[Galaxy Note II Android Development] Rickav:
Hey-ho. New comer to this rom and its thread. Prepare to ignore a whole chunk of type.

Since owning my Note 2, these are the roms I’ve used in chronological order: Omega (the obvious starter step); Alliance Revolution HD (wasn’t all that creative as you can see); SlimBean (the first time I learnt that I’ll always stick with stock-ish roms and never venture into the shadowy regions where my Note II is no longer a Note II); Alliance (best rom I’d tried up till that time); Phoenix (as Alliance were a bit slow to jump on the 4.3 firmware bandwagon); Alliance (I mean I seriously had something for them and their way of going about the whole modding business).

All the while, I’ve always heard of Electron Team and how they are pioneering the new grounds of Android for the N II. This I took to be another way of saying they are like SlimBean and on the bleeding edge of stuff, as it were, thus I stayed away. Now, Alliance have eventually ground to a halt, unfortunately. And Phoenix. Well, stock Samsung 4.4.2 weighs in at 1.34GB while Phoenix smashes the scales with a disturbing 1.8GB zipped. This is not to say Phoenix is another amazing feat in N II roms; it certainly delivers for all that extra weight and massive kudos to the individual developer running it all. However, speed/battery inevitably takes a hit (although much less than it should) so I was looking for something lighter than that while still retaining all basic N II features. Of course, additional N 3 and S 5 features would be an ideal bonus. A solid developer with a renowned track record wouldn’t hurt either.

And here I am. Albeit with a somewhat more beaten up phone than before (let’s just say I wanted to experiment with F2FS partitions while Devil kernel decided it wasn’t having any of my shenanigans so after some bootloops, massive amounts of data lost and exhausting Odin; I’m back on some form of broken-Alliance/stock-ish 4.3 firmware with ridiculously high battery usage and transition lags which makes stop-motion videos look smooth).

Which brings me to how absurdly easy it is to successfully install this rom and have all* of its components in working order. (*To be fair, I haven’t had enough time to work through every single feature of DN3 yet).

So, with V5.X vaguely on the horizon, here’s my guide to perform a clean flash of Ditto Note 3 4.4.2 V5: (Bear in mind that this guide is mainly for me as a record for what I did to get a clean version of DN3 for when I inevitably screw up my phone in the future. So if it does help you, yippee kai yay. And if there is something I could do better, you know what the reply button is for).

- Since I’m moving up from a pretty corrupt 4.3 N II, I’ll list everything I did from scratch to ensure a safe/smooth transition to 4.4.2 and, thus, this rom.

- Things to download beforehand: Samsung USB Drivers, Odin V3.09, Samsung 4.4.2 stock ND3 firmware, TWRP V2.7, SuperSU V1.94, DN3 V5 and DN3 V5 Bug fixes V2.

- If you have anything worth saving, save it. They say a nandroid backup goes a long way. I wouldn’t know. I never made one successfully. Meh. Personally, I use Helium backup for my apps and my external SD card for pictures/videos. Everything else gets rinsed.

- Now that your phone/body is ready. Time for final prayers. If you don’t believe in that crap, you’re a step ahead, I guess.

- Place your phone in Download mode. (Power it off. Then hold Home + Power + Volume Down until some text appears requesting confirmation to enter Download mode).

- Open up Odin and then plug your phone in via USB cable.

- When connected (and Odin recognises your device has been “added”), check Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time and untick all other boxes.

- Select AP (or PDA in older versions) just under BL and navigate to wherever you downloaded and extracted your stock ND3 firmware.

- Once selected, press the ominous Start button and wait.

- This could take a while. One of those awkward whiles which are just a bit longer than are needed to be.

- Pretty awkward, huh.

- Have ye accepted Jesus as your saviour?

- There we go, hopefully your phone’s rebooting by now. With any luck, Odin should also give you a thumbs up with a green Pass sign. Wait for the phone to reboot completely before unplugging it.

- Now we’re at the stage where things get destructive. Currently, your phone should be similar to the way it was before but now with the “latest” firmware and without root. Final, final chance to save anything you can scavenge now. No turning back. No more. No more.

- Slowly head to Settings > General > Backup and reset > Factory data reset > Shed one solitary tear > Press Reset device.

- Wait for reboot. Upon reboot, you will be faced with the first-time installation screen. Skip as many of the steps as possible. Including connect to Wi-Fi. Just evade all the account login requests. If you must, enter “Phallus McDickschlong” as your name as nothing matters here.

- Connect the phone to your computer but without Odin. Transfer the SuperSU update to the phone’s internal storage (/sdcard). You may also want to transfer the DN3 rom and its Bugfix to the external storage card now. Scratch that, there is no may. Just do it. (Not sponsored by Nike).

- Place that mofo in Download mode again. Like before.

- Connect it to Odin. Like before.

- Select the AP/PDA but now navigate to the TWRP zip. Unlike before.

- Hit start and a wait a few minutes. The wait here is nowhere near as long as it was before.

- Wait for the reboot to complete. If you were extra nice this year, Odin may even give you a green pass. Otherwise, just unplug your phone upon full reboot.

- With your Phallus McDickschlong in hand, put it in Recovery mode. (Hold Home + Power + Volume Up until phone powers off then let go only when the Galaxy Note 2 N7100 splash screen appears).

- TWRP should engage.

- Giggle like the sissy you are.

- Select Install then choose the SuperSU update in the internal storage.

- Slide to flash. Slide like a wet wipe on a baby’s buttocks. Slide.

- Upon reboot, navigate to the shiny new SuperSU app which should command you to de-knox your phone immediately. And just like that, you’re rooted and de-knoxed on stock Samsung 4.4.2 ND3 firmware. Next up, this rom.

- Kick back into Recovery mode. Crack a bottle. Let your body waddle.

- Select Wipe > Advanced wipe. Then check all the boxes but External storage (and USB-OTG if you have it). Wipe it all.

- As soon as it’s over, head over to Install and select the DN3 rom from your external storage.

- Wait a while for it to finish and reboot.

- Say no to drugs.

- Crack is whack.

- Don’t be silly, wrap your willy.

- Once reboot, your phone is now pretty much complete in its transformation to becoming another member of the Ditto Note 3. Remember, this first-time installation screen is for realsies so it’s probably not a good idea to name the phone Phallus McDickschlong. Unless, of course, if that’s what takes your fancy. (Wierdo).

- I’d advise you to enter Recovery mode one last time to flash the DN3 Bugfix before changing any other settings. I mean you might as well, since the E-team bothered to upload it and all.

- This is the end.

And there we are. What a journey it has been. Over a thousand words long. That’s long. Longer than my peni-

Still getting used to all the S5 goodies. And all the rest. On a side note, is this rom compatible with mannyvinny’s 240dpi mod or is it better to set dpi via Rom Toolbox? Or is there a better way to get to 240dpi since, frankly, 320 dpi makes me feel like I’m looking at the phone through a magnifying glass at all times.

In case it slips my mind later, thanks Electron Team. GG.

Yours looney.