Friday but only actually made it to UPS yesterday. Looks like I should have it by the end of the week. I hope to have some impressions for you all this weekend at the latest.

[Anapan]

Sataitor - remember how I said there was a $0.00 shipping option? I chose it because I figured maybe he gave that discount to patreon members who donated a lot - I don't know how much , but I've more than donated the full price of one. My Satiator is being held in Vancouver by UPS with a $96.54 import, shipment and duties fee

[Ziggy]

Sataitor - remember how I said there was a $0.00 shipping option? I chose it because I figured maybe he gave that discount to patreon members who donated a lot - I don't know how much , but I've more than donated the full price of one. My Satiator is being held in Vancouver by UPS with a $96.54 import, shipment and duties fee

Ouch. What did they send it Bill to Receiver? And I thought Canada didn't pay shipping import fees from the USA?

[bmoc]

I wonder if you are getting hit with such a large fee because of the bogus $9999.99 price? I hope they can get that fixed for you. That is crazy. I don't think you are the only one. I saw someone post about that on the Patreon.

[Ziggy]

I wonder if you are getting hit with such a large fee because of the bogus $9999.99 price? I hope they can get that fixed for you. That is crazy. I don't think you are the only one. I saw someone post about that on the Patreon.

LOL, did Canada customs Google the product and find the $10k price tag, then bill import fees to it thinking the shipping undervalued it on the forms?

[bmoc]

I got my Satiator on Friday and I've spent a few hours with it now. There is a lot to like about this little device but there are some flaws. First, here are some pics of the box and and the device itself. https://imgur.com/a/nGgBvW2

Game Compatibility
You can see the current compatibility list here. At the time of this post, the compatibility list was tested on firmware version 120. The firmware available as of yesterday was 149. This firmware is still labeled as a beta firmware in Satiator's menu. I spot checked a few games that were listed as having issues as of version 120 and so far they continue to not work on version 149. Most notably, this includes all the Capcom/Marvel fighters except for Marvel Super Heroes. However, compatibility is pretty high overall especially for beta firmware.

I had no issues with the games that I tested which were listed as working. I tried several games with FMV sequences as this is where some devices such as the PSIO struggle. I recall specifically testing Resident Evil and Layer Section II for their FMV sequences. The Satiator handled them all like a champ. No stuttering or audio issues at all.

RAM Cart Compatibility
Professor Abrasive has been pretty upfront about Action Replay Carts not being compatible out the box. You can flash the AR cart with Pseudo Kai and hold XYZ at startup to bypass the AR cart's boot sequence and let the Satiator take over. The Satiator is also compatible with the official Sega RAM carts. This is the route that I took because I already had a 4MB cart via my Xmen vs Street Fighter box set. Purchasing the 1MB cartridge via eBay only ran me about $20. This had the added benefit of finally allowing me to play Real Bout Garou Densetsu and Samurai Spirits Amakusa Kourin without graphical glitches. Those two games never worked properly with my unmodified AR cart.

These RAM carts are the only ones I have access to. I am not sure if the Satiator is compatible with other RAM carts you can find on eBay such the red AR cart and the AR cart that also has the King of Fighters 95 ROM cart data built-in. It should be noted that the Satiator is compatible with the official ROM carts for King of Fighters 95 and Ultraman though I have not tested this myself. I may pickup the KOF cart down the road.

Reliability
My Satiator has some quirks when using it with my Saturn (US version model 2). Sometimes when booting the Saturn, especially after changing something like a RAM cart or adding games to the SD card, I would be presented with an error message like "Drive Empty" or "Game media not supported". Powering off the Saturn, ejecting the SD card, reinserting the SD card, and then powering it back on fixed it every time. I do have a dead battery in my Saturn at the moment and I am wondering if that is a factor. It could also be something that will be worked out in later firmware.

Usability
Prepping the Satiator is very easy. You download the menu file and firmware file from satiator.net and put in on the root of your FAT32 formatted SD card. Firmware upgrades do require a power cycle of the Saturn after it completes. Installation is even easier. You open up the expansion slot and slide it in. Done. No muss not fuss. The menu for the Satiator is very basic. You can create any folder structure you like but the on-screen folder names will only display 32 characters. When you select a folder that only has a single CUE file in it, the Satiator will automatically launch that game. The Satiator will also play ISO games but I did not test that. I acquired all my games from the Redump set since they are known good rips.

Speed
The Satiator does not significantly speed up load times. Presumably this was done to increase compatibility. It does improve load times slightly because the CD-ROM does not have to seek nor are any rereads necessary.

Booting to Disc
One of the key selling points of the Satiator is that you do not have to remove your disc drive. In order to boot to a CD, you simply put it in the disc drive and turn your Saturn on. The Satiator gives priority to the disc drive if a disc is present. Regrettably, the Satiator does not provide the ability to play games from other regions when using the disc drive. I was hopeful it would do that but it was never advertised as such to my knowledge.

Is it worth it?
The Satiator commands a premium price tag at $260. It is very close to a premium experience with beta firmware. If the Capcom/Marvel games can be made to work and booting to the Satiator becomes a little more reliable, I will be very happy with my purchase. Whether the Satiator will be worth it for you will likely depend on how much you want to keep your disc drive intact and whether other cheaper options such as the Fenrir are compatible with your Saturn.

[Ziggy]

Thanks for the write up, bmoc.




Fenrir just received an update.

• Loader embedded in firmware
• Up to 2499 games listed
• Return to loader (A+B+C+Start)
• Various bug fixes

"Loader embedded in firmware" I think means that the loader and firmware is now a single file you put on the SD card, where before it was two separate files. The game limit is now 2,499 which might as well be limitless. Holding A+B+C+Start to return to the loader menu is definitely a welcomed feature, and bug fixes are always nice!

[bmoc]

Terraonion announced that the MODE will be PS1 compatible soon. https://www.retrorgb.com/terraonion-ann ... -mode.html

[Ziggy]

Fenrir got another update, the ability to dump the Saturn's internal save memory to the SD card. I don't see an option to write back to the internal RAM from the SD card, so I can only assume that's coming in a future update (otherwise the ability to dump the RAM would be worthless).

I got an email that my Xstation should ship soon, but I haven't got the confirmation yet that it shipped. Should be any day now, I'd imagine.

I've added the Lynx GameDrive flash cart to the first post.

Back in May of 2020, it was posted on the Terraonion forums that a firmware update for the SSDS3 would be coming out this year that will "overhaul the system menu" which "includes a new font among many other things." I've been eagerly awaiting that firmware update. Mostly because the stock font is kind of hard to read.