Database Info

Is Auto Startup Customization with BigStorage ROMs possible?

Finally managed to flash my mda with a bigstorage rom
All is good but I got a slight prob with something else. Although I hated the customisation of T-Mobile, I found it helpful that the phone automatically installs all the progs and settings in the extended ROM after a hard reset.
With BigStorage, I presuming that the Extended Rom folder is amalgamated with the Storage folder. Do you guys know whether it is possible to add the Cab files (e.g. intellidialer, etc...) to the Storage folder (as it was in ExtRom) so that it automatically installs the progs and customization options after a hard reset?
Or do you recommend going back to a traditional Extended Rom inclusive ROM and edit the Extended Rom there? I understand that ROMKitchen cannot be used on Mini's so do you happen to have any other program recommendations?
If the above two isn't possible yet, is there anyway of preventing the mda from deleting the Cab files after I install from them. For instance, when I install Intellipad, the cab file is automatically deleted. I had hoped that I may use this cab file again by dumping it in the "Storage" folder and using it if I need to hard reset the damn thing again
Thanks again

Hi rockykabir
sorry first for my english... I will try to explain my solution:
1. I have made a backup of all the Extended_ROM files to my PC (open in explorer loadvdisk.exe and copy through activesync.)
2. Made the Bigstorage and the Radio-Update (thanks a lot guys for the help that I have found in this forum.)
3. Made a small CAB-File which has to start first (see atached file)
4. If this file is installed, you can create a hidden and read-only folder on the SD-Card named: 2577 (Foldername is important)
5. Place inside this folder: autorun.exe and install.m2w and make the changes in the instal.m2w file. Think its easy.
6. Place all the recent CAB-Files into this Folder.
7. Make changes as you need
Make sure, that the folder and the files on the SD-Card are read-only and the folder should be hidden (not sure about that). If not, the Cabinet files will be deleted after installation.
How do I work now with this SD-Card? Easy... After a Hardreset, place the card into your MDA. Start Ext_Start.cab.
Put out the SD-Card and put it in again..... Enjoy.
Now i search only for an easy solution to make a small Extended_ROM for the Ext_Start.cab and the IIWPO. That task will be the next...
Enjoy the day

Thanks sooo much mate!!! - thats very kind of you as this completely solves my prob. I hope this is of use to others as well

New WM6 ROM kitchen (from Ranju)

Hello Friends,
I have managed the new WM6 kitchen based on Ivan's new (17913.0.3.0) build. This is a clean vanilla kitchen, you can add your own flavor and the way you want it.
I've uploaded the kitchen to the following url and hope that you will like it.
http://www.siemens-bd.net/files/000000
Files have been splited into 10 parts (5MB each) because of my unstable internet connection here. Uploading a 50MB file for me is simply a nightmare! Please download all of them and unrar.
You will find two cmd files (1. BuildKitchen.cmd and 2. CreateROM.cmd) inside the ROM_DEV folder after the unrar.
Step-1: Run the BuildKitchen.cmd (first time only), it will dump the rom and prepare the kitchen for you.
[Additionally, you may use it to dump other WM6 rom and prepare the kitchen. In that case, decode the rom, copy (or overwrite) the nk.nba file to the ROM folder and run this cmd to build the kitchen.]
Step-2: Run the CreateROM.cmd to build the rom...as usual.
You will find a Ranju_OEM folder under the ROM_DEV folder. Some of the oem packages have been added if anyone is interested to use. Just copy your desired packages to the OEM folder and build the rom.
And finally, all credit goes to Ivan. Special thanx to Helmi, Midget, Bepe and Tuatara for their tools and support.
By the way, I've a limited bandwidth to this server, it will be great if someone mirror it somewhere.
Best regards,
Ranju

ranju said:
By the way, I've a limited bandwidth to this server, it will be great if someone mirror it somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mirrored:
http://vidmes.com/Uni/Kitchens/ranju/ROM_DEV.rar
(btw My mirror has a Bandwidth limit of 3Tb per month...)

TehPenguin said:
Mirrored:
http://vidmes.com/Uni/Kitchens/ranju/ROM_DEV.rar
(btw My mirror has a Bandwidth limit of 3Tb per month...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi TehPenguin, thank you very much.

