I'm guessing AD put a check in right before it calls the OnOKButton() event to see if his text is still there . . . if not it just reboots the navi. I don't think it's something you can take out using a hex editor. I bet you'd need to disassemble his code.

I don't like it either. I'm a programmer and would never paste my name all over a program just so the users know who wrote it.

But I do like the hack! Maybe AD will rethink his signature. I would be willing to donate if there was a signature free version. There's no way I'm dotating for the current state though.

-Brian

 

Anyone willing to try seeing if the "AD" and the link are just being checksummed?

 

I guess I don't get the big deal with the AD being there. Would I like it gone? Sure. But since you can customize all of the rest of the nag text just as you had before (minus the last 2 lines) I don't see how/why it is a big deal.

hitting the OK button 4-10 times a day is WAY more annoying than AD for 2-4 seconds when I'm not even looking at the screen anyways. That's the best part, with the hack, you don't have any reason to look at the display until you need to use the Navi.

 

Although I agree, it's not a big deal, I still don't like it, and won't use it. It would be different if I could remove it.

To me the OK button has been replaced with AD... both eyesores.

Again, I would gladly PAY for a signature free patch. Angrydad, is this an option?

 

AD posted last night regarding that signature... he said if you want a signature free version you need to pm him.

 

Word...
there's so many threads to follow, I guess I missed it.

 

Hey Angrydad...
I did this a while ago. I noticed this feautre as well... but I also noted my HFL module was NOT listed when you do a DIAG screen.
Not to say that HFL wasn't working, it seemed to be working OK for the few commands I could remeber, but it may introduce other issues.

thoughts?

 

Hmm. I haven't noticed ant problem with diag.exe from the 404a bin. My HFL works well... I'll load the old diag back to see what's missing.

/AngryDad

 

It is an option... I am reachable via email listed on http://vistabug.com/navi

/AngryDad

 

I guess I just don't get it. The OK button wasn't an eyesore, it was a PITA. The AD is an eyesore.

In a case like this I'll take eyesore over PITA anyday.

So if you can get a sig free version great, I just can't imagine not removing the OK button because of 2 little letters.

 

Exactly. Sure, I'd like to remove the AD, if only because my wife is scared I might ruin my car with "some hacker's code." But, the main thing that I was looking for was a way to not have to interact with the thing while still getting the map. I was always trying to use the joystick to hit the OK as I was getting worried that always touching the same corner of the screen every time I started the car was going to wear off the matte finish on the display. The fact that I don't need to touch it at all, now, means I can live with the letters "AD" at the bottom of my screen for the few seconds that I'm actually looking at the road anyway.

To me, having a bunch of finger prints in the lower right corner of the screen are a bigger eyesore than "AD" in the lower left during system boot.

 

Sure...

1) I already have a "strong engineering" touchscreen protector, but the fingerprints do stink.

2) If you contact AD, he can set you up with a signature free version... you may have to donate to the effort is all.

 

I spent countless hours yesterday both at work and at home trying to figure out how I could remove the AD. My husband also looked at it too as he is a programmer. We tried using the version of the IDA program that was mentioned in the now closed thread, but I think it is too old because it really isn't disassembling all of the file. It's getting to a certain point and giving errors.

I wanted to do this for two reasons, 1) I don't want that AD there and 2) just to see if I could do it.

It does tick me off like others on here that it is there. I know that if I had found a way to do remove the ok button, I wouldn't have put my initials there or even asked for donations. I would have done it just for the good of the community here. There are countless people on here who have probably spent just as much time as AngryDad has looking into these navi hacks. Yes he was the one who figured it out, but given the proper tools, others may have been able to do it eventually.

I do thank him for it and wish that we could have some hints on the reverse engineering so that others can take up where he left off and do some of the other things that have been asked for. The more people we have working on this, the more we can accomplish. There are very sharp people on this forum and I know we could knock this stuff out.

 

Well I to am bugged by the AD so I decided to take a look at it. I've got to say I'm impressed with ADs work in putting the checks in place. I haven't done the actual math yet but here is the gist of what's going on in the patch:

- jumps into his code (which is mostly in what used to be french text)
- takes care of the actual hack calling an existing sub routine
- begins check code
- reads in static offset and manipulates it some resulting in getting the address of where the AD text resides
- reads all the AD & link text, manipulating it some
- adds a static offset to that resulting to get the correct address to jump out to
- jumps out to that address

So basically what needs to be done to get around the AD checks is to determine the correct address to Jump to after the hack is done. AD trickily based the math in determining this address off the actual text in his signature tag. So when you change that text you are actually changing the location in the code you jump to after the hack (which most likely will cause a reboot).

Anyway, I'll likely work around it but I don't intend to publish a work around.

