Super Challenging Soldering Mods for the Sega Saturn!
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
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I'm 70% moved into my new lab! Nonetheless, in this installment I thoroughly go over the process of replacing the MASK-ROM BIOS with a flash memory equivalent that allows the system to boot games from all regions. I also install a Phantom Universal Mod for those precious archival copies.
Much improved. While I don't ever plan on owning another console, the Saturn has always been my favorite. I built my first webpage on a Sega Saturn!!
you built a webpage on a Sega, SATURN?
I built my first on dreamcast now that you mention it, lol. Currently in the process of installing a fenrir, Fram, and maybe something else... 😉
That Daytona USA sky high music at the end brings back memories.
got this system when it first came out. its still one of my favorite consoles and back in the day it was an absolute beast. that and no one else i knew had one.
I missed these so much! Gearing up to do a UltraHDMI install this weekend and your videos always inspire confidence!
The Sega Saturn was so ahead of its time and i think using this video as a lab debut was perfect! This poor little console never seemed to get enough love! Thank you for spending your time and resources showing us a little saturn magic!
The Bob Ross of console modding.
I wanted to write exactly the same. Could watch this all day.
PersianImm0rtal ok now let’s spread some No Clean Flux and use it as a lubricant to make love to the bios chip
Took the words right out of my mouth (Keyboard?)
haha will he also get a permanent loop of all his videos on twitch after he is dead?
Peter North "Special Source" lol im crying you legend!
sauce, not source ^^
Great video! I’m ok to flash my own bios for Saturn and Dreamcast, but for the beginners playing along at home it may be helpful to show them how to flash the bios or where to buy it pre done.
Global Garage can you help us about? Thanks
Global Garage ...buy a 4meg action replay cart... mod the cart... saturn now region free...
@@bobtee6466 nope. Too many problems with that
@@kevin_lee_music not anymore with the newer pseudo kai....
can't believe i managed to accomplish this with my basic ass soldering skills. never could've made it without this video. thank you lord voultar!
At 8:43 i understand:“We‘re gonna hold the air nozzle about 5 inches above the side“.
5 inches are approximately 13 cm but it looks like the nozzle is only one or two cm above the chip.
Va15 and I thought the genesis had a lot of revisions! Great video I feel this is your best yet in terms of explaining your methods and breaking down exactly what you use and how you use it ex the temp/air pressure of the hot air also I liked how you freeze the video and show another variation which could be harder and worked it too also the music was a nice touch
Dear Voultar thank you for making this video. I have several Japanese Sega Saturns and have started doing the region free bios mods on them along with FRAM. Have a couple of notes from my experience, which may be obvious to some but maybe helpful for others.
1. When flashing the eeprom ensure to byte swap the code. i used 29F800BT which worked fine.
2. Ensure that the console is back together with all screws in before testing, i believe the console needs to be grounded correctly for it to operate correctly. If its not grounded correctly the console will start however there maybe unusual behaviour, such has the games not loading and sound issues.
Thanks again for the informative videos and techniques.
Kind Regards
Mal
The Saturn looks surprisingly clean inside.
While I have a personal aversion to soldering directly to the leg of an IC, your technique is quite nice. I also have a personal aversion to running wires below the legs on an IC (one of your other vids) but I also work on a bit more sensitive electronics where the slightest EMI could wreak havoc. I've taken a liking to watching you work. Keep up the good work and unhosing those bad jobs! Great work!
Lord Voultar, if we asked you very nicely, would it be possible for you to show us how to properly do a laser lens replacement in a Saturn, including getting all the calibration done correctly? The info available is so sketchy, and so many Saturns have this issue. I know I for one would so greatly appreciate it!
Thank you so much for making these videos! You are a great asset to the retro community!
Laser calib. stuff is in the works.
Voultar you rule!
Love the video! I hope one day you could do a console oriented “soldering 101” video/playlist for soldering newbies ^^’
This made me want to open up my Saturn and take another look at the lik-sang chip I installed in it almost a decade ago.
one thing I love about your video's, especially for people new to electronics mods / repairs ... no matter how many times you have worked on something ALWAYS lift gingerly to find out which screw you missed (heck I just did it on a tandy coco, ok looks like I got them all, lift carefully, oh its binding there's a screw!)
ps as far as glue dots go, a good hint is the entire board is covered in flux, that mean it was wave soldered and not reflow soldered, wave you have to flip the board over send it in a flux bath then though a wave of liquid solder ... how do you hold on the chips when they are not soldered yet
RIP Bob
Excellent video - your presentation and communication skills are top notch. Do you buy your BIOS pre-flashed or do you do this yourself?
Voultar is the Bob Ross of console modding.
"put some happy little solder on there"
Watching these videos are mesmerizing... Its like, a cross between Mr. Rogers showing you the videos on how crayons are made, and Bob Ross painting.
