[Galaxy S III General] DroidZombie:
How to Convert ROMs for the SC-03E

Ok to start here is some terminology you might find useful.

cook - to convert a ROM so that it is usable on your device

nandroid backup - a complete backup of your current ROM that can be used to fully restore your phone in case of bricking it (see below)

bricking - Turning your phone into a useless piece of metal and plastic because something went wrong during the flashing procedure. There are two kinds:

Soft bricks - These can be fixed by performing a full wipe of the phone and flashing a working rom.

Hard brick - permanent damage to the phone that renders it totally useless

Note: It is very difficult to hard brick our phones because we have Odin

Odin - A software tool that pushes software onto the phone similar to Kies

Initial Preparations

Download all the software you will need:

1. Odin (I used v3.07) find it here and read the instructions provided by it's developers (thank them too)

2. Samsung USB drivers - they can be found on the above post

3. A stock, rooted Samsung ROM - get it here. It's hotfile in Japanese, simply click the left button when the timer runs out. Note: this will take 2.5 hours to download unless you have a premium account on hotfile.

4. Clockwork recovery - Get it from KBC developers . If you wish to thank them and I recommend you do they have a twitter page

5. The conversion tool - From KBC developers (you really should thank them). This may be updated periodically so before you convert a rom check back at their page.

6. A rom to convert - If you read the help file included with the conversion tool it will tell you that ONLY i9305 AOSP roms can be converted. They have similar hardware to the S3alpha. DO NOT try to flash them without converting them. You may soft brick your phone.

7. Gapps (Google apps) - standard JB4.2.x or inverted theme by Task650 scroll down to find them (thank him if you use them)

8. JDK6 - THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DOWNLOAD. If you do not have this the conversion will not work. Don't use JDK7, Android does not like. If you want to know why Google it. Get JDK6 here (win x86) (win 64-bit). If you aren't sure which to use check your windows version.

Rooting and making a backup

1. Install Odin the Samsung USB drivers and JDK6. (I believe Odin just needs to be unpacked. Put it somewhere you won't forget it. I think the JDK6 install is automatic). Restart your computer.

2. Run Odin - If you have problems run it as an administrator (right click the .exe and select administrator)

3. Turn off your phone and put it into download mode (pwr + volDown then push volUp when the Japanese text appears)

4. Plug your phone into your pc - Odin should detect it. One of the top boxes should read ID:COM# where # is between 1 and 5 usually.If you don't see anything reboot your computer and try again or run as administrator.

5. Click PDA and select your stock/rooted Samsung rom. Click start. When the ID:COM bar says reset unplug your phone and reboot. Do your initial setup then put your phone back into download mode.

6. Reset Odin and plug your phone back in.

7. Click recovery and select your Clockwork recovery file. Click start. When Odin is finished unplug your phone and reboot into recovery (pwr + volUp) Don't worry about the ! in the top left corner of your screen. That means it worked.

8. Use the volUp and volDown buttons to navigate through the menus. Go to backup and restore. Make a backup (nandroid).

(This is the perfect time to unlock your phone if you need to. I won't get into it as I haven't done it and others have already explained it.)

Cooking (Converting) a rom

1. Unpack the conversion tool (make_japanized_rom_xxxxx) and put the rom file you wish to convert in the root directory of the tool.

2. Drag the rom file over the make_japanized_ROM_SC-03E.bat and drop it. This will start the tool. If you simply click on the .bat file the tool will not work.

3. If you live in Japan and want to watch TV over 1seg answer yes to the first question. If you don't live in Japan just answer no.

4. Wait until the tool finishes then check the "out" folder for your rom. That's it. You now have a custom AOSP rom that will work on your phone (most likely). The rom will start with Japanese as the default language, but don't worry you can change it at the start of the setup just like with any other AOSP rom.

Flashing your new rom

1. Copy your new rom and gapps file to the internal SD card of your phone. I use either my download folder or the root of my SD card. Do not use the root directory of your phone, Clockwork recovery won't let you at it.

2. Reboot into recovery

3. Factory reset your phone (wipe data/factory reset). If you don't you will soft brick your phone on restart.

4. go to advanced and wipe the dalvik cache. If you don't you will soft brick your phone on restart.

5. go back to the main menu and select install zip from sdcard. Select choose zip from internal sdcard

6. navigate to your rom file and select it. If the conversion worked you will see the Android upgrade animation. If it didn't you will see the fail animation (reread the above steps to make sure you did everything)

7. navigate to your gapps file and select it. As long as you picked one of the two files I suggested this will work. I don't know about other gapps files so use them at your own risk.

8. reboot and enjoy your new rom

Confirmed convertible roms

Carbonrom <---- GET THIS ONE IT IS AMAZING!!! THANK THE DEVs Use the latest nightly

CM10.1 - download here You can choose which type you want to use

LiquidSmooth - downloadhere

Potential reasons for failure

1. You used the wrong type of rom - i9300 is not the same as i9305 OR you used a Touchwiz based rom

2. You don't have JDK6 installed

3. You didn't wipe your phone before flashing

4. You flashed in the wrong order- ROM then gapps only

5. The rom simply isn't compatible (this should not happen unless the rom is unstable on the i9305)

If you find any errors in these instructions let me know. I'm terrible at proofing my own writing.

And don't forget the thanks button so I know you are actually reading and making use of these instructions that took time to write.