TM

Thanks to those of you who have been regular participants in our various conferences, and especially those
who took time off from their busy schedules to join us
during our First Annual Developers Conference,
DevCon ’95. DevCon ’95 was held at the Santa Clara
Marriott Hotel, Santa Clara, California, last March 1417. We had a total of 514 attendees from 9 countries
representing 120 developers, 30 partners/exhibitors and7 Sega groups from various parts of the world. There
were over 90 presentations for both beginner andadvanced audiences.
This first multi-platform developers conference wasmade possible by the collaboration of the team at
SEGA, our partners/exhibitors, and you who belong to
the game development community. This effort exemplifies SEGA’s continued commitment to your gamedevelopment efforts by providing the latest information, documentation, tools, and technical support. The
experience was made that much richer, not only by thetechnical content of the seminars, round-tables, Q &A's and various other formats, but also by the interaction that took place amongst all the participants.
We hope to count on your presence again next year andextend an open invitation to those who were unable tojoin us last March. Your participation was an important
contribution to the success of DevCon ’95. Your valued
feedback has already given us ideas for next year’s
conference.
We look forward to continuing your partnership withSEGA and working with you again next year for
DevCon ’96 and with all our joint projects to come!

The Cross Products Technical Support line provides
services Monday thru Friday until 8 p.m. (GMT).
Phone, FAX or E-mail your technical support questions
to the following numbers:Tel:(44) 113 242 9814
Fax:(44) 113 242 6163
BBS: (44) 113 234 0420
CIX: cross@cix.compulink.co.uk
Internet: support@crossprod.co.uk
Tech support engineers Jav Shamsuddin (x 332) andPaul Hirst (x 333) are available to talk about Saturn,
32X and other supported platforms.
Cross Products also has a 24-hour BBS that contains
the latest versions of their software. Log on to the BBS
regularly for SNASM2 software updates as newfeatures and upgrades are added.
Cross Products/SNASM future plans include a WWW
home page providing improved services over the BBS,
such as electronic distribution of documentation,
SNASM FAQ’s, and product information. FTP accesswill also be available. SNASM manuals are regularly
updated in-line with the software. The latest versions
for Saturn are dated March ’95.

Inside this Issue:
Profile: Jean Yu ............................................................... 2
Consumer Demand Drives Early Releaseof Sega Saturn ............................................................ 2
Developer Tools Exchange ............................................... 3
Coming Attractions .......................................................... 3
Neuromantic Sound Library ............................................. 4
Good GNUs! .................................................................... 4
Q&A ............................................................................... 5
Documentation Requests ................................................. 6
New Country Code for Genesis and 32X ........................... 6
DTS Internet Addresses .................................................... 6
Documentation................................................................ 7

Technical Support Newsletter from SEGA of America Product Development© 1995 Sega All rights reserved

Vol. 3, No. 2 • June 1995

Consumer Demand Drives Early
Release of Sega Saturn—Sega CEO Tom Kalinske Anounces Immediate
Sega Saturn Launch at E3 Keynote Address—
Los Angeles, May 11, 1995—
The waiting game is over forvideogame enthusiasts in the
U.S. as Sega of America today
announced the immediate
availability of its muchanticipated Sega Saturnsystem. The early launch of the high-end video
game system was fueled by tremendous consumer
demand ignited by phenomenal sales in Japan.
Consumers nationwide can now enter new
realms of interactive entertainment with Sega
Saturn, the ultimate video game system thatbrings totally new immersive gaming experiences
into the home.
With the Japanese launch of Sega Saturn as
precedent—where more than 500,000 units weresold within the first month of sales, and more than
one million units have been sold to date— Sega ofAmerica anticipates that the units available now
will immediately sell out in the U.S. Sega Enterprises estimates more than three million units will
be sold by Christmas 1995 worldwide; Sega ofAmerica is projecting sales of more than 600,000
units by year’s end.
Sega Saturn is powered by a state-of-the-art
arcade architecture that allows for unprecedented
software development that includes 3D rendering,
360-degree action, intense surround-soundcapabilities, dynamic perspectives, and truly
revolutionary graphics, speed and fluidity.
Sega Saturn is available today in limited distribution around the country; the first wave of retail
outlets that will carry Sega Saturn include Electronics Boutique, Software Etcetera, Babbages
and Toys R Us. As production ramps up, additional retailers will be added as rapidly as possible.
The largest launch in Sega’s 40 year history,
the early arrival of Sega Saturn on U.S. soil will
be supported with breakthrough television andprint advertising campaigns, promotions, and atremendous consumer direct-marketing campaign
to hundreds of thousands of video game players
across the country.

