version 2.8.0
last updated : October 20, 2026
Site : Join us on Github
Youtube : Join us on Youtube - Kronos
Discord : Join us on Discord
Kronos is a Sega Saturn/ST-V emulator based on Yabause and Yaba Sanshiro.
Copyright (C) 2017-2026 - François Caron.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
Table of Contents
For recent changes refer to the English Changelog.txt file.
Kronos is an open source Sega Saturn/ST-V emulator written in standard C/C++. Based on Yabause/UoYabause/Yaba Sanshiro, the goal is to improve Sega Saturn Emulation.
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- Game compatibility should be around 99%
- STV game support.
- Redump archive support (if you have a saturn game from Redump, it's possible to launch the archive without unzipping it).
- CHD images support.
- Filter support : HQ4x, 4xBRZ, 6xBRZ, Sharpen (adaptative), FSR 1.0 (EASU + RCAS), Scale 3x, Scale 4x.
- Support for embellishement filters : Bilinear, Bicubic, Deinterlace Bob, Deinterlace Debug Bob, Deinterlace OSSC Bob, Deinterlace Debug OSSC Bob, Scanline, Lanczos 3, Sharp Bilneart, FXAA, CRT (Aperture Grille), celle shading (toon).
- Window Resolution : Original Aspect Ratio, Stretch to windows, Pixel Perfect - Full Screen, Pixel Perfect.
- Cartouche : Pro Action Replay, 4 Mbit Backup Ram, 8 Mbit Backup Ram, 16 Mbit Backup Ram, 32 Mbit Backup Ram, Dram 8 Mbit, Dram 32 Mbit, Dram 128 Mbit, Netlink, Japanese Modem, ST-V Rom game, Development Extension, Video CD Card (MPEG card).
- Input : Pad, Wheel, Mission Stick, Double Mission Stick, 3D Control Pad, Gun, Keyboard, Mouse, ST-V Cabinet, Hopper Cabinet, Mahjong Panel.
- Wireframe support).
- VCD suppport (Video CD).
- Compute Shader support.
- New Kronos interpreter (less CPU usage).
- Kronos Retroarch support.
- Windows 7/10/11 support.
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To get a full experience, follow these steps :
- Delete your bkram.bin --> by default, the path is C:\Users\yourname\Appdata\local\kronos\.
- Delete your old kronos.ini or use the blank one provided with the archive.
- Old Save/Savestate should not working with Kronos 2.5.0.
- Configure Kronos with a real BIOS. If you launch Kronos, the error message "Cannot initialize Kronos" will be displayed. Watch the video: Vidéo sur l'erreur "Ne peut pas initialiser Kronos"
- If you have OneDrive on your computer, Kronos should not be synchronized with OneDrive or use OneDrive paths in the settings.
- The Kronos team does not provide any BIOS in its archive and no link to download it; if that's the case, we will not provide any support.
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The Compute Shader core is the only one available since version 2.5.5 following the removal of the OpenGL core in version 2.5.5.
- Compute Shader core : supported graphics cards >= OpenGl 4.3
Some graphics issues should not be resolved with OpenGl core (i.e : Sega Rally holes on the road).
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To launch a STV game, follow these steps (Windows port) :
- Create a directory with your STV roms (do not unzip them). Add STV Bios with games.
- Launch Kronos.exe
- Click on File --> Settings --> then Cartdridge/Memory panel.
- In Cartridge, select STV Rom game.
- Click on ... to add the path to the STV roms. Wait a few seconds. Games should be displayed just above.
- Below, in Memory, set the path to a .bin file used only for ST-V games book keeping (an ST-V game may behave abnormaly if the .bin file contains the save of its Saturn port).
- In Input, choose an empty configuration for Port1 and select "ST-V Cabinet". Click on the wrench icon on the right and set each button for player 1.
- Repeat the same operation for Port 2 for a 2-player game.
- Click on Ok to close settings window.
- Push launch icon or in emulation menu, launch.
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A compatibility list with ST-V games (need more tests) :
Working games :
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The standalone Qt version emulates the Sega Saturn Video CD Card (MPEG card). The card's own player program (loaded from its ROM by the Saturn BIOS) plays the disc, so the menus and controls are those of the real player.
What you need ?
- A real Saturn BIOS. The emulated BIOS cannot boot the card's player: leave Enable Bios Emulation unchecked and do not use --no-bios.
- A dump of the Video CD Card ROM (MPEG ROM): a raw dump (.bin, .rom) or a .zip that contains it (stored or deflated). Word-swapped and chip-order dumps are detected and converted automatically. Kronos does not ship this ROM.
- A VCD image with raw 2352-byte sectors: .cue/.bin, a .zip holding a .cue/.bin, .ccd, .mds or .chd. A plain .iso (2048-byte sectors) cannot work: the video is stored in Mode 2 Form 2 sectors, which an .iso does not contain.
Setting up (Qt) :
- Settings → General → Bios file path: select your Saturn BIOS, and make sure Enable Bios Emulation is unchecked.
- Settings → Cart/Memory → Mpeg ROM: select the Video CD Card ROM. It is saved as Path in the [MpegROM] section of kronos.ini (Linux: ~/.config/kronos/qt/kronos.ini).
