yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
yes stock N base, that's the whole point of this - to figure out exactly what needs to be changed/added from the F variant to get this working properly.

The main reason now is just sheer pissed-offed-ness because it seems like I have already copied all the missing files over, and from a practical standpoint I didn't want to have to reflash an F rom every time there's a new modem or bootloader from Samsung.

Assuming I can get this to work properly, all we would need to do is flash 1 small patch on top of any stock base and it would add the missing files, patch the boot.img RAMdisk, and set the CSC stuff all in one go.

I noticed today though that the base things I've been looking at don't have the symlinks that exist in a Linuxy filesystem because I run Windows primarily and it doesn't seem to know how to handle them so I am going to unzip everything in Linux tomorrow and compare again to see if that might be what's still broken - if there needs to be some symlinks for the additional files that would make sense at this point.

What really doesn't make sense is why in the current state the wifi calling will usually connect when I'm at work but not at home - and the status bar icon won't appear most of the time even when connected.

As you noticed, on an F-based ROM everything works just as it should.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
I wish I could see what you're doing because it's not a super complicated system...

The CSC code is set on the device in that EFS/IMEI/ folder with mps_code.dat and omcnw_code.dat , and in the main part of the phone with /system/omc/ contents (sales_code.dat basically)

What are you thinking is still TMB?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] jooniloh:
CSC is fine. it shows SKC. CA still works like ****.

---------- Post added at 00:26 ---------- Previous post was at 00:25 ----------

But I still have this ******* BTU firmware CSC
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
that's the part that seems like something is not being flashed, I've never had BTU at all even on the Nemesis ROM.

Also weird about the CA because I don't show any combos with the current setup.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] jooniloh:
Is CA actually enabled, cuz I noticed on my device when I turn off CA, the combos go with it.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
isn't it just under 4RX Diversity Selection 4g? Mine is set to LTE Default, LTE CA + 4RxD
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] shouren04:
There's also sales_code.dat in the etc & system/etc folders. On my phone sales_code.dat in the omc folder says XAA but nowhere on my phone lists XAA. The ones in both etc folders say TMB.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
Good to know - I don't have this file in system/etc/ , also the etc in the root is just a symlink to /system/etc/.

My sales_code.dat in /system/omc/ is XAA but the one that gets loaded is TMB (this is how the 950U T-Mobile version is set up, and since I am mostly using it's files I didn't change this).

On side note, I am going to try redoing the symlinks and permissions by kanging part of notorious's script to see if that fixes the issue. Looking at the files I add from the F, I think it's possible. Please stand by.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] jooniloh:
I had the file in /system/etc and it was set to TMB. I'm gonna try changing it to SKC since obviously it didn't come that way. though odd since you're saying you never touched it.

---------- Post added at 01:59 ---------- Previous post was at 01:53 ----------

noooo idea what setting you're talking about. I'm talking about the direct CA enable/disable toggles in UE Setting & Information --> Setting --> Protocol --> AS --> Release Version Control --> LTE CAT Control --> CA Enabled/3DL CA Enabled

what setting are you talking about?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] shouren04:
Also in the CAT Control menu is where you can enable/disable CA & 3DL CA

Edit: nm jooniloh beat me to it
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] masri1987:
weird [MENTION=4375750]Kalm_Traveler[/MENTION] , i have CA combos with the zip u gave me, a different amount than my prior setup which was the 310 csc from renovate as we discussed.

Tomorrow i will do a full wipe on odin, test out ur zip on the N rom then do another wipe and do a clean install on renovate.

---------- Post added at 08:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:06 AM ----------

unrelated , does anyone have a stock kernel zip for us N's ?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] shouren04:
The version of KT's TMO Mod zip I'm using installs the one in etc but not in system/etc but both are TMB.

My F stock does not have them in either etc or system/etc though, it only has it in omc.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
what is the filename of the one you're using? I definitely don't have one in /system/etc/ with the current build based on 950U files.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
ooh yeah mine are defaulted to enabled for both of those. I don't have any combinations listed though since the full stock reflash + new version of TMB CSC patch
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] shouren04:
I'm using 3a. Yeah 3a doesn't put one in /system/etc, only in /etc but somehow one gets put into /system/etc that's set to TMB. Perhaps it has to do with the symlinks you mentioned about earlier.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] jooniloh:
doesn't it NEED CA combos to work properly on TMO. I get that no CA yields better results than broken CA, but the goal should be fixed CA, not no CA at all?

---------- Post added at 05:04 ---------- Previous post was at 04:50 ----------

As said before, /etc is a symlink to /system/etc
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
It is indeed, this is very much still WIP status until everything is working more or less identically to a T-Mobile branded device.

