2015, 2017, & 2019 Nvidia Shield TV Firmware Repo & Source Code Repo

[louforgiveno]

Will this method also work on 8.2.3 stock firmware (with ai upscaling working)?
Not sure i like 9+ on the shield....couldn't playback files i could prior to update...even after 9.1.1 just didn't have the patience to deal with it, and 8.2.3 performs better imo

 

[jenneh]

Will this method also work on 8.2.3 stock firmware (with ai upscaling working)?
Not sure i like 9+ on the shield....couldn't playback files i could prior to update...even after 9.1.1 just didn't have the patience to deal with it, and 8.2.3 performs better imo

I will test it tomorrow and let you know~! 8.2.3 Seems to be what the people on Reddit prefer as well so I will check it out first thing.

 

[louforgiveno]

I will test it tomorrow and let you know~! 8.2.3 Seems to be what the people on Reddit prefer as well so I will check it out first thing.

Thank you for your time!
And yes, 8.2.3 is probably the highest I'll ever go....I'm not a fan of android versions beyond android 9.....10, 11 just seem more apple like with crazy restrictions and obstacles to overcome for basic functionality....even my note 10+ won't be updated past android 9 either.....

Thanks again for your work

 

[jenneh]

@louforgiveno I feel discouraged towards later versions of android as well. I find it especially disappointing what features vendors are choosing to use, as well as the features they Omit from the new kernels. For instance, why are we not getting the most out of project treble? It is not even implemented on this device. I think I could really go on and on but I find that feature to be the most perplexing to me to leave out, as it was actually really innovative.

Testing some oddities now while testing 8.2.3 I tried this time to use a separate device with magisk installed to patch the boot.img to see if that would work or if the patch has to be done on a shield. I also tried installing the modded boot.img from the start of a new flash. One or both of these two new scenarios caused a bootloop. Erasing, and reflashing as stock, then will test the modded boot.img one more time to see if it is possible to use images from other devices

 

[jenneh]

Okay! So you /Cannot/ use another device to make the modded boot.img. I was curious if I could use an Android Emulator, but somehow it causes problems.

Perhaps its the fact that magisk checks device architecture before running and can detect the x86_64 and builds based off that, perhaps there is another element with keys involved. All ends the same.

For best results, build the boot mod on the same kind of device you are flashing to. (note I am building these for us but a note for anyone building their own)

Another build note is, you /Do Not/ need to be on the Same firmware to be able to patch the boot, just a shield (pro 16gb for this example)

I was able to build the modded boot image and get it flashed on 8.2.3, and we have Root!

I am going to completely erase the system again and try to reflash with the new mod added in from the start to see if that works. Then we can figure out the AI bit according to noot noot's steps

 

[jenneh]

It looks like everything is working on 8.2.3 and I was able to work out the kinks. You cannot flash the modded boot.img at the beginning, this would have to be done after the system installs. What happened was, everything installed, slowly. However magisk was missing when installation completed.

@louforgiveno here's the beginning of the guide I am working on https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...stock-firmware-and-keep-ai-upscaling.4524873/

 

[topbilal]

Anyone has the developer images version 9.0 or 9.1.1 for Nvidia shield 2017 16 gb model?

 

[Cecillatour]

Does anyone know where are the OTA images located? We could extract the boot image from there, patch it with Magisk (delta) and flash it.

 

[jenneh]

Does anyone know where are the OTA images located? We could extract the boot image from there, patch it with Magisk (delta) and flash it.

It's located in data/ota_package if you want to obtain the 9.1 or 9.1.1 boot images yourself. Some research notes are here

If you want to save yourself some time I already pulled those files and modded them here

 

[Cecillatour]

Thanks a lot! That is the location I also found online but I cannot find it on my Shield. I must be going nuts! I did this once on my old Shield (darcy) but now I cannot find it. I guess I made crucial mistake by installing 9.1.1 full ota without copying it first. After installation it is gone, if I correctly remember. So I guess I will have to use your modified boot images. Thanks for pointing them for me.

I simply wanted to test on my old darcy first before trying on mdarcy.

 

[jenneh]

@Cecillatour yes you are correct, after installation it cleans up that folder. I had to look for it but I did happen to save the OTA packages too if you or anyone wanted to look at them. They are under this spoiler

edit --- derp i can just link them sorry haha

PUBLICf77c312b128b6bde79b389a322706382.zip

drive.google.com

PUBLIC18e513b8a32a039975ecfcfa316d8217.zip

drive.google.com

 

[jenneh]

2017 16 gb Firmwares have been added to the OP in the same fashion the 2019s were added. I am unable to test these images but they should just work like the 2019s did.

Spoiler: Further knowledge about what the "Mirrors" Are

When you download firmwares off of Gameworks, some of the images have a bunch of extra crap

If you look at nvidia's included flashall script it shows you it only actually flashes the blob boot recovery system and vendor partitions.

So I cleaned up all the images to only contain those partitions and added two scripts

Erase all partitions which is good hygiene for your device so you don't get bugs

and "shieldroot" simply flashes the partitions. it doesn't actually root anything

People mirror these things because sometimes they get lost due to time.

