Importing Tap Tap Revenge 2 Songs Into TTR3

First of all, sorry for the fact that all of the images are at the bottom of the post, the iPhone WordPress app doesn’t allow you to insert them inline. 😦

Well, I was idly laying around, being a general lump and playing TTR2, when I wondered, “Hey, wouldn’t it be great if I could play all of these songs in TTR3?” So, I set about mucking around in my Applications folder with iFile. What I found is that every TTR2 song has 4 basic files. These are: the artwork.png, which is the pretty little picture you see next to the song title, the (song name).m4a audio file, (you can import this into iTunes too!), the info.plist, and the taptrack.ttr2_track. See the bottom of the post for a look at all these files. Now, these files are also present in TTR3 tracks, so I ran the most basic of tests. I copied one Track folder from /var/mobile/Applications/(long string of alphanumeric characters)/Documents/Tracks to the same location in TTR3’s folder. You’ll be able to distinguish between the two by looking in a few of the folders. When you see a song that you only have in one version, that’ll be it! If this doesn’t make sense or you just want proof, look down at the bottom of the post for images.

Error 1600 in iTunes

Well, I was having some problems with my iPod touch not really liking being jailbroken, and I thought I traced it back to redsn0w. So, I downloaded the latest version of PwnageTool, ran it, and (slowly, painfully) generated a custom .ipsw. Then, since I hadn’t been able to put my iPod into standard restore mode, I used the learned-by-heart combination of 2sec-power, 10sec-power+home, as long as it takes-home for DFU mode. It showed up, and I ⌥-clicked to restore from my custom IPSW. But what? Right after it said “Preparing iPod for Restore”, I got Error 1600, which isn’t even documented on Apple’s site! I tried again, and the same result. So, I tried the stock firmware. Oh no! Error 1600! Next, I tried my mom’s Vista laptop. Error 1600! After all this, feeling rather downhearted, I thought of what else I could try. Since the error was right at “Preparing iPod for Restore”, AKA “We’re putting it in copy-files-to-the-root-directory mode”, I thought the problem might be that it was in DFU mode. Considering that, I grabbed my half shot-put and a tact switch that was missing its legs, and made a button-presser of sorts. I used the 10sec-home, plug it in, keep holding home combination, but after 30 seconds of holding home, I put the tact switch and shot-put on the button, carefully shifting it so that it stayed pressed. 5 minutes later, “iTunes has detected an iPod in Recovery Mode.”! Now, my iPod has been properly restored! So, to sum up, Error 1600 means: Dude, your iDevice is in DFU Mode, and we can’t make it go into copy-to-root mode. PUT THE F***ING THING IN STANDARD RESTORE MODE!!!

Ooh! Cool Boot Logos!

Today I used redsn0w to change my boot and recovery logos. I made the boot logo myself, it’s a Happy iPhone:

My new boot logo!

And I removed the byline of the Sad iPhone for my restore:

My new restore logo.

Feel free to use either of these yourself, but if you post ’em anywhere, say where you got ’em!

3.1.3 Jailbreak

Well, redsn0w 0.9.4 is out, and I can jailbreak 3.1.3 with it. I’m crossing my fingers that it’ll work!

A Bunch Of Apps Worth Jailbreaking Your iDevice To Get

I’ve read a bunch of “Top 10” posts, but they all seem to be outdated or device-specific, so I decide to create my own. In this post, I’m assuming that you already know how to install apps from Cydia. I’ll probably improve this list over time as well. So without further ado, let’s get to the list!

#1: Categories

The Main Categories UI

Categories is a tweak that lets you place all your apps in folders. You can change the icons of the folders as well,  but I didn’t find this to be particularly intuitive. It is accessed by pressing “Edit” after creating your folder, then poking “Icon”. A very useful feature of Categories is that while your apps are removed from the main SpringBoard while they’re in a folder, they still show up in Spotlight.

#2: iPhoneVM and ProSwitcher

ProSwitcher’s UI

I’ve lumped both of these into one item because ProSwitcher’s performance improves greatly when iPhoneVM is installed. ProSwitcher is a multitasking solution styled like the Palm Pre’s “Deck of Cards” interface. It can be activated by a short hold of the home button, a short hold of the lock button, a double press of the home button, a few more press/gesture types, and even just single-pressing the home button! iPhoneVM is a completely silent tweak (no UI whatsoever) that gives your iDevice Virtual Memory. This allows for proper multitasking, making it very important if you want that feature. Please note that iPhoneVM is only available on the BeYouriPhone repo. To add this repo, open Cydia, press “Manage”, then “Sources”. Now, press “Edit”, then “Add”. In the box that appears, type “repo.beyouriphone.com” (Without the quotes).

#3: Infinidock

The Dock Is Using InfiniDock

InfiniDock is a tweak which allows you to have an infinite scrolling dock with as many icons as you want in it. This is available in the BeYouriPhone repo as well.

#4: Winterboard

WinterBoard's Understated UI

The screenshot really understates this one. WinterBoard is a tool which allows you to theme almost any aspect of your iDevice. The theme in the screenshots above is iLlumine with a few tweaks. A quick Google of “WinterBoard Themes” will turn up loads of results. They’re all over Cydia as well.

#5: SBSettings

SBSettings UI

SBSettings allows you to perform many of the actions available in Settings.app from your Status Bar. For example, it can: Toggle WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, EDGE, SSH, AFP, VNC, and a whole load of others, allow you to take a quick note, use a mini-calculator, play/pause your iPod, and kill processes.

#6: qTweeter

qTweeter's UI

qTweeter is also available on the BeYouriPhone Repo. It allows you to update your Twitter and Facebook status from anywhere on your iDevice.

To be continued…

Jailbreak

Yesterday I jailbroke my iPod touch. I was just tired of all the limitations of the stock OS. Admittedly, there are problems, but overall it was worth it. I used blackra1n RC3 by GeoHot to do it. Actually, the story of how it happened was kind of funny. I downloaded blackra1n for Mac to have a look around, oblivious to the fact that my iPod touch was plugged in. As the only thing you can do is click “Make it ra1n”, I did so. It immediately told me that my iPod was jailbroken once it rebooted. WOW. That was simple. Kudos to GeoHot!

Merry Christmas,
uv