[Q] How to change apps before flashing rom

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I am deeply sorry if this makes ppl angry, I am sure that there are several topics about this but I simply can't find them, ergo too much information no information..

What I want to do is to change some system apps before flashing the rom, I have tried by simply unzipping the rom, changing the apk and rezipping the file but it won't even flash.
I wanna flash mildwilds oxygen version but I want to change the launcher (lpp), music player (poweramp) and the gallery (quickpic), that's all..

thx for your understanding and help.
c

doesn't make me angry at all, i've not seen a dedicated guide for this sort of thing, only picked it up from others. i now do this all the time, particularly with mildwild oxygen.

i would recommend using 7zip

- make a copy of the rom.zip, so you have something to compare, and a 'stock' backup in case you go wrong
- double click on rom.zip (which opens it, do not extract it)
- delete/replace system apps
- close 7zip to update the rom.zip

couple of other notes:
- don't delete important system apks, like settings for instance
- you can delete lots of other stuff, like languages you won't use(system/tts/lang_pico) and sounds (system/media/audio), saves a lot of space.
- i have found not all apps work on the system partition, they simply force close (don't know why). winamp, quickpic don't work for me, but most other stuff does like go launcher, go sms pro, jorte calendar, elixir. takes a bit of trial and error. you can always move them back and forth with titanium or something like SystemCleanup.
- once you've finished editing your rom.zip, you must make sure that your total system size is less than your hboot system size (<145MB if on cm7r2), otherwise it won't boot. you can check this with 7zip as it should show how big your system will be when extracted.

good luck, i find it more fun editing a custom rom before flashing...

Originally Posted by eddiehk6

- i have found not all apps work on the system partition, they simply force close (don't know why). winamp, quickpic don't work for me, but most other stuff does like go launcher, go sms pro, jorte calendar, elixir. takes a bit of trial and error. you can always move them back and forth with titanium or something like SystemCleanup.

Thx a lot for your help!
I played with Ginger Villain 3.3 and I actually might be able to help you now:
Amongst other app I also moved apps like quickpic and poweramp and at first they gave me fc (like you mentioned) but then I updated quickpic via the market and restored (only the data) of poweramp with titanium and now they both work


Some general tips to whoever wants to try this as well:
If you are on the Mac you can download Winzip for Mac since there is no 7zip for Mac and it's Mac clones don't allow editing directly in the zip file.
If you want to extracting .apk files from your Android in order to add the apks on another rom you can use EStrongs File Manager (source)
- Open ES File Manager
- Click on the menu button of your device
- Click on "Manager"
- Click on "App Manager"
- Long press on app you want to extract
- Click on "backup"
- Extracted .apk files will be placed on the "backups" directory of your sd card

C

Originally Posted by charliebigpot

Thx a lot for your help!
I played with Ginger Villain 3.3 and I actually might be able to help you now:
Amongst other app I also moved apps like quickpic and poweramp and at first they gave me fc (like you mentioned) but then I updated quickpic via the market and restored (only the data) of poweramp with titanium and now they both work

thanks, will try this too!