Audi TT Forum banner
281 - 300 of 2,843 Posts
m4k4r0vbf said:
There is no performance difference if you update either 17 of 5F (inthis thread).
What you get is slightly better boot-up time...
Boot time improvement is what I need :D

Everything else is not important for me. I dont plan on using Android Auto or CarPlay. :)

Does anyone feel like their boot time is better after significant VC firmware update?
 
m4k4r0vbf said:
captainhero17 said:
If I may.
My experience with MMI firmware update was that there is no performance difference.
I cannot say the same for VC update (Unit17)!

I wish to know if anyone who did update their VC from a significantly old version to latest. If they see any tangible performance differences (smoother animations, boot time or button response)??
There is no performance difference if you update either 17 of 5F (inthis thread).
What you get is slightly better boot-up time, some icons updated, that new menu with the "forgot phone in the car" function (5F related) and additional sound settings.
The idea behind this thread is that you can do part of the job a person who activates Carplay (chargeable) has to do. You're basically dping half of his work, so if you let him know from the start you may get a better price for activating Carplay/Android Auto on your car.
I figured out how to activate Carplay on my own 2016 TT and did it to my friend's 2015 TT. If you already have the software on, you need to add features to your feature file and then flash a payload onto the car consisting of a patched file contained within a compressed filesystem (that sentence is almost as long as the three commands you issue to to do it). The problem is that you need a bit of computer knowledge to get in the car and extract those files and put them back without the bricking it. That said, it does all oil down to following a script, and so I suppose you could type it all in by rote without really knowing what was happening. If the software is already on the car and the adaptations are done, it's about 10-15 min of work to do and can be done with any laptop. Shuffling SD cards, rebooting, etc. What you're paying for is not having to do it yourself and the service's overhead of setting up an appointment time and their own time wherever they are, local or remote.

My TT started at software 0441 and is now at 1482. I don't really noticed any boot time changes. Maybe Carplay starts a bit faster when the phone is plugged it. But the earlier versions of the software for North American cars were buggy and that may have contributed to my happiness just seeing it work, finally. Yes, the car barks at you if you leave your phone in it. Yes, the dashboard software make some subtle changes to the look.
 
I figured out how to activate Carplay on my own 2016 TT and did it to my friend's 2015 TT. If you already have the software on, you need to add features to your feature file and then flash a payload onto the car consisting of a patched file contained within a compressed filesystem (that sentence is almost as long as the three commands you issue to to do it). The problem is that you need a bit of computer knowledge to get in the car and extract those files and put them back without the bricking it. That said, it does all oil down to following a script, and so I suppose you could type it all in by rote without really knowing what was happening. If the software is already on the car and the adaptations are done, it's about 10-15 min of work to do and can be done with any laptop. Shuffling SD cards, rebooting, etc. What you're paying for is not having to do it yourself and the service's overhead of setting up an appointment time and their own time wherever they are, local or remote.

My TT started at software 0441 and is now at 1482. I don't really noticed any boot time changes. Maybe Carplay starts a bit faster when the phone is plugged it. But the earlier versions of the software for North American cars were buggy and that may have contributed to my happiness just seeing it work, finally. Yes, the car barks at you if you leave your phone in it. Yes, the dashboard software make some subtle changes to the look.[/quote]

That sounds AWESOME, man!! Care to provide some steps for doing so, please?
I've updates the modules on MY16 TT myself, but unsure how to get that feature file you mentioned modified.
 
That sounds AWESOME, man!! Care to provide some steps for doing so, please?
I've updates the modules on MY16 TT myself, but unsure how to get that feature file you mentioned modified.
Providing that you have updated your car to version 1339, please do the following.

(1) plug your DLink adaptor into your car and the ethernet cable into your computer. I have a Mac laptop with USB-C so the ethernet cable on that side was plugged into an ethernet-to-USB-C adaptor that I bought from Amazon. Once you have your car connected, you may have to configure an IP address manually on your computer. In the network tab, set up any address like 172.16.250.123 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

(2) To connect to your car, you can open Terminal.app on your Mac or a command shell on a Window machine. On a Mac, used the Brew repository to install telnet. On a Windows machine, telnet can be enabled or terminal software like PuTTY can be used. Please note that you are connected to port 123 and not the usual telnet port which would be 23. The password tends to change with different versions of the software. The wiki below has a lot of useful information about MIB2:

http://wiki.mr-fix.info/index.php?title=MIB2

Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123
user: root
pass: i6aegSMk
(3) Your car runs a variant of a UNIX operating system. Put a FAT32 formated SD card in slot 1 and mount it with the command

Code:
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0
(4) Copy the feature file onto the SD card

Code:
cp /mnt/efs-persist/FEC/FecContainer.fec /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
(5) While the SD card is in the car, copy some additional tools on the SD card from the car and exit the session.

Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123  					
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0  
cp /usr/bin/flashlock /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
cp /usr/bin/flashit /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
cp /usr/apps/mib2_ioc_flash /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
exit
I wrote a small script to extract feature codes and create a command that can make the feature file. It was easier than opening a hex editor.

https://github.com/21tesla/auditools
https://github.com/askac/PorschePCMStuff

The file that has been patched is found in the second of two file systems contained in ifs-root.ifs. Following previous posts by others, I split this file in two separate files called stage1 and stage2. I decompressed, patched and compressed stage2.ifs into a new file called stage2-mod.ifs with tools on a mac and linux box. Some people flash the entire ifs-root.ifs file into a different address. I wanted to flash as little as possible.

https://mega.nz/file/DHgHTQLD#GDnxY23OEWZ_-2knMcej_KCW3yWw1Y4sl1QmOtFStQc

This file was made from MHI2_ER_AU43x_P5098 / software version 1339 for Europe. I imagine that you might be inviting disaster if you put this file on a car with different software because you are not just overwriting one file, you're overwriting a file system.

Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123  					
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0  
cd /net/mmx/fs/sda0                            
./flashlock                                    
./flashit -a ba0000 -v -d -f stage2-mod.ifs       
./flashlock                                    
./mib2_ioc_flash reboot
If you have already made the adaptation changes with Obdeleven or VCDS, then your only task left is to copy the modified feature file on the car and reboot.

After paying someone myself put carplay on my car, I worked out the process completely from scratch for the technical challenge and also knowing that I might be doing it again.

Why would I need to do this again? It turns out that the software that I had on my car had a bug where Carplay would blank out continuously. It had something to do with the parking sensors. This problem was known well to all 2019-2020 TTRS owners. A fix in the form of a new software version for North American TTRS owners was released in August. I purchased an authentic software update from a German OEM supplier since my local dealer did not have that part number.

I still wish that my dealer could have provided me an upgrade.
 
Providing that you have updated your car to version 1339, please do the following.

(1) plug your DLink adaptor into your car and the ethernet cable into your computer. I have a Mac laptop with USB-C so the ethernet cable on that side was plugged into an ethernet-to-USB-C adaptor that I bought from Amazon. Once you have your car connected, you may have to configure an IP address manually on your computer. In the network tab, set up any address like 172.16.250.123 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0.

(2) To connect to your car, you can open Terminal.app on your Mac or a command shell on a Window machine. On a Mac, used the Brew repository to install telnet. On a Windows machine, telnet can be enabled or terminal software like PuTTY can be used. Please note that you are connected to port 123 and not the usual telnet port which would be 23. The password tends to change with different versions of the software. The wiki below has a lot of useful information about MIB2:

http://wiki.mr-fix.info/index.php?title=MIB2

Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123
user: root
pass: i6aegSMk
(3) Your car runs a variant of a UNIX operating system. Put a FAT32 formated SD card in slot 1 and mount it with the command

Code:
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0
(4) Copy the feature file onto the SD card

Code:
cp /mnt/efs-persist/FEC/FecContainer.fec /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
(5) While the SD card is in the car, copy some additional tools on the SD card from the car and exit the session.

Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123  					
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0  
cp /usr/bin/flashlock /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
cp /usr/bin/flashit /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
cp /usr/apps/mib2_ioc_flash /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
exit
I wrote a small script to extract feature codes and create a command that can make the feature file. It was easier than opening a hex editor.

https://github.com/21tesla/auditools
https://github.com/askac/PorschePCMStuff

The file that has been patched is found in the second of two file systems contained in ifs-root.ifs. Following previous posts by others, I split this file in two separate files called stage1 and stage2. I decompressed, patched and compressed stage2.ifs into a new file called stage2-mod.ifs with tools on a mac and linux box. Some people flash the entire ifs-root.ifs file into a different address. I wanted to flash as little as possible.

https://mega.nz/file/DHgHTQLD#GDnxY23OEWZ_-2knMcej_KCW3yWw1Y4sl1QmOtFStQc

This file was made from MHI2_ER_AU43x_P5098 / software version 1339 for Europe. I imagine that you might be inviting disaster if you put this file on a car with different software because you are not just overwriting one file, you're overwriting a file system.

Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123  					
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0  
cd /net/mmx/fs/sda0                            
./flashlock                                    
./flashit -a ba0000 -v -d -f stage2-mod.ifs       
./flashlock                                    
./mib2_ioc_flash reboot
If you have already made the adaptation changes with Obdeleven or VCDS, then your only task left is to copy the modified feature file on the car and reboot.

After paying someone myself put carplay on my car, I worked out the process completely from scratch for the technical challenge and also knowing that I might be doing it again.

Why would I need to do this again? It turns out that the software that I had on my car had a bug where Carplay would blank out continuously. It had something to do with the parking sensors. This problem was known well to all 2019-2020 TTRS owners. A fix in the form of a new software version for North American TTRS owners was released in August. I purchased an authentic software update from a German OEM supplier since my local dealer did not have that part number.

I still wish that my dealer could have provided me an upgrade.[/quote]

You sir, are a LEGEND! Really great job you've done! Thank you!

Yes, my 5F already has MHI2_ER_AU43x_P5098 (SW 1339), so what's left for me would be to setup the PC-car connection via TelNet, copy the files on the SD, decompress them, make whatever changes necessary, compress them back and copy back to the car, right?

What's unclear for me is am I supposed to use this file you provided or is it just for reference? https://mega.nz/file/DHgHTQLD#GDnxY23OEWZ_-2knMcej_KCW3yWw1Y4sl1QmOtFStQc
 

Attachments

Yes, my 5F already has MHI2_ER_AU43x_P5098 (SW 1339), so what's left for me would be to setup the PC-car connection via TelNet, copy the files on the SD, decompress them, make whatever changes necessary, compress them back and copy back to the car, right?

What's unclear for me is am I supposed to use this file you provided or is it just for reference?
That file is a patched filesystem that can be flashed onto the car to allow your modified feature file to be deemed legal including the carplay/androidauto features that you added. I would flash the car, then ensure everything is fine, and then copy the modified FecContainer.fec file over and reboot. The adaptation changes can be done anytime.

The file to be flashed is 15992116 bytes. You're right that it is compressed but it doesn't need to be uncompressed. The actual compression used, for technical interest, is lzo, and that file is 44649248 bytes when uncompressed. If you really want to see inside it, the github link in the previous post has has a utility called dumpifs.

Please be careful when executing the commands on your car and consider paying for a service if there is any doubt. The memory location and other flags are important. For reference, here is the terminal output from the flash session on my own car:

Code:
	Connected to 172.16.250.248.
Escape character is '^]'.

QNX Neutrino (rcc) (ttyp0)

login: root
Password:
     ___           _ _   __  __ ___ _____  
    /   |_   _  __| (_) |  \/  |_ _|  _  \  
   / /| | | | |/ _  | | | |\/| || || |_)_/  
  / __  | |_| | (_| | | | |  | || || |_) \ 
 /_/  |_|__,__|\__,_|_| |_|  |_|___|_____/

/ > 
/ > cd /net/mmx/fs/sda0          
/net/mmx/fs/sda0 > ./flashunlock
[flashlock] unlocking flash: DONE/net/mmx/fs/sda0 > 
/net/mmx/fs/sda0 > 
/net/mmx/fs/sda0 > ./flashit -a ba0000 -v -d -f stage2-mod.ifs
Label: PL_qnx_flashit_10495A QNX: RL_qnx_650_10494A Built: 2010/12/10_11-21-47_UTC
/dev/fs0
--------
Flash size: 0x04000000 [= 512 x 0x20000]
Base addr:  0x00ba0000
File size:  0x00f40534 (15992116)
End addr:   0x01ae0534
*** erasing:     0x00BA0000 .. 0x01AE0533 [01AFFFFF] ...........................
................................................................................
................ 
*** programming: 0x00BA0000 .. 0x01AE0533            ...........................
................................................................................
................ 
*** verifying:   0x00BA0000 .. 0x01AE0533            ...........................
................................................................................
................ 
/net/mmx/fs/sda0 > ./flashlock
[flashlock] locking flash
0 image type=1(IPL     )       0...  1ffff (  131072)|0...1 (1):LOCKED
1 image type=2(IFS     )   20000... 3b0e53 ( 3739220)|1...30 (29):LOCKED
2 image type=2(IFS     )  540000... b9dba7 ( 6675368)|42...93 (51):LOCKED
3 image type=2(IFS     )  ba0000...1ae0533 (15992116)|93...216 (123):LOCKED
4 image type=4(DSP     ) 3d00000...3dc6923 (  813348)|488...495 (7):LOCKED
5 image type=5(BIOS/ADJ) 3f00000...3ffffff ( 1048576)|504...512 (8):NOT LOCKED
/net/mmx/fs/sda0 > 
/net/mmx/fs/sda0 > ./mib2_ioc_flash reboot
ShutdownResetRequest 3 to ipc2
ShutdownResetRequest 3 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 4 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 5 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 7 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 5 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 7 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 5 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 7 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 5 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 7 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 5 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 7 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 5 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 7 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 5 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 7 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 5 to ipc2
Sent Shutdown Request 7 to ipc2
Connection closed by foreign host.
To my surprise, the patched file is byte for byte identical to what I used in software 1389 for my North American car. So the files in that particular file system perhaps change less than I thought from version to version.

