Nights: Stage Out!

[Tweedledee]

SSF plays Nights like a dream. Smooth, clear and the sound is pretty good.
But when I finish a stage and it wisks nights to fight the boss, an error message comes up and SSF crashes.
The message is mostly non-verbal symbols and I dont know how to fix it.
Any help would be appreciated!

[PsyMan]

Yeap... It seems that Nights crashes with the latest version. Afaik Nights works fine in the R7 release. :)

[Tweedledee]

I dont know what Afaik means, but I was using R7. Then, right after I posted the message I downloaded R9 and the problem was still there. This time I managed to get a snapshot of the message, if anyone can tell me what it means...
I'm not sure how attatched files work on this forum, but I've attatched the screenshot.
Any response is appreciated.

[PsyMan]

This means that the emulator encountered an error. Are you sure that you were using R7 and not R8? Try some of the previous versions to see if you can make it work...

EDIT: Just figured out that Nights works in every SSF version since R7. You just have to enable the "CD block no wait" option from the options of the emulator. :)

[Tweedledee]

It was ticked and no combination of changes to the settings work. I've played the first lvls of Nights so much its almost boring. This problem existed with R7, (R8 not tried), R9 and R10. No solution. In a GOOGLE translated version of the Web site, the release notes mentioned turning down the number of the SH2 Instruction Numbers. This did not resolve the issue, only decreased the quality. Further tinkering led to no solution. Does anyone else have this problem?
P.S. I'm running the game directly from the CD, not a ROM.

[Cyberman]

P.S. I'm running the game directly from the CD, not a ROM.It's not a big deal but you mean an ISO image. It's important to be certain people know (and that you don't sound stupid), what you are talking about. The majority of people here can guess, but a little poor use of english and terminology you will have some noobie repeating what you say .. everywhere and that is a very bad thing.

Cyb

[Tweedledee]

Did you just say that I meant an ISO image? Because I meant the actual CD you stick in the Seag Saturn, as opposed to the ROM (ISO) you can download.
Seriously, though, I need a solution. Please, has anyone resolved this problem?

[deathace]

Did you burn your Nights cd from a compiled .cue consisting of data/mp3s? If so, that may be why. Try getting the whole image intact(no mp3 crap) and use daemon tools to mount the iso and try from there. Nights as I recall had no problem running on SSF.

[Tweedledee]

Did you burn your Nights cd from a compiled .cue consisting of data/mp3s? If so, that may be why. Try getting the whole image intact(no mp3 crap) and use daemon tools to mount the iso and try from there. Nights as I recall had no problem running on SSF.

I said that it's the one you STICK IN A SEGA SATURN, meaning the original disk bought from a computer store. I can't believe that my sentances are so ambiguous that you can't understand. First I say that I'm running it from a CD, then someone tells me that I'm using an ISO. Then I say that I'm running it from the actual CD you stick in the consol, and someone (though politely) suggests something to do with burnt CDs. Please read the full post because this is getting annoying!

<Edit> This just in: The problem persists with R11 as well. I know the problem has come to their attention as I found the error message on their website. I was unable to translate the accompanying text though. I hope they reslove it!

[PsyMan]

OK... You're right. Nights indeed crashes after you finish a stage but this happens *sometimes* for *some people*.
I encountered the same problem only today and after reading some stuff on the SSF site (using Google's translation) I understood that this random crash happens because of some changes and will be fixed in the future. However, if you keep playing the same stage over and over you'll manage to avoid the error and continue. :)

You'll notice that this version of SSF has some more options than the previous. You *might* be able to fix the problem by selecting one or more of the new options. Also from the settings of the emulator try setting the frequency amount of the secondary SH2 to 100 (it's on 75 by default).

Important note: You have to delete the settings and Backup RAM files of the emulator EVERY time you download a new version of the emulator (better to delete all the directory of the emulator and keep only the BIOS file). Using files that were used by older versions of the emulator with new versions can result in serious problems (some games won't work correctly or even not at all).

[Lord Darkstorm]

Delete the backup ram? Well that seems rather pointless...Although I guess you could use it once & transfer it to the system memory. Or are you talking about just the internal backup ram?

[Cyberman]

Did you just say that I meant an ISO image? Because I meant the actual CD you stick in the Seag Saturn, as opposed to the ROM (ISO) you can download.
Seriously, though, I need a solution. Please, has anyone resolved this problem?
All right ROM = READ ONLY MEMORY. it's a semi conductor device. Shortening CD-ROM disk to ROM just plane obfuscates what you are trying say. An ISO Image (a raw image of an DISK with 2304 bytes per sector) is not a ROM Image (a copy of a ROM chip or chips) or a ROM ( a chip), this is why there are people confused. :LOL:
It's cool but you need to express yourself more acurately. It helps everyone even if you are in a hurry.

In any case it appears that the problem is known. The Saturn is a tricky system to emulate (because it has 5 seperate processors obviously). Unfortunately my system will not run SFF so I cannot really help you with the actual question. It's likely a bug in the CD emulation, which seems to be a bit of a sticky issue with the Saturn.

Cyb

[PsyMan]

Delete the backup ram? Well that seems rather pointless...Although I guess you could use it once & transfer it to the system memory. Or are you talking about just the internal backup ram?
I mean both the RAM files and both the .ini files in the SSF directory. The deletion of the .ini files is very important. The RAM files should not affect the emulator but you never know. (have you noticed that every new SSF version comes with new RAM files?)

