Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: Sydney
Posts: 40
Custom remaps versus factory maps.
Wondering if someone can explain the difference between the file format that the "factory"
systems use ie ".vbf" and the format/s used by kess 2 and other general aftermarket tuners?
Is the only difference some form of protection so the maps can only be applied by specific systems?
Is this also why the faultmate has a flash file loader and a performance FFL for custom maps?
I'd also read earlier that a engine ecu should be flashed with the latest for the specific hardware factory files before being overwritten by the custom map.
Is this because the custom only rewrites part of the files?Jul 04 Build TDV6 HSE Car #466 , Reversing Camera, Front Brembos Rear V8 brakes, Allisport intercooler, D4 Bluetooth and the odd S/W upgrade courtesy of the Faultmate MSV-2
31st Aug 2014 4:08 am
alex_pescaru
Member Since: 19 Dec 2010
Location: RO
Posts: 270
dub01s wrote:
Wondering if someone can explain the difference between the file format that the "factory" systems use ie ".vbf" and the format/s used by kess 2 and other general aftermarket tuners?
I will try to explain it briefly...
Click image to enlarge
Generally the Kess and other aftermarket software/hardware are exporting a binary file which represents a 1:1 copy of ECU's internal memory. Case (2) in the above picture.
Inside these binary files, you should identify the maps and/or the main program/exe zones. Marked as Block1, Block2, ... , Block n.
Of course, beside these, you can find other information too (green zone).
VBF files are a little more organized. Case (1) in the above picture.
They contain a HEADER zone and a DATA zone.
Inside header zone, which is text, you can find various information, but the most important ones are which memory zones from ECU are processed/erased (start, length) and the CRC32 of the entire VBF's DATA zone.
Inside data zone, which is binary, you will find ONLY the memory blocks relevant to your application with information about where is their start address in ECU's memory, which is their length and their CRC16.
PS: As CG says, the above is my knowledge, so may be far removed from the truth...
Last edited by alex_pescaru on 9th May 2019 11:17 pm. Edited 1 time in total
31st Aug 2014 3:37 pm
dub01s
Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: Sydney
Posts: 40
Alex,
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Does this mean a vbf file is essentially a package that instructs and contains limited overwrites. i.e. does not overwrite everything in the ECU? (noting all the vbf files I see for the same ecu are the same size?)
And then can I assume the aftermarket suppliers find it easier to create a file for overwriting?
Is the green data also written? i.e. is the binary a "ghost image" of the ECU
Do you know of tools that convert one to the other?
Ive seen reference to freeware/shareware tools that allow you to look at these files. Do you know of any?
StephenJul 04 Build TDV6 HSE Car #466 , Reversing Camera, Front Brembos Rear V8 brakes, Allisport intercooler, D4 Bluetooth and the odd S/W upgrade courtesy of the Faultmate MSV-2
1st Sep 2014 1:44 am
alex_pescaru
Member Since: 19 Dec 2010
Location: RO
Posts: 270
Quote:
Does this mean a vbf file is essentially a package that instructs and contains limited overwrites. i.e. does not overwrite everything in the ECU?
Yes.
Quote:
all the vbf files I see for the same ecu are the same size?
Not necessarily. The actual (binary) data may be the same length, but in the header you can have different comments, info, etc, and, in the end, the entire VBF file can have a different length than another.
Quote:
And then can I assume the aftermarket suppliers find it easier to create a file for overwriting?
Is the green data also written? i.e. is the binary a "ghost image" of the ECU
Maybe. The implementation is entirely to the developer's will.
Quote:
Do you know of tools that convert one to the other?
No. I am using a simple hex editor (HxD) to do such conversions, because the actual data is easy to extract and/or replace. And the same hex editor is able to recompute the CRC(s).
Quote:
Ive seen reference to freeware/shareware tools that allow you to look at these files. Do you know of any?
As above. And for looking and modifying maps, I am using WinOLS.
1st Sep 2014 3:32 pm
dub01s
Member Since: 12 Dec 2005
Location: Sydney
Posts: 40
Thanks again Alex.
Would it be a fair assumption that in the faultmate the Perfomance Flash File Loader is a binary file loader for BAS maps files as opposed to the Flash File Loader for the factory .vbf files? (Alex if your not familiar with the Faultmate those who do know the system feel free to comment)
I guess the question I am getting around to is the faulmate limited to only using factory .vbf files and binaries provided and signed by BAS when it comes to remapping?Jul 04 Build TDV6 HSE Car #466 , Reversing Camera, Front Brembos Rear V8 brakes, Allisport intercooler, D4 Bluetooth and the odd S/W upgrade courtesy of the Faultmate MSV-2
2nd Sep 2014 11:36 am
parrafin23
Member Since: 04 Dec 2011
Location: Buskeud
Posts: 678
Quite intresting this post of yours dub01s.. Im not sure what you intend to do with those por.vbf files, but I would like to know how to extract only the data part of the eas files. Lets take
9H22-14D394-AA.vbf and lets try and find where that pesky limitation of ride height allowed to be driven at x km/h mp/h and make the ecu just plain and simple ignore the vehicle speed.
I have no clue about how all this works. but the eas module somehow needs to listen on the highspeed can and look for abs module i.e Id 0x21 and when the module sees this it reads the speed and compare it to max speed allowed before lowering the vehicle to normal height if the height has been changed..
if you look at the file size of 9H22-14D394-AA.vbf its 241kB, but when you read it with kess the output file is around 2Mb.. There is some mystic math goin on... hmmmm..
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