How to Customize a Custom Rom: Adding/Removing Programs

[rstoyguy]

INTRO
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With this tutorial, I assume you have the correct Rom version and Radio version. If you do not already have
general 'PPCGeeks-Rom-Flashin' knowledge and DO NOT already flash your rom on a regular basis...This may not be for you.

The purpose of this tutorial is to assist you in customizing your choice of custom roms.
This is intended to:
-- Limit the time running UserCustomization when flashing.
-- Show you how to add/remove programs to your favorite roms.
-- Help you become a better PPCGeek!
-- Works with the PPC-6900. It should also work on the ppc-6800, ppc-6700....

This not intended to:
-- Teach you to become a rom chef.
-- Help deviants steal an accomplished chefs rom and call it your own.
-- Make any chef unemployed.
-- Teach you how to make custom regedits, or any other fancy chef stuff.


Why do all this when there is www.ppckitchen.org? The PPCKitchen is nice, but it is...sorta Robotic. While I have no complaints, it is somewhat limited. Quite a few rom chef's have spent month's customizing their rom. This means refining registry entries, picking and choosing what programs to include, maintaining current programs versions. These folks have put countless hours into these. I have my own rom preference. I personally prefer OMJ's rom and his customizations. And honestly, I don't use a couple of programs my chef chooses, and I usually add a couple of my own programs. This tutorial will help you cut down on the time that UserCustomization takes. We all know the benefits of a Custom Rom! This brings the art to the end user level.

Which brings up...USING THIS TUTORIAL IS YOUR CHOICE! I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT MAY HAPPEN TO YOU OR YOUR DEVICE! NOTICE: YOU CAN POSSIBLY BRICK YOUR DEVICE OR LOSE SLEEP ONCE YOU CATCH THE KITCHEN BUG! Ok, let's begin...

Credits
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I would first like to thank the following:
PPCGeeks.COM and ALL it's members! What I have learned in the past months, I have learned here from fellow PPCGeeks members.
A couple special thanks to:
ImCokeMan - for his Rom unlocker(s)
DogGuy - his kitchen...Bepe - BuildOS...All others involved in the kitchen
Old_Man_Jenkins (& most other recent chefs) - for him unwittingly allowing me to chop up their kitchens!
...and several others, thanks, you know who you are!

Terminology
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Here is a brief explanation of some terms I will use.
OEM - In the rom world, this is the same as a cab file so OEM_directory is the same as file.cab.
..\OEM - This is the directory in the kitchen that you will copy your OEM directorys into to add programs to your rom.
..\SYS - This is the directory in the kitchen that you will delete directorys from to delete programs from your donor rom.
..\RUU - This is where your finished flashable NBH file will reside when your done.
NBH - your in the upgrade thread...search...

PREPARE
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Files you will need:
1-Download and install install a kitchen from the FTP. Extract the exe/rar file and install to a directory. This will be your kitchen directory. For this tutorial, we will use c:\kitchens.

2-Locate your favorite chef.nbh file and copy it to your kitchen root directory. I did say copy! (Quick recovery when things go wrong)

3- Download OEM_PPCGeeks.rar (EDIT: This archive is now called PPCKitchen_OEM.rar as of July 2008 ) Extract this file to your drive be sure to extract using original directorys. Look through it and familiarize yourself with the directory names. (These are your OEM's) Later I will refer to this location as your PPCGeek_OEM folder.
Again they were, the kitchen, donor rom, and oem packages.

Getting aquainted with the kitchen structure
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Now lets take a quick look at the Kitchens directory structure. Everything will reside in the c:\kitchen directory. There are six directorys inside the Kitchen
..\
..\Logs
..\OEM
..\ROM
..\RUU
..\SYS
..\tools
There are only two directorys that we are concerned with. The only two we will be working with is ..\OEM and ..\SYS. The OEM directory is what you add your OEM_Programs to, and the SYS directory is where you can delete files from. Be carefull what you delete! Unless you can identify a directory as an OEM, DO NOT DELETE IT!

Getting to know the kitchen programs...the basics
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There are three files in the kitchen root directory you will use.

PrepIt.bat - Deconstructs the Donor Rom
BuildOS.exe - Builds the operating system portion. Combines the OEM's and System files.
BuildIt.bat - Builds your rom. Packages everything together and copies your new rom to the RUU directory.

That's right. Five easy steps:
1- PrepIt
2- Add/Remove Programs, I mean OEM's
3- BuildOS
4- BuildIt
5- Flash your Rom

[rstoyguy]

1- Deconstruct donor rom
-----------------------------------------
By now you have installed the kitchen, copied the donor rom and had a few quick pointers.
Let's get started...

Run PrepIt.bat

Some click on it out of windows explorer, and some run it from the dos command prompt. I have only had issues with ..\Tools\OEMizer.exe not doing it's thing in the proper directory. (which I never use...btw) Maybee that could be another tutorial. Windows seems to handle either for me just fine.

Tip: Contrary to popular myth, when you deconstuct a rom, the directory names for the OEM's stay the same and are easily identified!

