6 ms·
Sega Saturn CD – Cracked after 20 years (2016) [video]
- unsignednoop 4y agoDisappointing that he didn’t elaborate on how the rom was dumped. Also please check out the discussion on mil-cds here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655524 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18655524 Edit: found the scrambler algo for milcd if anybody is curious https://mc.pp.se/dc/files/scramble.c https://mc.pp.se/dc/files/scramble.c (google was useless thank heavens for kagi)
- daneel_w 4y agoAs complementary info, the copy protection of the Sega Saturn was cracked already in the second half of the 90s. I had a "modchip" in my Saturn already in the late 90s, and more or less every game title was readily available as a PAL/NTSC region-unlocked ISO dump to be burnt on a blank CD-R. The effort in this video is about deconstructing the CD drive's protocol and link-layer, to allow for disc emulation with flash memory storage.
- thevagrant 4y agoIt was also possible to copy games using a cd burner and boot them without any mod chip. During the boot process the Saturn would check the drive for an authentic disc. Once the check passed, the drive paused and prepared to boot the game. At this point of pause you could swap the authentic disc to a completely different pirated game (one burned onto a normal CD-R that would fail the first boot check).. Timing the swap correctly, the Saturn would play the pirated game.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y agoThere are also ways of bypassing the protection using the memory cartridge port. Cartridges with Pseudo Saturn Kai pre-installed are readily available these days.
- daneel_w 4y agoRight, the Saturn just like early versions of the PS1 had an opening for the famous "swap trick". I never used it myself other than on the PS1.
- jmkni 4y agoIIRC you could do something similar with Action Replay, you would load into the Action Replay UI, swap out the disc and then boot into a pirated game
- ericlewis 4y agops2 slim also had the disc swap trick
- deaddodo 4y agoIf you had the action replay cart, you could just leave it in and it would bypass the check altogether. I played burnt discs aplenty on my Saturn.
- Grazester 4y agoSimply not true. I own several Saturns and action replays since the 90's. The Pseudo Saturn Action reply hack to circumvent disc checks was only within recent years released.
- deaddodo 4y agoWeird. I definitely had a bog-standard Action Replay and most certainly played burnt discs. Perhaps my console was hardmodded, without my knowledge. (Also, someone had downvoted you, which I disagree with completely. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. So, here's an upvote to balance it out.)
- justinhj 4y agoHa yes I remember this. There was a physical mod that allowed the disk door to be opened without the ps1 noticing so you could switch disks after the verification
- eatbitseveryday 4y agoWhat prevents current generation consoles from loading a game that was copied exactly from the original disc to another Blu-ray?
- mnw21cam 4y agoSimply the fact that it's actually very hard to make an exact copy of the disc. You can make an exact copy of the files, but there are layers underneath the file level that are harder to duplicate correctly, and the copy protection uses idiosyncrasies in that to work out if the media is original.
- I_dev_outdoors 4y agoWhy can't you also make a copy at the block level?
- comboy 4y agoProtection is at the physical level. I mean, it was for the CDs, but you can easily imagine stuff that you can press onto the disc that your burner can't do. https://youtu.be/XUwSOfQ1D3c?t=481 https://youtu.be/XUwSOfQ1D3c?t=481
- sumtechguy 4y agoBR is one part key exchange, one part manufacturing, one part firmware lockouts using that key. So if you mod a drive you probably could get raw data from the disc. The problem is getting that back out to a disc correctly that another unmoded player would like it. There are projects out there that are reading data right off the read head. But they are more focused on laserdisc items.
- jaywalk 4y agoPart of the copy protection includes physical features of the disc that must be pressed into it when it's produced, meaning a BluRay writer has no way of replicating it.
- Melatonic 4y agoReminds me of the BleemCast CD's - with the right one you could play PS1 games on a dreamcast! And it nicely upscaled the resolution and everything. Such an odd product
- PokemonNoGo 4y agoEven though emulators were a thing and we had seen copying devices for the most obscure consoles come out of China bleem was something else. Such a mad idea and they actually made a business case out of it.
- alt227 4y agoIve seen this video pop up again and again over the last 5 years. I have 1 question: when/where can I buy one!
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 4y agohttps://www.satiator.net/ https://www.satiator.net/
- AndrianV 4y agoI've always been interested in electronics and programming, and I've always struggled to write excellent code. This guy, on the other hand, makes it look easy.
- mewse-hn 4y agoSaturn has several options for playing backups: Pseudo Saturn Kai: a firmware for the pro action replay cartridge that will boot non-official discs. Affordable and no modding required. Phantom mod chip: like a classic playstation mod chip, but it plugs into the ribbon cable between the optical drive and the main system board. It needs one wire other than the ribbon cable, to provide 5V power. Satiator: As shown in this youtube video, plugs into the VCD port on the back of the system and runs backups with no modding required. Optical drive emulators: TerraOnion MODE, Fenrir, Rhea & Phoebe, these all replace the CD drive in the stock console.
- JohnBooty 4y agoGreat overview, one correction: Satiator doesn't play backup discs. It plays your games directly from an SD card.
- sentirist 4y agoI brought Saturn CD to a 1995 New Years party as a teenager and was so cool that day. I only ever had Virtua Fighter though and that was the last gaming console or game I ever bought. I just remember it being a massive waste of money for me. $399 in 1995 dollars, about $690 adjusted for inflation with a CPI calculator.
- Melatonic 4y agoThis has got to have been one of the weirdest game systems ever. Even the games were weird. Innovative and the graphics were mind blowing for its day but.....Knights? What an odd but unique game.