I love that so many people here have contributed/invented clever ideas for modding their Z, so I was hoping to put my skills to use as well. I'm a software developer by trade.

Has anybody heard of or had success with modifying the DAT files on the DVD for the stock navigation system? By that I mean, copying the files, changing them, then burning a new DVD.

I took a quick peak at them the other day and it looks like POI's, street names, etc. are plain text and could easily be modified. I was hoping to be able to modify the splash screen or some of the icons, but I think that must be stored in the firmware.

Before I dive too much deeper into this experiment, I thought I'd fish around to see if anybody else has played with this stuff. I did a quick search and turned up nothing.

It's probably more effort than it's worth, but I thought it would be cool to have a custom splash screen, maybe change the little arrow shaped icon they use to represent the car to a 350Z shaped icon, and spruce up the interface a bit (Z logo on compass, etc.).

I suspect all of these things are stored on a chip in the nav system and not easily accessible, if not impossible. That's why I thought I'd ask here first before I start tearing stuff apart.

 

I really don't think that'd work to well. For one, you'll need to use a dual-layer DVD-R disk to even hold the 8+ GB of data that the single DVD pocesses. The second reason, I've tried to copy the DVD before (using Clone DVD & Slysoft AnyDVD) onto a dual layer DVD-R (using a dual layer burner of course), and the DVD got stuck in the drive and wouldn't eject.

I doubt it'd be reasonable or possible to do so. You're better off building a car PC and installing your own LCD that way you can use the Microsoft Mappoint API to develop your own ap using what you're interested in.

Good luck!

 

Bodie, I'm glad to you're interested in this kind of project. Although I don't have the smarts to work on something like this, I've been wondering why someone else hadn't looked into it. I've worked with many in the modeling and simulation area and in systems engineering, but nodoby has been interested in looking attacking this project. I guess you have to be a Z owner interested in programming.

You've taken the first step, hopefully we can make some desktop changes to the DAT files without having to fool around with the actual hardware. I just had my Nav system replaced under warranty, and didn't realize I was losing all my stored addresses until after I got the new one back from the dealer! Doh! It would have been nice to upload or download info from the Nav system memory, but I know that's not your goal for now. I wish you success in hacking the DVD-ROM Dat files!

I don't know if the reason the DVD-R9 got stuck in the Shahrum's Nav system was because it was not recognized as a DVD-ROM. This could be overcome by using a dual layer DVD+R9 disc with a drive that has bit setting, so you could then record the disc with a DVD-ROM book type. I haven't tried that with a dual layer disc, but I do it routinely when burning single layered dics for better compatibility.

 

i tried..change the bg image. The only problem is that after burn the dual layer DVD, it won't read.