Technical Support Engineer

Many of you have probably met or spoken withJean Yu. Jean has been with SEGA since August,
1993, and is one of our technical support engineers who specializes in the 32X and 16-bit
systems. Did you know that during the last SEGA
company-wide meeting, Jean was presented with
the President’s Award? The nomination was madeby each department head and the winner is chosen
in recognition of outstanding performance
thoughout the year. Her next project will involvethe implementation of our Developer Information
section on SEGA’s World Wide Web and ftp sites.
Prior to joining SEGA, Jean was the Accounting
Application Programmer at Safeway Headquarters in Oakland. She obtained a Bachelor of
Science in Computer Science from San Jose State
University in May, 1990. Jean recently received
her Masters of Science Degree in Telecommunications from Golden Gate
University.
Congratulations
Jean, andcontinued
success!

2

strings
woodwinds
brass
keyboard: electric/acoustic
percussion: pitched/unpitchedguitars: electric/acoustic
synthesizers
bass: electric/acoustic
drums: kicks/toms/snares/cymbals
sound effects

Neuromantic announces the GEMS FM Patch
Library, including NRP General MIDI module.
Created by Jim Hedges and Mark Miller

Each group contains approximately 20-30
patches while the drums, synthesizer, and soundeffects groups contain closer to 100 patches
each.

Features:• Over 500 top quality four operator instrument
and sound effect FM patches for the Sega
Genesis, Sega CD, and Sega 32X systems• The best FM drums for the Genesis available
anywhere• A General Midi patch set modeled after the
Roland Sound Canvas for easy conversions
from IBM PC or Mac platforms to Sega
Genesis, Sega CD, and Sega 32X systems• Over 100 FM sound effect building block
patches for creating complex, low memory
sound effects• Hundreds of high quality instrument sounds
including electric guitars, basses, and synths,
and a full compliment of acoustic and orchestral sounds

2. A set of patches which conforms to the General
Midi spec (level 1). This includes a bank of120+ patches designed specifically to mimic theRoland Sound Canvas (everything except the
SFX patches such as Helicopter or Applause).
In addition, there is a bank of drums which conforms to the standard GM drum map. This isavailable as a separate module or, if a driver withthe capacity for 256 patch “slots” is used (such as
GEMS 2.8), both the instrumental and drum banks
can be used together, with the drums starting at
patch number 128. Simply contact your Third
Party Account Executive or your SEGA producer
about obtaining Neuromantic. The library’s partnumber is GN-SND-FM.

These patches are the culmination of four yearsof sound design for the Genesis and Sega CD by
Neuromantic Productions. As such, they are thestarting points for the patches used in titles such
as Earthworm Jim, X-Men II, Taz-Mania I and
II, Toejam and Earl I and II, Cadillacs andDinosaurs, and Lodestar to name but a few.
This library is comprised of FM patch descriptions currently in the GEMS exportable .PAT
format and in convenient patch banks organizedby type (drums, basses, etc.). All library patches
exist as general purpose templates which may be
used as is, or refined for more specific applications. The patches can be used in SEGA-CD,
32X, or GENESIS, and are capable of being
converted for use in any 4 operator FM sounddriver (not just GEMS).

GNU documentation is now available on the WWW
via the Cygnus Support Online Documentation
Gallery. Check it out! Just key in :http://www.cygnus.com/doc/rebuilding/rebuilding_toc.html

The library is divided into two main parts:

to view “Rebuilding From Source” (the document that
SEGA distributes). The hypertext format makes it easy
to navigate through the entire document. You can still
get a hard copy of this documentation from SEGA.
Just use your fax back form on the last page of thenewsletter to make your request.

1. A general purpose library with patches
divided into the following instrumentalgroups:3

Pisces is an animation sequence editor for 2D
animation. With Pisces, animators can assemble
sequences from a series of frames into a finishedanimation. Unlike other animation tools, Piscesrecognizes repeated frames, allowing significant
memory savings. Pisces allows animators toregister their animation without changing art. It
also understands looping animation, providing
support for a windup sequence before each loop,
allowing beautiful artistic results without impacting engineering.

This is a Sega feature that spotlights tools made by
developers which are available for other developers.
Virtual Hollywood has available two tools for theSaturn: Gemini and Pisces.

Pisces permits designers to attach information to
specific frames of animation, such as collision
rectangles, hot spots, event flags, and sounds.
Since this information is seperate from the art, thismaterial can be adjusted without impacting thegame artists.

