E9X M Drive retrofit on e9x 335i/s

[aus335iguy]

A few people have done M3 retrofits now and some people are looking for how to get M Drive working. so its time to revive this thread
The IKMOS DME rom doesn't contain( or so it seems) the M Drive logic. All it will do is essentially what the Sport button does in a standard 135, 335i/s.
In order to get MDrive working the logic to store the values you've selected in iDrive need to be recalled.
I see this being made to work in two potential ways.

1. As I believe has been done before, take the relevant m drive data from an m3 rom(mSS60?) and add it to any rom that your vehicle will take. This is involved and requires knowledge of the MSS60 and IJEOS or IKMOS rom and how to edit them.
2. Create a device that listens to the messages on the can network that he CIC sends (records/transpose them) and then listens for the M button being pressed and broadcast the appropriate message to the relevant modules (DME, EGS, DSC, JBBF etc)as required. This requires a can shield type device and or similar, some patience and programming skills but less specialised ones than option 1

I honestly think that option 1 is far easier and neater, will be more reliable and seamless to the user. Option 2 is fiddly, and requires lots of work to discern whats getting sent and whats received where and then replicating the format and broadcast of the message.
Option 1 we might need someone like Jake Yamona who's in short supply or similar and option 2 we could probably crowdsource and fumble our way through.

@LMB335is @dyezak @PeterY @jyamona @NoGuru

 

[Jake@MHD]

1. As I believe has been done before, take the relevant m drive data from an m3 rom(mSS60?) and add it to any rom that your vehicle will take. This is involved and requires knowledge of the MSS60 and IJEOS or IKMOS rom and how to edit them.

I don't think this has been done before. The M3 DME uses a completely different processor architecture vs. MSD8x, so even if you did find the relevant code in the M3 DME, you aren't just copy and pasting it. Too large of a work effort for no real benefit in my opinion, so not something I'd be interested in. The only way I'd tackle it is if it was something a real 1M had and you were just looking for a way to activate it.

The 1M has an M button, yea? What does it do?

 

[NoQuarter]

about option 2: years ago I created what I called miDrive. I had a simple display that was viewed on the iDrive screen, but specifically on this topic I did what you describe here. I created sport mode "macro" that when I pressed the diamond steering wheel button (2008 535), many of my "presets" would activate. My active backrests would go to sport mode, my iDrive display would go to sport type visualization, transmission would go to sport mode, if the passenger door had been opened, then the passenger seat backrest would activate. I still have 3 complete units I made up sitting in my desk - but that is all old tech.

I was able to interact with it and make menu choices via the iDrive controller.

 

[aus335iguy]

I don't think this has been done before. The M3 DME uses a completely different processor architecture vs. MSD8x, so even if you did find the relevant code in the M3 DME, you aren't just copy and pasting it. Too large of a work effort for no real benefit in my opinion, so not something I'd be interested in. The only way I'd tackle it is if it was something a real 1M had and you were just looking for a way to activate it.

The 1M has an M button, yea? What does it do?

The button on the steering wheel sharpens throttle response. The MDM button on the dash loosens the DSC logic and tightens the steering(from memory) the issue is that it has no control over drivelogic(DCT) or if we want to go that way EDC(which not many people have. By what i have been told this has been achieved on a 335i here in Australia.

Correction the 1M doesnt have servotronic...so MDM is just a DSC function.

 

[aus335iguy]

about option 2: years ago I created what I called miDrive. I had a simple display that was viewed on the iDrive screen, but specifically on this topic I did what you describe here. I created sport mode "macro" that when I pressed the diamond steering wheel button (2008 535), many of my "presets" would activate. My active backrests would go to sport mode, my iDrive display would go to sport type visualization, transmission would go to sport mode, if the passenger door had been opened, then the passenger seat backrest would activate. I still have 3 complete units I made up sitting in my desk - but that is all old tech.

I was able to interact with it and make menu choices via the iDrive controller.

Sound like something we could use, do you have a thread showing how it works ?

 

[NoQuarter]

Sound like something we could use, do you have a thread showing how it works ?

Should be some stuff over at 5series.net but I don't think I wrote much on how it works. Wasn't much of an audience for that type of conversation.

It was pretty much as you describe - An arduino and a canbus device. Mine was just a device on the network so it didn't "block" any existing messages - it would just mimic another device. It would have to be inserted between a specific module and the bus in order to read one message and output a different one.

 

[aus335iguy]

Ill do some searching when i have some time. It definitely sounds like something I'm interested in and so if you have any links, code or other information on it i would certainly appreciate it.