Installing and removing mods

Installing and removing mods

Installing

1. Put the mod's .zip (as its author released it; Community mods lists them) in HMGAPI/updates/ on a USB stick.
2. Plug the stick in, open the HMG-API app > Check USB updates.
3. Each zip is listed with what it is. Tap the mod to install it.
   • A mod whose author isn't on HMG-API's trusted author list shows a warning first: its code runs inside the head unit's apps, so install mods only from authors you trust. Authors on the list install without the warning.
   • Every later update of a mod must be signed with the same author key as the version you installed, so nobody else can replace it.
4. Go back to the main screen and tap Apply changes (see Using the HMG-API app).

A mod that doesn't list your car or software says so and isn't installed. If you know it suits your car anyway (its author or a Car Report says so), tap Install anyway… under it. It installs with a warning, at your own risk: HMG-API still backs up every file it changes, and removing the mod puts them back. Over adb, add --any-car to engine install.

With NEMESIS

Some mods also come as a NEMESIS package (<mod>-<version>-nemesis.zip; HMG-API's releases carry one for each of its mods). HMG-API must be installed first; NEMESIS Manager says so if it isn't.

1. Unzip it onto the top level of a USB stick, plug it in, and confirm the install.
2. Restart the head unit if it says so.

HMG-API installs the mod and applies it, with the same checks as the app (signature, author key, car). A mod that doesn't list your car isn't installed; to install it anyway, at your own risk, add an empty file HMGAPI/ANY-CAR to the stick. Uninstalling the package in NEMESIS Manager removes the mod and puts its files back to stock. While a mod package is installed, NEMESIS won't uninstall HMG-API: uninstall the mod packages first.

Over adb, from a computer

With HMG-API installed and the head unit on adb, one command per step:

adb push wireless-carplay-aa-2.1.0.zip /data/local/tmp/

adb shell hmgapid engine install /data/local/tmp/wireless-carplay-aa-2.1.0.zip

adb shell hmgapid engine plan

adb shell hmgapid engine apply

install checks the package and its signature but changes nothing yet; plan shows what will change (and any problem); apply does it. Restart the head unit if the plan says so. Remove a mod with adb shell hmgapid engine remove <id>, then apply.

A NEMESIS package that does the same thing

Mods never fight a NEMESIS package that already changed the same apps (an older wireless CarPlay/Android Auto package, for example):

• A mod's hooks stay off for any app the package replaced: the package keeps working as it is. The plan says which hook points are off and why.
• Files both change: the mod's change goes on top of the package's (a line in a settings file), or starts from the stock copy NEMESIS keeps.
• A file the package added that the mod adds too: nothing changes, and the plan names the package to uninstall first.

Best order: uninstall the old package in NEMESIS Manager first, restart, then turn the mod on. If you already installed the mod first: uninstall the package anyway, restart, and tap Apply changes. HMG-API sees that the package put the stock files back, builds the mod's changes on them, and the mod's hooks turn on at the next restart.

Updating

The same way: put the new zip on the stick and install it over the old one. Your settings for the mod are kept.

Removing

In the HMG-API app, tap Remove under the mod, confirm, then Apply changes. Everything the mod changed goes back to stock. Its settings are kept in case you install it again.

To turn a mod off for a while instead, use its switch: it stays installed.