Gemini is a level map editor. It allows designers,
artists, and engineers to lay out all necessary information in an interactive, visual manner. A key
feature is the ability to attach specific information toa tag. For example, a spring mechanic could store
the reaction strength of the spring in the associatedtag. This permits engineers to store all necessary
information in one place. This also allows designers
to directly manipulate aspects of the game without
impacting his engineer - he simply double-clicks on
the spring tag, and the values of the spring are
revealed and modified through a dialogue box.

Engineers will find Pisces extensible. There arethree types of information that can be attached toart: hot spots (useful for linking sprites or any
other time-specific point on an animation);rectangles (permitting multiple collision rectangles on a single piece of art); and events (allowing specification of the exact frame in which a gun
is fired, etc.). Without writing tools, engineers canquickly create new variations on these three basic
types.

Rather than hard-coding a few fields into each tag,Gemini permits the engineer or designer to add allnecessary fields to the tag. Thus Gemini is fully
extensible, without a line of code.
Gemini also supports multiple types of connected
contours. And for artists, Gemini is a tool for interactive layout of multi-planing art layers. Using scroll
bars, artists can immediately see how a particular
scroll plane interacts with others. Artists can turn off
planes, or click and choose as necessary to turn off
sets of individual planes. Unlike other map editors,
Gemini maps may be of any size, an important
requirement of 32-bit games.

Both Gemini and Pisces are usable for thePlaystation, 3DO and Saturn. For more information contact Neil Balthaser at Virtual Hollywood,(805)528-0399.
If you wish to have your own tool put on the list,
please contact our newsletter editor, Evelyn
Merritt, at: evelyn.merritt@segaoa.com

Gemini also flips art horizontally, vertically, or both,allowing game creators to save significant memory
by employing symmetrical art.
Gemini uses links to art files, rather than the art files
themselves, creating compact and efficient files. This
also allows artists to work on files separte from thedesign and engineering process, eliminating versioncontrol logjams when several members of a development team must work on the file at the same time.

Sega of Europe 'Prepare for Orbit' Developers
Conference. July 20-21 at the Novotel Hotel,
Hammersmith, London. For more information, contact:
Kylie Carter:Tel:(44) 181 996 4401
Fax:(44) 181 996 4488
E-Mail: carterk@sega.co.uk.
Saturn Graphics Library available now on June 1995
Developer Tool Kit CD. Contact: DTS@segaoa.com

4When I load in two or more samples (non-loop,
16 bit, from SoundDesigner) into the tone editor,
if I trigger the first one and hold it down, it willplay through all the samples that have been
loaded into the Saturn. Why is this happening(bad end address being sent?) and how can it be
fixed?
Some RGB values do not display correctly on
Saturn. The problem occurs most often when the
red component is set to 30 (1E hex) and green
component is set to 31 (1F hex). The resulting
color appears brown.

You have to set loop start and loop end eventhough it’s a one shot wave. Loop start should be
set to 1, and the end point should be set to thesame point as the sample end in case it’s a nonloop sample. This means that the loop end point
and start point should almost be the same.

The color burst signal on the midbox is not
output at the correct time. This will be tuned in
the small box and further tuned in the production
model.

SCSP chip checks loop end data and start data
which are included in wave data itself and does
not interpolate the data size as the end of thesample.

My Cinepak movie is playing back too fast. I am
using Cinepak version 1.2.

References: Sega Saturn Sound Manual ver1.27
1994.11 wave Editor ver1.13

Usually this means the timescale is off. The
timescale should be 600. This is the scale in units
QuickTime uses to calculate time. There are twotools for Cinepak 1.2: Cinerate and Cinedump.
Cinedump will display the film header, andCinerate can change the timescale to 600.

I am using the Saturn Midbox with an E7000PC.
The E7000PC only has 512K of emulation RAM.
What can I do to extend the amount of memorythat I have to be more than 512K?

What is the maximum game size on Sega CD?

Memory shouldn’t be a problem if you use theSaturn’s memory for code. Use the memory at

The maximum length on a Sega CD is 63
minutes. However the EMU file can be as long as
68 minutes (612000 bytes) due to the insertion oferror checking code by the BuildDisk utility.

$6000000. The midbox should haveanother 8 megabytes at address$04000000 - $04800000.
Is there a way to include a binary file into
Microtek or Sierra assembly files?

In the SND_CtrlDirMidi Function there is a
seq_no parameter which is the Sound Control
Number. Is this the same parameter that is usedin the Sequence function?