Thanks to ranju and thanks to tehpenguin!

ranju said:
I have managed the new WM6 kitchen based on Ivan's new (17913.0.3.0) build. This is a clean vanilla kitchen, you can add your own flavor and the way you want it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thx for the new kitchen. Based on V3, correct?
Could you please clarify the 1st post?
Clean Vanilla: What did you remove from the ROM?
Cheers

Download
Extract
BuildKitchen
CreateRom
BuildOS stops on error: the file 'temp\dump\Thumbs.db' already exists

I've just checked the OEM folder.
Very good Job: just like i was thinking. Probably I don't need any other apps for OEM.
THX!!!

tailazoom said:
Download
Extract
BuildKitchen
CreateRom
BuildOS stops on error: the file 'temp\dump\Thumbs.db' already exists
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you modify any cmd file?
If not, then delete the temp folder. Do a search on SYS & OEM for "Thumbs.db" and delete them if found any. Run the CreateROM.cmd.
I suppose "Thumbs.db" have been created by your picture browser apps.

"Thumbs.db" is a file that Windows XP (and Vista) create if you preview a picture or movie. Its not important at all (although Windows will complain that it is a "System File")
(Nifty fact: Windows XP can create the "thumbs.db" file in a read-only network share!)

Thanks for the info, i'll try deleting and recompile.
Deleted, compiled and flashed: every essential function i tested is working. The kitchen is very clean! Many thanks ranju!

Little update of the kitchen
This is a little update of the kitchen:
* Due to the slow response of the phone, dialing/ending tone have been removed
* Update for HTC Task Manager 1.5 (Exclusive apps can be added now)
Please download the zip and copy/replace to the associated folder.
Update: HTC Task Manager cab attached.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40327&d=1180503183

ranju said:
This is a little update of the kitchen:
* Due to the slow response of the phone, dialing/ending tone have been removed
* Update for HTC Task Manager 1.5 (Exclusive apps can be added now)
Please download the zip and copy/replace to the associated folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please make a cab of it so that we can install. Dont want to go through re in stalling rom. Appreciate
Or if you can advice the registry entries for both above issues please.

Phone.cab
A cab file for the file in phone.zip is not that difficult since it's just a couple of registry entries.
The other one is more difficult since it also includes files.
So just to help a little, a cab file for the registry stuff in the phone.zip

Actually not that difficult
When comparing the old and new files, I noticed that just the RGU file is different.
Since this is the file with registry settings, I made a quick cab for it.
So not to replace the previous HTC Manager install or anything like that, just to corrent the registry entries.
ps. This and the previous file are not made/reviewed/anything by Ranju, but I've just given them him (her?) name to avoid confusion.

aniel1 said:
Can you please make a cab of it so that we can install. Dont want to go through re in stalling rom. Appreciate
Or if you can advice the registry entries for both above issues please.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\Dialing]
"Sound"="dpadctl.mid"
"Script"="p"
"Category"="InCallFeedback"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\Ending]
"Sound"="dpadctl.mid"
"Script"="p"
"Category"="InCallFeedback"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\DialPadCtlKey]
"Sound"="dpadctl.mid"
"Script"="p"
"Category"="InCallFeedback"
Remove the line in bold above ("Sound"="dpadctl.mid") in the registry and it should like this:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\Dialing]
"Script"="p"
"Category"="InCallFeedback"
Set the value of "Script" to "apr" and it should like this. It will remove 3s ring delay.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\RingTone0]
"Script"="apr"
Press the power button (off) after the changes and wait for 10 sec, switch on again and soft reset your device to take the changes in action...

