[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] zalooa:
Welcome back everyone

For those who are not familiar with the series, I recommend checking out part I and then part II to get caught up on our continued efforts to modify a ROM to your every whim and need.

We will be utilizing some really cool tools today. They come at a price of patience and perseverance, you know, kind of like what Valve expects from all of their loyal customers, and the worst part is....they could release the HL3 in 10 years, and I would still throw money at my screen.

I digress again.

Today we learn how to decompile those sneaky

APK's

and the necessary Framework files. They are located in the 2 most important folders:

MD4_Version_1/system/app

MD4_Version_1/system/framework

We need to start at the beginning of this topic.

To begin, let us test your ability to use JAVA....Wait STOP! Java? Programming? We do not need to be experts at programming at all, in fact, implementing mods is really a copy and paste procedure for us noobs, but if you know how to JAVA, maybe you can create your own mods that you can share with the community. Also, I am not a programmer, but I do know how to use logic to trial and error the crap out of the mods until they work.

To test if you have JAVA installed, open up a command prompt in Windows (because if you have Linux, you are not going to even be on this beginner's tutorial :P now are you?)

type in:

java

You should see

C:\>java
Usage: java [-options] class [args...]
(to execute a class)
or java [-options] -jar jarfile [args...]
(to execute a jar file)

where options include:
-server to select the "server" VM
-hotspot is a synonym for the "server" VM [deprecated]
The default VM is server.

-cp <class search path of directories and zip/jar files>
-classpath <class search path of directories and zip/jar files>
A ; separated list of directories, JAR archives,
and ZIP archives to search for class files.
-D<name>=<value>
set a system property
-verbose[:class|gc|jni]
enable verbose output
-version print product version and exit
-version:<value>
require the specified version to run
-showversion print product version and continue
-jre-restrict-search | -jre-no-restrict-search
include/exclude user private JREs in the version search
-? -help print this help message
-X print help on non-standard options
-ea[:<packagename>...|:<classname>]
-enableassertions[:<packagename>...|:<classname>]
enable assertions
-da[:<packagename>...|:<classname>]
-disableassertions[:<packagename>...|:<classname>]
disable assertions
-esa | -enablesystemassertions
enable system assertions
-dsa | -disablesystemassertions
disable system assertions
-agentlib:<libname>[=<options>]
load native agent library <libname>, e.g. -agentlib:hprof
see also, -agentlib:jdwp=help and -agentlib:hprof=help
-agentpath:<pathname>[=<options>]
load native agent library by full pathname
-javaagent:<jarpath>[=<options>]
load Java programming language agent, see java.lang.instrument

-splash:<imagepath>
show splash screen with specified image

Wait, you did not see this did you? Well it happens, you probably got an Unknown Command or some shenanigans that doesn't look similar to the above?

Do not worry, we will need to add JAVA to the environment variables. First head over to JAVA and download the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Install as you would by clicking next next next next and next and next.

When it installs, it goes to a specific location. The problem is, sometimes Windows does not recognize that path, which is why when you execute the JAVA command in a command prompt it tells you unknown command. We have to tell Windows to search in the java installation folder that you just installed for the JAVA.exe program so Windows can add it to the list of areas to search when you execute a command.

To do this, we will need to add the path in the environmental variables, java explains that sometimes this should not be necessary. But use this for more information and an understand of how to do this to different operating systems.

My path was the default "PATH" for java

C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre7\bin

Once that has been added to the environmental variables, test out the java code and see if it looks like what I have from above.

After this is done, we will need to install the Android SDK, this can be found here

The SDK, is a software development kit. It will allow for a user to create software for your android phone. This tutorial will not be doing that because that is a very heavy order. It will require the release of the Kraken. I do not recommend releasing the Kraken. Unless it is harmless Cthulhu. He's so adorable.

Anyway, this will install platform tools for us to push files to our phone and allow us to to execute these commands.

Remember, we can add the tools of the SDK to our PATH variable so we can execute these tools in any command prompt and at any location.

If you are having trouble at this point, let me know in the comments below and we can try and address this issue.

Now that we have the basic tools down, we need to understand what the heck that APKTOOL, SMALI and BAKSMALI do.

These tools are used to decompile the our APK and JAR files.

Keep this in mind at all times

APKTOOL will decompile and combile APK FILES

SMALI compiles DEX FILES

BAKSMALI decompiles DEX FILES

Do you know what any of these 3 are? Maybe you do, maybe you don't.

The APK stands for Android application package. It is basically the app. In windows, it would be equivalent to the program. The APK is unique in the sense that all the files in the app are actually zipped inside an APK file.

That logic only deduces, we can open almost any APK file with 7-zip. This is good news until we realize, the APK files are actually encoded in a way. We cannot make serious mods until we de-scramble the code hidden in the APK.

This is where APKTOOL comes into play. The APKTOOL can de-compile the encoded files and put it into a folder for us to work with. We can then make our mods, recompile and then put it into our ROM.

After explaining Smali and Baksmali, we will begin a basic mod.

Smali and Baksmali are actually java archive files. They contain instructions to take a DEX file and de-compile them into very interesting SMALI code. DEX is an EXE file for our Android system. We can only de-compile a classes.dex file for now, for it contains the majority of the rest of the tweaks. As a result, doing this is important and very difficult unless you understand what is going on. We will definitely have examples so do not fret, did I mention a half life reference yet...I don't think so.

So back to APKTOOL, we are going to need to understand what it does before we begin. I am assuming you got your APKTOOL downloaded from here, go to your C: drive and create a folder in there called APKTOOL in there, unzip the downloaded file, there will be a file Setup.bat, execute that file and a command prompt window with Green text will appear, I recommend selection 1 first to ensure you have the latest version, but we do not need to do this.