No, only Snasm assembly allows this (INCBIN).
The solution is to convert the binary file into
DC.B statements. The BIN2ASM.EXE utility will
convert a binary file to a text file with DC.B
statements.

Seq_no is the Sound control number. Up to 127
direct Midi commands can be fired off on eachsound control number (vs. 1 sequence). It is agood idea to keep the Direct Midi commands toone specific sound control number. Seq_pri
refers to the priority level of that Midi directcommand, 0 being the highest.

From reading 32X tech note #15, it seems likethe Z80 can not access the SH2 side at all. Is thistrue?
Yes, you cannot use the Z80 to access the SH2.
An alternative would be to Copy the data fromthe Z80 to the Genesis RAM and then write to theSH2 from the Genesis side.

5

We also have an updated list of Saturn and 32X
documents. Please inform us if you would like toautomatically receive the latest versions or new
documentation of a specific platform. If yourcompany has received documentation for a former
colleague who no longer works in your company,
please let us know about this, too. This helps us savetime, effort, and trees!

Here’s how to file your requests for documentation ortools. If you are a SEGA developer, contact yourproducer directly. If you are a Third Party Licensee,
contact your account executive. Your request will be
forwarded to the DTS (Developer Technical Support)
Support Specialist. You may also contact the DTS
Support Specialist directly via E-mail, FAX or the
DTS hotline. Contacting the Support Specialist ensuresthat all requests are documented and tracked throughcompletion. Please forward your requests to the DTS
Support Specialist via:

New Country Code forGenesis and 32X
The country code in the Genesis ID Table has changed
since the introduction of the 32X platform. The
country code at $1F0 of the ID Table for both Genesis
and 32X is determined from a Hardware Enable Code
Table. Please refer to Genesis Technical Bulletin #31
and 32X Technical Bulletin #28 for more details on the
hardware enable code information. The country codes“U”, “J”, and “E” are no longer valid for Genesis and
32X platforms. Software containing errors in countrycode (hardware enable code) will not be accepted forfinal master ROM release.

E-mail: dts@segaoa.com
fax:(415)802-1717, attn: DTS;
phone: (415)802-1719.
When your request is received, the documentation staff
will ascertain if all the necessary confidentiality
agreements are in order. If there are any issues thatneed to be resolved before your request is processed,
you will be notified.
In the following section, you will find the latest list of
Saturn documentation available for distribution. With
all requests, please specify the document you need,indicating the title and the document number. Always
include your name (the recipient of the document),
your company name, address, and phone number.
Include your E-mail address if you have one. Remember, please use E-mail whenever possible. Also, please
inform us of any address changes so we can keep ourrecords up-to-date.

The territory lockout code has also changed due to thishardware enable code. The new lockout code can beobtained from our BBS in the Genesis Conference forGenesis software and in the 32X Conference for 32X
software.
Note: The above change does not affect Game Gearand Sega-CD. Please continue to use the existing
country code format for these two platforms.

SEGA of America
Judy Jetté - Support Specialist

dts@segaoa.com

SEGA of America Fax(415) 802-1717

SEGA of Europe
For technical support, please E-mail:techsupport@sega.co.uk

SEGA of Europe Fax(44) 181 996 4488

6

Listed below are the complete sets of Saturn documentation as of June 1, 1995. If you wish to order complete Saturn documentation, please order by set (i.e. Set 1, Set 2, or Set 3). If you already have the sets, and would like to order new documents, please
let us know. You may contact us by E-mail or use the Fax back section on the last page of the newsletter. Fax: (415) 802-1717
or E-Mail: dts@segaoa.com
Set 1: SATURN PROGRAMMING MANUAL VOL. 1
Saturn Introduction Manual
Sega of America-Introduction to Saturn Game Development
Saturn Overview Manual(temporary version 1)
SCU User’s Manual
SCU Final Specifications: Precautions
SMPC User’s Manual
SMPC Sample Program User’s Manual
Saturn SCSP User’s Manual
SEGA Saturn Dual CPU User’s Guide

ST-103-R1-040194
ST-97-R5-072694
ST-210-110194
ST-169-R1-072694
ST-214-111594
ST-77-R2-052594
ST-202-R1-120994

9/12/94
4/13/94
6/6/94
12/14/94
2/14/95
2/2/95
2/14/95
8/4/94
12/12/94

SATURN PROGRAMMING MANUAL VOL. 2
VDP1 User’s Manual
VDP1 User’s Manual Supplement
VDP2 User’s Manual