GerardNL said:
When comparing the old and new files, I noticed that just the RGU file is different.
Since this is the file with registry settings, I made a quick cab for it.
So not to replace the previous HTC Manager install or anything like that, just to corrent the registry entries.
ps. This and the previous file are not made/reviewed/anything by Ranju, but I've just given them him (her?) name to avoid confusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried but looks like the cab does not stick the enteries in the registry.Can you give me the registry entries so that i can try to insert them manually. thank you

ranju said:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\Dialing]
"Sound"="dpadctl.mid"
"Script"="p"
"Category"="InCallFeedback"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\Ending]
"Sound"="dpadctl.mid"
"Script"="p"
"Category"="InCallFeedback"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\DialPadCtlKey]
"Sound"="dpadctl.mid"
"Script"="p"
"Category"="InCallFeedback"
Remove the line in bold above ("Sound"="dpadctl.mid") in the registry and it should like this:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\Dialing]
"Script"="p"
"Category"="InCallFeedback"
Set the value of "Script" to "apr" and it should like this. It will remove 3s ring delay.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Sounds\RingTone0]
"Script"="apr"
Press the power button (off) after the changes and wait for 10 sec, switch on again and soft reset your device to take the changes in action...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you ranju. CAn you provide the registry entry for tak manager too, somehow the cab posted above doesnot stick in the registry and i still dont see exclusive/activate please

Third day of use (calls with bt headset/sms/excel) without any problem. Thanks again ranju!

ranju said:
.....
Remove the line in bold above ("Sound"="dpadctl.mid") in the registry and it should like this:
....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmmm. Removing items from the registry.... Didn't think about that one. So that means that the 2 cabinet files I made will not work.
Back to the drawingboard...

Build my first Rom
I've this ROM kitchen few days back from one of my friends and was simply amazed when I build my first rom.
This is as easy!
Thanks ranju, keep up good work!

how can i change the extended rom contents??

hi all
i have a Pandora's Kitchen and i want to put some cabs on extended rom then enable it
is there any idea??
thanx

Easyest way is to download Molski's Devpac from http://www.molski.biz/ read pdf i advise you print this as its good reference,
you also need a copy of winimage
install both programs
Basicly
copy your rom NBF file to the c\devpac\source directory
nav to c\devpac\tools\batch\shortcuts and run dumprom
open file c:\devpac\romdump\9b000000-Extension.nb with winmage
after editing save and use the devpac to rebuild the rom and flash
All instructions for building are in the PDF thats been placed on your desktop if you did print this will save you switching windows at every click while building

garymeg said:
Easyest way is to download Molski's Devpac from http://www.molski.biz/ read pdf i advise you print this as its good reference,
you also need a copy of winimage
install both programs
Basicly
copy your rom NBF file to the c\devpac\source directory
nav to c\devpac\tools\batch\shortcuts and run dumprom
open file c:\devpac\romdump\9b000000-Extension.nb with winmage
after editing save and use the devpac to rebuild the rom and flash
All instructions for building are in the PDF thats been placed on your desktop if you did print this will save you switching windows at every click while building
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you very much, i cook my own ext. rom, flashed, then formate the device but nothing new, im looking for something wronge which disable the ext. rom from running after formating

Did you make changes to the config file?
Check cabs don't install here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=268080

garymeg said:
Did you make changes to the config file?
Check cabs don't install here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=268080
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i copied two cabs from my old extended rom, it was working without any issues
i think there is something wrong with the rom, because im reading on faria post and it was written there is a registry on OEMOPERATORS folder on System folder in the Kitchen Rom, but it was in his kitchen.
so there is a registry most be edited to enable Extended rom running
thank you and waiting for more ideas

[RELEASE]{02/08/2007}MODIFIED Molski Devpack Kitchen for HTC Tornado [by Duke]

