Sakura Taisen CD-R not booting on PAL Model 2 w/ modchip

[orig4mi713]

I own a PAL Sega Saturn model 2 that comes with a modchip and a 50/60 hz switch. I tried Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with english patch, Shining Force III Scenario 1 with english patch and other games from varying regions (SF Alpha 2 from europe, resident evil USA, Saturn Bomberman USA etc.) and they all work (so I doubt its the laser or anything). All I had to do is use Saturn Region Patcher first and change the area code to Europe.

I want to play Sakura Wars with the English Patch, but I've tried to get it to work multiple times now and it just won't boot. I keep getting the Sega boot screen, then it throws me to the CD audio player where I can start the application again, only for the same thing to happen. I've tried five different discs and none of them work.

Things I tried:

• Burning CD-R with Imgburn (Mode1/2048) of a pre-patched image from a collection WITHOUT region patch (Application error, obviously, but still worth a try)
• Burning CD-R with Imgburn (Mode1/2048) of a pre-patched image from a collection WITH area code patched to Europe (boot screen, cd audio player)
• Burning CD-R with Imgburn (Mode1/2352) of an image I patched the ENG patch on myself (Japan image from a different collection) as well as changing the area code to Europe (boot screen, cd audio player)
• Burning CD-R with DiscJuggler (Mode1/2352) hoping it was just imgburn being bad or something (boot screen, cd audio player)
• Just....... burning the japanese image with region area changed to Europe. NO english patch. (boot screen, cd audio player)

How come other Japanese games/Japanese-english patched games work, but this one does not? I've read of hardware differences between the models and that the game can have some glitched text on Model2, but surely it boots at least?

I got a Pseudo Saturn cartridge coming in early January... will that fix the issue? I was under the assumption that I didn't really need it because of the modchip, but I need the extra save memory space anyway and it would skip the whole region patch thing perhaps, so maybe it can finally boot the game. Compatibility list shows that the game will work. Anyone got a PAL model around and can confirm to me that it does?

[buckoa51]

Honestly it's pretty odd to find a Saturn with a mod chip but without a region free mod of some kind, so none of this stuff you're using has been all that extensively tested. I'm sure I'm not the only person thinking, if you've gone to the trouble to do those mods, why not a region free BIOS as well?

[orig4mi713]

Dec 23, 2022 15:05:29 GMT buckoa51 said:

Honestly it's pretty odd to find a Saturn with a mod chip but without a region free mod of some kind, so none of this stuff you're using has been all that extensively tested. I'm sure I'm not the only person thinking, if you've gone to the trouble to do those mods, why not a region free BIOS as well?

I got the Saturn pre-modded. I have no experience modding anything, I got it from eBay and it came with all those mods.

Fortunately I can now report that the game works, but I still can't wrap my head around why it does now.

I got the Pseudo Saturn Kai Lite today. It still gives me the same error, so I was initially disappointed (It just reboots the Saturn after reading game disc). Then it entered an eternal bootloop, during which I said 'damn it' and swapped the disc to another CD-R with the same content. And that worked-

When I power on the Saturn now it enters the eternal bootloop and I have to wait for the Sega logo, then swap the disc to another copy of the exact same game. I have no idea why this works, but I can fully play this in english now in full speed. Haven't had any glitches or anything and I am now at Chapter 3. It performs really well, I am honestly impressed by the quality of the english patch.

Since every other game works without issues right away, I will probably finish this game up to not further harm the poor disc drive and not play it again. I feel pretty lucky right now.

If anybody here just so happens to have the same strange setup as I do and is just as confused as I am, I also asked about this on reddit www.reddit.com/r/SegaSaturn/comments/zt457m/sakura_wars_eng_patch_doesnt_work_on_pal_model_2/
I made an updated comment there with a tiny bit more detail on what exactly I did.

For the sake of my machine, I'll probably look into getting Region Free BIOS mod done on it down the line to not deal with this annoying stuff ever again. Until earlier today I was seriously doubting that PAL systems could run this game at all.

[buckoa51]

Yeah I'd always recommend against getting a premodded system from eBay since they are actually not allowed on there, there's no reputable sellers selling them on there just fly by nights. Your other option of course is some kind of optical drive emulator which makes it a lot easier to explore homebrews, hacks etc without having to burn a pile of coasters. They are also easy to fit and won't require the services of a modder as they simply plug in where the optical drive was originally.