[Lord Darkstorm]

Indeed. But I have my complete sf3 save file on the old backup, so......that's not really an option.

[Tweedledee]

OK... You're right. Nights indeed crashes after you finish a stage but this happens *sometimes* for *some people*.
I encountered the same problem only today and after reading some stuff on the SSF site (using Google's translation) I understood that this random crash happens because of some changes and will be fixed in the future. However, if you keep playing the same stage over and over you'll manage to avoid the error and continue. :)

You'll notice that this version of SSF has some more options than the previous. You *might* be able to fix the problem by selecting one or more of the new options. Also from the settings of the emulator try setting the frequency amount of the secondary SH2 to 100 (it's on 75 by default).

Important note: You have to delete the settings and Backup RAM files of the emulator EVERY time you download a new version of the emulator (better to delete all the directory of the emulator and keep only the BIOS file). Using files that were used by older versions of the emulator with new versions can result in serious problems (some games won't work correctly or even not at all).

Ok. Firstly, the problem in invariable. This means that the problem occurs in the exact same place at the exact same time. I've played around with the settings all over so i'vep layed the first levels SO many times it sad.

Seconly, the new options don't fix anything however, when I select the MEMORY ERROR CHECK option, the error message appears in the beginning of the first level, rather than at the end. This could indicate the source of the problem. Or it could be completely unrelated...

As for deleting the setting and Backup RAM file, every time I download a new version of SSF, I make a clean install. All old files go in the bin.

P.S. Thanks for trying.
________________________________________ _________________________
"Is that a Yeti?"

[Zuzma]

Hmm if you want to run it with settings that the real system uses. Set the dot clock to 3.2, set the slave sh2 speed % to 100, and uncheck Check SH2 Slave Idle loop. It'll run alot slower but it will be more accurate that way. He set it up like that because most games don't use the full power of the system and it makes it run better on lower end systems.

[Tweedledee]

Drat! The latest suggestion didn't work either.
It did, however, slow the game WAYYYYYY down. I didn't know it could go so slow.
In short, the problem persists. Thanks for the advice, but I really wish I knew the root of the problem. Did this happen pre-R7 SSF? I though I saw somewhere that this appeared in R7. If so, then I'll try R6 and see...
If that doesn't work, I'll probably have to hold my breath for the next release.

[Borisz]

I mean both the RAM files and both the .ini files in the SSF directory. The deletion of the .ini files is very important. The RAM files should not affect the emulator but you never know. (have you noticed that every new SSF version comes with new RAM files?)
Also note that the same RAM file is included in it, ever since SSF 0.03 (dating back to 2000 03 25).
It's just a blank RAM file, no need to delete it.

[PsyMan]

Yes it is... But the problem is not the file itself but the changes that the emulator does to the file (might cause problems on newer SSF versions if a previous version had a bug that had to do with saving).

As a side note I finished Nights a couple of days ago using SSF v0.07 Alpha R11' without a single error (apart from the missing videos).

[ptitrun]

Hi !

I'm new here, i'm french (as well uh...) And i'm glad to help someone for my first post ;)

So I had the same problem playing NIghts. big crash at the end of the first level

I just did an image of the original CD (Jap version for me) and I put it in a virtual drive and now the game works perfectly !

see ya !

[Tweedledee]

OK.
This is where things get tricky.
He's right: extracting the CD and running it in a virtual drive defeats the problem I am having; it also defeats the purpose that I turned to SSF after near stability with GiriGiri.
SSF, unlike GiriGiri, can play the movie files, both the intro and the in-game ones. However, when extracting the file onto my hard disk (using ISOBuster) track 2 comes out as a .tao file. This becomes tricky as the best I can do is:

1. Change the extension of Track 2 into .bin (I don't actually think this does anything, but it's part of what I did as I was experimenting.)
2. Use GiriGiri's tools to convert everything into a .bin, .cue set up
3. Mount the image as a .bin .cue system

While the game, on the whole, works, the movie files are missing and the music tracks are shuffled.
Any solution to this problem? (P.S. As an image on my computer, there is no issues involving the original problem).

[Borisz]

shima stated once on his site (or was it the bbs, i forgot) that original CDs might cause problems cause some drives cannot operate in such a way to mimic the timing of the Saturn, according to which SSF operates. And using a virtual drive fixes it.

use CDRWin and make a real bin/cue with it, mount that, and voila.

[Tweedledee]

Ok.
First of all, I'd like to express my deepest gratitude to the last two posters: ptitrun and Borisz. Their single (and small) post each has ended the issues dealt with in this post. And such simple advice!
This said, I must now review:
1. I no longer run Nights direct from the CD with SSF, it is now a virtual drive on my PC. This solves the error message that started this post.
2. I used CDRwin to extract the data instead of ISOBuster, which caused the second lot of problems. This resolved the issue of not being able to play the game as well as I would have liked.

Thank you to all who kept this post fresh (Psyman, etc.) and gave me worthy pieces of advice to try.

[Borisz]

Isobuster is nice for extracting tracks or files manually, and also has tons of other neat features (listing the file LBAs, sector view, etc). BUT it cannot do full 1:1 images, so far that use CDRWin or Blindwrite 4. Bin/cue is usually the best format to use (just avoid Alcohol when making bin/cue images as it is flawed).