Hello ALL!
Here is the long awaited HTC Tornado ROM kitchen
This Kitchen is in actual fact the Molski DEVPACK kitchen but its been MODIFIED by myself, Duke_Stix in order to be compatible with the HTC tornado and to make rom editing and cooking easier for EVERYONE!
Please note, before anybody starts pointing fingers, FULL permission was obtained from molski himself before any modifications were made and full permission was obtained in order for me to release this kitchen as the initial kitchen was of course, by MOLSKI!
This was the first kitchen that i learnt to use so it was the first kitchen i modified!
There will also be a modified CORE kitchen released soon too once i can iron out any and all bugs.
Anyway:
Pretty simple to run really. heres a few instructions to get you all started:
Download the attached file: Molskis_Devpack_modified_for_tornado_by_duke_stix.exe
READ THE PDF FILE THAT IS IN C:\DEVPACK\tools\batch\readme
Here are steps:
1) RUN the executable file, you should end up with TWO folders, DEVPACK and Molski.biz Devpack. MOVE the 'DEVPACK' folder to the ROOT of your C: drive.
2) Place ANY nk.nbf that you wish to 'unpack' into the source folder of the DEVPACK folder. so.....
' C:\DEVPACK\source ' Contains your NK.NBF file
3) Go to your desktop and into the 'molski.biz devpack' folder, this has lots of little shortcuts in it.
4) first of all, click the 'dump rom' script.
5) Let it do its thing
6) in the C:\DEVPACK folder there should now be a new folder called......ROMDUMP! (<-- guess whats in here?!)
7) Edit as much as you wish, dont forget to get rid of the first two bytes in the initflashfiles.dat file before you build rom again
8) once you've clicked the 'build rom' script go back into c:\devpack\tools and in there should be nb2nbf_tornado.exe
9) open that, dont touch anything atthe top apart fro the output field, here, I would suggest selecting your desktop and you MUST issue the file name as 'nb.nbf'
10) below that click the tick box next to 'File #1:' it will allow you to select 'file #1' point it to c:\DEVPACK\ROMDUMP and to the file called 82040000-OS.nb
11) back in the nb2nbf program select 'OS' under image name
click translate
go to your desktop, move the nk.nbf file there into C:\DEVPACK\tools\RUU_2001
run the 'ROMUpdateUtility.exe'
and away you go! should start flashing
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU READ THE README FILE! i will also attach it to the post
also, anyone willing to donate can send any paypal donations to [email protected] and reference them 'duke'! very much appreciated!lol
MIRROR:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VWCLXM6Z
ENJOY!
post any questions here
AND DO NOT FORGET TO READ THE README FILE!!!!!
ALSO READ: http:\\www.molski.biz
HAPPY COOKING!

