Does that one even need a chip? I thought you could just trick the door switch.
you can do the swap trick on all models to my knowledge.
thing is, that's rough on the spindle/motor
No no. The method I've used you can do without touching the CD when it's in motion. I'm not sure if I can recall it though since I only used it in the couple of years before mod chips were invented and when I try to remember it I start confusing the SS door switch trick. This only works on early models and possibly no US models. Again, it was a long time ago...
There is a SS swap trick that few people seem to remember that also doesn't require you grab a moving disc. I do remember this one. It only works on CDRs though, you need a soldering iron or one of those shitty PAR carts to defeat region. This only tricks the SS into thinking your CDR is real. The PS is dumb and can't tell the difference.
I'd be very curious to hear how this method works.
but to the point of SS vs PS copy protection-
on SS, the copy protection and region coding are two separate things, where the PS copy protection is also the region coding.
On PS it works something like this-
system has it's region code (SCEA, SCEE, etc.)
when the game is being checked, the system is expecting to read the same code from the disc.
the thing is, this code has something to do with the disc being a pressed disc vs. a CD-R, and is somehow lost on burned discs.
since it's not there on burns, the system says "no i don't wanna do that" and boots you to the system menu.
modchips interrupt this check and just force the system into thinking the code is there while the system reads a CD.
saturn actually has the region code stored in the header that identifies the game, meaning it's part of the game data, and gets replicated when the disc is copied.
the copy protection however had something to do with that "ribbon" you can see on the underside of SS discs.
basically, the system would check that, then the game header, then load up the game.