SSF Configuration - Need help here...

[Sahashara]

Hi,

I have the SSF 008 Alpha R11 installed here and I simply cant make it run (the game is Shining the Holy Ark). I have all the bios, all de .dll files, my motherboard has support for SS2 and I´m using daemon tools to mount the .CUE image I have from the game.

Well I ony receive that "disk unsuitable for this system" message. I have tried all bin files (I have USA/Japan/Euro), tried all regions, tried running the game directly from my cd and dvd drives, and from the .CUE image and the .ISO image (I have both). I have also put all files in many different folders (well I´m trying everything I can think about and renamed the bios files and, believe me, many MANY other configurations and versions of SSF (006, 007 and now 008).

I have a pentium 4 with 2,66mhz, 512RAM, 256m videocard (ATI).

At this point I just cant think anything more to do, so I´m here asking for help from more experienced users to help me. I really want to play Saturn RPG´s and I know, by compabilisty lists, that Shinining... is compatible, so I´m not still ready to give up.

Any help will be very welcomed, thank you

[Alexander_13]

In "Peripheral"

Saturn BIOS : Download one Saturn BIOS file (use Google to find one) and click on "browse" to select it (SF3 works fine with any BIOS). Don't forget to extract the file if necessary.

STV BIOS : Same as above, but you don't need to configure anything if you don't plan to play STV games. (SF3 is not a STV game)

CD drive : Select the CD drive you're using to load the game. It can be either a virtual drive in which you load the ISO of SF3 or a normal CD-ROM device in which you insert your original CD of the game.

Cartridge : You should set this to "Backup RAM Cartridge" so that you can use both system and cartridge memory to store your saves. (Because the system memory alone is very limited)

Area Code : Select the area code for your game. If you don't know its area code, test them all until the game can start.

In "Screen"

Disable "Scanline" and enable "Auto Field Skip". Also enable "Use DirectDraw" or "Bilinear Filtering" depending on your graphic card. (find out which one makes the game faster)

In "Sound"

Your preference.

In "Controler"

To the right of "Player1:A", click on "Redefine" and set up your controls accordingly.

In "Program1"

Keep everything enabled except for "CD Block No Wait" and "Use VDP1 Draw Thread".

In "Program2"

Here is the most important part of the settings. Enter values that give the game a good speed. (test many combinations if need be)
Right now, I'm using the followings :

CD Drive Read Sectors : 16
Dot Clock : 1.70~2.50 (From slow and smooth to fast and sometimes choppy)
SH2 Instruction Numbers : 150
Slave SH2 Speed (%) : 100
SH2 Recompile Block Instructions : 50
CD Sector Numbers Per Second : 150

Check "Always Running"

In "Program3"

Uncheck "CD Access LED".
Check "Pattern Name Renewal", "Check Cycle Pattern" and "Memory Access Wait".

When you're done configuring, restart the emulator and access the memory manager (Push F1 and try to press A and Start before the BIOS screen). Clear the system and cartridge memory and restart again before playing.

[Sahashara]

Hi Alexander,

Thanks for your help. I made all the changes you told me (the ones I haven´t made already) but it still doesnt work. I´m wondering if this is some kind of windows incompability? Maybe if I try to run ssf.exe in compability mode? Well I didnt do that and I think I´ll try later.

Thanks!

[Alexander_13]

your welcome hope it works

[Spellsong]

disk unsuitable for this system


Can you open your cue sheet with Nero, and what is the file format for your music? Sounds like the same problem I had.

[FatTrucker]

disk unsuitable for this system


Can you open your cue sheet with Nero, and what is the file format for your music? Sounds like the same problem I had.

You need to change the bios to a different region. SSF won't do this on the fly, so select a different bios (US, JAP, EU), then exit the emulator. Now restart it and try to run the game again. Repeat until you find the bios that fits the game.

[Astral100]

Bump.

I have exactly the same problem as the original poster with the same game too. Get that damned "disk unsuitable for this system" message every time. I tried every combination of bios and area code posssible, downloaded all bioses I could find on the internet (there are about 5 different ones alltogether) but still couldn't make this game run. SF3 and STHA to be exact.

Does anyone have any suggestions besides changing area code or bios?

EDIT: After looking around on the internet, I have noticed that a number of people have had the same problem as me, and most of those problems are with one of the "Shining something" games. However no workable solution has been proposed as of yet. Maybe someone on this forum has encountered a problem like this and has been able to overcome it? I would be very grateful if someone would is able to help me with this issue.

[retroguiden]

Bump.

I have exactly the same problem as the original poster with the same game too. Get that damned "disk unsuitable for this system" message every time. I tried every combination of bios and area code posssible, downloaded all bioses I could find on the internet (there are about 5 different ones alltogether) but still couldn't make this game run. SF3 and STHA to be exact.

Does anyone have any suggestions besides changing area code or bios?

EDIT: After looking around on the internet, I have noticed that a number of people have had the same problem as me, and most of those problems are with one of the "Shining something" games. However no workable solution has been proposed as of yet. Maybe someone on this forum has encountered a problem like this and has been able to overcome it? I would be very grateful if someone would is able to help me with this issue.

I had that problem with bothe Shining Force and a few other games. The thing is that the first time I solved it I didn't really know how. After many more tries I have this theory:

Don't change BIOS. In most cases it won't make a difference and the games I've tried so far, 7 or 8, work with all bioses.

The key is the Area code.You need to set it to the same as the game. However, it seems that SSF has a bug and resets the area code sometimes when you restart the emulator (and it's important that you restart the emulator when you change area code).

Also, make sure you try it with the latest version of SSF. I'm running it under SSF 10.

[Astral100]

Thanks a lot for your reply retroguiden.
I finally solved the problem. It seems something is wrong with some of the "Shining ..." games that are floating around the internet. After I downloaded Shining the Holy Ark and SF3 from another place on the internet, I was finally able to make them work.
And yes, exatly as you say retroguiden, BIOS doesn't matter. It is the area code that affects whether the game runs or not.