It has been released and is now available at http://www.ppcgeeks.com/6700yuma-cus...3-3-t2423.html

(See edit at bottom...issue resolved, see bottom for fix)

Ok, I built a custom ROM with .NET and Crossbow.tsk. Then I tried to go back and edit my default.hv to make some registry edits with the idea of rebuilding my nk.nba file and reflashing (an incremental update, if you will). I get the error in the attached screenshot.

When I initially built default.txt for my first attempt at a ROM, I pasted all the .NET registry entries at the bottom of the file. I've noticed that when I went back to edit default.txt the second time around, the entries for .NET had moved to the middle of the file. I guess the txt-to-hv file does this - maybe it alphabetizes them.

Needless to say, this isn't working now. I get the above error trying to build default.hv, and the default.hv that comes out of this process is much too small (552KB, when the original was 676KB).

Does this mean that one has to start from scratch every time you do a ROM? That seems like a ton of work...Colonel, how are you handling your updates as you add things?

Thanks to all for the tools and for any advice!

EDIT: The solution was that all the registry entries I copied for .NET CF2 had "\" in the paths, which need to be "\\" so the parser can figure out what to do with them. Being a former Perl guy I really should have figured that out more quickly - and I recall reading something about that somewhere as well. Here's what I don't get: Colonel's registry entries from the .NET package are formatted correctly. So I'm wondering what process undid that and messed up my default.hv file? Hopefully I won't have to fix this every time I rebuild a new ROM.

Strictly speaking, the final step there doesn't appear to be necessary. There is some process during nba/nbf building/flashing that takes the files with .dll extension (note no underscore) from the DUMP folder and copies them to the Windows directory as DLL files. In the original DUMP folder, the files with .dll_ are the good files, so it moves the wrong ones into \Windows. When you rename the files in the DUMP folder, you make the "good" .dll_ files and make them .dll files, so the ones that get copied to \Windows are the good ones. The bad files, which you've renamed .dll_ (with underscore), get copied to Windows\OEM, where I believe (so far) they do no harm.

I just created a ROM only doing the renaming part of that process, and pics&vids are working. I can tell by the file sizes of the DLLs in the Windows folder that I have the right ones:

mfc80u.dll: 672K or 671K (PC versus Resco Explorer)
msvcr80.dll: 37K or 36K (PC versus Resco Explorer)

Now that I've renamed the files in the DUMP folder, the ones with the DLL extensions are the "good" files, so I may change the initflashfiles.dat to read:

Directory("\Windows\OEM"):-File("mfc80u.dll","\Windows\mfc80u.dll")
Directory("\Windows\OEM"):-File("msvcr80.dll","\Windows\msvcr80.dll")

This means the "good" files will be copied to \Windows\OEM as DLL files. Note that since we renamed the files in the DUMP folder we had to make a corresponding change in initflashfiles.dat because before we made this change, the original two lines in initflashfiles.dat copied the good files over and changed the extension from .dll_ to .dll.

Whew!

dumb question, is there any easier way to simply change the boot screen, rather than have to rip apart the ROM and repack everything?

Yes, you can change the bootscreen - which boot screen are you talking about? The cold boot, or the warm boot?

both. the carrier one and the windows mobile boot screen.

The carrier bootscreen change is:

http://ppcgeeks.com/splash-screen-t1932.html

The other one is just a file in \Windows you can replace... forget the name, but whatever the thing is named in this topic, use that :D

http://ppcgeeks.com/wm6-crossbow-boo...ootscreen.html

Okay, i get a problem on step #2... I try to run the nba to dump and it says it can't find the IMGFS Start.

ur nba in the sae folder as imgfs tools and did u move anything?

If he is running nba to dump, he shouldn't need the imgfs file yet should he? This should be created by the bat files. However, if you are trying to dump a rom from a different phone in general (i.e. one from a Wizard, possibly Crossbow) you will have major issues. Am I close? :wink: :wink: :D

lol ur right but after the enter command it will...I wast paying no mind to what the error was...figured its user error 99% of the time :D

Speaking of, have you figured out a way to do "that thing" on the ftp. I want to get some stuff up and make sure it is not stolen or erased. :D

nope I havent.....Ive got a few members who are supposed to help keep backups of the ftp site tho. not sure what to do about it and the anonymous ftp is kind of expensive and unnecessary imho.

