Hey guys,
you know Saturn demo discs (SEGA Flash vol.1 - vol.?),
you also know the customizable Dream Inducer bootloader for Dreamcast
and you also know the Self Boot Inducer, which creates a custom Dreamcast disc from a number of SBI packages, which uses Dream Inducer to boot games from a menu.
Wouldn't it by fine to have such an easy solution for Saturn, too? :agree
Now I programmed an equivalent for Dream Inducer:
Atlas for SEGA Saturn.
What's needed is a GUI for PC which helps to create a custom Atlas disc from a number of Atlas game packs.
It would'nt be too hard of a job for someone to do it,
as the GUI would just call other tools (like mkisofs, unrar, maybe bgcon and an image conversion program) and do some temporary file management (folder creation, file movement, file delete).
If there is someone with some GUI experience willing to try the task, I'd be very happy.
Screenshots:
[attachmentid=1534][attachmentid=1535]
[attachmentid=1536][attachmentid=1537]
Here are some specs of Atlas:
you know Saturn demo discs (SEGA Flash vol.1 - vol.?),
you also know the customizable Dream Inducer bootloader for Dreamcast
and you also know the Self Boot Inducer, which creates a custom Dreamcast disc from a number of SBI packages, which uses Dream Inducer to boot games from a menu.
Wouldn't it by fine to have such an easy solution for Saturn, too? :agree
Now I programmed an equivalent for Dream Inducer:
Atlas for SEGA Saturn.
What's needed is a GUI for PC which helps to create a custom Atlas disc from a number of Atlas game packs.
It would'nt be too hard of a job for someone to do it,
as the GUI would just call other tools (like mkisofs, unrar, maybe bgcon and an image conversion program) and do some temporary file management (folder creation, file movement, file delete).
If there is someone with some GUI experience willing to try the task, I'd be very happy.
Screenshots:
[attachmentid=1534][attachmentid=1535]
[attachmentid=1536][attachmentid=1537]
Here are some specs of Atlas:
Code:
Atlas
Demo Demo Loader for SEGA Saturn
by The Rockin'-B, [url]www.rockin-b.de[/url]
version 05/10/09
Atlas is a fully customizeable bootloader
for run on SEGA Saturn videogame system.
(similar to the Self Boot Inducer method for Dreamcast)
Features:
- up to 50 games per disc
- multiregion disc
- multitap and pad disconnection support
- resolution 352x224
- 4 methods of per-game info
- fully customizable
- 3D display
Controls:
LEFT / RIGHT - change selected game
NOTE: when releasing LEFT/RIGHT
1. the audio file playback is stoppe
2. the selected game info screen is loaded from CD
3. and the audio file is played back, if present
-> so there might be a short wait time involved
START - boot selected game
A - show game info screen
B - back to main screen
C - credits screen
A or Y or Z - play game audio information
START+A+B+C - exit Atlas and return to multiplayer
Things to customize:
Atlas:
- main screen image (352x224, 15bpp)
- credits screen image (352x224, 15bpp)
For each game (not required, optionally):
- thumbnail screenshot sprite (64x64, 15bpp)
- info screen image (352x224, 15bpp)
- audio file (.AIF, supports ADPCM, up to 60min)
- text file with:
- CDDA start track specified
- info text (up to 8 lines of up to 20 characters)
Not customizeable:
- title screen
- title sound
- button help sprites
- button mapping
- default data (if not available)
for "GAMENAME.IMG", "GAMENAME.SPR", "GAMENAME.TXT"
How to customize:
1. create temporary folder "myAtlas"
2. create an ISO:
2.1 create folder "cd" in "myAtlas" and
put the 8 Atlas files in:
0.bin
ABS.TXT
ATLAS.IMG (your custom)
BIB.TXT
CREDITS.IMG (your custom)
CPY.TXT
FLD_KNL.BIN
README.TXT (your custom)
2.2 download and extract Mkisofs.exe and Cygwin1.dll
into "myAtlas"
2.3 create file "MAKEISO.BAT" into "myAtlas":
mkisofs -quiet -sysid "SEGA SATURN" -volid "SaturnApp" -volset "SaturnApp" -publisher "SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD." -preparer "SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD." -appid "SaturnApp" -abstract "ABS.TXT" -copyright "CPY.TXT" -biblio "BIB.TXT" -generic-boot ip.bin -full-iso9660-filenames -o myAtlas.iso cd
2.4 add game data
for each game add data into "cd":
(see below how to create)
"GAMENAME" <- folder with all files on game CD
"GAMENAME.IPI" <- game ip.bin
"GAMENAME.IMG"
"GAMENAME.SPR"
"GAMENAME.TXT"
"GAMENAME.AIF"
2.5 put Atlas' "ip.bin" into "cd"
3. create a .CUE sheet:
CDDA tracks of a game MUST BE consecutive.
