Using your advise here, I downloaded V24 (24.1 was taking way too long) and made the filename modifications. Saved it as a standard .ISO and used my Mac's Toast to burn it. Stuck the disk in the nav and the screen went black for about 20 seconds (MKIV) then restarted with the "Might take 6 minutes" screen....then it displayed the 3 languages supported here in the US and a progress bar. Restarted and YES! British voice.

Has anyone experimented with a hack to keep the English text when "E" (spanish) is selected? Would be nice to be able to make all 3 languages display english and have the USA, GB and maybe a male voice set up.

I figure the language tables are in another file somewhere, perhaps all in the same file?

Jerry

 

Hi, Can you tell me where you got that mount that uses your torx screws on the downtube?

 

That actually looks like a MINI FINI cup holder. Are you referring to where the PS2 controller is sitting on?

Oh never mind. I didn't even see that mount until you pointed it out. Here is a better view.

 

OK, so for those who now have the GB voice set, has this changed your distance units in any way, from feet to yards, or anything else that is strange?

 

Nope, she speaks in Miles and Feet still. Vocabulary is a bit different. Motorway is freeway, etc...

Richard

 

Also looking for Dutch! Let me know what you find.

 

Did mine late Friday in preparation for a weekend drive over the mountains to the depths of the Cochella Valley.
The downloads, ISO file swaps, and installation were very simple once I had the latest version of NERO. I prepared two CDs, one withe GB voice swap and the other is unedited.
Swapping voice does not alter any of the USA settings; only the voices and vocabulary are changed, a pleasant change from the USA female. It something like going from a scolding nun to Kelly LaBrock.

 

I just did my 2005 MCS after work today. Used UltraISO to edit the image, then burned them (both original and modified) using Roxio Easy CD Creator. No problems at all, and I thank the guys who figured this out, including GLJones who mentioned that the screen goes black for a while before the update starts (if I hadn't read that I might've freaked out).

I have a 2005 head unit, but I couldn't find any way to get MP3 info on the Nav display.

 

Just did the whole thing in about a half hour including download times.

Worked perfectly first time. Ian comes through once again

Thanks much to all who worked on figuring this out. I'm so pleased to finally be able to take directions from the Lady Puck, rather than just plain old Mrs Puck from Dubuque.

 

Great to hear - glad this is working out for everyone. Just to clarify however: the only thing I did was start this whole activity by reporting that newest '05 MINIs can speak English.
The praise goes to Pete for discovering the way to cheat the system, and creating the downloadable ISO image; and to OctaneGuy for creating the step-by-step instructions.
Pleased to have helped "connect the dots" though.

 

Thanks to all then.

Notes:

After the first day of using the Brit voice, the oddest thig I have found is the phrasing. Since in England they have the M15, or the A5 motorways, the word "highway" is dropped from directions. Instead of "... enter highway 94 west... " it's, "... enter the 94 west... ". It'll take a little getting used to. I do like, "... to join the motorway" better than, "... to enter the highway." There are other smaller diffferences in phrasing which just help to make the whole experience a little bit more humorous and enjoyable. One more reason to use my Nav system.

 

I thought I would try to hack my disk to replace the Spanish (E) with the GB voice. The audio files are no problem as we have been doing that already, replacing the USA with the GB voices by renaming those two files.

I searched the disk for the text language info to get English on the screen when "E" is selected. I did find the files.

Under LANGUAGES > 0200 directories are the files. Open them in a text reader and scroll to the bottom to see all the text fields from the system.

I deleted the E_M file and renamed the GB_M file to E_M. I assume this will place the British (King's) English text on the displays. That with the E audio files replaced with the GB should let me switch between USA and E (now for English) and have full functionality.

Well, I put the disk into the Nav and it goes through the upgrade but then says the system is already up-to-date. Won't replace the files. Any ideas? If you are not having such a problem switching back and forth between the USA and GB updates, can you test this hack and let us know if it works? If so, I will use the V24.1 update to force it.

Thanks

 

You could burn a disc of the original unmodified ISO, "update" the system back to that, and then re-run your new disc, see if that works, too. Great work on that, I've been meaning to check it out but haven't had the time yet.

-mike

 

i got the new voice last night.

the update did not take but two minutes. I love the new voice,
great work all fellow MINI owners. Now we just gotta find out how the MP3 text thing works! maybe someone can modify the sound file and make it say " if possble, make a U turn with hand brake"

One thing i notice, the qualiy of the new voice is not as good as the american lady. can't complain anymore-since it is better than nothing!

