Custom roms *no kitchen or anything like that* - Page 2

vMAC · #11 (**permalink**) 10-25-2007, 01:24 PM

Anyone mind linking to bepe's tool? Apparently that is what i need.

**dcd** · #12 (**permalink**) 10-25-2007, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gzub

I have only just gotten into creating roms, have had some success, this is what I do to create them... Figured this might start some conversations back/forth.

First, make sure you put the OliPro HardSPL on your titan so you don't wreck it.

Most of the tools below can be found searching with google and using the site tag "site

da-developers" in the search box. The main tools I use are tadzio's imgfs tools, bepe's pkgtool, and bepe's BuildOS (I have had to get BuildOS from one of the kitchens on xda-developers - have not found one separately)

Here is the approx order:

nbhtool or nbhextract - extract RUU_Signed.nbh into its component parts
nbsplit - convert the .nb of the OS above into .payload & .extra parts
imgfsfromnb - convert the .nb.payload into imgfs.bin
imgfstodump - convert the imgfs.bin into dump directory
pkgtool - convert dump directory into "packages"

This is where you modify and add stuff
pay close attention to initflashfiles.dat
Other useful tools for modifying the rom are G'Relloc (relocate modules from other hardware so it runs on the titan) and BuildDSM (creates DSM files for you).

BuildOS - "un-pkgtools" the dump directory into a new "temp" directory - needs to be run from the dump directory and needs to have a "tools" directory where some of the programs it uses lives. Also needs a copy of the boot.rgu from the XIP in dump/ROM/XIP (can be obtained using RomMaster and xipport tools).

imgfsfromdump - convert new "temp" directory into imgfs.bin
imgfstonb - convert new imgfs.bin into os.nb.payload
nbmerge - convert os.nb.payload into os.nb
nbhgen/nbhtool - convert os.nb back into RUU_signed.nb

I have sucessfully dumped the alltel rom, removed components, modified registry used packages from Pandora's Kitchen (you can find it on xda-developers) and the Apache WM6 Kitchen on this site and repackaged and installed it onto my titan without problems.

I have been a little vague on options used as it pays to understand what you are doing, and I am not necessarily sure I am using the best options and tools and although I had good sucess cooking with the alltel, my first attempts yesterday with the new sprint rom failed miserably.

I would like to get AKU .7 ported, but I have not quite figured out what that involves, can extract it, packagetize it, modify things, put it back into xip.bin, just don't know how to add it to the rom to flash back.

Hope that helps,

Geoff

pretty good summary. as for .7, and im not expert here but this is my understanding:
it is very easy to take the 0.7.0 OS, stick our drivers into it and g'reloc to move modules into place. ive done this with 0.4.2 and booted it, but it was not very stable. the problem is that the xip portion of the rom is not modified by what you and I are doing. the xip contains nk.exe and coredll.dll which make up the WM kernel. What I had done was effectively booting 0.4.2 files on a 0.2.3 kernel. In settings, about, it displayed our old 5.2.1238 but the new build number.

We have tools that can replace a module in the xip such as coredll.dll. However, the new version would have to be the exact same size in order to occupy the exact same space in the xip. Realistically this would not be the case, and the tables would have to be updated to reflect the new module locations. We do not have a tool to automate this process for us. I believe that the aku porting done in the past has been completed by people with lots of time and patience to update the tables by hand in a hexeditor.

zeurx · #13 (**permalink**) 10-25-2007, 07:01 PM

gzub when you use nbsplit what option do you use, i can get to the imgfstodump and then ill i get is a blank text file called dump_MemoryMap.txt and this on the cmd screen

Code:

Header type: 00000000, Addr: 00000FC0
 Unknown header type, FS_DATA_TABLE??

the addr changes but has the same error message

gzub · #14 (**permalink**) 10-26-2007, 08:20 AM

Are you using the latest version of the imgfs tools, see this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=298327

To get you a bit further:

Code:

NBHExtract RUU_Signed.nbh

This should yield 5 files, you want the one with OS in it.

Code:

NBSplit -titan 05_OS.nb

Which should yeild 05_OS.nb.extra and 05_OS.nb.payload

Then you want to run

Code:

Imgfsfromnb 05_OS.nb imgfs-out.bin

which will get you imgfs-out.bin

Finally to create the dump directory:

Code:

Imgfstodump imgfs-out.bin

Which will create a directory dump, then you can run packagetool on it and start playing.

Hope that helps...
Geoff

zeurx · #15 (**permalink**) 10-26-2007, 10:26 AM

great works perfect, i was using the imgfstool2.0rc2

pdub310 · #16 (**permalink**) 10-26-2007, 02:35 PM

When I use BuildOS, I get the error: The system cannot find the file specified. On the program window at the bottom in the status bar it shows: Error, last status "Creating registry". Does anyone know how to get around this? Im lost for the moment.

gzub · #17 (**permalink**) 10-26-2007, 02:43 PM

It took me a while to hunt that one down... I recommend using sysinternals filemon.exe when you get an error in BuildOS, it gives you great clues as to what might be missing or causing issues...

You either need a directory called tools where buildos is running (or the various tools in the path - rgucomp probably in this case) and you need a directory called ROM/XIP with the boot.rgu in it.

Hope that helps,

Geoff

**no2chem** · #18 (**permalink**) 10-26-2007, 04:35 PM

To anyone thinking about porting XIP from other devices - this isn't exactly a matter of copy and pasting nk.exe and dlls, or even taking the xip.bin from other devices - its a lot of work, as you need to change memory spaces around. I would recommend importing the XIP section from the kaiser, as the device is similar enough to ours - to start you would need IDA - which isn't free might I add - the demo should suffice though.

pdub310 · #19 (**permalink**) 10-26-2007, 07:36 PM

thanx gzub.. worked like a charm..

**dcd** · #20 (**permalink**) 10-26-2007, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by no2chem

To anyone thinking about porting XIP from other devices - this isn't exactly a matter of copy and pasting nk.exe and dlls, or even taking the xip.bin from other devices - its a lot of work, as you need to change memory spaces around. I would recommend importing the XIP section from the kaiser, as the device is similar enough to ours - to start you would need IDA - which isn't free might I add - the demo should suffice though.

ive attempted to boot my titan using the kaiser's and the hermes' xip with no success. My understanding was that we cannot modify the xip or its contents without manual table editing. what is IDA, and if the xip from the kaiser would suffice, why would any modification of it be necessary?

if you can point me in the direction of where to get started with 'moving memory spaces around' i am willing to put the time in to do the editing by hand. glad to see someone respond with more knowledge than myself about porting from another device.