I'm going to go through the list of symlinks that Nemesis creates, as well as the metadata and permissions it sets to see if I need to add/change any of that for the few 950F files that my script adds.

From the 950F I grabbed ERIS, Epdg, and vsimservice along with a few associated libraries.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] masri1987:
so, flashed odin stock firmware booloader update efs clear all that jazz, twrp, root + t-mbile zip pack7c.

Results: Not good.

TMB\TMB\LUC is what I got. N firmware.

Signal Behavior: When data is demanded, signal drops , changes to band 12 , jumps back to band 4, signal goes to -140dbm at one point (as previously experienced)

I have 12 CA combos.

Speed test results at my house on my couch: .5mbps - 5mbps for download, 1.5 - 2mbps for upload

i'm going to do another clean flash, then install Renovate rom, choose 310 csc selection, do a test before and after i flash t-mo zip.

Oh also, i tested wifi calling, no wifi calling icon when enabled , stuck enabling.

---------- Post added at 02:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:21 AM ----------

Okay, so started all over , twrp, renovate, 310 csc, and somehow i still have the same CA combos, same signal behavior during tests, CSC's are XEU\XEU\LUC.

Might do another reflash and choose no CSC on renovate and see what happens.

[MENTION=4375750]Kalm_Traveler[/MENTION]

Would it be helpful if i uploaded my backed up good working EFS so you can examine? because i can restore this at anytime and get the proper CA combos + good speeds and good signal stability.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
That might help just so I can compare the contents to mine, but I think for security you shouldn't because it contains your IMEI and you don't want people stealing it and putting it on their financed phone that they didn't feel like paying for and got blacklisted.

I have to do some homework tonight but I will have time tomorrow and this weekend to look at the patch stuff again.

In a nutshell we know a couple things right now:

A) Something about the 950F /system/ contents plays nice with all my T-Mobile CSC patches, and is not identical in the N software. Several people have confirmed all features including WFC work great with 950F-based ROMs.

B) I am pretty sure I copied everything lacking on the N, but there may be either missing symlinks or permissions that need to be corrected to get it working correctly,

C) we don't seem to know where the CA combos are coming from. I had them before but after full Odin reflashing back to as stock SKC as I could get it I have none listed even with TMB CSC at the moment.

D) [MENTION=6170708]jooniloh[/MENTION] has some kind of crazy posessed kt Olleh 950N that decided to sprout it's own BTU CSC code and won't let go. Mostly joking on this one.

Also, I made an update right before I fell asleep last night moving the extra features from others.xml into the main cscfeature and cscfeature_network files which enabled them - for some reason the phone seems to ignore others.xml even if it is specified in the omc info dat file - however, one of the features in there made my software status have a funny message about the software being tampered and I should call Samsung's global support with a China phone number. Need to figure out which feature that is and get rid of it before the next update.

Tentative plan is to go through the permissions set by Nemesis ROM install script and mirror them, as well as make sure that any symlinks that are related to any of the wifi calling components are created as well.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] shouren04:
That's weird, last night I restored to a back up I made of EFS, Baseband, & FW before I flashed your TMO zip cause I wanted to check something. While I was at it I checked & I had 15 CA combos stock, with the TMO zip it's 12 combos. No matter, I can't tell a difference in speed anyway. I was just about to ask where the CA combos get stored but you just answered that.

Assuming the cscfeatures get loaded from /omc/tmb with the tmo.zip & I'm sure it does.... I don't have cscfeature.xml anymore or cscfeature_network.xml, only customer.xml & others.xml. If I make changes in others.xml they apply but maybe only cause I don't have cscfeature.xml? But there is cscfeature.xml & cscfeature_network.xml in other omc folders like att & vwz, just not for tmb.

Last night when I restored to stock, I was trying to look at my cscfeatures.xml but when I tried to read it it's encrypted, just displays garble. Anyone know how I can read it?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
Yeah I really have no idea where the CA combos are coming from honestly. I would have thought they are stored on the SIM card or broadcast by the network since I had CA on fully stock out of the box, but I literally have none right now.

Yes you're correct - under /omc/<whatever CSC you have loaded>/ usually there is cscfeature.xml and cscfeature_network.xml but can also be others.xml. In the omc.info you can see near the beginning of the file it has flags for several files with yes or no as the value (I can only assume this is supposed to mean to look for/load them) but my zips before v7 were using TEKHD's S8+ TMO patch structure and others.xml as a base, so that's why you don't have cscfeature or cscfeature_network (his patch does not use them), but his omc.info still had others set to "no".

As to look at your stock encrypted CSC used an app called CSC features expert to view both my stock SKC and the stock T-Mobile N950U CSC codes. A few pages ago I typed all of them up by hand and pasted them here for reference.

