Moving forward with ECU FLash

[scientist]

Like I suggested on OZVR4, to help simplify matters and speed up development on the VR4 roms, we need to decide on a universal ROM ID.

Since the roms can work on all ecus with a few definition changes it would be simple to deploy.

It would help eliminate the issues of addresses and do things similar to how Ceddy has set it up for the Evos.

[pbaron]

Would you be looking to maintain this information in both forums or just here on CVR4, how do we get this moving forward as I am keen, cheers.

[Wodjno]

Sounds like a brilliant idea

Even though i have no idea what it means

[scientist]

Right now i only have the following rom ids in my possession...but don't know how well the definition files i have are.

Since things are all over this forum

I have:
23810003
20030011
20030013

[Adam.Findlay]

so you are trying to deploy a complete definition file? so every aspect of the ecu can be altered.
that would be fantastic as we could get so more from the car with a complet definition. I will be folowing this very closely

[pbaron]

After agreeing on a base image and custom ROM ID. Basically we pick a base ROM (7202 manual), work on producing an accurate definition file for this base and then everyone applies it to their ecu regardless of whether you are running a 7202 or 7203. That way everyone is working on deciphering the same base image rather than having to get the definition files correct for lots of different images, if there is no problem with applying and running the image on any 7202 or 7203 ecu then this is the way to go IMO.

so you are trying to deploy a complete definition file? so every aspect of the ecu can be altered.
that would be fantastic as we could get so more from the car with a complet definition. I will be folowing this very closely

[scientist]

There will not be a problem. You can flash a 7202 rom to a 7203 ecu. You just have to make sure you set the right mem model in the definition file.

So at moment...which romid is the most defined?

[scott.mohekey]

Just subscribing to this thread.

[Patryn999]

Must admit, I would be very tempted to use the newest ROM as it might have bug fixes/new implementations or something in it.

When I was making up a definition file for the EM24xx (can't remember off the top of my head) there was a byte offset for most tables, and some tables were moved, but I could find all the tables/locations from the 7202 definition on the newer ROM.

As for the most defined, probably have to ask merlin that one But my guess would be the EM2004.

[scientist]

So 23810004 it is.

So here is what i'm going to do

238x000y

for x:
1 = Manual
2 = Auto

y:
1 = 7202
2 = 7203

These will all just be modified versions of the 23810004 rom



So in the end we will have:

23820002 would make the rom work on a 7203 Automatic car.
and 23810001 would work on a 7202 Manual car etc.

Will start working on a draft to start tommorow

[pbaron]

OK, who has a copy of an unmolestered 23810004 rom that they can upload here or send me? Cheers.

[scientist]

I have a few 238 roms that have been posted...but not sure if they are molested or not

[foxdie]

Sounds like a brilliant idea

Even though i have no idea what it means

At a guess mate, they're talking about having a stock definition file (ROM) for our cars, devoid of specifics such as whether the car;

• Is Automatic or Manual
• Has Traction Control
• Has AYC
• Has a 7202 or 7203 ECU

It would be a base for making fuelling maps, fuel cut levels, rev limiter etc etc.

Then when the tuning is done, it would be trivial to re-add those features above back in again. It would mean that all of us could reap the same benefits and not be wholly reliant on having one-off unique tuned ROMs for each variant of the EC5x VR-4

[scientist]

basically what he said.

But I will be doing testing to make sure it doesn't loose any features on certain vehicles or throw any check lights.

I have a 2001 Auto VR4 I can do testing on and a 97 manual. Both have AYC and the 2001 has trac

[Patryn999]

Yeah, I have (what I believe to be) a unmolested 2381 auto rom on my PC at home. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I was of the understanding that the difference between ECU code for auto/manual was just an entry in the periphery bits indicating which map set to use?

Question is we require a place to store the rom/definition. And a sufficient interface for storing the .xml def, if we plan on working on it/discovering more stuff. I'd suggest an SVN on my PC at home (have a laptop running a mailserver for canterbury climbing club, so always-on is not an issue), but I'm not sure how many people here would be familiar with a version control system (definition developers only).

On a side note I had a small email chat to Ceddy, who's done the modifications to the Evo roms to add SD, CEL on knock and a bunch of other stuff. Turns out becauce the compiler & linker is not ideal he did it all in a hex editor... might start looking at the code jumping to known locations (such as timing tables, etc) and see if the code is similar to evo, in which case we may be able to port some of the mods across to the VR4.

Hopefully The latter suggestion could all turn out to be considerably more difficult than imagined.

[scott.mohekey]

I've had a fairly in depth play at disassembling the roms with IdaPro, and found it to be VERY helpful. It doesn't help as far as compiling stuff goes however, but it does have a hex editor built in (from memory).

I second the idea of version control, but I would suggest using http://bitbucket.org/.

[foxdie]

That or Assembla that offers unlimited users and unlimited repos with a 2GB limit spread across all repos you create.

I can personally vouch for the service as we use it for hosting web application code that we need to share with our clients directly.

As the likelihood of reaching that 2GB limit is highly unlikely when you're working with 1-2MB files, this may be a viable option for you guys

[Nutter_John]

Ok a question , what happens when someone uploads a corrupt file into the repositry and people start to use it , this then blows up someones engine

where is the quality control and change control processes

[scott.mohekey]

What we can do is have 'branches' where there is a development branch that we work on and a 'stable' branch that people use who are NOT developing things. Bit Bucket also allows file releases/downloads which means we could put known working/stable files up in a separate section to avoid confusion.

Jason, I would still recommend bitbucket, simply because it uses mercurial over subversion.

[Patryn999]

The idea being that only the developers would use the repository, and we (hopefully) would pay a little more attention to details such as what was changed.
Probably would also require people to sign up, so we know who changed what/etc. (elimintates most random trolls).

A stable (and tested) release would be posted on the forum(s)? by one of us for other people to use. (Or as scott suggested, on third party site).

I don't see it as any less dangerous than the current system we have of everyone willy-nilly handing out definition files.

Edit: Too slow in my proof reading... Scott won the race.