I am planning to purchase the MINI alarm system and install it myself, but need to know if there are any other parameters aside from the DWA_VERBAUT parameter in the KOMBI and SPEG modules I must set in NCSEXPERT in order for it to work properly.

I have a 2008 Mini Cooper S R56.

 

If you are retrofitting the "real" alarm system (as opposed to just wanting to get the alarm light to blink) there are couple of options in a few modules that need to be changed. The proper way to retrofit the alarm is to add $302 to the FA string (in both the CAS and FRM modules). Then use the "Process Car" option in NCS Expert to program all modules to recognize the alarm.

 

How exactly would I add this string in the FA module?
So far I've only played with the TRC and MAN files to upload.

 

The FA string defines each of the options that your vehicle is equipped with. NCS Expert (and the dealer's software) reads this string and uses it to determine the correct individual settings that get programmed into each module in your car.

The detailed steps for how to change the FA string can be found in this PDF file: ftp://94.212.182.18/Other-Software/N..._Order_CAS.pdf. As mentioned previously, the option that you want to add is $302. You'll need to read, modify and then write the correct FA string to the CAS and FRM modules using the procedure in the PDF file.

Once you've added $302 to the FA, then you need to recode (AKA default) each module. There's two ways to do this. The first way is to use the "Process Car" option in NCS Expert. This does all modules at once, but often errors out on modules that it can't communicate with. The second way is to manually default each module one by one. To do this, use a text editor to empty out your FSW_PSW.MAN file (make sure the file exists, but is 0 bytes in length). Then simply select each module in turn and use the same steps that you'd use to program a module. The empty FSW_PSW.MAN file tells NCS Expert to simply program the "factory default" settings into each module. Since you've already added $302 to the FA, this will now also include the settings that enable the alarm system.

Note that if you've previously customized any other settings using NCS Expert that the process above will overwrite them. You'll need to manually change them again (same way you did the first time).

Good luck!