The 950U one is almost identical to the S8+ CSC found in the CSC Selection Tool S7/S8 1.2.1, minus a couple of Bixby features and the GPS server is different.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] shouren04:
Thanks. For your zips v7 & later, are those made specifically for Ns or do they work on Fs? I'm still using you 3a, works perfectly fine for me so I had no reason to install any later versions.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
If everything is working and you're happy with it I would just keep using it. The first few versions I uploaded were all S8+ files, then I switched to Note 8 files and we started having Carrier Aggregation issues which I thought was my antenna being faulty.

All versions should work on the F since it natively already supports adding the TMB stuff out of the box, and "missing" files that my newer zips include to try and replicate that function on the N are pulled from Nemesis 950F ROM.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] shouren04:
Ok thanks, you basically answered my question I just made in the other thread so disregard that part but I am still curious as to what the wacky CA issue was. I may have read it in that thread but I forget.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] masri1987:
Everrytime i restore my EFS , my CA combos change to a diff amount... so.... [MENTION=4375750]Kalm_Traveler[/MENTION] i can pm u my efs backup, i trust you, and if you screw me over LOL then i asked for it!

whatever helps.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
I'm fine with that, we both have international Note 8's that were bought outright so not really the 'at risk' type. I'm curious what the differences are though in all seriousness.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] jooniloh:
If it'd help, I'd be happy to send you multiple iterations of my EFS backups as well. I have full twrp backups of my phone at multiple stages (though unfortunately I never got one of the stock it came with D:). Maybe looking through and comparing them might yield something?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
yeah my earliest backup was still after I had applied the CSC Selection Tool's S8+ CSC so I don't have a fully stock one either. In theory the only thing that should be changed is the CSC code in those 2 files in the IMEI folder (those are the only ones that CSC patches modify) but without having anything to reference I'm not sure.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] masri1987:
do i just copy and paste the efs portions out of the twrp folder?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
efs.ext4.win is the only thing needed I believe, I read elsewhere on XDA that those are basically just .tar files with a different extension.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] masri1987:
pm'd u my efs.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
I haven't extracted them to run a file compare yet but it's interesting how already at first glance they are different - I don't have factory.prop on the root of it, and some of the folders have different number of files inside
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] masri1987:
how the hell does this happen lol
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
haha I have no idea... also your product code is SM-N950NZBALUC , mine is SM-N950NZBFSKO

I don't know what ZBALUC is - is LUC a CSC for a provider somewhere?

Also you have something in FactoryApp called "burn_reason" that I don't have...
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] masri1987:
LOL burn reason haha i haven't seen that one but i'll look for it in tibu

LUC is LGU+ i believe . still a south korean CSC but specific for LGU+ (correcct me if wrong)
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kamikaze_Ice:
Yes it is.

https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/galaxy-note8/SM-N950N/LUC/download/N950NKSU1AQI2/188375/
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kamikaze_Ice:
Pardon me whilst I share some of my random thoughts again.

---

I was going through my backups and realized I accidentally replaced my stock backup... :(

Anyways going through them I noticed I had a "CSC.apk" file (found: \\system\priv-app\CSC\ ). I can't really tell what it is going to do or where it came from, but looking at the classes.dex file found inside via notepad and near the bottom I see strings of commands that appear to activate/configure various options and features.

---

A little more poking around I found some carrier specific (?) build.prop files in \\system\vendor\carrier\<CSC carrier code>\

There is a "<CSC>RO.apk" in the \overlay\ folder here.

Looking at the resources.arsc for TMB (notepad again) I see things for APN stuffs, IMS, MMS, an APN blacklist (?)

I'm not on stock firmware at the moment, so this may not exist with stock firmware/csc.

---

What if the important parts you are missing are NOT in the most logical place (CSC firmware files), but in the (user)data files?

This kind of makes sense. CSC is for turning crap on and off, while other firmware is for being compatible with crap or not. If one of two light bulbs are missing, the light will still work but not as intended. Changing how that light switch is wired isn't going to fix the problem, but you could have it turn on other lights too (read: work around).

---

USERDATA firmware files also contain CSC files (cache.img contents). Well, mine does anyways (SKC).

At a quick glance this looks to be identical to the cache.img in the CSC firmware file.

Seems redundant.

---

I have no idea if any of this may be useful.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
Good poking around :)

Userdata is wiped when you do a factory reset or install a new ROM, and if you look at the 950F based ROMs we have available now, they are basically just a system partition with a boot.img (contains the kernel).