I guess we could go with password protected Winrar files. Can we get a download count? I ask because if all of the sudden there are 100 downloads in a day, I need to pull it. PM me back.

Now back to regularly scheduled on topic discussion.

DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKES I MADE:
Here is a little help for those of you getting ready to make your own ROM. Follow the directions in the first post.
- The .NBA file you create is cut from the first directory. It must be in the second directory when you create the dump. It must also be in that same directory when you put the dump back into the .NBA file. You might get busy and move it. The dump into NBA program will run without the .NBA file in the directory, but you will just waste your time if the file is not there. After the dump to .NBA program runs, you WILL NOT see any changes in the .NBA file (date modified, or size), but the dump has been placed in there.
- The .HV actions gave me the biggest problems. The first time you make an .HV, a boot.rgu will be created. It does not belong in the .HV directory. The next time you run the make .HV if there is a boot.rgu in the directory, it will mess up your default.hv. It will give you a very small default.hv 68K vs 700K or so. Also if you are making a ROM with .NET 2.0, the hv to txt program will not formt correctly. You will need to edit the NET 2.0 entries from @="\Windows to @="\\Windows.

I hope this info saves someone a day or two of work.

ooh, damn, nailed it on the head... so that's the problem. i just assumed it would break down the same way. hehe thanks

:sign5: :toothy10: :toothy10: Knew it.

6700 vs tre650 building rom
 

I would love to do this to make my own extdended rom but on paper here it llooks pretty hard. I used to flash my tre550 alll the time. That was a piece of cake. In reality is it harder to do for the 6700 or would you say if one could do it for the treo one could do it for the 6700??

Now cheryl this is a complet ROM tutorial not a ExtROM. Which would be easier. But I u feel up to it, give it a shot. And surely if u could do it on ur treo, with a little practice u will have the hang of wm. ;)
~Mike

Hi Zoomie (USAFA?) - when I do my first .hv to .txt coversion for say default.hv, and search for '@="\Windows"' I get nothing and I can't find any @= references in the .Net registry entries. Am I looking in the wrong places?

Thanks, Jeff

ahhh... I think I've got it -

search on:
\Windows\Microsoft

and replace with:
\\Windows\\Microsoft

in the .NET Compact Framework registry entries...

Jeff, you will also be given errors by the default to hv app if there is something wrong. When you get that error, it will tell you the key where the error is. As a note, always save your .hv files twice in different places. Do this because the one in the HV tools folder is used during the conversion and if you have an error, you will not get it back.

All - thanks so much for all of the help and assistance. I'm now a minor threat to my coworkers, etc.

I know that people are moving on to Kitchens, 3.5, WM6, etc., but I did try to incorporate everything from this thread into a doc that builds on Mike's first post (and credits him for it!). I'm hoping it will be relevant moving forward. If not, que sera.

As I'm not going to be reverse-engineering that smart-dialer in 3.5 any time soon, I figured it was the least I could do.

I tried to break things down into very small steps, so I'm hoping it will help other n00b's, but maybe others will find it useful, too.

I didn't get it as finished as I had hoped (I have to get back to my real job...), but perhaps others can keep it moving forward.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone.

first i would just like to thank jeffme for the great how to update. of course i was a moron and didn't read it until after i spent hours trying to figure out why the .nba file wasn't coming out the way it should..lol.

now that i have read through this thread, and read the updated how to, i only have one (noobish) question to ask before i finish my custom ROM. when updating the default or user hv file, do i have to replace previous entries in the registry with new ones, or will the conversion process "see" the updates i make if i put them at the end of the file?

for instance, if i am putting the arcsoft mms stings into the hv file, do i have to track down all of the entries that are changed and insert the changes, or can i simply put the entire block of mms reg keys at the end of the file?

i hope this makes sense....thanks for the help.

-s

While creating the default and user HV files, i see the following show up in the black box:



This batch file will convert your default.txt to default.hv
to be used to replace original .hv in the dump folder.