ST-13-R2-120693
ST-13-SP1-052794
ST-58-R2-060194

4/1/94
9/19/94
9/27/94

SATURN DEVELOPMENT TOOLS MANUALSaturn Boot ROM System User’s Manual Ver.1.0
Disc Format Standards Specification Sheet
System Library User’s Manual
Program Library User’s Guide 1
Program Library User’s Guide 2
Program Library User’s Guide 3
DLL Library User’s Manual
External specifications Saturn file system Library
External Specification Doc. Saturn Stream System
Backup Library User’s Manual
Backup System Production Standard
Saturn Software Library
Saturn Software Library Release 3.01 Supplemental Disk
Sample Game Program User’s Manual
CD Development Tool Description File
Simple CD Simulator User’s Manual
Virtual CD System User’s Manual
Virtual CD System (Release 3) Limitations
Write Once CD-R System User’s Manual
SH2 Dynamic Load Linkage Editor
Saturn SEGALIB/MAN README
Saturn SEGA SMP/MAN README
Sample Data User’s Manual
SATURN Readme File
SATURN Backup Data Name Registration Forms
Authoring Environmental Guide
Saturn Author User’s Manual

ST-220-120994
ST-40-R2-062294
ST-162-062094
ST-136-R2-093094
ST-157-R1-092994
ST-135-R1-062094
ST-200-092994
ST-39-R2-011094
ST-98-031194
ST-199-092994
ST-203-100494
ST-209-110194
ST-208-110194
ST-159-R1-092994
ST-211-110494
ST-161-R1-092994
ST-129-R1-062294
ST-182-081294
ST-201-B-092994
ST-19-R1-B-050994
ST-DISK-05-101794
ST-DISK-06-101794
ST-160-R1-092994
ST-207-10194
ST-204-100794
ST-91-R1-062794
ST-164-062794

2/25/95
9/21/94
11/3/94
12/15/94
1/11/95
11/10/94
1/27/95
4/20/94
4/20/94
11/11/94
11/16/94
11/9/94
4/17/95
4/17/95
11/8/94
10/19/94
5/3/94
9/20/94
2/2/95
6/29/94
11/2/94
11/23/94
10/19/94
10/25/94
10/19/94
9/9/94
4/11/95

ST-127-042594
ST-125-R1-090894
ST-126-R1-091394
ST-131-R1-090894
ST-130-R1-090894
ST-140-051894
ST-141-R1-091394
ST-124-R1-091394

8/5/94
1/12/95
2/14/95
2/23/95
3/17/95
8/30/94
2/14/95
11/23/94

ST-081-R5-062894
ST-168-R1-092694
ST-99-R1-042594
ST-68-R1-042594
ST-70-R1-031094
20-April-94
ST-198-092694
ST-166-R2-091394
ST-66-121593
ST-65-R1-0311494
ST-80-R2-050994

4/6/95
1/6/95
6/23/94
10/14/94
3/21/95
4/20/94
2/2/95
10/21/94

Set 2: SATURN GRAPHICS TOOLS MANUAL
Map Editor User’s Manual
Photoshop Plug In User’s Manual
SEGA Converter User’s Manual
Simple Painter User’s Manual“Simple Animator User’s Manua Ver.2.0"
2D Motion Editor User’s Guide
3D Editors User’s Manual
Saturn/32X Graphics References ver. 2.0

Set 3: SATURN SOUND TOOLS MANUAL“Sound Development Manual ver 1.1”
Saturn Sound Simulator Manual
Wave Editor User’s Manual
Tone Editor User’s Manual
DSP Linker User’s Manual
Sound Tool Guide
Sound Tool Guide Addendum
Saturn Sound Driver System Interface
Standard MIDI File: Converter Specifications
Sound Programming Debugger User’s Manual
Microcomputing Developing Int. Environment for Macintoch

ST-155-062094

7

7/1/94
4/20/94

Thanks to those who have shared comments and ideas regarding the DTS Newsletter. Please continue to give us
your feedback so we can work together to make the future issues even better. Please take a moment to fill-out the
information below and mail or FAX it to SEGA @ (415) 802-1717.

What did you like/dislike about this issue of SEGA DTS Developer News?

How can DTS better support your development efforts?

What features/information would you like to see included in upcoming issues?

If you need documentation, list the title and number below. You must have a SEGA non-disclosure document on
file to receive documentation. If you have not signed a non-disclosure, contact DTS.

Please provide your E-Mail address to facilitate communication.

SEGA of America
Developer Technical Support
150 Shoreline Drive
Redwood City, CA 94065