Tool to change pre-defined sounds: dong-dong, volume, etc... Tue Aug 05, 2008 7:38 pm
I am not sure if my title says how cool is my last finding on the nuvi 760. I am pretty sure it applies to other models as well.
I found a way to change all the predefined sounds on the nuvi 760 and replace them with your own. What does this means?
- You can increase the sound level of the famous dong-dong camera alert.
Well not cool enough, right?
- You can change the dong-dong for anything else and assign it a sound file of your own. Would it not be cooler to have a "Camera in sight" message instead of "dong-dong"?
- There are 6 pre-defined sounds on the 760 and you can change all of them. You can nearly replace the "tick" when you press a key by "ouch!" or the speed alert by something else less annoying.
I tested this manually for now. It involves editing the file GUPDATE.GID, adjusting the proper CRCs, forcing an update and 'voila!'. I am also writing a program to allow everybody to do the same. It is pretty much done so you won't have to wait too long to enjoy it. Today or tomorrow.
the fine prints:
- You can only replace the sounds by WAV files of equal size or smaller. For now, I do not change the size of the GUPDATE.GID file. You can change the number of samples per second to reduce your file size and fit in the designated area. I used 12000 sample per seconds instead of 16000 samples per second and it sounded very good. I also used "loquendo' TTS and increased the speech rate to reduce the file lenght.
- The WAV files must be 16 bits per sample. I tried 8 bits per sample and it did not work. Files must be 'mono' sound and not stereo (not a big deal!). Anyways, I am adding the wav file properties in the program so you can see what is needed.
- It works on the nuvi 760. My program will be generic enough so you can try on a different model without causing harm. I am looking for specific signatures in the file. If it is not found, it won't allow you to modify the file.
- Forcing the update after modifying the GID file is a bit messy. You need to update your nuvi to a different version. For example, your nuvi is at firmware version 3.00. You have to update it to version 3.10 (or 2.80). Then you copy the modified GUPDATE.GID of version 3.00 back on the nuvi and cycle power. It will reload the modified version 3.00 and the new sounds. The side effect is that you will lose all your settings. the nuvi does that when you are going to a version lower than the current one. Not a biggy, but annoying anyways. I need to find a way to force the update without changing the version. Anybody knows?
OK for now. I need to go back to the drawing board. Stay tuned.
Joined: 10 Jul 2008 Posts: 1227 Location: Southern California
Tue Aug 05, 2008 9:30 pm
I find it silly that Garmin removed the ability to disable the touch tones in the first place. The 3xx and 6xx series allows this ability. Now users who do not want touch tones have to resort to hacks to disable them.
Turboccc, the work you're doing to "disassemble" the workings of various 760 functions is simply amazing. If I understood you correctly, you never used any gps until just a couple months ago? I realize much of this actually turns out to be reasonably simple with a good understanding of programming, but for years gps "experts" have said the things you've been doing in the Garmin OS couldn't be done. Closed system, we have to take what they give us, can't mod a nuvi, etc. Congrats for showing how it's done. Now maybe a few others will join in to open the possibilities for customization even more. I for one am very appreciative.
So am I to understand you have a way to re-enable the turn "ding" taken away by Garmin in the recent models?
Joined: 10 Jul 2008 Posts: 1227 Location: Southern California
Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:50 pm
The "turn ding" gatorguy referred to is also known as the "attention tone" that was configurable on the 3xx/6xx series. It plays the ding sound just before an upcoming turn, thus preparing you for the upcoming voice prompt and was quite useful. Sadly, it's another one of the useful features that Garmin removed from the nuvi line after the 3xx/6xx series.
Somehow, I doubt this will work with your hack since I believe it's more of an option toggle rather than a sound replacement. But if for some reason it does, this will make a lot of nuvi owners very happy, myself included.
grease: dream on! LOL! I am not on my way to disassemble Garmin's code. I am sure this can be done, but I am too lazy for that. Ask GArmin, they have the source code (with comments!).
beewinpy: Funny. I heard a similar request elsewhere... I will keep that in mind. I can use this as well.
Tabs: After some thinking, you could add the BEEP you want for non-TTS voice file. Using VoiceEditor from rodzilla (Rodrigue Cuescun), you can modify the existing "phrases" made of WAV smaller one withoutspliiting the VPM. There is already a beep in there. Just add the beep ID in front of the existing phrase ID(s).
For TTS, I found that some empty string reported by TTSVoiceEditor could do the job (like string 121), but this is not it. String 121 (if you change it to something else) is called before and after each other strings. LOL! For example, change string 121 to "string 121". "Turn left on street Flamingo" will be spoken as "string 121 turn left on string 121 street string 121 flaminco" or something like that. Ouch! My head hurt.
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Back on subject:
OK. Got the checksum figured out. Thanks to neadrenalin for his insight. Things were much simpler than what I thought. Just a little more work to make the program flow 'workable' for everybody and I am done.
So it is for tonight or tomorrow morning.
TurboCCC
N.B. On a side note, I could replace Garmin's copywright at power-up by your own name... LOL!
V1.01 - better handling of block boundaries and data block identifier. Not 100% perfect but good enough for now. Also corrected audio extraction problem. Extract them again with this version.
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I will keep that in mind. I can use this as well.