Saturn Bugs in Current MESS

DISCLAIMER: This is a temporary page. Eventually, information from this page will be used to create, compile and update a software list for the Sega Saturn and its related consoles for MESS.

NOTE: If you add a bug report, please state exactly what is wrong and how it differs from expected behavior. Add a screen shot to illustrate the graphic issues, an audio attachment for sound issues. It's also important to state what SVN revision number or MESS version you are using to replicate the bug as well as the system in MESS you are using. Please keep the list alphabetical, if possible, so finding bugs entered will be easier.

Current List of Discovered Bugs in MESS

Last Updated: 2011-08-21 03:55:00

Saturn BIOS Bugs (All Regions)

  • CD-ROM player should come up rather quickly, even when there is no compact disk inserted. It does appear, just currently takes a long time without a disc.
  • Attempting to soft reset the system makes it to crash, that shouldn't happen (means that 1+ variable is undefined at current stage)
  • CD player doesn't show the correct track info when it moves from one track to another

Major Issues (Hangs / Black Screens)

  • Games that hang due to unimplemented 0x64 CD command:
    • After Burner 2 (J)
    • Fighter's History Dynamite (J)
    • Sega Ages - Fantasy Zone (J)
    • Sega Ages - Out Run (J)
  • Games that assert/hang due to incorrect timer 1 irq emulation:
    • Alone in the Dark 2 (J)
    • Baroque (J)
    • Digital Ange - Dennou Tenshi SS (Special Story) (J)
  • Games that need a better VDP1 framebuffer emulation:
    • Burning Rangers (J)
  • Games that hang because they test the SH-2 FRC tightly:
    • Kisuishou Densetsu Astal (J)
    • Lunar 2 - Eternal Blue (J)
  • Games that hang by tripping 0x63 → 0x06 CD command combo:
    • Falcom Classics II (J)
    • Grandia (J)
    • Lunar 2 - Eternal Blue (J)
    • Wachenroeder (J)
  • Games that hardlock MESS due to incomplete SCU DSP emulation:
    • Magical Hoppers (J): hardlocks MESS at BIOS Sega logo
  • CD to work ram H DMA issues:
    • Body Special 264 ~Girls in Motion Puzzle vol.2~ (J): crashes after 1 second of gameplay
    • Choice Cuts (J): dies with an on-screen error if you try to skip the FMV, black screen after the title, MPEG based software?
    • Clockwork Knight (J): dies after few secs of FMV, first level is a boss fight?
    • Command & Conquer (J): crashes at start-up, it does a cd-rom to SCU transfer with size = 0x0000 (*) game tends to be fussy with FMVs (asserts often on those, DMA issue?)
    • Dark Saviour (J): hardlocks after pressing start on new game
    • Shienryu (J): bogus gfx orientation when loading Saturn mode, gets screwed up when trying to enter into gameplay
  • Suspected cache RAM usage during loading (i.e. slave CPU crashes):
    • Falcom Classics (J): Dragon Slayer crashes during loading, Ys randomly hardlocks MESS during loading, asserts on emulator exit (master CPU modifies slave CPU code that is currently executing, cache issue?)
    • Feda Remake (J): black screen after pressing start on title screen
    • Thunder Force Gold 1 (J): Thunder Force 2 MD crashes during loading
  • Games that need an apparently tighter VDP1 timing:
    • Command & Conquer
    • Lunar Silver Star Story
    • Night Striker S
  • Unsorted issues:
    • A+M+O+K (U): black screen
    • Alien Trilogy (U): black screen black screen after FMV
    • All Star Baseball '97 (U): hangs at the Acclaim FMV logo black screen at gameplay loading
