[Hack] Replace Motorola boot logo with your own image
This is to change the motorola logo that you see when you boot your phone to a custom image. This is separate from the boot animation seen afterwards.
Tools/files you will need:
1) RSD Lite
2) droid sbf
3) SBFCodec
4) Photoshop (or paint, or whatever drawing program)
5) Hex editor (frhed is free and very easy to use)
NOTE: I do not use sbf-recalc because it complains about needing version 1.3, so I use SBFCodec instead.
Steps:
1) Run SBFCodec and open up the sbf file. This will extract all the smg files and header files.
2) Using photoshop, create an image that is 480 pixels wide and 182 pixels tall. Each color should be assigned 8 bits (1 byte), or in paint, just make a 24 bit bmp file. Mirror the image, making the left become the right, and the right becoming the left. Save as a bmp file (photoshop method).
3) Using a hex editor, open up your image and erase the first 54 bytes of data. (and possibly the last 2 bytes of data if you used photoshop. the number of bytes remaining should be exactly 262,080) With the remaining data, reverse the bytes. (using frhed, the option is in the edit menu->Reverse bytes)
4) Using a hex editor, open up the CG42.smg file created in step 1 and erase all data except the last 64 bytes of data (these 64 bytes of data should be FF's in the file). Then paste in the remaining data from step 3 to the beginning of the file and save. Your final file should be exactly 262,144 bytes large.
5) Go back to the SBFCodec window and save (this creates the sbf) the sbf file and name it whatever you want. i.e. boot.sbf
6) Using RSD Lite, flash this sbf to your phone. It may take 5-10 minutes for the flashing to complete. (after the 10 minutes, it might say "failed", just click on the show device button once that happens and you'll have succeeded)
You now have a stock phone with a custom boot image. Go ahead and root your phone and stuff. Sorry for the difficult instructions, this was the only approach I could think of to edit the boot logo.
youtube video came out looking like its fast forwarded. (::shrug:
because we don't have access to the logo partition directly, any method to directly flash the boot logo to the phone is beyond me. So, because we have access to the sbf files, I figured this would be the easiest way.
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The Following User Says Thank You to inssane For This Useful Post:
I'm a noob, and was hoping for some info, prior to making the change. I just got done putting my phone back to 2.01, rooting my phone, and installing Bugless Beast 1.0 (which put my Firmmware back to 2.1). I changed my animation, got all my apps back, set all their settings up, installed GDE, and now want to attempt changing the Boot Logo.
In your instructions, it says to edit the sbf file, in SBFCodec. Which sbf file am I editing? Is it the 2.0 sbf I used to revert back, the Bugless Beast one, or some other one?
Since I cannot root at 2.1, will my reverting back to 2.0 override any logo change? What about when I re-install Bugless Beast?
Will Titanium Backup restore ALL of my settings/preferences? Do I need to do a Nandroid restore as well?
Is there a method using Terminal Emulator, like changing the animation, instead? You'de think that it was just a matter of changing the embedded file.
If someone could give me instructions, from my current starting point, I would be greatly appreciative !!!
I'm a noob, and was hoping for some info, prior to making the change. I just got done putting my phone back to 2.01, rooting my phone, and installing Bugless Beast 1.0 (which put my Firmmware back to 2.1). I changed my animation, got all my apps back, set all their settings up, installed GDE, and now want to attempt changing the Boot Logo.
In your instructions, it says to edit the sbf file, in SBFCodec. Which sbf file am I editing? Is it the 2.0 sbf I used to revert back, the Bugless Beast one, or some other one?
Since I cannot root at 2.1, will my reverting back to 2.0 override any logo change? What about when I re-install Bugless Beast?
Will Titanium Backup restore ALL of my settings/preferences? Do I need to do a Nandroid restore as well?
Is there a method using Terminal Emulator, like changing the animation, instead? You'de think that it was just a matter of changing the embedded file.
If someone could give me instructions, from my current starting point, I would be greatly appreciative !!!
You have to grab one of the 2.0.1 SBF files that are floating around. Alldroid used to be a great place to grab it, but they are done. Try searching the "Now you can root without fear..." thread. Probably a link in there.
That is the SBF you need to edit and flash with.
Do a FULL nandroid backup of what you currently have.
Step 1) Flash your newly edited sbf (Directions found in stickies)
Step 2) Reroot (Directions found in stickies)
Step 3) Perform nandroid/spr recovery of your current ROM. (Directions found in stickies)
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The Following User Says Thank You to Fadelight For This Useful Post:
Making my pic 480 x 182 stretches badly and makes it look horrible. Is the a way around this. It started at 284 x 321.
Go to Image > Image Size, make sure the constrain proportions box is checked, and change the pixel height to 182.
Then go to Image > Canvas Size and make the overall canvas 480 x 182. Use the paint bucket tool to fill in the new white areas with black. Now you should be ready to save and move on to the next step.
It might take some tweaking to get an image that looks good. This will not take up the whole screen but just a small area in the middle of the screen so you want your image to be as close to the edges of the canvas as possible so it doesn't end up looking too tiny when you boot your phone.