Note: (Added 2/2/2009)
Here are some additional notes on Carrier Released Roms and how to get the NBH from the EXE:
Install WinRar. The rom is actually a self-extracting archive. Right click on the leaked rom (exe) and click on "Open with Winrar". From here, click on and drag the LARGER of the 2 NBH's (the big one is the rom as we know it) inside the exe and drop that into your kitchen. Then your good to go after you close winrar...


2- ADD/Remove Programs...OEM's
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This is the way I start.
Open up two copies of Windows Explorer.exe. I split my screen with one window on the left side, and one on the right side. On the left is the c:\kitchens directory, and of course the right window is your PPCGeeks_OEM folder.

ADD PROGRAMS- simply drag your OEM from the right PPCGEEKS_OEM directory and drop it into the c:\kitchen\OEM folder

REMOVE PROGRAMS - This is a little more complicated...

Here is the best way to approach it. In the left window, open the c:\kitchen\SYS folder, and the right window should still be your PPCGeeks_OEM directory. When you see a program you want to delete, simply delete the whole directory or folder.

IF YOU DON"T SEE THE FOLDER NAME IN THE LEFT AND RIGHT WINDOWS...IT MAY NOT BE SAFE TO DELETE!!!

I can't cover each and every OEM here, but from what I have seen, most everyone has the same stuff as far as OEM's go. Did I say pretty much the same stuff? Good. Once you have added and deleted what you want move on to step 3.

3- BuildOS
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This step adds/removes OEMS that you selected in step two.
In your left window, change back to the root c:\kitchens directory and run BuildOS.exe
This should have brought up a new window, this is the BuildOS program. In the window you should see most of the OEMS that you added. YOU WILL NOT SEE OEM's THAT WERE ALREADY IN THE DONOR ROM, and they will be added for you. Place a check mark to the right of the program that you have added. Please check all the programs you want included in the build. Next click that green arrow in the upper left of the window. This will create the OS. You will see the green progress bar to the bottom right. When it is done, BuildOS will say "Done." in the lower left corner. Now you can close BuildOS.

Things that can go wrong....
Most common are duplicate files in OEM's. In this case, BuildOS will display an error. I am not prepared in this tutorial to outline every duplicate. Normally you search your C:\kitchens directory for the offending filename and delete one of the two. This is the reason I suggest using the PPCGeeks_OEM package, the nice folks at ppckitchen.org have done this for you.

4- BuildIt
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In your left window, got to the kitchen root directory and run BuildIt.bat

When this is finished, so are you! You will find your new rom in the ..\RUU folder. It is named...

..\RUU\RUU_Signed.nbh

...This file is what most of you are used to downloading and flashing. You can now run ROMUpdateUtility.exe and test your new creation, change your pagepool, etc...

5- Flash It
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Congratulations! You have successfully Customized your Custom Rom!


Edit: If at any time you do something wrong...

1 - The kitchen renames your donor rom to Input.nbh in the root directory. So all you have to do is go back to step one and start over.

[mrhector]

Awesome tutorial. This is really handy to tweak the really good roms out there to your own preference. Much appreciated.

[OMJ]

Very nice tutorial Rstoyguy!

[Videonut]

Nice and straight forward. Good job. Maybe this'll get stickied.

[firefli]

I really like JD's sprint2921 ROM, and I'd like to have the gps and revA like the Hybrid ROM. If I use prepit to extract the nbh of each rom can I simply mix and match certain files to get gps and Reva on a stock like ROM? I'm sure that's over simplified but I really don't know. Can I turn one of the ROMS into a kitchen?

[rstoyguy]

Originally Posted by firefli

I really like JD's sprint2921 ROM, and I'd like to have the gps and revA like the Hybrid ROM. If I use prepit to extract the nbh of each rom can I simply mix and match certain files to get gps and Reva on a stock like ROM? I'm sure that's over simplified but I really don't know. Can I turn one of the ROMS into a kitchen?

The GPS and Rev-A is actually in the Radio. That topic on converging roms should be left to the chefs. This thread is for taking jd's rom and adding a few programs to it and taking out a few you don't want. Maybee you can request to have the features you liked in his 2921 rom installed in his current rom.

[firefli]

Originally Posted by rstoyguy

The GPS and Rev-A is actually in the Radio. That topic on converging roms should be left to the chefs. This thread is for taking jd's rom and adding a few programs to it and taking out a few you don't want. Maybee you can request to have the features you liked in his 2921 rom installed in his current rom.

There have been numerous requests of him already. I'd hoped it was something I could pull off. Do you think if I have the 3.xx radio installed I can run an older rom and get gps if I add the driver's?

[rstoyguy]

Originally Posted by firefli

There have been numerous requests of him already. I'd hoped it was something I could pull off. Do you think if I have the 3.xx radio installed I can run an older rom and get gps if I add the driver's?

Flashing an older rom on the new radio would not be wise. The new rom had to be ported from alltel to work with the new radio. You might try the PPCKitchen so you can create your own rom. It is fairly easy to use and has a support forum for it if you run into any problems. This tutorial is only for minor changes to an existing rom.

[Red49er]

Anyone know if the 'better' gps drivers that JD uses in his roms are being used in OMJ's roms? I'd like to try out his rom, but I've noticed a bit of a difference with JD's updated drivers.