For those who looking at my cup holders. I bought the 05 cup holder from dealer, since i like the design of it and the advantage of not in the way when the seat is sliding forward.
I also turn the old cup holder the other way since i dont want to take it of.
I use them for small items since it will be in the way of the glovebox cover when you put large item in there.
as you all can see, i also use it to hold the PS2 controller

 

Yes, this will work, but there's one thing that you really need to note before you do that...

Going backwards with the firmware version (i.e. downgrading) will force the unit to go into a "no location" mode. This has a couple of advantages and disadvantages.

The main advantage is that you will no longer see the "Accept" screen each time you turn on your car (i.e. the nav system will go right to where it was at last without displaying the "Accept" screen first). Very cool!

The main disadvantage is that the nav system's routing directions (written & voice), as well as the map scale, will be converted into yards instead of feet. Not so cool.

Therefore, you need to decide if doing the downgrade is worth it to you (i.e. can you live with the units being in yards instead of in feet as you are used to). Once you've done the downgrade, the ONLY way to get the unit back to its prior state is to take it back to the dealer and have them recode the unit's local back to USA for you.

I tried this trick on my 05 DVD-based nav unit just for kicks and it worked fine. Basically, I downgraded the unit using v23 and then I upgraded it back using v24. As soon as I did the downgrade to v23, the "Accept" screen was gone and the unit was in yards. Note that I also had a problem where the cool little MINI logo that appears when you first open the driver's door disappeared, but I've been told that disconnecting the battery for a while and then reconnecting it will fix that problem.

Just an FYI...

EDIT: Oops, I just noticed that Mike said to go back to the original unmodified ISO. That would work fine as the original ISO would be the same firmware version and so you wouldn't be making a "downgrade". Sorry for the mixup.

 

Yeah :smile: but thanks for posting that info, I read that on X5World and it is good knowledge for everyone here.

-mike

 

I wonder if the downgrade you are referring to is an incremental downgrade which result in those things or a downgrade to a specific firmware. I'm at 1/20 now, so if I downgrade to 1/12, I'll see those changes?

Also, about that new cupholder, it sits really high doesn't? Oncoming cars can see your straw, but it does look a little more integrated.

Just think if we could use the 3rd language slot for our very own voices! I think my passengers would be duly impressed to hear me giving directions to myself! LOL

 

Yes, but the info I had prior to my own experience (from places such as X5World, etc.) led me to believe that you had to actually "downgrade" to a much older firmware (like v20 or v21) in order to put the unit into "no location" mode and get rid of the nag (i.e. "Accept") screen. However, as I found out first-hand, ANY downgrade will do it (such as v24 down to v23, etc.).

Personally, I thought that I could live with the units in yards (as it's quite easy to quickly divide by 3 in order to get the number of feet from the yards), but after using the unit for a while, I found that I didn't really like it. I'd much rather have the units in feet and then just deal with the silly Accept screen. You get used to clicking the Accept button each time you get in the car, so it's really no big deal to me.

 

Yes, that's correct... Going from 4-1/20 (i.e. v22 or v22.1) to 4-1/12 (i.e. v20.1, v21, or v21.1) will indeed cause the unit to go into "no location" mode. You could also upgrade from 4-1/20 to 4-1/40 (i.e. v24) and then downgrade to 4-1/30 (i.e. v23) and that will give you the same result. You could then upgrade to 4-1/42 (i.e. v24.1) and that would give you the latest firmware version without the "Accept" acreen (although the unit would be in yards as a result).

Now, the ONE thing that I'm not certian on (as I haven't tried it) is if downgrading just a point increase will cause the same thing to happen (i.e. like downgrading from v24.1 to v24). If I had to bet, I'd say that it would though.

Also, for those that DON'T want to put the unit into yards (and hence lose the Accept screen), just "upgrading" the firmware (i.e. moving upwards in the versions numbers like from v22 to v23 to v24, etc.) will NOT cause the unit to go into "no location" mode. You have to do a "downgrade" in order to make that happen.

 

I originally had the nice British female voice (October '02 build date) but lost it when I updated the firmware to 62 (V21-1). Later, my nav computer was replaced by the dealer under warranty and when I got it back, it had the lawyer nag screen.

I just tried reloading V21-1 and bingo! No more nag screen!

Now to try to figure out how to get my British honey back. ...