    • Arcade's Greatest Hits The Atari Collection (U): hangs at the initial FMV
    • Area 51 (U): hangs during attract mode or after few secs of gameplay
    • Astra Superstars (J): doesn't get past the character select screen (it does on ST-V version, timing issue), garbage on title screen onwards (REGRESS)
    • Baku Baku Animal (J): black screen
    • Batman Forever the Arcade Game (U): hangs at BIOS Sega logo, asserts during gameplay loading
    • Battle Monsters (U): resets (returns to CD main menu) when trying to load a match (doesn't happen on J, bad dump?)
    • Bio Hazard (J): randomly hangs / crashes during gameplay
    • Bomberman Wars (J): hangs during the intro
    • Bubble Bobble featuring Rainbow Island (U): Bubble Bobble hangs at the loading screen
    • Bug Too (U): black screen after Real Time logo
    • Bug! (U): hangs at Sega Away team logo, tries to test IST register with SH-2 irq flag disabled
    • Choro Q Park (J): slave CPU crashes on the car selection screen
    • Christmas Nights into Dreams (U): black screen
    • Cotton 2 (J): hangs right before proper gameplay
    • Contra - Legacy of War (U): black screen after the FMV
    • Corpse Killer (U): black screen
    • Crime Wave (U): hangs after the EIDOS logo, crashes during at the end of the FMV
    • Criticom (U): hangs at the Vic Tokai logo (untested with latest)
    • Cyber Speedway (U): black screen after the title screen (untested with latest)
    • DecAthlete (J): black screen (main↔sound CPU comms fails) (*)
    • Destruction Derby (J): hangs at title screen (tends to unmask all the irqs)
    • Die Hard Trilogy (J): black screen hangs at title screen
    • Digital Dance Mix Vol.1 Namie Amuro (J): hangs after title screen, gameplay returns black screen
    • Fatal Fury 3 (J): black screen, does some weird checks with VDP1 regs
    • Fire Pro Wrestling S - 6 Men Scramble (J): black screen after few secs of Royal Rumble
    • First Flight SS Air Management 96 (J): hangs at Kou Shibusawa production logo
    • Funky Fantasy (J): very ugly performance, unknown reason
    • Funky Head Boxers (J): Hangs at VS screen
    • Gal Jan (J): black screen after the initial FMV if you don't skip it
    • Gale Racer (J): crashed after 4-2 (non extensively tested):
    • Gokujou Parodius Da! (J): Gokujou Parodius crashes on character selection (CD-DA even stops playing)
    • Grandia - Digital Museum (J): VDP1 puts a zero on CEF and it never ever recovers (cause of the hang)
    • Guardian Heroes (J): currently hangs at BIOS Sega logo (PC=0x6015cbc)
    • Gun Griffon (J): initial FMV gets cutted
    • Gun Griffon 2 (J): hardlocks MESS at start-up
    • Hi-Octane (J): fills logerror with SH-2 cancelled DMA in-flight msgs
    • High School Terra Story (J): black screen
    • Kisuishou Densetsu Astal (J): black screen
    • Kyuutenkai (J): black screen black screen after Tecno Soft logo
    • Initial D (J): Sometimes it hangs right before starting a race (not extensively tested)
    • Keiou Yuugekitai: Katsugeki Hen (J): throws an in-game assertion error when you get to level 3
    • Mahjong Goku Tenjiku (J): hangs at the Electronic Arts logo Hangs after a bunch of moves
    • Mansion of Hidden Souls, The (J): hangs at title screen (and skips the FMV), (wants an irq?)
    • Panzer Dragoon (U): intro gets stuck at this point (rev 12507, Fedora 15 x86_64):
    • Panzer Dragoon II Zwei (U): intro gets stuck here (rev 12507, Fedora 15 x86_64):
