Help a Noob out with Saturn Emulation please!

[TwistedWhizz]

Hi there. Thanks for a great site. I've used it for reference many times in the past, but really had to register to solve this one.

I recently downloaded Satourne, plus a coupla roms from a very reputable place. Thing is, when I extract the files (which came in about 12 diferrent parts!), all I seem to get is a .mdf file, which can be extracted further into a load of files which seem to be .prs etc.

I've used loads of different emu packages but I don't have a clue what to do here. Is there a guide somewhere, or can anyone help me here? I would be okay with PM'ing me too. If I haven't supplied enough info let me know please.

Thanks again.

EDIT: Thought I ought to say that I did do a search around the forums before posting, but unfortunately it still left me very unsure of how to approach Saturn emulation. It's much easier on the cartridge based systems! If you can help me here, I'd be very grateful. I have Nero 6 and Isobuster (quite an old one...1.9 I think). If there are any other progs I need please say.

Thankyou.

[Zach]

An mdf file is, to my knowledge an Alcohol cd-image format (CD games are called ISOs not ROMS, by the way)

I don't know if any emulators can load MDF's, but you can re-rip it into an ISO and it should work then. I suppose you could also try building an ISO out of the files you extracted from the MDF, but I'm not sure how you did it, if they are corrupt because of the process, or if you truly have all the files

[TwistedWhizz]

Thanks for your reply.

I've been tinkering around with IsoBuster and CDBurner XP Pro (which I've just downloaded in the hope it'll sort this out somehow), but I really have no idea how to burn a .mdf file to make an iso. I've googled and searched, but to no avail. For what it's worth, I've read about Daemon tools in order to create a sort of virtual drive for files, but I would rather create a CD to run in the emulator anyway if that's possible. So, essentially, all my efforts are trying to create an iso with each saturn game I download.

If you know of a guide I can use to create an iso from a .mdf file I would be very grateful.

P.S. Is it still fair to say that Saturn emulation is in it's infancy? I only hope this process gets easier over time!

[Zach]

Saturn emulation definitely has a long way to go, but it's not really in it's infancy anymore. One of the problems with them is that the Saturn is apparently much more difficult to work on, I'm assuming because of it's multiple processors and such.

You should be able to mount the MDF with Daemon Tools, and then tell the emulator to use that virtual drive, or use a program to rip the "disc" in the virtual drive into an ISO, once it's loaded. I have never tried using an actual CD before, so I can't speak for it's performance. But if it's anything like PSX emulation, you'll want to just leave it on your hard drive in image format anyway.

[TwistedWhizz]

Many thanks for your replies Zach. I have officially given up on it, because it just doesn't really work does it? Hopefully the new Wii version of Nights will feature the old one as an unlockable (bet it doesn't though!).

I've really hammered this over the last week or so, but to no avail. Got Game Files from different sites etc. I followed instructions on mounting images with Daemon tools etc, but it's not really worked at all. I had some limited success with Cassini, and actually got the Nights main screen to appear. But there were no vids, and very glitchy graphics, and it doesn't work with your controllers. The other emulators simply wouldn't work - SSF and Satourne - with SSF crashing my PC and Satourne doing absolutely nothing!

I don't have an immensely powerful PC, but it runs the N64 emulator wonderfully. I expected this to be good too, but no.

So, thanks again for your replies, and a great site!