The Following User Says Thank You to publicanimal For This Useful Post:
publicanimal, you lost me.lol Sorry but my photoshop skills suck. I did the first two steps and the pic comes out proportionate but now it is all the way left in the canvas sized box with a lot of white to the right. Nowhere near both edges so I guess it will come out to tiny or tiny and way left?
edit: I got the pic to the middle but still not edge to edge because that will stretch the pic. Still not sure if it is right. I really should stop. I have no idea what i am doing.lol
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I hate photoshop.lol I am much better with Bryce.lol
Last edited by istolvampire; October 3rd, 2010 at 03:04 PM.
publicanimal, you lost me.lol Sorry but my photoshop skills suck. I did the first two steps and the pic comes out proportionate but now it is all the way left in the canvas sized box with a lot of white to the right. Nowhere near both edges so I guess it will come out to tiny or tiny and way left?
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR I hate photoshop.lol
You screwed up the second step. I'm not sure what version of photoshop you're running but when I go to edit canvas size there is an "anchor" option towards the bottom that shows where you are placing the new canvas relative to the current image. You want the current image to be anchored in the center, not to the left or right.
As far as it being tiny I am just pointing out that the area on the screen that is the boot image takes up maybe the center 1/5 of the screen. So it's not going to be very big. Think about how small the M logo is compared to the rest of the screen... that's about the size you are working with height wise. With the width you have the entire width of the screen.
When I did this the first time I had to go back and do it again to make the image appear larger when I boot up. I am just telling you to make the image as large (tall) as possible within the canvas size you are working with so you don't have to go back and do it again.
This might sound confusing but once you do it you'll understand what I mean.
Last edited by publicanimal; October 3rd, 2010 at 03:13 PM.
The Following User Says Thank You to publicanimal For This Useful Post:
If the pic already has no background (like an icon) do I have to blacken it? When I save it to 24bit it whitens the background so is it still clear or is it now white? Sorry I am such a noob.lol
I'm not sure, but my guess is that yes, you need to blacken the background. I spent a long time blackening in the area around the image I wanted to use when I did this. The nice thing is once this is done it is permanent, you can flash all the ROMs in the world and your custom boot logo will remain.
EDIT: Of course if you flash a stock SBF it would replace your boot logo with the "M" logo. But no ROM flashing or system updates will affect it.
Last edited by publicanimal; October 3rd, 2010 at 03:22 PM.
The Following User Says Thank You to publicanimal For This Useful Post:
Ok I think I got it. The pic. Once I have it do I just save as 24bit png/bmp? Now to the program editing part. Thanks for the help and I will let you know how it goes.
Last edited by istolvampire; October 3rd, 2010 at 03:29 PM.
Ok I think I got it. The pic. Once I have it do I just save as 24bit png? Now to the program editing part. Thanks for the help and I will let you know how it goes.
No, re-read the instructions. bmp file, not png
The Following User Says Thank You to publicanimal For This Useful Post:
Oh hey, one important thing. When you reverse the bytes in the hex editor, it will create a mirror image. So before you do the hex editing, go back into photoshop and go to Image > Image Rotation > Flip canvas horizontal. Then save.
The hex editing is tricky. Here's tip: the dots on the right hand side of the hex editor represent bytes of data.
The Following User Says Thank You to publicanimal For This Useful Post:
Everything you need should be there. It's a 2.0.1 SBF but once you complete the process you should be able to flash a recovery without losing your boot image. I think any stock SBF will work.
The Following User Says Thank You to publicanimal For This Useful Post:
the dots/characters on the right hand side of the hex editor represent bytes of data. Highlight first 54 dots/characters, and delete them. then highlight the last 2 dots, and delete them.
Then
edit menu->Reverse bytes
You should be able to take it from there
EDIT: The offset # at the bottom left corner will tell you what byte number you are clicking on
Or try this: Edit > Select Block
Start of selection: 0 End of selection: 53
Then delete
Last edited by publicanimal; October 3rd, 2010 at 04:34 PM.
The Following User Says Thank You to publicanimal For This Useful Post:
yes I did but its okay maybe it just isn't meant to be. You have been most helpful but for some reason I just can't get it to work. Not the first time this has happened.
The hex editing is probably what's tripping you up. I had to teach myself how to do it all too and it worked first try. Go slow, don't rush. Make sure you are deleting the right bytes because if you don't follow the directions exactly you will fail.
I am having trouble with the copy part. I get the file down to only FF 64 bytes but no matter what I try it will not paste over. Maybe I didn't reverse the other file but it changes the pic to unreadable in my pictures so I believe I got that part right. It is probably some fundamental part but I don't know how to proceed. Wish there was a video tutorial so I could see where I am messing up. If I ever get this I might make one.lol I will give it one more go.
OK, I am taking pity on your poor soul and I also want to see if I could do this again. send an email of the bmp you edited and mirrored to my handle @gmail.com and i will see if I can do it and send it back.
I looked at this long ago, even toyed with doing it, but it seems like such a PITA and hex editors suck to work with.
It took me a while toying with it to figure it out, but it really wasn't that hard. I'd be happy to help you, your avatar would probably make a pretty cool boot logo for you.
If you send me the image you want to use I'll do it for you.
The Motorola Droid - the first ever Verizon Android Phone - exploded onto the mobile market with an incredibly successful ad campaign that brough Android to the masses. With a huge and vibrant touchscreen, solid metal body, full QWERTY keyboard, 5M... Read More
[Hack] Replace Motorola boot logo with your own image
