[GUIDE] Building your own Flashable ROM

[Guest amdzero]

This will be the first installment of Guides to building/cooking your very own ROM. I know there is a lot of talent out then and if we can pool it together we can make our phones even better (or at least better looking).

This first part is rather easy and just gets your feet wet as there are a LOT of things to learn about cooking. If you are patient you can make some amazing roms. The only thing I ask is that you make one for the rest of the community as well. It's all well and good to make your own custom rom, but to not share some of your work will not further others in their quest for the "perfect" phone.

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UPDATE: This is a new kitchen for those who want a more updated version. It is Windows Mobile 6.5 build 21911

Stock DC23 Rom ported with 21911 (PDA only):

21911 Kitchen

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Stock DC23 Rom from Samsung (PDA only not CSC):

http://www.4shared.com/file/AyPwHiDe/i920_DC23_Stock7z.html

First Guide

ROM_COOK_GUIDE.doc

Edited August 2, 2010 by amdzero

[Guest amdzero]

Okay guys here is part 2 of my ROM cooking tutorial.

I think I you may have to reset the Read-Only Flag on the initflashfiles.dat I cannot remember.

I just have one word of caution for you guys wanting to create your own ROMs. If you find cracked cabs (yeah I know they are out there) DO NOT post them nor the ROMs created with them here at MoDaCo. It is against their policy.

I'm attaching the part 2 guide and the batch file for opera.

ROM_COOK_GUIDE_2.pdf

ERASEOPERA.zip

Edited May 1, 2010 by amdzero

[Guest amdzero]

Alright so this is my next guide (sorry it was so late comming, took a break from cooking for a bit.) and it deals with porting over a sys and xip from a newer "leaked" build from newer Windows Mobile com branches.

check it out and let me know what you think.

ROM_COOK_GUIDE_3.pdf

Edited May 27, 2010 by amdzero

[Guest amdzero]

Reserved

[Guest amdzero]

Reserved

[Guest Shemmy]

Okay, I'm downloading now - I just need a copy of the newest SYS folder, and I'm going to try a few things :huh:

[Guest das7771]

Thanks AMD,

I can already cook my own roms, but I would love to have one good enough to share with the community. I'm taking my kid to disney this weekend and this will give me something to do in the hotel at night while the family sleeps. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

[Guest kdkinc]

Thanks AMD,

I can already cook my own roms, but I would love to have one good enough to share with the community. I'm taking my kid to disney this weekend and this will give me something to do in the hotel at night while the family sleeps. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

Wait a minute...Your going to take kids to Disney and walk around all day . Stand in lines. And Sweat (Florida), Glissen (California).and not be able to sleep ??? :huh: :P

I really hope you have a GREAT TIME :blink:

:o :D

[Guest amdzero]

Thanks AMD,

I can already cook my own roms, but I would love to have one good enough to share with the community. I'm taking my kid to disney this weekend and this will give me something to do in the hotel at night while the family sleeps. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

when I go to disney I usually have a great time. but my favorite part of the day is always bed time!

Have fun

[Guest das7771]

when I go to disney I usually have a great time. but my favorite part of the day is always bed time!

Have fun

Ya, I know I will be tired but I can never sleep in those dang hotel beds, at least i can play on my comp.

[Guest thrawn72]

This will be the first installment of Guides to building/cooking your very own ROM. I know there is a lot of talent out then and if we can pool it together we can make our phones even better (or at least better looking).

This first part is rather easy and just gets your feet wet as there are a LOT of things to learn about cooking. If you are patient you can make some amazing roms. The only thing I ask is that you make one for the rest of the community as well. It's all well and good to make your own custom rom, but to not share some of your work will not further others in their quest for the "perfect" phone.

Stock DC23 Rom from Samsung (PDA only not CSC):

http://www.4shared.com/file/AyPwHiDe/i920_DC23_Stock7z.html

First Guide

ROM_COOK_GUIDE.doc

Nice work putting this together will help a lot a people out. :huh:

[Guest pw-man]

AMDZERO - Thanks for posting this - great read!

Now if someone would just document out the file breakdown for the various apps in the OEMApps subdirectory to enable us lesser experienced to pull out all the crap, based on which apps we don't want. ;-)

[Guest amdzero]

AMDZERO - Thanks for posting this - great read!