Although it has been mentioned in other threads, these are the adaptation changes in 5F that I made

Code:
Google_GAL    on
Apple_DIO   on
MirrorLink   on
Smartphone_interface_for_rhmi    activated
On my own car, I had also changed one long coding. It may not be required in all cases. My sample size for doing this is very small!

Code:
Byte_19_usb      usb_ipod
 
The Fec file generation is a bit awkward so I made a Mac app.

https://mega.nz/file/OG4HFK5Z#_fmn9ADAz_IACqWgH4rI6lMNOXF6XnNEiaJDHzJj_4U

Open the app and drag an Fec file onto it. It will put two new files on the Desktop - you input file will be renamed to FecContainer-original.fec and the modified file will be FecContainer-Carplay.fec.

If the app doesn't run, your "files and folders" tap of "Security & Privacy" in System Preferences may be set up deny file writing. Give it permission in that case.
 
21tesla said:
The Fec file generation is a bit awkward so I made a Mac app.

https://mega.nz/file/OG4HFK5Z#_fmn9ADAz_IACqWgH4rI6lMNOXF6XnNEiaJDHzJj_4U

Open the app and drag an Fec file onto it. It will put two new files on the Desktop - you input file will be renamed to FecContainer-original.fec and the modified file will be FecContainer-Carplay.fec.

If the app doesn't run, your "files and folders" tap of "Security & Privacy" in System Preferences may be set up deny file writing. Give it permission in that case.
I try to run the app once I move fec file to the window it has error " set: Variable name must contain alphanumeric characters."
 
Mokorx said:
21tesla said:
The Fec file generation is a bit awkward so I made a Mac app.

https://mega.nz/file/OG4HFK5Z#_fmn9ADAz_IACqWgH4rI6lMNOXF6XnNEiaJDHzJj_4U

Open the app and drag an Fec file onto it. It will put two new files on the Desktop - you input file will be renamed to FecContainer-original.fec and the modified file will be FecContainer-Carplay.fec.

If the app doesn't run, your "files and folders" tap of "Security & Privacy" in System Preferences may be set up deny file writing. Give it permission in that case.
I try to run the app once I move fec file to the window it has error " set: Variable name must contain alphanumeric characters."
I saw that too and edited my post with a new link. You must have beat me to it and clicked the old link. Please click the link above. The new app has a grey icon.
 
21tesla said:
I saw that too and edited my post with a new link. You must have beat me to it and clicked the old link. Please click the link above. The new app has a grey icon.
Hi,

Just to be clear with all the process.

- Connection to the car with the good material.
Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123
user: root
pass: i6aegSMk
(or another to find with your link)

Put the sd card, mount it on the car, then extract data from the car
Code:
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0
cp /mnt/efs-persist/FEC/FecContainer.fec /net/mmx/fs/sda0/cp /usr/bin/flashlock /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
cp /usr/bin/flashit /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
cp /usr/apps/mib2_ioc_flash /net/mmx/fs/sda0/
exit
Now with your ModifyFEC Mac app (more easy then the extractFEC.py script) I have FecContainer-Carplay.fec and FecContainer-original.fec (as a backup)

After that I'm a little lost and don't understand exactly what to do
What did I have to do with FecContainer-Carplay.fec ?
You give us a stage2-mod.ifs, did we have to use yours ?