I suggest that anyone who is really bothered by this contact AD and work directly with him, he must have put a ton of work into creating this hack.

-apnar

 

Guys, seriously he put in over 40 hours into this and your giving him shit for tagging it? He said ask him nicely in a PM and he would change it for you. Stop bitching about something that you never had and that someone else put a ton of work into.

 

who cares about his initials being there. just don't look at the screen while it's loading

by the time you look over at the screen it's already loaded. everyone bitched about the OK button, and now it's gone. appreciate that he removed the button, and actually gave out the "hack" instead of keeping it for himself only

 

I hope those who are telling us to "stop bitching" about the AD signature have actually donated to the effort, otherwise your appreciation for the work is without credibility.

I know I have contributed, but it seems my donation was not enough for him to release a signature free version to me. It seems the lack of "true appreciation" from the whole of the community has sent a message, and is forcing AD to take this work underground, and charge higher fees for service by those who actually "pay the piper".

 

my appreciation is saying thank you, nothing more and nothing less. no one forced him to do the work. he did it on his own time. if he wanted money he should have clearly stated that, and charged per person

 

Before AD did all the work and released this for FREE. He had to endure a lot ridicule and headaches as the only other solution involved opening up the console and modifying the hardware. Was that other solution for FREE? I don't think so. I usually don't look at the Navi when I turn on the car and when I look again, I just see a blank screen. For it to go straight to the map is a big relief.

 

Ad I said, making the "AD-free" versions is not very hard, but challenging. What you have not realized yet is that the math in checks will not give you the address to jump to as the value also depends on the seed taken from registers modified by previous procedures. But keep trying, you're on the right way.

/AngryDad

 

I can understand asking for donations for the AD free version, but he is asking for $50 for the AD free version

I'll push the button, thank you

Don't get me wrong Angrydad, I greatly appreciate your hard work but thats asking alittle much.

 

and i did donate to him as i said i would

 

Well, I guess you, my friend, are not getting one at all.

Moreover, If I get a single message from moderators in regards to licensing my activities here, this is going to be my last post to this forum and I'll let people know where to find a better place.

Also, I am not selling any "copywrited" software. I am selling you instructions on how to void your warranty by patching your legal copy of the software.


/AngryDad

 

AD PM me if you leave ;/

 

For those excited individuals trying to let me know how bad I am charging $50 for the removal of two letters:

1. The price is deliberately high. If you can't live with the "AD", it is an option for you.

2. I do not have time to take care of all the requests. Charging less would only be an option if there was an automated way to deliver the hack to you. There currently isn't one.

3. Try to hack it yourself. Free.

4. Grow up.


/AngryDad

 

I was just giving you a friendly warning on how they do business on this bored. Its fine to ask for donations. But once you start selling you have to have a vendor contract with them. That’s just the rules; not trying to be an ass but the rules are here to protect the integrity of the board.

By all means become a vendor and provide this service. It would be great business for you. I'm just telling you how it is.

 

Dude... Please, switch to decaf.

/AngryDad

 

 

Yeah I noticed that, which I thought was pretty clever. So far I think I'm going to avoid most of the back tracking through the math by keeping all your text and just relocationg it, nop-ing the instructions between the offset load and actual moving of the text into the registers.

Anyway, I'm impressed with the work you did and will be donating something. Thanks again for the version you released.

-apnar

 

Heh, intresting turn of events. Can anyone do me a favor and screenshot the "AD" text - i want to see what it looks like.

Thanks in advance, especially to AD for the time and effort thats obviously been put to this.

 

See this post
https://acurazine.com/forums/showpos...&postcount=167
and imagine that all your normal nag screen text is there except the last 2 lines, and the AD is exactly where it is in the picture.

So his hack only chops off the last 2 lines of the stock Nag text and puts AD to the bottom left. You can still edit/blank out ALL the other text or replace it with something else like kenny did in that shot, but you can't mess with the AD.

 

I'm sure he loves every minute of the fact that he put something in there that we can't remove. I guess it makes him feel better about himself. He's also getting his 10 seconds of fame X 2000 everytime we turn on our cars and see that.

I wish this whole mess didn't have to sour what was a great breakthrough. Everyone on this board had been trying to do this nearly 3 years. But $50 is just extortion and I hope no one actually pays him for it. Removing two little letters isn't worth $50, and most of us will live with it, but it never should have come to this.

 

It amazes me how many people whine and bitch about something that is free.

Angrydad, YOU ARE THE MAN...

 

people... there are three options.