      • in revision 12529 it does not boot anymore, goes back to the cd player with “No xferdnum error” message
    • Policenauts (J): asserts during intro
    • Rabbit (J): hangs after few seconds of gameplay, crashes at EA logo (REGRESS)
    • Rampage World Tour (JAT): hangs during loading of a stage
    • Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (Disc 2): black screen after initial now loading screen
    • Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (Disc 2): hangs at character select
    • Rockman X3 (J): gets stuck at the “Now loading” screen
    • Sega Rally Championship (J): hangs at a white screen
    • Sega Saturn de Hakken!! Tamagotchi Park (J): hangs at a JP message
    • Sexy Parodius (J): dies if you try to start a play or entering into options menu (VDP1 illegal sprite msg pops up)
    • Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru (J): hardlocks MESS if you try to load the options menu
    • Snatcher (J): hangs when “ACT 1” shows up
    • Sol Divide (J): asserts at start-up
    • Solo Crisis (J): black screen just after title screen the Quintet logo
    • Sonic 3D (U) (rev 12507, Fedora 15 x86_64): black screen after intro
    • Sonic Jam (J): dies at the Sonic Team logo
    • Steeldom (J): black screen when tries to show the title
    • SteamGear Mash (J): slowpoke cd loading, returns to main menu
    • Suikoden ~Tenmei no Chikai~ (J): hangs at kou shibusawa text
    • Super Tempo (J): black screen
    • Sword & Sorcery (J): crashes on new game loading, calls CD command 0x66
    • Teitoku no Ketsudan II (J): hangs at Sega BIOS logo
    • Tenchi wo Kurau II (J): dies just after Capcom logo FMV
    • Tetris S (J): FMV is completely off-sync, inputs doesn't work
    • Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Puzzle Dama (J): randomly crashes during attract mode (untested)
    • The Yakyuken Special (J): tends to crash at FMVs
    • Tomb Raiders (J): black screen after Victor logo, spurious IRQs?
    • Tournament Leader (J): hardlocks MESS at start-up
    • Victory Goal (J): maincpu goes screwy at the initial team tactics screen
    • Virtua Cop (J): hardlocks MESS at the BIOS Sega logo
    • Virtua Cop 2 (J): hardlocks MESS at the BIOS Sega logo
    • Virtua Fighter (J): gets stuck at now loading screen while trying to load the gameplay
    • Virtua Racing (J): hardlocks MESS while attempting to load the gameplay
    • Virtual Volleyball (J): black screen (1), crashes after few secs of FMV
    • Whizz (J): black screen
    • Willy Wombat (J): black screen after selecting a character, asserts after choosing a level
    • Winning Post 2 - Program '96 (J): black screen after title screen
    • Winning Post 2 - Final '97 (J): returns to main BIOS menu after few seconds of game main menu
    • Winning Post EX (J): hangs/asserts at BIOS Sega logo
    • Winter Heat (J): hangs at the second event
    • Wizard's Harmony (J): black screen
    • Wizard's Harmony 2 (J): black screen after choosing new game
    • World Cup Golf (J): hangs at US Gold logo (audio CPU dies)
    • X-Men Children of the Atom (J): hangs at returns to BIOS main menu after Capcom FMV logo
    • X-Men vs. Street Fighter (J): hangs at returns to BIOS main menu after Capcom FMV logo
    • Yuukyuu Gensokyoku 2nd Album (J): black screen
    • Yumimi Mix Remix (J): hangs during movies
    • Zap! Snowboarding Trix'98 (J): crashes after character select
    • Zero Divide (J): black screen after Zoom logo
    • Zero4 Champ DooZy-J Type-R (J): black screen