duke_stix said:
How to use this Rom Cooking Pack:
I tried to make everything as simple as possible, still you definitely need to know what you are doing!
Step 1:
Extract the nk.nbf file from a Rom archive (all Rom archives can be opened with tools like WinRAR) into the X:\DEVPACK\source directory.
Step 2:
Execute the DUMP_ROM script when the script is finished a ROMDUMP folder is created in X:\DEVPACK, with all the .nb files found in the nk.nbf file, the 80040000-OS.nb file will be splitted into 2 template (.bin) files and the contents of the OS templates is placed in the “dump” folder.
Step 3:
When the script is finished you can start adding and deleting (watch out what you delete!) files in the dump folder.
Step 4:
Editing the initflashfiles.dat file!
Execute the EDIT_INITFLASHFILES script so the file gets copied to the ROMDUMP directory, a backup of this file is placed in the Backup folder inside the ROMDUMP directory!
This is a very important file, when the Wizard gets a hard-reset or is flashed to another Rom, this file builds the directory structure, copys files from Windows to (as example) the Program Files directory.
These are some examples from the initflashfiles.dat file:
root:-Directory("My Documents")
Directory("My Documents"):-Directory("My Pictures")
Directory("\Windows\Start Menu")ermDir("Programs")
Directory("\Windows\Start Menu")ermDir("Settings")
Directory("\Windows\Start Menu"):-File("Messaging.lnk","\Windows\tmail.lnk")
Directory("\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"):-File("File Explorer.lnk","\Windows\fexplore.lnk")
Directory("\My Documents\Templates"):-File("love.gif","\Windows\love.gif")
As you can see, not so tough as it looks, I am not going to explain every single line of this file, but will give you one example….just to make things a little bit easier to understand!
All files from the “dump” folder are basically placed in \Windows and get copied to other directories from this point, so when a shortcut is copied from \Windows to \Windows\Start Menu\Programs you will have a shortcut in both directories (but that’s not a big deal!).
I am going to explain this line, to let you know what this line actually does
Directory("\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"):-File("File Explorer.lnk","\Windows\fexplore.lnk")
The shortcut fexplore.lnk in \Windows gets copied to the \Windows\Start Menu\Programs directory and gets renamed to File Explorer.lnk
Very easy….isn’t it? J
So…after adding all files to the “dump” directory, adding the lines of the added files (IF needed) to the initflashfiles.dat file you can save this file, make sure the last line in this file is a blank line (otherwise your device will be stuck at the second Splash Screen)!!
Example:
When you want to add a program named ABC.exe to \Start Menu\Programs, just copy the ABC.exe file to to the “dump” folder and place a shortcut named ABC.lnk in the “dump” folder and add a line for ABC.lnk into the initflashfiles.dat file.
To create a shortcut for ABC.exe, simply open Notepad, create a line like this:
24#"\Windows\ABC.exe"
(the number can be different), save it as ABC.lnk and add this to the initflashfiles.dat file:
Directory("\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"):-File("Alphabet.lnk","\Windows\ABC.lnk")
In this example the shortcut ABC.lnk, that points to ABC.exe gets placed in Programs with the name Alphabet.
After saving the initflashfiles.dat file, open the file in WinHex and remove the first 2 bytes (FF FE)!
If you don’t remove these 2 bytes your device will also be stuck at the second Splash Screen!!
After removing the 2 bytes and saving the file you can copy it to the “dump” folder (overwrite the original initflashfiles.dat file….don’t worry, you still got the backup of the original file in the Backup folder)!
Step 5:
Editing the HV Files!
Okay, let’s say that the application used in the example (ABC.exe) has a few Registry Values and will not work without it, therefore we will need to edit the default.hv and/or user.hv files.
Execute the script CREATE_RGU_FILES, this will copy the default.hv and user.hv files from the “dump” folder into a directory called HV Files in the Romdump directory and convert the 2 .hv files into .rgu files so we can edit them with notepad.
When editing .rgu files there are 4 things that are very important!
Turn off Word Wrap in Notepad
The 1st line is a blank line, type “REGEDIT4” (without quotes) on this line
Make sure the last line of the file is a blank line
Make sure the files are saved in Unicode and not in ANSI
The Windows Mobile Registry has 4 keys:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT] à These Registry keys gets insert in the default.rgu file
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE] à These Registry keys gets insert in the default.rgu file
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER] à These Registry keys gets insert in the user.rgu file
[HKEY_USERS] à These Registry keys gets insert in the user.rgu file
When you are finished editing the .rgu files, execute the CREATE_HV_FILES, watch properly of the files get converted without errors, if everything went okay, copy the default.hv files from the HV Files directory to the “dump” folder (overwite the original files….don’t worry, you still got the backup of the original file in the Backup folder)!
Step 6:
Okay, by now we have extracted and dumped the nk.nbf file, added and/or removed files from the “dump” folder, edited the initflashfiles.dat file, added registry values in default.hv & user.hv and copied the 3 edited files to the “dump” folder.
Now we are (finally…) ready to build the Rom!
Execute the script BUILD_ROM and wait till it’s finished (will take a couple of minutes depending on the speed of the computer).
This script will add the modified “dump” folder to the OS template files (.bin files) and when that is done it will build the 8004000-OS.nb file from the OS template file.
[\QUOTE]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

reserved yet again

Thanks a lot for this tool i'll look that when i will go at home.
Thanks for all your job

can't get to megaupload.
can you upload it to rapidshare? thanks for your work.

ericjm said:
can't get to megaupload.
can you upload it to rapidshare? thanks for your work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://rapidshare.com/files/46589256/Molskis_Devpack_modified_for_tornado_by_duke_stix.exe.html

burkay said:
http://rapidshare.com/files/46589256/Molskis_Devpack_modified_for_tornado_by_duke_stix.exe.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks dude!

anyone tried this yet then?!
\
im awaiting feedback!

When I tried to dump rom, I get this
Splitting 80040000-OS.nb into .bin files....
Unable to open source image [80040000-OS.nb]
Creating Dump directory....
Dumping Rom content into dump directory....
Please wait a couple of minutes, depending of the speed of your computer!
Dump folder is ready in ROMDUMP directory!
Press any key to continue . . .
Why is it that I am unable to open source image ?