At the end, wee must flash stage2-mod.ifs in the car and reboot
Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123                 
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0  
cd /net/mmx/fs/sda0                            
./flashlock                                    
./flashit -a ba0000 -v -d -f stage2-mod.ifs       
./flashlock                                    
./mib2_ioc_flash reboot
If I'm right, could you detail me the process that I don't understand please ?
Thank your for all
 
After that I'm a little lost and don't understand exactly what to do
What did I have to do with FecContainer-Carplay.fec ?
You give us a stage2-mod.ifs, did we have to use yours ?


At the end, we must flash stage2-mod.ifs in the car and reboot
Code:
telnet 172.16.250.248 123                 
mount -uw /net/mmx/fs/sda0  
cd /net/mmx/fs/sda0                            
./flashlock                                    
./flashit -a ba0000 -v -d -f stage2-mod.ifs       
./flashlock                                    
./mib2_ioc_flash reboot
If I'm right, could you detail me the process that I don't understand please ?
Thank your for all
You're almost there.

The stage2-mod.ifs file is a 15 MB file that has three bytes changed in it from the original that bypasses the checks on your modified Fec file.

Rename your FecContainer-Carplay.fec file to FecContainer.fec and copy it to the SDcard. You can copy the unmodified FecContainer-original.fec file there, too, for safe keeping. The modified Fec file has two extra entries on it so it should be 16 bytes larger than the original.

While the other software tools (flashlock, flashit, mib2_ioc_flash) are on the car, I think it's good to have a copy of them on the SDcard. Copy the stage2-mod.ifs file onto the SD card as well. At this point, you will have an SDcard containing the following files

FecContainer.fec (your modified file)
FecContainer-original.fec (your original file)
flashit
flashlock
mib2_ioc_flash
stage2-mod.ifs

Place the SDcard in the car, login to port 123, and then issue the flash commands exactly as shown. The flashing takes about 1-2 min. The reboot takes about a minute. There is a log file in my previous post so you can see what should happen.

Login to the car again and copy the FecContainer.fec file that you modified. Reboot the car again.

Finally, make the adaptation changes in unit 5F with VCDS/Obdeleven if they haven't been done yet.
 
@21tesla which additional features are enabled on the modified FEC file? Is it just carplay and android auto? Thanks again for your contributions to this thread!

Just noticed that you stated in the previous post two additional entries so assume it's carplay and android auto, just wondering if it's trivial to enable sat nav updates?
 
gAgNiCk said:
@21tesla which additional features are enabled on the modified FEC file? Is it just carplay and android auto? Thanks again for your contributions to this thread!

Just noticed that you stated in the previous post two additional entries so assume it's carplay and android auto, just wondering if it's trivial to enable sat nav updates?
Yes, just two extra entries for Carplay and Android Auto.

I was asked about navigation today by another forum member, and I don't know. I wondered if a way to approach the problem would be to compare files with a car that has been modified to accept new navigation updates. From what I recall, the navigation update doesn't have a lot on it other than the maps so the update likely wouldn't touch the MIBroot file that has been patched to allow the CP/AA features to work. I don't know if the navigation update clobbers the Fec file, but if you had to put it back or make modifications to tell the car to accept the new navigation update, that can be done with the open source script.

If you want to poke around all the images on the SDcards, the dumpifs tool to get the contents didn't compile for me from the source from github, but after a few little tweaks, it worked on my linux box. I compiled it for Mac as well but there was a problem with the way files are read/written that seem to be specific to macs so I abandoned it.
 
@21tesla - since you've been digging around through the onboard filesystem, I wonder, have you come across the image files for the VC? I've always been perturbed that the color of the car image in the VC doesn't match the actual color of my car, and I was wondering whether the image could be replaced... :p
 
spidey3 said:
@21tesla - since you've been digging around through the onboard filesystem, I wonder, have you come across the image files for the VC? I've always been perturbed that the color of the car image in the VC doesn't match the actual color of my car, and I was wondering whether the image could be replaced... :p
You could always gets your car resprayed silver :lol:
 
spidey3 said:
@21tesla - since you've been digging around through the onboard filesystem, I wonder, have you come across the image files for the VC? I've always been perturbed that the color of the car image in the VC doesn't match the actual color of my car, and I was wondering whether the image could be replaced... :p
I'm sorry - I have no idea where that information might be. Might be burned on a chip in the hardware at the factory.

My expertise (if you can call it that), is limited to getting Carplay working on my TT
 
281 - 300 of 2,843 Posts