- The cartridge type can stay as it is. Choosing Video CD Card (MPEG Card) is optional: the card goes in the rear MPEG slot, and the ROM path alone is enough.
- File → Eject/Load ISO... (Ctrl+I), choose the VCD image, and start the emulation. The BIOS starts the card's player, which shows the disc.
VCD Controls:
The player is driven from its on-screen control panel: Left/Right select a button, C activates it (play, pause, stop, fast forward, fast reverse, PRG...). Fast forward and fast reverse jump to the next or previous entry point of the disc, as on the real player.
Limitations :
- Qt standalone only. The libretro core has no Mpeg ROM setting, so it cannot play VCDs.
- Picture only with the OpenGL compute-shader renderer (the video is composited as VDP2's external background, in NBG1's place).
- MPEG-1 only (VCD). Decoding uses PL_MPEG, which does not handle MPEG-2: Super Video CDs (SVCD) are detected but will not play.
- The card is only shown to Video CDs and to a few Saturn games that use it (list in yabause/src/utils/src/db.c, MpegCardDBList). Every other disc sees no card, like a console without one. The list currently holds Lunar Silver Star Story MPEG-ban (T-27904G), Sakura Taisen Hanagumi Tsuushin (GS-9134), Sakura Taisen Jouki Radio Show (GS-9160) and Moritaka Chisato Watarasebashi / Lala Sunshine (GS-9172); other titles known to use the card (Falcom Classics limited edition disc 2, GunGriffon Japan) are not listed yet because their product codes are not confirmed.
- Not emulated: the MPEG image and sector transfer commands (0xA7 to 0xAA, reading or writing decoded pictures through the CD buffer); they are acknowledged without doing anything. Slow motion and strobe are approximations.
- Save states keep the CD block's MPEG registers but not the decoder itself (PL_MPEG state, playback settings): a state loaded during playback may show no picture until playback is restarted from the player.
- The audio is expected at 44.1 kHz (the VCD standard); a stream at another rate plays at the wrong speed, and a warning is written to the log.
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Here is the list of available command line parameters:
| Category |
Options |
Information |
| Information |
-h or --help
-v or --version
|
Display help or version information and exit. |
| Startup |
-a or --autostart
--autoload=<0-9>
-f or --fullscreen
--binary (not implemented)
--log-file=<FILE>
|
Startup and initial configuration options. |
| BIOS and Disc |
-b or --bios
-nb or --no-bios
--bios-settings
-i or --iso
-c or --cdrom
--no-disc
-l or --language
|
Manage BIOS files, disc images (ISO, CUE, ZIP), and system language. |
| Cartridge and Saves |
--cartridge=<type>
--cartridge-path
--modem-ip
--modem-port
--backup-ram
--extended-backup[=0|1]
--save-states=<DIR>
|
Manage expansion cartridges, network settings, and save states. |
| ST-V |
--stv=<romset or .zip>
--stv-path=<DIR>
--stv-region=<auto|europe|usa|japan|asia>
--stv-list
|
Options specific to the ST-V arcade system. |
| VCD (MPEG Card) |
--mpeg-rom=<FILE> (alias --vcd-rom)
or --cartridge=vcd
|
MPEG / Video CD card support. |
| Controllers |
--port1, --port2
--per-core
|
Input controller setup (comma-separated types, up to 6 for a multitap). |
| Audio |
-ns or --no-sound
--volume=<0-100>
--sound-core
|
Sound core and volume management. |
| Video |
--window-size=WxH
--aspect-ratio
--resolution
--filter
--upscale
--wireframe
--mesh
--banding
--vsync
--show-fps
--autoframeskip (no effect)
|
Display settings, graphical filters, and frame rates. |
| Emulation |
--sh2-core
--m68k-core
--sh2-cache
--clock-sync
--base-time
|
Advanced CPU core and timing synchronization settings. |
- Cartridge types:
none, par, bup4, bup8, bup16, bup32, dram8, dram32, dram128, rom16, netlink, modem, stv, dev, vcd.
- Controller types:
none, pad, 3dpad, mission, twin, gun, keyboard, mouse, wheel, cabinet (the cabinet type corresponds to the ST-V arcade cabinet).
- List-value options: these also accept the ID number saved in the
.ini file, except for --resolution.
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- A windows developper to help fixing this port.
- A Linux developper.
- Testers.
- Translators.
- Any help that you can provide (info, technical docs, etc...).
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You have to download this file : Kronos_default.yts
Translating Kronos is pretty simple. Here's an example :
File|"translate the string here"
Close|"translate the string here"
Here's a french example :
File|Fichier
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| Author |
Language |
| Benjamin Siskoo |
French |
| Luis Manuel Sánchez Pérez |
German |
| siminoliso |
Italien |
| Luis Manuel Sánchez Pérez |
Spanish |
| dante3732 |
Russian |
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| Name |
Description |
| François Caron |
Kronos developper |
| rob-ack |
Developper |
| Benjamin Siskoo |
Translator, build maintainer, tester |
| Barbudreadmon |
Kronos Retroarch port |
| Fafling |
Tester with technicals docs knowledge |
| Luis Manuel Sánchez Pérez |
Spanish/deutsch translator, tester |
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Kronos est sous Copyright © 2017-2026 par François Caron.
SEGA SATURN is either a trademark or registered trademark of SEGA.
Kronos is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the companies mentioned.