KosherBenz

how does one access this site?

Cormac

Oops, didn't realize I needed to change a setting on the site. Try it now.

Cormac

Hi all,

I finally got around to trying out my hack and.. (drum roll)... IT WORKED!

The steps amount to the following:
1) create a disk image of your DVD on your hard drive
2) swap the entries for "USA_FRAU1_V1720.SP5" and "GB_FRAU1_V2910.SP5" in SDB_1846b.DB (this is the hard part and requires understaning of the .DB file format)
3) burn your new NaviDVD
4) get into the service menu with the Nav+5 trick
5) Select "Start Navi update"
6) Voila! You've got an British navigation voice for good now

More detailed instructions will be posted on my COMAND wiki later today.

Cormac

I will continue this work with the goal of creating a toolset that allows us to take these files apart and rebuild them with our own content. The end game being the ability of having the voice file being recorded by ourselves. How cool would that be? Your car talking to you in your own voice! It might be a long shot, but then again the consensus used to be that the only way to get the British voice was to install the UK COMAND unit.

By the way, if you know any hackers that you are willing to let near your car, please make introductions. I could use some help. Thanks.

Dean62

OK so some basic questions from the technologically uninclined.

1. Whats is a disk image? Do you mean take the DVD out of the DVD drive in the trunk (i think) put it into your DVD drive in your computer and copy it to the hard drive? Details please like you may explain it to a child. You won't be far off of the mark.

2. What is a HEX-Editor?

Thank you. I think the British voice is much more pleasant and would really enjoy the tweak.

Of course, in the alternative you could just create a copy for me, and I'll give you a shipping address. I think I could handle it from there.

Dean

PS: I just had a great idea...you create a copy for me and then I would copy it and send it off to the next board member who would do the same. We could populate the board in no time.

dsc

Great work. 007 time here we come. I for appreciate all your work.

I agree with Dean62, I'm a Chemist and not to good with computers. Would it possible to get a copy of the disk or are the cars not necessarily compatible from year to year? I am happy to pay for the trouble.

Dogshine

Cormac - how much data is on the nav dvd? is it single or double sided?

I just got a cls55 last month and I wonder if my dvd is the same version as yours.

Do you just burn an .iso file to your dvd? Is this something that someone could host and we could all dl for all of our cars?

In addition, have you been able to access service menus or additional menus on the car? The cls guys don't seem to have a lot of this info but its got to be out there somewhere.

Cormac

I don't know how compatible my disc would be with other people's discs. I can only vouch for the E55 since that's what I drive. Also, putting the discs on a share would be illegal since MB charges for them each year. By sharing them, we would be allowing people with older discs to get access to newer ones. While I'm sure that some board members would be lax about it, I am not. Being a professional in the software industry, I am uncompromising on copyright issues (having been a victim of pirates myself).

I could do something were you send in your disc, I duplicate it with the desired modification, and send the new one and the original back. My biggetst concern is that whoever sends it in would not have navigation until I send it back. And since I have a day job, I would expect potential delays up to 2 or 3 weeks, which I assume would be unnacceptable for most of you. If you have alternatives to suggest, let me hear them. I'm all for spreading the joy!

Note: beside selecting the British voice, it should also be possible to trick the system into using the male voice instead of the female one. I haven't listened to the male voice yet, so I don't know if that's a good idea or not.

Cormac

Dogshine

The Navi-dvd is about about 1GB. It's single-sided, single-layer. Basically it's just big enough to not fit on a CD.

dsc

Cormac, I can appreciate your values and ethics. Thanks, for your hard work. If you would be kind enough to post specific/detailed instructions, that would be great.

gmdebruyn

Cormac, great work man. I have DB programming skills and all that. What utility did you use to swap the entries? I know you'll post on command wiki, but if you could just elaborate the steps of 1) / 2) and 3), telling us which specific programs you use, I think it would be a big help and hopefully answer a lot of questions on the board.

And if I can teach my mom how to burn CDs / DVDs, all you guys can easily quickly learn how to do it yourself. We just need a few details from above and we'll be in business.

dtxmob

Cool!

relisysj4

hey cormac, brilliant work.....i was wondering if it is possible to copy the nav cd we have now and use that while sending you the real dvd? the burned dvd should work right while you're workin on the real dvd?

gmdebruyn

cormac,

i tried just using my regular dvd (mb) one and i didn't see any progress when i did the navi-update. i tried this because i reburned the dvd and used your steps and got no progress from the car.

do we have to flash the car's memory somehow, or just hitting navi-update should do the trick?

also any suggestions on which hex editor we should use for windows? having a hard time finding one that allows you to replace offset/file length info.

thanks,
Gareth

V8 AMG

Hi Cormac,

Would it be easier and more efficient if you do the modification to the SDB_1846b.DB file and have it available on your website for downloading. All people would have to do after downloading this patch would be to replace this file with the original file on their Nav DVD.


P.S You can also do variations for downloading such as :

US Male Voice
US Female Voice
British Male Voice
British Female Voice


This way members can download whichever patch they want and change at will.

crhait

Cormac,
This is to cool. For us dummys, I mean me of course. Just to think that you were able to do this is, I'll say it again, TO COOL. Great job man! I would love to be in on an a easier way for us regular foke to also do this. let us know what you come up with.

Cormac

V8 AMG,

That's a good suggestion. Anyone know where I can put up ~100MB worth of files?

gmdebruyn

you could always host it on briefcase.yahoo.com? easy place to do it.

otherwise pm me if that doesn't work and i have a few places you might be able to store it.

Gareth

Cormac

gmdebruyn,

I'll check-out briefcase.

Also, I ran into some issues with getting the Navi-DVD change to take. I'll be doing a UK Male DVD this week and give it a whirl. In the process, I'll try to write down more precise instructions (assuming I can find a reliable pattern to make it work).

gmdebruyn

1) do you need to put up all the files or just the sound DB? i think its only 26megs.
2) yea, the navi-dvd change did not want to take. i'm guessing it checks version first and if it is not a new version it does not update. thats why i'm wondering if we have to trick it somehow or flash the memory.

Cormac

25MB * 3 (US Male, UK Male, UK Female). Hence, close to 100MB.

I'll do some testing end of the week, as I'm gone on a biz trip. This time, I'll use the a male voice, so I don't have to rely on my "accent" detector as much.

gmdebruyn

thanks cormac! can't wait to get your help so i can update my car.

hsandhu21

Holy ****, hat's off too u fellas i've been following these threads for ages and i knew it was just a matter of time, good job, can't wait to try this when i get home.

gmdebruyn

Cormac!! Where did you go man....

Bipasha493

Cormac!