We will need to press option 2, but it says we must place some files in the other folder first. The files needed are actually the framework files, basically, the way our rom interprets the files are needed for this APKTOOL to operate.We will need to go to our ROM's

MD4_Version_1/system/framework/ folder and copy 2 files

framework-res.apk
tw-frameworkres.apk

These files will be copied into

C:\APKTOOL\other

This needs to be done before you select option 2.

Once the files are copied, press 2, then we need to install the first two options, so go one by one and install both.

Then when you are back to the main menu, press 3 and setup the directories for your need.

Personally, I took the

C:\APKTOOL\other

folder and moved into my own working directory. Assume that the locations will be selected by you for organization. I will use the following folder for reference:

C:\other

This will have all of the tools I need, while you are at it, create a new folder in their called Smali and copy the Smali.jar and BakSmali.jar files in there, they will of course be named something else like smali-1.4.2.jar and baksmali-1.4.2.jar

Rename the files to make life easier

from
smali-1.4.2.jar
to
smali.jar
and
baksmali-1.4.2.jar
to
baksmali.jar

Back to APKTOOL, now back to me, Now back to APKTOOL, now back to me.

We will be victimizing a specific APK to get modding started.

Before we get started, this is where we start version controlling more seriously. As each mod you add could cause a freeze, hang, bootloop or whatever, so go to the folder of your ROM, select the four files

META-INF

system

boot.img

installbusybox

right click them and "Add to Archive". Zip file only remember, compression level( Normal to no compression is fine)

Now

Lets grab a copy of SecPhone.APK located in the system/app folder

And put it into

C:\other

Open a command prompt and navigate to that location of the APKTOOL

Execute the following command

apktool d SecPhone.apk SecPhone

If done successfully, you will something like

C:\other>apktool d SecPhone.apk Secphone
I: Baksmaling...
I: Loading resource table...
I: Loaded.
I: Decoding AndroidManifest.xml with resources...
I: Loading resource table from file: C:\Users\<Your User Name>\apktool\framework\1.apk
I: Loaded.
I: Regular manifest package...
I: Decoding file-resources...
I: Decoding values */* XMLs...
I: Done.
I: Copying assets and libs...

C:\other>

This means it successfully decoded the file. We will have a folder called SecPhone that has a bunch of folders.

Navigate to the following folder:

C:\other\Secphone\res\raw

There are 2 .ogg files. Well well well, I thought we took care of these, hmm, guess we need to change these to whatever you need to. Let's assume you did this already and have replaced them. We will need to stop the "mods" for now, for we are learning a process not a mod per se.

So we are done "modding" the file, I know it is not a BIG mod but we are trying to learn how to do this now so we can do the heavy stuff later. Now we can continue to recompile the file.

Go back to command prompt and direct yourself to

The put in the following command:

C:\other>apktool b SecPhone new-SecPhone.apk

Notice we changed 3 things, the d became a b, the second option is the folder we are recompiling, the third is the name of the new file

You should then see something that might be worrisome:

I: Checking whether sources has changed...
I: Smaling...
I: Checking whether resources has changed...
I: Building resources...
aapt: warning: string 'reject_cause_location_reg_fail' has no default translatio
n in C:\other\SecPhone\res; found: es pt
aapt: warning: string 'reject_cause_location_registering' has no default transla
tion in C:\other\SecPhone\res; found: es pt
aapt: warning: string 'stms_version' has no default translation in C:\other\SecP
hone\res; found: ja
I: Building apk file...

C:\other>

The warnings will be acceptable for the time being as they are related to a different language setting. If you are in English, you will be fine. If you are not, then that is a different tutorial altogether. Also, there is a very particular code bug that occurred the very first time I ran these commands and caused a catastrophic failure, more than any Movie-to-Game adaptation could ever be,

But you think you are done here, well that is not true. You see,

We have compiled the new APK file but unfortunately, it is a system file, we cannot sign this file to tell Android it is legit, we will have to cheat at this point, just like Valve did by creating any other project except Half Life 3 after number 2, you know they have enough funding for it, they are making it, and if I get kidnapped, I will probably be in a basement at Valve which I won't mind if they give me a grav gun. On a side note, while Brian Cranston would make a great Gordon Freeman, I still think Hugh Laurie would do a good job, just saying.

So back to our dilemma. We have created a new file called new-SecPhone.apk, open it with 7-zip, do not do anything yet, open the SecPhone.apk file you should have, it is the original file in the C:\other folder, we will need to drag two files for signature's sake

Copy the

Meta-INF Folder
AndroidManifest.xml

directly into the new-SecPhone.apk file. This can be done by dragging the files.

This will allow Android to think the file is signed and legit.

Take the new-SecPhone.apk file and copy it to your desktop and rename it to SecPhone.apk

Then place it into your ROM's system/app folder.

Your "first Mod" is ready to go, pretty easy actually but I really think the method is what many of us lack and this centralizes the effort. When you want to mod any System file, this process has to be done.

Its not a crazy mod, that will be after we explain how to modify files with Smali and BakSmali.

That will be in the next part of this set of series. These keep getting longer, I know, but we have a boat ton to cover. I think a central place to go-to for this information is important instead of jumping around to so many places for information. Eventually, the plan is to stick them as one big post I hope so we can integrate the vast amount of knowledge flowing.

Let me know what you think in the comments below, feedback is important, I felt this is so far the most complicated of the series and it will only get crazier. Luckily we can ask questions and keep this series going with an understanding for ROM building and see how much effort goes into someone else's effort modifying one of these ROM's out there, this is just a stock ROM mod tutorial, imagine something like CyanogenMod or any crazy ROM with a boat ton of features. It is time consuming and they deserve mad props for their amazing work.