Option 1:
Don't use AD's patch and one will not see "AD" on the screen. But he/she will need to press "OK" everytime.
Cost: Free

Option 2:
Use AD's patch and one will see "AD" for 3-5 seconds. But one no longer has to press the "OK" button.
Cost: Free

Option 3:
PM AD and acquire an "AD" free version - no nag, no "AD"
Cost: Whatever.

Everyone's preference will be different. Personally I have no problem with option 2. But if you do, you still got the other 2 options.

There is no need to complain - just choose the option that suits you best.

My

 

I personally don't see any problem with the very unobtrusive "AD" in lower left corner of the screen. If he had "YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, ANGRYDAD HACKED THIS!!" dancing across the screen at startup, I could see reason for the complaints, but he doesn't. Do you complain about authors having their names in the books that they write? He's just taking credit for his hack.

 

SHIT!!! I can't believe how everything's been blown out of proportion. AD, AD, AD, AD, AD, AD, AD...

I haven't been a member for long on this site, but what I do know is that this is a place where great minds (and everyone else ) can get together and share their knowledge to help others. AD spent 40 plus hours on this hack only to have a bunch of people bitch and moan. I respect the fact that the AD signature can be an eyesore, but so is the ok button (even more so imo).

Guys, in all honesty its obvious AD didn't do it for the money. He asked for donations initially, but only later did he ask for $50. This imo was more out of frustration than anything else. He probably thinks we're all a bunch of ungrateful bastards. Again I do not mean to offend anybody, and I do understand most of you are only offering constructive criticism, but see it from AD's perspective.

I thank you AD, I haven't done all the hacks yet, but I do appreciate your hard work as does everyone else. I hope you stick around because I would hate to lose your contribution to this community.

 

Exactly.

Here's what I'd gladly pay for:

A pretty Windows or Mac application that puts all the available hacks into one easy GUI. There would be a way to change out the splash image, alter the warning text, disable OK button, add Trip Computer, etc. It should be version-agnostic so that one doesn't need to have the 3.50 disc. That would be very cool and would certainly earn my $$$.

As it is, while I really appreciate all the great work AngryDad has done, I am a little disappointed that the knowledge and work stops with him. As was mentioned before, it would be great if other clever folks could pick up from where he left off. It seems to me that bysin's previous (unpaid) work came in quite handy for AngryDad as it at least saved him needing to write a BIN utility. In that spirit, it would be nice for AngryDad to at least explain some of his methodologies. Once more people continue the work, who knows what cool capabilities can be added?

I don't mind the AD in the corner of my screen as I don't even look at it now. I certainly can't justify spending any money getting rid of it.

 

I'm sorry if it came off as complaining about what AD has done. I was looking for help since I've been told that I wouldn't be able to run this on my Mac. I really appreciate everything that he has done and I look at it like this........he took the initiative to follow on what Bysin left undone and did this to help us out. I commend him for that, I was fully happy to make a $5-$10 donation for what he spent time doing and I thought that would be fair. I just thought $50 was crazy for him to take any branding whatsoever off his work. I'm sure a few people might pay that but this is something I don't mind doing and now that I thought about tit I probably won't do it. I sometimes like driving at night without the bright display in the dash.

I was trying to be friendly in the pm I sent to him regarding the sale of products on this board. If you want to mass sell a product you need to speak to the moderators about the rules involved. That’s what rules are there for to be followed. We would all get fired from our job if we didn't follow rules wouldn't we? If anything this would allow him to make is $ and work inside the rules.

AD, I'm sorry about bringing up the legality of what you are doing I didn't know if this infringed on Acura copyrighted material. Now that you've summed that up I apologize.

 

IMHO I haven't had the time to do this to my TL yet. But I plan too.

The AD will not bother me a bit. I plan to use that copy. But I see a few things here that bother me. But before I make those comments I will start of with this.

AngryDad. You are a very good person to do all that work to remove the OK button which people have been trying to remove for years. I apperciate your work on this and as I said before I will donate once I get the stuff and its working on my car. Just lately I have been way to busy.

With that in mind. Now we all offered to donate to your cause. But we did not expect you to start charging $50 for people that wanted a non-AD tag. This is a forum. Everyone helps each other out in some form or fasion. You shouldn't have put that Tag there in the first place and just helped others out. Since you are now charging $50 to remove that, you must become a vendor on this site. So I expect a PM from a moderator / admin towards you soon. Just a fair warning.

I see a little greedyness coming from you especially now that you saw how much demand there would be so you added the AD because you knew people wouldn't want that there. So now $50 is what people have to pay to get rid of it.

IMHO, being part of a club is giving time and money sometimes to keep it going and to help others out.

 

angrydad, your antics are not appreciated. you're an opportunist trying to make money of members for your own gain.

not only that, you're selling copyrighted wares, and as such, i'm removing your ability to post on AcuraZine.