I've been a long time fan of your soldiering skills! I never realized you had a channel though. Nice to see your skills in action!
bless your soul, i can actually use my saturn for more than 2 games now
my childhood console!! i loved playing games such as king of fighters and daytona usa and other king of fighters games on it!! ahhh memories
new meth lab coming along nicely
That thumbnail... don’t tug my heartstrings like that voultar
Replace heartstrings with schlong. Winning..
Another good indicator that the chips would be glued down are if the other parts on the *same side* of the board have glue under them, the chips likely do too. Also, if there's a flux residue all over a board with SMD components, they're probably glued down. The reason _in most cases_ for the glue is that the board was wave soldered during manufacturing. If they weren't glued down the soldering process would wash the parts right off the board. That's also the reason you'll see a coating of flux all over the board, in waving soldering, the solder contacts the entire surface of the board and they're often too lazy to clean off the flux afterwards. Hope that helps.
It's possible to wave solder rather than paste/reflow solder fine pitch SMD components without bridging them all? Colour me surprised.
Normally i expect epoxy glue just on the backside (the side with fewer components), so they do that side first, but it's all glued down so when the board runs the second time through a reflow machine for the main component side, the now upside down components don't just all fall off.
Though i'm not familiar with the Saturn and what they did and why.
Old technique. Rarely used anymore. EEVblog talks a little big about it here ua-cam.com/video/ntxIdJTygIE/v-deo.html
I just had this done by Pink Skeleton Gaming and it works like a charm.
I really appreciate you taking the time to show how to properly solder. I started in on studying electronics and soldering, and well, soldering definitely takes a lot of practice. Your techniques are clean and precise, I'll be using them here from here on out! :)
I feel I should add that the reason adhesive is underneath the chip is due to this version of the PCB being made using a wave soldering technique in which the whole board is passed over a pool of molten solder. one way you can tell a PCB is wave soldered is the extra pads visible on the left side of the chip in the video (These are called solder thieves). These are there to wick away excess solder from the wave soldering pool to avoid short circuit. Another telling sign is all the nasty flux covering the top of the board meaning a solder paste and oven reflow method was certainly not used.
you are the bob ross of retro gaming hardware
Dental floss work like magic for adhesive removal
Love your channel man your vids are so enjoyable too watch an informative best retro modding channel by far
Good job Voultard!
I feel you should go into more detail about what the modchips in your videos actually do. A lot of them have cool names, and it's great to learn how to do them, but it would be really nice to know for what purpose the mods are being installed in the first place.
Also, some other interesting mods you can do for Sega Saturns;
- Replace the SRAM with FeRAM, that way it doesn't require battery power.
- Replace the battery for the real time clock with a rechargeable one, that way you never have to replace it and can have it recharge while the system is connected to AC power.
- Miniature heat sinks attached to the various chips via thermal adhesive.
- Add RAM which the slow BIOS chip gets dumped to on bootup, potentially speeding up anything that needs to access it. This is especially important because flash memory is usually slower than Mask ROM, and doesn't have execute-in-place capability.
- Replacing the slow DRAM with SRAM, since high capacities of SRAM have gotten a lot cheaper (especially the double port variety)
- Replacing the cut down 68k coprocessor with a full-fat 68k like what was used on the Genesis, or even a 68010.
- Etcetera. I'm sure there are a lot of other things you can do that I haven't thought of yet.
You are the Bob Ross of Modding.
First console I bought for myself. Was a rental unit at the Hastings I worked at.
Difficult to keep a straight face with DAYTONAHHH music in the background... :D
11:20 I'm sure if anyone who isn't used to removing chips/modules would easily fail the removal and snap board. Good work
i figured out a way to get that red adhesive off AFTER you remove the chip... i sprayed it with 91% alcohol and touched it with my soldering iron to see what would happen and some sort of reaction between the heat and the alcohol turned that hard red mass into a fine brownish powder, ever so gently like caressing a baby run your iron over the wetted adhesive and it will turn to dust! after it has a good coating of dust spray it with alcohol and scrub with a toothbrush and then when it is still wet gently caress the next layer of adhesive and then repeat the process over and over until you have removed it all.
easy peasy.
you can probably be a little rougher with the top layers and then start caressing when you get near the PCB.
USE AN OLD CRAPPY TIP!!!
Not only is Bob dead; attending AA; Lord Voultar has also trapped him as a hologram. Bob is having a rough week!
YOU'RE BACK!!!! Missed you!
"We're going to use a hot air rework station!" **PULLS OUT HANDHELD HEAT GUN**
I'm confused by this comment. You're kinda just narrating what happens in the video?
if this is him being intricate and taking care.. I'd hate to see him upset.
oh golly gee darn. good golly ms molly.
I don’t even have a Sega Saturn and I still enjoyed this video...!
So calming and fun to watch you work.
You gained a sub from me when you showed us worst case scenario. Thank you. Too many you tubers only ever post when things go good and never bad
only 7:13 in and this is already my favorite of your videos. cheers
If he can make any game console playable worldwide, this is it!
