[ProgrammingAce]

I picked up a Saturn System Disc a few days ago, so I put up an article on how it works. I also seemed to have rambled on as to how the saturn security is set up in general. If you've wondered what that security ring really is, you might want to take a look.

http://www.gamerhistory.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=661

[exodus]

hey, this is cool...I'll link it up later.

[SlyphGlitch]

Cool find.

Have you tried looking at some SH1/2 programming manuals to find out what the assembly does?

Maybe it does something with the BIOS?

[ProgrammingAce]

All i really have is a binary blob in the boot sector. The rest of the disc is for all intents and purposes blank. Looking through the saturn docs, it's not really a place the system should be reading code from. My working theory is that the system disc just triggers a backdoor already in the bios.

I have a prototype saturn with this sticker on the bios:

[Druid II]

Does that Saturn have the standard cartridge slots? If so, it's possible to dump it with an Action Replay and a coders cable - and an old enough PC to connect the PAR to (needs an ISA slot AS FAR AS I KNOW).

The only people I know that actually dumped saturn bios files in the past are dibz from Segaxtreme, and this guy. Try asking them.

btw, does this dev saturn have the eu/usa or the japanese bios splash? The eu/usa bios was labeled as 1.xxa, the japanese ones were just 1.xx.

[ProgrammingAce]

It claims to be the same 1.00a as the normal american version, but all of the sound effects are different. I was told that this system doesn't scan for region lock, but i don't know if that's true or not. I've never been able to get it to spin a disc.

My action replay just about has an seizure if i try to boot of the system, and it doesn't work with 3rd party controllers (first party work fine). There are a few other odd bits to the mainboard, like a button that says M. Reset. Master reset i assume, but i don't know what it's resetting.

[Druid II]

The PAR should just be attached so you can launch a memory dumper from the PC end, so this may not be a problem. It's worth a try I mean.