Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- menu [2021/01/17 06:10] – [Disc image browser] abrasive
+++ menu [2025/03/03 03:41] (current) – abrasive
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 ====== Menu User Guide ======
-This page explains the features of the menu, as of version 60.
+This page explains the features of the menu, as of version 68.
 You can find all releases of the menu, and a ''CHANGELOG'', [[https://info.satiator.net/menu/|here]].
@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 This shows all of the folders and recognised images in your SD card.
-Press A to launch a game or enter a folder. If you enter a folder with only one disc image in it, it will be automatically launched.
+Press A or C to launch a game or enter a folder. If you enter a folder with only one disc image in it, it will be automatically launched.
-Power cycle the Saturn to return to the menu from the game. (Or, if you're using [[Action Replay patching|a patched Action Replay firmware]], you can use A+B+C+Start a couple of times.)
+Power cycle the Saturn to return to the menu from the game.
-The menu performs a region-free boot of the disc, so you can launch out-of-region discs this way. This boot method (the ''jhloader'' I originally wrote for Pseudo Saturn) only works from the menu - you can't launch out-of-region emulated discs from the Saturn CD player at the moment.
+Press B to move back to the parent folder. Use the left and right D-pad to jump a full screen at a time.
-Press C to move back to the parent folder. Use the left and right shoulder buttons to jump a full screen at a time.
 You can nest folders if you like to organise things that way.
@@ Line 23: / Line 21: @@
   * ISO files
-  * CUE files, with any combination of BIN and IMG data files
+  * CUE files, with any combination of BIN, IMG, ISO and WAV data files
-CUE files can have an arbitrary number of track files - there's no need to merge them. MP3 is not supported. WAV will be supported from menu 61.
+CUE files can have an arbitrary number of track files - there's no need to merge them. MP3 is not supported.
-Pressing C from the top menu will take you to the Satiator tools menu. (This will change to Start in a future release.)
+Pressing B from the top menu will take you to the Satiator tools menu. (This will change to Start in a future release.)
+===== Multi-Disc Mode =====
+For multi-disc mode, the Satiator supports switching disc images on the fly (added in firmware 161 / menu 68). To use this feature, you have two options: single-folder mode (added in menu 68), or folder-per-disc mode (added in menu 71), which is now the recommended mode. See below for setup details.
+When you select the game folder, the menu will ask whether you want to start on Disc 1, Disc 2 etc. instead of showing the individual filenames.
+To change discs while running, just open the CD drive lid and close it again, and the Satiator will cycle to the next disc image.
+This feature does not support CUE+ISO images, as there's no simple way to tell whether the ISOs are independent titles or part of the CUE.
+==== Folder-Per-Disc Mode ====
+  * Make one folder for the game.
+  * Inside, make one folder for each disc. The folders must have exactly the same name, except for the disc number, which must start at 1.
+  * Place all the CUE+BIN or ISO files for the disc into the disc folder. There must not be any other bootable files in the folder. The name is not important.
+For example, a 2-disc game setup might look like:
+  Panzer Dragoon Saga/
+    ├─ Disc 1/
+    │    ├─ PDS Disc 1.cue
+    │    ├─ track01.bin
+    │    └─ track02.bin
+    └─ Disc 2/
+         ├─ PDS Disc 2.cue
+         ├─ track01.bin
+         └─ track02.bin
+==== Single-Folder Mode ====
+  * Place all the CUE+BIN or ISO files into a single folder. There must not be any other bootable files in the folder.
+  * Ensure the main CUE or ISO files have exactly the same name, except for the disc number, which must start at 1. Most releases are named like this already.
+For example, for a 2-disc game, with all the files in one folder:
+  Panzer Dragoon Saga/
+    ├─ PDS Disc 1.cue
+    ├─ PDS Disc 1_track01.bin
+    ├─ PDS Disc 1_track02.bin
+    ├─ PDS Disc 2.cue
+    ├─ PDS Disc 2_track01.bin
+    └─ PDS Disc 2_track02.bin
+===== Modchip Mode =====
+You can play CD-Rs and out-of-region retail discs using the Satiator (as of firmware 161 / menu 68).