Looks like duke stix forgot to add a rename command in the batch file.
The wizard NBF WDATA start address for the OS is 80040000 and the tornado WDATA start address is 82040000, so rename 82040000-OS.nb to 80040000-OS.nb and it should work.
Phil

jm012a9749 said:
Looks like duke stix forgot to add a rename command in the batch file.
The wizard NBF WDATA start address for the OS is 80040000 and the tornado WDATA start address is 82040000, so rename 82040000-OS.nb to 80040000-OS.nb and it should work.
Phil
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually im dumping using Mozbi Devpack for Wizard, thought it is the same, it works now.
Thanks

oioi
I'll get to changing that right now. didnt notice that!

Good tools and good explanations.
I dumped I rebuilt a Qtek ROM today for my wizard, and the advices of this thread were the biggest help.
Thanks and well done.

Customized ROM hanging in spash screen
Hello Duke,
I am currently in the process of customizing my own ROMs from other user builds thanks to the tools you provided. I am having problems though...I have used multiple nk.nbf (different os) files and dumped then rebuilded without modification just to make sure I have the technique correct. That is without modifying initflash or hv files and going right to rebuilding after dumping and I am hanging on the first screen. I then need to manually go to bootloader for reinstall.
I then checked with my modified ROMs following pdf religiously (ie deleting first 2 bytes and leaving last empty line-initflash...and adding REGEDIT4 and leaving last line saving as unicode-rgu...following instructions provided) and yet I continue to hang on the first screen.
Do you have any suggestions??
Thanks again,
vjgrace

How to clean up my windows folder

How to clean up my windows folder
- Remove touchflo 2d
- remove Htc Home plugin
my folder size more than 136 mb :S make my deivce so heavy :S

Dr.Mazika said:
How to clean up my windows folder
- Remove touchflo 2d
- remove Htc Home plugin
my folder size more than 136 mb :S make my deivce so heavy :S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
install a clean rom, or customize your own. the windows directory is going to be a little large regardless, the operating system is there..

what is the normal size of windows folder

any how can i customize my room to remove and add new applications

That's basically what got this community started... just about everyone here can testify to having looked into ROM Cooking... please research before asking how to do it, because I PROMISE there's a thread or two out there about it

Clean windows folder possible ?
I'm trying to cook my own rom but when I add an EXT module, all files are in Windows directory and the app.dat file only copy them in the app directory.
So is it realy possible to have a clean windows directory, how to put files directly in app folder? must I use an OEM module with initflashfile or ???
thanks all

superraoul said:
I'm trying to cook my own rom but when I add an EXT module, all files are in Windows directory and the app.dat file only copy them in the app directory.
So is it realy possible to have a clean windows directory, how to put files directly in app folder? must I use an OEM module with initflashfile or ???
thanks all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All files go into \windows. The first thing you need to ask is this: do I need to copy the file into another directory, like \program files? A lot of apps work just fine if you leave all of the files in \windows. The files are going to be in \windows in one form or another, so you save space by just running the app out of \windows. You need to change shortcut paths and sometimes registry key paths to get this to work, but in my experience, it works about 95% of the time. Usually, if you've got a multi-component application (several files besides just the .exe), the .exe will search for other files it needs to run in the same directory that the .exe is located in, so you're good to go if everything is in \windows. Some apps have sub-folders, so you'll have to get that folder and its contents into \windows. The best way to do this is with a .cab file or a zip file during customization (using a mortscript for the latter). Zip files are nice, because they install really quickly and are easy to make and edit.
Anyway, if you need to get files into another directory for whatever reason, I'd say that the app.dat method is probably the worst, because if you have multiple files, then you increase the file count in \windows by that amount. Put them in a zip file or a cab file, and then you'll reduce the file count to 1 for the particular package. You will also compress the files, and save some rom storage space.
You can also look into \extendir for another method to clean up the \windows directory.
You do need to be careful with some apps if they have an .ini file or an .xml file or something similar that is basically a settings file. It's usually better if these files aren't read only, so you may need to figure a way to copy the file into the \windows directory.