Press any key to continue . . .
Microsoft (R) RGUComp Version 1.0.000
Registry file processor and hive builder.
Copyright (C) 2004 Microsoft Corporation All Rights Reserved.
built: Nov 19 2004 15:17:13
importing registry file ".\boot.rgu"...
InitRegistry FAILED in file ".\boot.rgu" within a few lines of line 13042.
BuildBootHive: (RGUComp) !ERROR failed importing ".\boot.rgu"
wmain: (RGUComp) !ERROR failed building BOOT hive
Press any key to continue . . .


Is this normal? It looks like the process is having a problem with the boot.rgu file? Help please
:oops:

Somethings not formatted correctly or u have word wrap on when editing. Did u save as unicode? These are common mistakes that end in this result.

Did you have a copy of the boot.rgu in the folder when you ran the batch? You must make sure to remove anything that is created before running again. Unlike the dump-to-nba that patches the nba and needs it in the folder, the .hv and .rgu files must be deleted before running.

i did remember to save in unicode first, and i did turn off word wrap before opening the default.txt and user.txt. And i did make sure to kill the boot files that are created (those aren't needed for anything later right?) I'm stumped at this point :-(. Would there be anything else i could have missed?

EDIT: Forgot that i was using notepad2 for the editing. When i use the original notepad, the errors disappear. :oops:

-s

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

I made my own custom ROM based off of saridnour's latest 3.5 ROM. I added the exe for voice command, added the MMS app from this site (Thanks Wideawake), pocket wakeup(english version), O2 plus (thanks colonel) , Resco Explorer (thanks Sogarth), Smartskey, added some of my fav all black .tsk's including the Iphone skins, added a couple of reg tweaks, and voila.

It booted normally and I have not had an issue in the past 2 days!

Thank you all for your assistance in helping a noob to make his own custom ROM!

-s

first thanks to mike for puting this together. i just had one thing didnt work the boot screen creater file. i ran it and got a error. so if anyone can post that up i appreciate it.

4. Once extracted you will have a folder that contains two folders. One will have 3 files in it. (nk.nbf, ms_.nbf, and radio.nbf) The two you want are the nk.nbf (the core OS) and the ms_.nbf (the ExtROM).


looks like the show stops here for me. can't find a rom w/those three files. only the nk.nbf. so the ms_.nbf file, for me is MIA. how come a working/editable rom wasn't posted w/this tutorial????

was gonna jus skip over that but got stopped again at the "dump folder." where is it?

I'm seeing people say doin this is easy, not quite understandin where that's comin from. especially when one gets stuck a quater of the way through.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

use the kitchen this was the very first method to make a custom rom and nice is more advanced.
_mike

having issues with the kitchen method as well. due to the fact that the wince cab manager isn't exporting the registry. it says that feature isn't available unless i register the program. maybe that's the step i'm missing. please correct me if i'm wrong. Thanks.

This May Sound Stupid But Im New To This, Is There A Way To Take What I Have On My PPC And Back It All Up So I Could Just Reflash It To The Way It Is Right Now If I Ever Wanted To?

use a backup program such as Sprite or SPB.

Will It Back Things Up To The Proper Flashable Formats?

I believe Sprite Backup claims to flash across different ROM versions, if that's what you're asking. You'll still need to flash the ROM first, then restore your backup.

See What I Want To Do Is Back Up What I Have Minus Personal Info Into A ROM

It sounds as though you want to set up your phone the way you want it, then extract the ROM and save it on your PC for later flashing. I don't know of an easy way to dump the contents of the ROM currently on your phone.

Which ROM are you using? I suggest you try the 1.0.4 kitchen and build yourself a custom ROM. Then you can save the nk.nbf and flash back to it whenever you want. You could then use Sprite Backup to back up/restore all of your personal settings.

Depending on which settings you typically change, you could also create a "custom settings OEM" and cook it into your ROM. For example, if you always set the brightness to 8 and map the left key to "Note.exe", you could build a custom registry entry OEM so that the settings persist after a hard reset.

hi
i think i've a problem her...
3. Now you wanna cut you nk.nba from this folder and move over to the folder named 2. IMGFS Tools. Once you have the nbf in the folder you can run the nba_to_dump.bat.

it says : Searching for IMGFS start... Not found!
please, will you help me...