[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4] unorthodocks:
I've had my brand new SCH-I545 since thanks giving now. I've been trying to root and get a custom ROM on the phone ever since then and have gotten closer and closer but haven't been able to quite get everything to co-operate.

I may catch scorn for posting such a generic question on a flagship phone but I've been up all night for 2 weeks now trying to get this to work following numerous tutorials but with android everything seems to get outdated when there are so many software variables at hand that are constantly changing like firmwares and build numbers. I've included all the info since it all seems to be vital and have tried to seperate tasks by paragraph so you can skip over what you feel may be arbritrary. So if I could get an up to date breakdown on how I could succeed in my endevour I'd appreciate it greatly.

Out the box I have a 4.4.2 and NK1 build number. I was finally able to get root access through towel root after flashing back to NC5. However even after flashing NC5 through odin, about phone still says my baseband and build number end I545VRUFNK1 but towelroot no longer gives me the "phone not supported" message and I'm able to succesfully atain root access, confirmed by root checker. Is that normal?

So I have root now but want a custom ROM. VZW locks the bootloaders on new phones so I believe that means I can't use a custom recovery like CWM. I've tried and tried but it doesn't work, neither does the CWM Rom manager app. I've managed to get a custom recovery through installing BusyBox and Safestrap. (I had to go through several apk's to get Safestrap to work. Usually I would be able to enter TWRP recovery through it but the recovery won't respond to any of my touches. The power button still works to turn the screen on and off so it is not frozen but it won't respond when I swipe to unlock it. Even now that I have it working, if the screen locks I'm unable to unlock it even if TWRP is performing a task in the backround and clearly not frozen.

One time I was able to more or less successfully flash LiquidSmooth (LS-KK-v3.2-2014-10-04-jflte.zip). This was the closest I ever got to my goal as the ROM succesfully booted up and I was able to browse the home screen and change all the settings and it was a moment of joy until I went to settings and switched wifi on it just wouldn't. It either just wouldn't switch or would switch right back and grey itself out I don't remember exactly. My phone had no service either for calls, text or 4G. So everything worked internally it just couldnt comunicate with any signals coming from outside the phone. Why would this be? If I manage to boot LiquidSmooth again is there something I could download to make the wifi/service work? (I could download through USB or Odin.)

After this I tried to flash CM but the phone wouldnt even start after installation and would just bootloop so I had to flash back to stock to make it work again. Then I tried LiquidSmooth several more times but now I get stuck at the bootscreen for LiquidSmooth where it has the logo and the backround flashing. I've let the animation loop for several minutes multiple times before doing a battery pull.

Basically for 2 weeks I've been flashing NC5->rooting->flashing NK1 back->installing safestrap->installing a rom->soft bricking->flashing back to stock ROM and starting again

Is it possible if I keep doing this proccess that it will just work one time? It may sound silly but I kind of believe just because I've had varrying degrees of success following the exact same procedure.

And when I install a ROM in TWRP I go Wipe->(swipe factory reset)->Install->(select LS.zip and wait for it to say its succesfully installed)->Swipe one more time to wipe cache->Reboot after this the phone either fails to start up or loops the LiquidSmooth animation. As I said, one time it started succesfully.

Let me know what any of this information leads you to believe and if you may have a sollution in mind. Huge thanks to anyone that read this and will try to help me. I've had this phone 2 weeks now and would like to start actually using it.