Now if someone would just document out the file breakdown for the various apps in the OEMApps subdirectory to enable us lesser experienced to pull out all the crap, based on which apps we don't want. ;-)

That would be a great idea, I may do that in the future, for now enjoy part 2 of cooking your own flashable ROM.

(GET IN THE FREAKIN' KITCHEN ALREADY!)

[Guest Flooder]

alright, I'm probably a thousand miles over my head, but I'm trying to play around with this. However, when I download your file I get a message from windows saying it doesn't know what type of file it is. What am I missing?

Also, do I need to update my phone to the latest Samsung update or will building and installing this ROM accomplish that?

TIA

[Guest amdzero]

alright, I'm probably a thousand miles over my head, but I'm trying to play around with this. However, when I download your file I get a message from windows saying it doesn't know what type of file it is. What am I missing?

Also, do I need to update my phone to the latest Samsung update or will building and installing this ROM accomplish that?

TIA

If it is a 7z file, you need to go get 7zip. When I made the file, I thought it would be larger than 200mb, so I was going to split it. That's why it is a 001 file. Just use 7zip to decompress it, it is free.

You don't have to do the official samsung update, however I highly recommend it. My stock flash file is the same, but with out the radio/phone updates.

So do the samsung update FIRST please.

Edited May 1, 2010 by amdzero

[Guest das7771]

If it is a 7z file, you need to go get 7zip. When I made the file, I thought it would be larger than 200mb, so I was going to split it. That's why it is a 001 file. Just use 7zip to decompress it, it is free.

You don't have to do the official samsung update, however I highly recommend it. My stock flash file is the same, but with out the radio/phone updates.

So do the samsung update FIRST please.

You can also use winrar for people that are currently using that program.

When I downloaded the file, it was named i920_DC23_Stock7z.001. I use winrar so I had to delete the .001 file extension and then renamed the file to i920_DC23_Stock.7z. Winrar will unzip it just like 7z will.

[Guest Ninja4Hire]

So hows the rom building coming? Does anyone have any questions or any problems? I know taking on a rom is a commitment and actually can be overwhelming if you try to rush it.

Just remember to ask questions if you get stuck. I get stuck all the time on simple stuff. lol I had to ask AMD how to he got DC23 on his new rom. I couldn't figure it out for nothing!

Anyway... Stay Strong Rom Warriors!!

Edited May 4, 2010 by Ninja4Hire

[Guest das7771]

So hows the rom building coming? Does anyone have any questions or any problems? I know taking on a rom is a commitment and actually can be overwhelming if you try to rush it.

Just remember to ask questions if you get stuck. I get stuck all the time on simple stuff. lol I had to ask AMD how to he got DC23 on his new rom. I couldn't figure it out for nothing!

Anyway... Stay Strong Rom Warriors!!

So far so good. I have removed alot of stuff and all still seems to be working. I am hoping to have a ROM for release some time next week. One question I do have for you ninja, is there any other way to get titanium to recognize the standard CHome plugins instead of the Splugins. I know you use XDA_UC to run a mortscipt file at first boot, but I would like to find a way to do it with out using XDA_UC as I know nothing about writing scripts. I am going to experiment with some ideas I have tonight, but not sure what will work.

Edited May 4, 2010 by das7771

[Guest Ninja4Hire]

So far so good. I have removed alot of stuff and all still seems to be working. I am hoping to have a ROM for release some time next week. One question I do have for you ninja, is there any other way to get titanium to recognize the standard CHome plugins instead of the Splugins. I know you use XDA_UC to run a mortscipt file at first boot, but I would like to find a way to do it with out using XDA_UC as I know nothing about writing scripts. I am going to experiment with some ideas I have tonight, but not sure what will work.

I was struggling with that myself. I still can't find what samsung is using to revert titanium back to Splugins. All the .rgu files say it uses windows default, but onces it loads, it goes to splugins. If you get it working, please share with the class :P. It's probably a .dll file, but I kinda gave up looking and just wrote the mort script (which is easy btw)

#Set Chome to Titanium and not SPlugin

RegWriteString("HKLM", "\Software\Microsoft\CHome","CPRFile", "Titanium")

RegWriteString("HKLM", "\Software\Microsoft\CHome","ExtensibilityXML", "<Plugins Order=""CMyPhotos;CMusic;CPhone;CClock;CText;CAppointments;CHomeFavs""  CPRFileName=""Titanium"" DisplayStyle=""Titanium"" />")

Throw this in a text file, save as "cook.mscr" then just put it in your OEMapps folder. You can also pick what Chome plugins you want to have visible.