Graphics

  • Sprites look ahead one frame compared to tilemaps, examples are Bokan to Ippatsu! Doronboo Kanpekiban (J) and Ancient Ys doors in the town
  • Games with unemulated vertical cell scroll + RGB5/RGB8 bitmap:
    • Burning Rangers (J)
    • J. League Pro Soccer Club wo Tsukurou! (J)
    • J. League Pro Soccer Club wo Tsukurou! 2 (J)
    • Pastel Muses (J)
    • Rockman X4 (J)
    • Shining Wisdom (J)
    • Tactics Formula (J)
    • (some Capcom logo FMVs uses it in some games)
  • Games with 1+ layer missing (black):
    • Bio Hazard (J) (inventory menu)
    • Magical Drop III (J) (intro)
    • Pukumpa - Joshikousei no Houkago (J) (most graphics)
    • Rockman X4 (J)
  • Vertical oriented games that show the sprites with wrong orientation when the screen is normally oriented (they work if you put the screen in native mode):
    • Capcom Collection Dai 4 (J)
    • Layer Section (J)
    • Shienryu (J)
  • Most if not all polygons are missing:
    • Daytona USA - Circuit Edition (J)
    • Dennou Senki Virtual-On (J)
    • Sega Touring Car Championship (J)
  • Unsorted graphics issues:
    • 3×3 Eyes ~Kyuusei Koushu~ S (J): subtitle text is missing on intro?
    • A+M+O+K (U) (rev 12507, Fedora 15 x86_64), need to be checked with console since my memory might be failing me
      • health bar has a hole in it and possibly wrong colour, enemies on the radar aren't dots but bars
      • text background during mission briefing is not transparent:
    • After Burner 2 (J): VDP1 transparent pens aren't correct, ROZ layer positioning and parameter acquiring isn't correct
    • Azel Panzer Dragoon RPG (J): name entry background is cutted in half
    • Bio Hazard (J): copyright text doesn't appear in main menu, height/width layer bug(s) on options menu
    • Bomberman Wars (J): There's a clear case of overflow with the color brightness on main menu, unknown reason
    • Bubble Bobble featuring Rainbow Island (U): game selection screen has incorrect background color
    • Bulk Slash (J): ROZ parameters aren't read correctly during gameplay, floor moves when you rotate the camera
    • Capcom Collection Dai 2 (J): many sprite-tilemap priority bugs (uses special priority 0x0055), Cho Makai Mura intro doesn't have any zoom effect (castle)
    • Capcom Collection Dai 4 (J): main menu gets screwy after pressing start
    • Capcom Collection Dai 4 (J): incorrect window effects with Commando
    • Cleopatra Fortune (J): linescroll effect is rather different than Taito F3 version (uglier)
    • Command & Conquer (J): construction / radar isn't drawn, bug with construction “shadows”
    • Columns Arcade Collection (J): missing Sega logo at start-up
    • Darius Gaiden (J): robot during intro has wrong colors, they should be gray-ish (check Taito F3 version)
    • Death Crimson (J): a layer (ROZ?) covers the sky during gameplay
    • Deep Fear (J): huge problems with VDP1 layer clearances, initial FMV is a black screen (only sound plays)
    • Doraemon ~Nobita to Fukkatsu no Hoshi~ (J): priority bug with Epoch logo
    • Doukyuusei ~If~ (J): acts weird with fade in/out effects
    • Dragon Ball Z - Shinbutouden (J): Missing sprites during gameplay, second split screen gets flickering (presumably some edge case there), tilemap scrolling looks wrong after choosing a match (NEXT BATTLE screen)
    • Elevator Action Returns (J): Ugly roz transition on briefing screen
    • Find Love 2 - The Prologue (J): FMV is offsetted on Daiki / FCF logos (bitmap scrollx/scrolly negative bug)
    • Fuusui Sensei - Feng-Shui Master (J): 3d geometry issues during gameplay
    • Gal Jan (J): shows a bogus “THE END” text below the Warashi logo at start-up.
    • Gale Racer (J): miscellaneous bugs on banked turns
    • Girl Doll Toy (J): text layer is completely missing
    • Go Go Goal (J): field color is wrong, probably a bug with the blending applied to the roz
    • Grandia - Digital Museum (J): VDP1 looks far behind the rest, especially when you go upstairs
    • J. League Jikkyou Honoo No Striker (J): shadows are all misplaced (half size in x axis?)
    • J. League Victory Goal '96 (J): player sprites gets lots of flickering
    • Kidou Senshi Z Gundam ~Kouhen Uchuu wo Kakeru~: title screen is blackened but game works, presumably it doesn't do a DMA transfer
    • M [emu] (J): misaligned layer in one of the dialogues
    • Magical Night Dreams - Cotton Boomerang (J): Enemy sprites are completely missing
    • Panzer Dragoon (U) (rev 12507, Fedora 15 x86_64): if you skip the intro, it will get ingame. Water and sky are missing so bright you almost cannot see them, though:
    • Race Drivin' (J): Time Warner logo is half size in either height and width (or the scrollx/y aren't taken into account)
    • Real Mahjong Adventure - Umi-He Summer Waltz (J): ugly performance (100% → 10%) by just entering into gameplay, culprit is the video code
    • Riglord Saga (J): title screen has incorrect background displaying (a roz?)
    • Ruriiro no Yuki (Shokai Genteiban): gfx issue on ADX → AIL → KID logos (roz layer that shouldn't be enabled):
    • Sega Ages - Power Drift (J): various gfx issues
    • Sega Rally Championship Plus (J): car textures are all incorrect
    • Shining Force III (J): Ugly add blend layer, roz isn't stretched completely, background color for text isn't correct
    • Shining the Holy Ark (J): no roz bug during character name screen, window effect doesn't show up during gameplay
    • Stakes Winner (J): no title screen (?), window effect doesn't get applied, sprites are bugged during turns
    • Street Fighter Zero (J): incorrect priority value with shadows, they are above super bars
    • Street Fighter Zero 3 (J): ugly loading screen
    • Street Racers Extra (J): a layer (ROZ) covers the sky during gameplay
    • Tokimeki Memorial (J): sprites are completely garbled
    • Touge King - the Spirits (J): background sky is messed up
    • Twinkle Star Sprites (J): FMV flickers a lot
    • Vampire Hunter - Darkstalkers' Revenge (J): sprites doesn't have any colour
    • Virtua Fighter 2 (J): key assign option has bogus gfxs
    • Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon (J): map screen doesn't have a layer
    • Wizardry (J): title screen has vertical green stripes (out-of-bounds?)