I thought you said to start off around 5 inches away in a circular motion but it looked like 5 centimeters from the camera angle. But still.....Always great content.
Keep in mind that this is a super macro zoom and that the camera perspective is very misleading.
masterful. I have watched this so many times. It's just amazing.
I've said it in a few videos. Hot glue in mods is not a bad thing, when used properly.
LOL Hot glue, I knew it!!
New here, love your videos man, love your modding skills. I don't mod or have a console.. watching your videos makes me feel good inside, thank you.
Thats a nice piece of art. Good work
Legit professional work
This was so satisfying to watch 👍🏻
Bring back Bob
Nice one! Just yesterday I got a model 2 from local ads, what are the odds!? Let's get to modding :)
Oh, and thank you for taking the time to do this lesson.
Duuuude? Hot glue? You?
Voultar is a surgeon, a sexy surgeon
Interested in seeing you attempt a second LED addition to some of the earlier "Model 2" Saturns - pretty easy addition but cutting a nice looking hole for a new LED is the tricky part!
Sweet work here Voultar. (y)
Always that simple and easy with how you explain as you go. :D
Great video, I really appreciate this info and explanation on how you should do this task the right way. Im planning to build my Saturn and I only want to do it as good as this video, Thank you!
i'd like to see a good ol nes rgb mod with a multi out. thats a very common mod that people could really use help with
You asked for it. It's now going to happen.
wow, thanks lord voultar! i think the internet really needs a good video on it. its one of the most common rgb mods and so many people do it sloppy. i have always wanted to get one myself. i have a pair of hd retrovision cables ready for a rgb multi out nes, just can't afford one. anways, can't wait to see the video!! thanks again!
Lord Voultar, I humbly request request a tools video. What to buy and where. Please help this old fgc tech peasant upgrade to some real equipment.
Would also like to know what no clean flux you use. I'm tired of having to clean up a sticky mess every time I finish...soldering.
as you already realized... i whole-heartedly agree with the tool/supplies video!!
I would also like to see this video, although I imagine some of the brands might be unavailable here in the UK.
Praise be to Lord Voultar.
Look in the description section on lots of his vids. He has links to loads of stuff. He has an Amazon shop page with all his consumables, direct links to soldering iron bits etc
Great video, love the music
Have you ever done the Pahantom mod on a very early Model 1? That ribbon cable path traverses from rear to front with a couple of bends along the way... I wasn't expecting that when I opened my Saturn up. I still haven't installed it to this day. :/
Excellent, just excellent.
Great video. Im learning so much.
What electric screwdriver is that? It looked like a Waterun CLT-50 power supply on your desk, is it a Waterun-4000? Where might mere mortals pick up something like that? I only found the company website, but couldn't find pricing or resellers. I did find that it looks very similar to another brand, HIOS, which I found a few parts that looked very similar on Ebay.
It's a HIOS CL-3000. The best of the best!
I hear panzer dragoon saga in the background music!
Señor Voultar does it again!
Incredible work
You are a true boss of modding and informative videos, but what shines above all else is your top shelf commentary. Entertaining to say the least. Followed subbed and thank you sir.
I’ve been looking for some time now for a shop that sells the bios chips. Can you recommend? I’ve been to obscuregamers and get in touch with bad-ad84... any other suggestions?
You are a master!!! Great video and technique!
Thank you for these great videos!! I've been looking for info about modding my saturn.
Loved the vid. Found you yesterday and been binging. What about big globs?
new video in new setup FeelsGoodMan
Another great vid...thanks Voultar!
you are the bob ross of modwork.
Yasss moooooooore. This is making me want to learn to solder so bad lol
17:25 in, if you want to anchor it, you should use alot of hot glue there. Not a dab, like a whole stick. Don't be scared!
The epoxy is there because those boards were wave soldered. On the board you first had that didn't have any epoxy, you can see that it was reflow soldered and therefore, did not need epoxy to keep the chips in place.
That's right. Manufacturing plants "potted" chips onto main-boards so they could wave solder both top and bottom layers, simultaneously.
I am curious if your going to be doing any terra onion mode installs even though they are all over the place but id love to see one for a ps and see your mod or any ideas for a gd emu and the Dre amcast. Also miss your repair vids for they are not men no man should or would do the horrid things they do to consoles. And sorry to ramble on but id also love to see a tour of the lab
Hello Lord Voultar,
Love your vids. Also what screwdriver is that? Looks pretty handy
HIOS CL-3000
Video was fantastic, thanks.
Good work mate
Thank you lord Voultar!
Great video. You have an instant subscriber.
beautiful job
Saving one Saturn at a time......yes.
"Peter North Special Sauce" haha beautiful.
I never realized how big your hands were until you totally eclipsed a sega saturn.
you sir are the greatest
thank you for your videos, I really enjoy them! I was wondering, have you ever done a Amiga CD32 recap?
Incredible!
peter north special sauce lul.
Saw notifications of test livestreaming friend Voultar. May we be seeing some in the future?