[Guest das7771]

I was struggling with that myself. I still can't find what samsung is using to revert titanium back to Splugins. All the .rgu files say it uses windows default, but onces it loads, it goes to splugins. If you get it working, please share with the class :P. It's probably a .dll file, but I kinda gave up looking and just wrote the mort script (which is easy btw)

#Set Chome to Titanium and not SPlugin

RegWriteString("HKLM", "\Software\Microsoft\CHome","CPRFile", "Titanium")

RegWriteString("HKLM", "\Software\Microsoft\CHome","ExtensibilityXML", "<Plugins Order=""CMyPhotos;CMusic;CPhone;CClock;CText;CAppointments;CHomeFavs""  CPRFileName=""Titanium"" DisplayStyle=""Titanium"" />")

Throw this in a text file, save as "cook.mscr" then just put it in your OEMapps folder. You can also pick what Chome plugins you want to have visible.

Thanks man, I will use this in the mean time, until I do or don't figure out another way.

[Guest Shemmy]

Once I find a job (I'm busy looking and trying to get some technical certs - and trying to find a new car), I'll be back in the kitchen. I do need to know if someone can point me to a tool to get a dump from the nb0 file, though.

[Guest Ninja4Hire]

Once I find a job (I'm busy looking and trying to get some technical certs - and trying to find a new car), I'll be back in the kitchen. I do need to know if someone can point me to a tool to get a dump from the nb0 file, though.

DskDump 2.0

Place on phone and it will dump a bin to your storage card.

[Guest amdzero]

Thanks man, I will use this in the mean time, until I do or don't figure out another way.

The file is located at...

OEM\OEMApps\mxipcold_zzzOEM_005.provxml

It contains the ExtensibilityXML and CPRFile values that point to splugin.

I just commented it out with <!-- blah blah -->

and created my own .rgu file with the follwing in it.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Chome]

"CPRFile"="Titanium"

"ExtensibilityXML"="<Plugins Order=\"\"CMyPhotos;CMusic;CWelcomeCenter;CPhone;CVoicemail;CClock;CText;CEmail;CAppoi

ntments;CHomeFavs;CWindowsLive\"\"  CPRFileName=\"Titanium\" DisplayStyle=\"Titanium\" />"

This way it cooks in properly without having to change on firstboot.

Note:

if you do create your own .rgu file make sure it is unicode (little Endian) and there is an extra line return at the bottom or it will complain.

Also the "ExtensibilityXML" line is all ONE LINE, but won't display properly here in the forums.

Edited May 4, 2010 by amdzero

[Guest Ninja4Hire]

The file is located at...

OEM\OEMApps\mxipcold_zzzOEM_005.provxml

It contains the ExtensibilityXML and CPRFile values that point to splugin.

I just commented it out with <!-- blah blah -->

and created my own .rgu file with the follwing in it.

I'm giving you my best Arthur Fonzarelli (aka the "Fonz") impression! Two thumbs up!

Edited May 4, 2010 by Ninja4Hire

[Guest das7771]

The file is located at...

OEM\OEMApps\mxipcold_zzzOEM_005.provxml

It contains the ExtensibilityXML and CPRFile values that point to splugin.

I just commented it out with <!-- blah blah -->

and created my own .rgu file with the follwing in it.

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Chome]

"CPRFile"="Titanium"

"ExtensibilityXML"="<Plugins Order=\"\"CMyPhotos;CMusic;CWelcomeCenter;CPhone;CVoicemail;CClock;CText;CEmail;CAppoi

ntments;CHomeFavs;CWindowsLive\"\"  CPRFileName=\"Titanium\" DisplayStyle=\"Titanium\" />"

This way it cooks in properly without having to change on firstboot.

Note:

if you do create your own .rgu file make sure it is unicode (little Endian) and there is an extra line return at the bottom or it will complain.

Also the "ExtensibilityXML" line is all ONE LINE, but won't display properly here in the forums.

You are the man AMD!!! I am a total newb at this stuff but after a couple of trials and errors I finally figured it out what you were talking about. I can not thank you enough. I almost feel smart...LOL