If anyone is able to obtain the 9.1 and 9.1.1 OTA packages on this device and share either the whole zip or at least the boots that would be amazing

 

[jenneh]

Regarding the 9.1 and 9.1.1 ota packages:
I've made some progress on learning how to build lineage from scratch and in that endeavor, I learned more about brotli and how to compile a system image from .br files. Now, there is a piece missing here.. I was unable to get the shield to boot with the new images added ontop of 9.0.0 (basically trying to RE the OTA into fastboot flashable images) but I can at least document what was learned so far:

Spoiler: BUILDING A SYSTEM AND VENDOR IMAGE FROM A BROTLI FILE

Spoiler: WINDOWS GUIDE

Spoiler: DOWNLOADS

9.1.1 FW for example (I tried 9.1 as well, same result)

PUBLIC18e513b8a32a039975ecfcfa316d8217.zip

drive.google.com

SDAT2IMG for putting the system and vendor images together from their list and dat files

https://github.com/xpirt/sdat2img/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

https://www.python.org/downloads/ or type "python" into cmd to download from the microsoft store

To be able to extract the .dat file from the .br file

https://github.com/peazip/PeaZip/releases/download/9.0.0/peazip-9.0.0.WINDOWS.exe

Right click and extract the OTA Package. I renamed mine "9.1.1"
Extract sdat2img-master and copy sdat2img.py into the 9.1.1 folder
Open 9.1.1, right click on system.new.dat.br, and select extract here with peazip.
Repeat this step with vendor.new.dat.br
Now open command prompt from the folder toolbar and type:
python sdat2img.py system.transfer.list system.new.dat system.img
python sdat2img.py vendor.transfer.list vendor.new.dat vendor.img

Spoiler: LINUX GUIDE

Here's the same steps, except for linux:

PUBLIC18e513b8a32a039975ecfcfa316d8217.zip

drive.google.com

sudo apt-get install brotli
mkdir ~/9.1.1
cd ~/9.1.1
unzip ~/Downloads/PUBLIC18e513b8a32a039975ecfcfa316d8217.zip
brotli --decompress --output=system.new.dat system.new.dat.br
brotli --decompress --output=vendor.new.dat vendor.new.dat.br
git clone https://github.com/xpirt/sdat2img
python sdat2img/sdat2img.py system.transfer.list system.new.dat system.img
python sdat2img/sdat2img.py vendor.transfer.list vendor.new.dat vendor.img

You will now have a new system and vendor image in the folder, however it will not flash right.
Likely more can be done here but my knowledge is lacking atm

Android Source Code regarding OTA

bmp.blob is refered to, with a partition name of "bmps"

Some more knowledge on OTA

 

[jenneh]

The dev rooted 8.2.3 has been reuploaded and the link in the op replaced. It was missing the dtbo file. I went ahead and added a modded boot image to it. Steps are the same as stock, install the dev image and you have to sign in, when it finishes installing reboot to bootloader and run bootmod.bat (this is patched with magisk delta. if you want magisk by topjohnwu change the code in bootmod.bat to bootmod1.img and use topjohnwu's apk instead of the one in the zip)

DEV-ROOTED 8.2.3

8.2.3.zip

drive.google.com

To fix the su binary error after installing the apk, you need to run this code

adb root
adb disable-verity
adb reboot
adb root
adb remount
adb shell rm system/xbin/su

 

[grumpi1]

Hello
I want to flash version 8.2.2 stock (currently LOS is running).
I don't need root.
In the LOS guide I had to flash two things, the recovery and then the LOS image.

Is it correct that I only have to flash the 8.2.2.zip here?
Can I use the following procedure to do this?

Install LineageOS on foster | LineageOS Wiki

wiki.lineageos.org

I then just use the last section "Installing LineageOS from recovery" to flash the 8.2.2.zip, right?
(so only: "adb sideload 8.2.2.zip")

thanks for the work

 

[Manzing]

Hello
I want to flash version 8.2.2 stock (currently LOS is running).
I don't need root.
In the LOS guide I had to flash two things, the recovery and then the LOS image.

Is it correct that I only have to flash the 8.2.2.zip here?
Can I use the following procedure to do this?

Install LineageOS on foster | LineageOS Wiki

wiki.lineageos.org

I then just use the last section "Installing LineageOS from recovery" to flash the 8.2.2.zip, right?
(so only: "adb sideload 8.2.2.zip")

thanks for the work

Hi

I would say no.
AFAIK the provided zip files here are archives, not flashable packages.
So you would have to download the archive, extract and flash img files according to the procedure provided in the first post (using fastboot / USB debugging).
You can probably keep your current recovery if you don't flash recovery.img over it, but if I were you I would double check it will work with stock firmware. It has to be stock recovery or a compatible TWRP.

 

[grumpi1]

Hey thank you, but i cant find a flashing procedure in the first post. or am i blind?

 

[jenneh]

Hey thank you, but i cant find a flashing procedure in the first post. or am i blind?

you extract the zip then run shield root. read the pre-reqs first...

Spoiler: SHOW

 

[grumpi1]

Oh sry, sometimes I think too complicated.
"then root" means "sideload all the files right?

Do i have to write "fastboot flash recovery recovery.img" or "fastboot flash recovery.img"?
The extra word tells the shield which file to send, right?

 

[jenneh]

@grumpi1 ""then root" means "sideload all the files right?".... Yes. Else, Run it and see. Or run the one from Gameworks. Aka Nvidia. It's all laid out there for you.