First track of a game MUST BE the same
like specified in "GAMENAME.TXT".
Here it would be
"2" for "GAMENAM1.TXT" and
"5" for "GAMENAM2.TXT".
Example "myAtlas.cue" sheet:
FILE "Atlas.ISO" BINARY
TRACK 01 MODE1/2048
INDEX 01 00:00:00
POSTGAP 00:02:00
FILE "GAMENAM1_Track1.wav" WAVE
TRACK 02 AUDIO
PREGAP 00:02:00
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "GAMENAM1_Track2.wav" WAVE
TRACK 03 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "GAMENAM1_Track3.wav" WAVE
TRACK 04 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "GAMENAM2_Track1.wav" WAVE
TRACK 05 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
FILE "GAMENAM2_Track2.wav" WAVE
TRACK 06 AUDIO
INDEX 01 00:00:00
4. burn "myAtlas.cue" sheet with Nero, CDRWin or other
How to create custom data:
Filenames are importand (8.3 format).
Each game MUST HAVE:
"GAMENAME" - a folder where the game files are in
"GAMENAME.IPI" - an IP.BIN file
Each game CAN HAVE (not required, optionally):
"GAMENAME.IMG" - info screen
"GAMENAME.SPR" - thumbnail screenshot
"GAMENAME.TXT" - text file
"GAMENAME.AIF" - audio file
"GAMENAME.IMG" full screen image (352x224, 15bpp):
"ATLAS.IMG" main screen:
"CREDITS.IMG" credits screen:
1. save as "GAMENAME.TGA",
size MUST MATCH width=352 and height=224
2. use BGCON to convert it to Saturn format
(uncompressed raw bitmap 15bpp binary)
2.1 create TGA2IMG.TXT:
CD 15
IF TGA
IM BITMAP
CMP NONE
RGBHI ON
TRANS -1
OF BIN
L atlas.tga
S atlas.img
L CREDITS.tga
S CREDITS.img
L GAMENAME.tga
S GAMENAME.img
.....
2.2 create TGA2IMG.BAT:
BGCON.EXE TGA2IMG.TXT
3. convert by opening TGA2IMG.BAT
"GAMENAME.SPR" thumbnail screenshot sprite (64x64, 15bpp)
1. save as .TGA,
size MUST MATCH width=64 and height=64
2. use BGCON to convert it to Saturn format
(uncompressed raw bitmap 15bpp binary)
2.1 create TGA2SPR.TXT:
CD 15
IF TGA
IM BITMAP
CMP NONE
RGBHI ON
TRANS -1
OF BIN
L GAMENAME.tga
S GAMENAME.img
.....
2.2 create TGA2SPR.BAT:
BGCON.EXE TGA2SPR.TXT
3. convert by opening TGA2SPR.BAT
"GAMENAME.TXT" text file:
- first line specifies the CDDA start track
(default: 2)
- following 8 lines are printed to screen AS IS
(up to 20 characters, beyond 20 are skipped)
"GAMENAME.AIF" audio info file:
- up to 60 minutes long
- can be ADPCM encoded
"GAMENAME.IPI" ip.bin file:
- this file is in the first couple of sectors of a Saturn CD.
In some homebrew Saturn games it's included as a file.
In all other cases such like commercial game,
You'll have to extract the first sectors (< 30) of a CD or CD image
with IsoBuster and remove the zero bytes after the IP.BIN with a hex
editor. Usually IP.BIN's are 4-5 kBytes size,
Special thanks to VBT, who made the
MultiBoot Demo Demo Loader
for SX Saturn Coding Contest 2003.