I need to sit down this weekend and redo the file contents comparison on Linux instead of Windows so I don't lose all the symlinks and compare those and the permissions that Nemesis ROM installer sets in regard to the F files I'm using. I'm almost 100% positive it is either a permissions issue or missing symlinks because if I mess with folder permissions I can recreate that situation where wifi calling will connect if you reboot but the icon doesn't show up.

I believe there is also a file that is basically an index of which files are in certain folders so that may need to be modified to match.

Basically from the F i took system apps vsimservice, epdgservice, and I think RcsSettings. Private apps NSDSWebapp and

SmartEpdgTestApp, the ERIS binary, framework EPDG manager.jar, and the 3 eris libraries in lib64 Charon simaka and strongswan.

These are the only things missing on the N firmware that I could find any reference to in the tmobile wifi calling apps and framework, but it is entirely possible that there need to be some symlinks in place for these to work properly and or something with their permissions is incorrect in my patch.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] jooniloh:
Just more pondering but . . . I don't know much about rom development, so I could be WAY off the mark here, but when you flash an F based rom on N firmware, it essentially goes through a series of steps to convert the stock firmware into the ROM right? Would it be possible to take the zip for an F based ROM, rip all those steps apart, and test the phone after each step has been done to figure out at which point wifi calling still works?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
Flashing a ROM basically just overwrites whatever is there with itself. Most of them will erase the system partition before writing it's own files.

An example, when you flash Nemesis it wipes your system partition (I think it also wipes data and cache? - haven't flashed it for almost 2 months), copies it's files to create the 'new' system partition contents, creates a big list of symlinks, then sets file attributes/permissions for all these files and links, and in a separate step unpacks the boot.img overwriting the existing boot partition with it's own contents.

I'm no developer by any means but in researching this I've learned how it works well beyond where I had expected. Basically if you have a compatible kernel in place - all that is involved in 'changing' firmwares is changing the contents of your system partition.

In a nutshell, this wifi calling nonsense is pretty straightforward and I'm sure there is just 1 simple thing I either haven't figured out or overlooked but basically the components getting it to work (as differing from F firmware):

1. make sure all files needed by the apps and binaries in the existing T-Mo zips for previous Samsung F variant devices are copied over (the way I have approached this is by running a file compare on both and looking at the list of files exclusive to the F variant, as well as decompiling every apk in the T-Mobile pack zips and looking at their android manifest file to see what they use)

2. make sure all these files have the appropriate permissions (this is where the 644/755/etc Android/Linux permissions comes from)

3. make sure any symbolic links (equivalent of Windows shortcuts or path redirects) are in place (this is something I did not know about until this week and will check this weekend)

4. make sure any init/config files that are different between F and N are copied over or functionally added to the N firmware (this includes the RAMdisk in the boot.img as it has init.rilepdg.rc on the F and not on the N - EPDG is a main component of T-Mobile Wifi Calling).

on a side note, I'm back to the strange behavior of it working 100% properly at work, with the icon and everything. At home it will connect with a reboot but I don't get the icon. I have changed nothing in the past 2 days, and it was not working at all until today...
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] jooniloh:
If this is indeed how it works, why is it that so many roms ask that you have a specific build installed beforehand, AND that you factory reset before flashing?
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
Not sure which you're referring to but if they ask you to manually factory reset that means that they didn't include the /data/ wipe in their install script.

The components that remain in place are the bootloader and modem, and I have seen ROMs in the past that are not compatible with older bootloaders than whenever they were created.
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kamikaze_Ice:
This is also a way to "filter" out users who are not.... really into doing what we do here at XDA (play with our phones!). I don't mean those who aren't willing to open up their Note 8 (Salute, Kalm_Traveler. I have no problems with PS2 mod chips or refluxing/soldering a FAT PS3 (OG 60GB still works, used HEAVILY since release, only refluxed just to be safe lol. Still got Yellow dog linux on it 'cause screw loosing features I paid for. But opening my Note 8 oh hell no I ain't doing that... Although if I ever do I'll be turning my device transparent because it's a masterpiece to behold.)

I'm sure we've all seen a few people here and there who didn't really take the time to read the thread, warnings, instructions, etc. and still try to blame a developer for what THEY WILLINGLY DID to their device(s). Having some requirements helps keep these kind of users to a minimum (kind of like seeing multiple warning labels about hot coffee being.... hot. Crazy right?)
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Kalm_Traveler:
Can you guys tell me what app permissions you have for IMS Settings, and MDMapp? I was fiddling around today and I think one of them had something disabled but I enabled it and ever since my wifi calling has been working properly, auto connected at home even and I have the notification icon for the first time on N firmware...
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] masri1987:
Here you go
[Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions and Answers] Techvir:
Off topic question and might sound stupid.

If I flash an N950N stock Rom to N950F in Odin , will be phone be bricked ?