Sound

  • Akumajou Dracula X - Gekka no Yasoukyoku: BGM volumes tends to fade out after some minutes of gameplay (noticeable with castle entrance)
  • Bokan to Ippatsu! Doronboo Kanpekiban (J): no sound BGMs in menus
  • Capcom Generation Dai 1 (J): no sound is played during gameplay
  • Capcom Generation Dai 5 (J): BGMs tends to awkwardly speed up
  • Cyber Speedway (U): speech samples are too high in pitch
  • Detana Twin Bee Yahhoo! Deluxe Pack (J): no sound BGMs
  • Falcom Classics (J): Xanadu has problems with looped BGM, it tends to not play all the tunes after some time of gameplay
  • Fighting Vipers (J): no sound SFXs during gameplay
  • Final Romance 2 (J): sound speeches have wrong pitch (too slow)
  • Gokujou Parodius Da! (J): Parodius Da! BGMs hangs after few secs of playing back
  • Sentimental Graffiti (J): Sound volume is too low (possible bug)
  • Sokko Seitokai: Sonic Council (J): in-fight speaker announcement samples length are cutted
  • Tactics Formula (J): no sound
  • Virtua Fighter 2 (J): no sound SFXs during gameplay

Input

  • Battle Garegga (J)
  • Batsugun (J)
  • Digital Pinball Last Gladiators (J): (REGRESSION, can't skip the FMV)
  • Virtua Racing (J)
  • World Heroes Perfect (J)

Timing

  • Chase HQ + S.C.I. (J): S.C.I. is way too fast
  • Street Fighter Zero 2 (J): gameplay is too slow
  • Street Fighter Zero 3 (J): gameplay is too slow
  • Strikers 1945 (J): gameplay is too slow
  • Super Real Mahjong P 7 (J): audio-video on FMV is off-sync

Other

  • Akumajou Dracula X - Gekka no Yasoukyoku: Load a previously saved game doesn't seem to work at all
  • Gale Racer (J): area 2-1 gets unplayably messy (happened only once, untested)
  • Keio Yuugekitai (J): does a string compare with A-Bus areas 0x402000* (sub-channel checking?) (EDIT: doesn't do it anymore by now?)
  • Marie no Atelier (J): triggers “STVCD: unimplemented channel number match” and “STVCD: unimplemented sub mode match” messages quite often

Games not working due to known missing console functionality (add on peripherals, RAM/ROM Cartridges)

  • Yuukyuu no Kobako Official Collection (J): Needs MPEG stuff to work

List of Major Revisions Which Brought Major Changes or Improvements