+Just insert the disc before powering on the console. For the fastest boot, hold A during power on; otherwise you have to wait for the drive to try and fail to read the security ring, which can take a while.
+The Saturn will boot to the CD player screen, then contact the Satiator (LED will turn green). The disc will then display as a Saturn game and you can boot it from there.
+The Saturn will stay in modchip mode across resets until you power cycle it.
+This feature introduces on-the-fly region patching of disc images. For this to work, the Satiator needs to know the correct region for the console. The menu reads the region from the SMPC on boot and writes it to a file on the SD card. This means you have to have booted menu version 68 or higher before modchip mode will work. If you move your Satiator (or your SD card) to a console of a different region, you need to boot the menu again to update the region on the card.
 ===== Tools Menu =====
-The tools menu currently gives you access to the Action Replay tools.
+The tools menu currently gives you access to:
-If you'd like to transfer games between your Saturn's save memory and your SD card, I currently recommend slinga's [[https://github.com/slinga-homebrew/Save-Game-Copier/releases|Save Game Copier]].
+  * Action Replay tools, for backing up and flashing AR-type cartridges
+  * Diagnostics for your system
+  * Formatting your SD card
-===== Action Replay tools =====
+If you'd like to transfer games between your Saturn's save memory and your SD card, options include:
-The AR tools are intended to help you work with Action Replay style Flash cartridges, including those used for Pseudo Saturn / Pseudo Saturn Kai (PSK).
+  * slinga's [[https://github.com/slinga-homebrew/Save-Game-Copier/releases|Save Game Copier]]
+  * cafe-alpha's [[https://ppcenter.webou.net/pskai/#download|Save Data Manager]]
-This is intended to support [[Action Replay patching]], because the original AR firmware doesn't play particularly well with the Satiator.
+==== Action Replay tools ====
+The AR tools are intended to help you work with Action Replay style Flash cartridges, including those used for Pseudo Saturn / Pseudo Saturn Kai (PSK) / Satiator Menu Kai (SMK).
 Selecting ''Backup AR'' will dump the contents of your cartridge to a file on the SD card.
@@ Line 49: / Line 109: @@
 If your cartridge is not making good contact, you may get a Flash ID error. Simply wiggle the cartridge to reseat it and try again - you don't need to reboot.
-Note that there was a change to flash ID code between menu 59 and 60; this fixed some carts but broke others. If you can't seem to get it working with menu 60, try menu 59 instead. This will be resolved in a future release.
+If you have a cartridge that hangs on boot - perhaps due to flashing the wrong firmware - you can boot to the Satiator menu without the cart inserted, then carefully insert the cart and use the flashing tools to erase/reflash it. Keep the cart straight while you insert it.
+==== Diagnostics ====
+As of menu 64, the only diagnostic available is the SD card latency test.
+=== SD Latency Test ===
+This does a set of 1-sector random reads on your card, and measures the time it takes to complete each operation.
+Long latencies, or errors in this test, indicate that your card may not work well with the Satiator.
+For reference, the cheap SanDisk cards I use for testing have a mean latency of around 1500µs, and a maximum latency of around 3000µs.
+The Errors count should be zero. If you get errors, your card probably needs to be replaced.
+For ease of comparison, you can hotswap SD cards for latency testing - running the test again will reinitialise the card, although you may need to run it twice to get a stable result. If you hotswap the card, I recommend that you power cycle the console before proceeding to play games, etc. to avoid problems loading other titles.
+==== Format SD Card ====
+This option will wipe the SD card using either FAT32 or exFAT. This is intended to allow you to get a consistently formatted card for comparison with other users.
+The cluster size used for FAT32 is 32KiB; for exFAT, 256KiB.