 

All,

One other thing that I forgot to mention is that if you "downgrade" your DVD-based nav unit (in order to put it into "no location" mode and get rid of the "Accept" nag screen), and then you "upgrade" the firmware to the latest version (either v24 or v24.1 giving you 4-1/40 or 4-1/42), another advantage to doing this is that you should now be able to use the new "Route Magnet" feature as well (which came about in the v24 firmware update release).

For some reason, the new "Route Magnet" isn't available when the nav system is in its default USA mode (it's typical for BMW/MINI to exclude us folks over in the good'ol USA now isn't it), but I believe that it is there if the unit is in "no location" mode (BEFORE you upgrade to v24 or v24.1).

For those of you who don't know, the new "Route Magnet" feature is sort of like a waypoint. If you are currently navigating a route, then using the Route Magnet feature will allow you to set a point (i.e. a waypoint) on the current route and the unit will then try and force the route to be drawn near that point if it possibly can.

I'm not sure how well it works though as I got rid of my new 05 MCS before I had a chance to test it. My replacement MCS will be here in February, but as I mentioned in a prior post, I don't like the unit being in yards and so I'm not going to "downgrade" it (and hence I won't get the Route Magnet feature since BMW/MINI so kindly excluded it from folks over in the USA). Also, from Ian Cull's reports (and others), my new unit will already be setup with the GB voice as a second language option and so there's no need for me to mess with the new unit once it arrives.

NOW... I'm just hoping that the new 2005-1 NavTeq map data DVD will be available in January when my new car is built. I think that it's absolutely ridiculous that new MINI's are still coming with old (archaic) 2003-2 map data discs (especially since the BMW cars get much newer map data discs like 2004-2 and/or 2005-1). Oh well, I digress...

 

When you say it changed to Yards, you mean only the feet right. Miles and half miles and such are not affected, right? I can live with Yards instead of Feet.

BTW--I managed to get the nav to revert to normal (USA voice) using the unmodified iso. I then tried my Spanish replaced by GB but I think I messed up and had started with the USA replaced by GB version so it went back to USA speaking British. Burning the correct iso now with the spanish voice and text files swapped...will let you know later if it works.

Jerry

 

OfficeMaven, well if they don't come with the disc you want, at least that FTP site has the 2004-2 DVD.

-mike

 

Hey Guys,

I've been running off CD's for people to whoever asked for them, but I got a bright idea that I'm planning on putting into action. It's the holidays, you know, the time for giving?

Heh heh, don't worry, I'm not asking for anything to be given to me, but... my club is working on raising money for the Cure Autism Now (CureAustimNow.org) charity, and I'll be putting up a link on my site--URL coming-- for getting the CD's for $10 (2 CD's incl. shipping) of Ver.24--With either your choice of British Female or British Male plus an Undo disc.

Now I know none of you need this, cause you're all doing it on your own, however, for anyone that needs help, here's a chance to get the CD's and help out a great cause. As we say--"Let's Motor for a Worthy Cause"

**** Edited by OctaneGuy
(Note, I am not selling the CD's. I will continue to make them for whoever asks for them. I don't expect to get many requests. The number of MINI's with nav's are pretty small--something like less than 3%)

The $10 was to be collected by c3, however, I might just ask people to donate directly. It's totally optional and people don't have to donate to get the CD's.




Thanks!

 

Oc,

That's great news. While I consider myself above average computer literate, somehow I've managed to goof something even while following your directions to the "T". Now my Nav is dark and not responding.

When I went to install V24 it seemed to be going well and doing everything everyone else experienced (went dark, install screen came up, progress bar, etc.). Then I got an "Error Occurred" message telling me to eject the disc, consult my users manual (the CD ejected on its own), and click "OK" (although I was not able to select and click the "OK" icon).

Now, even with the DVD back in, and the drive whirring and buzzing, I get zip, zilch, nada, in any language.

I have hope that I can still correct the issue with a good update disc (something in me thinks it's something with the download I did, the burn, or the disc I used). My reason for this is that if I use the update disc I created again the system reads it and begins the update process again. But it always runs in to something and give the "Error" message.

Any ideas? I may try getting a new blank CD and doing another disc to see if that fixes the problem. Otherwise, I would certainly be interested in getting the goods from a trusted source as yourself! The sooner the better as I'm due for my Inspectioin I service soon and don't want to get into it with the dealer about why I need my Nav system re-set and why it would be great if he did it for free and didn't ask any questions!

How soon do you think I could get a CD?

Joe