How to install CM10.2 (Jelly Bean 4.3) Release Candidate on LG Optimus G Pro (E986)

Introduction

I don't like to repeat the reason of installing a CM ROM :), but for most of Android devices, the steps to install a CyanogenMod ROM are all the same. 

1. Root
2. Install recovery
3. Install the ROMs from recovery mode 

So I'm just going to describe what I picked up to achieve my goal. I am not sure if this works on all E98x devices but at least it worked on mine, with a few minor issues. 

* WARNING * 

It's totally up to you to follow the steps here so I have no responsibility on any of damages and/or bricks which can happen on your phones/devices.

Procedures & File Locations 

• Root on the official 4.1.2 ROM: Follow the instructions here -  http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2362657 
• • Don't hesitate to install LG drivers - that won't kill your PC! :)
• CM 10.2 Release Candidate:  http://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=e980 
• • Please note that e980 is for all e98x GSM devices. e986 used to have its own branch but now it's unified. 
  • I took cm-10.2.0-RC1-e980.zip as it was the latest RC. If you can see any newer stable or RC one, you can go with one of them but I don't recommend you to go with nightly ones. 
• Google Apps for Jelly Bean 4.3:  http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Gapps
• • Mind you, you should use CM 10.2's one. All the other versions aren't compatible. 
  • Don't forget to put the two roms (CM10.2, GApps) on your phone. You may use either of internal storage or external SD (recommended). 
• Recovery:  http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2284298
• • Don't know how to run the recovery? 
  • 1. Install the APK. 
    2. Run the new app installed on the phone
    3. There should be two buttons - just click them in order. 
    4. And the phone will enter the recovery mode. 
  • On recovery mode - I usually do:
  • 1. Clean up all the caches including Dalvik cache (in advanced options) 
    2. Install CM 
    3. Install GApps. Once you've install a CM, you may skip 1 when you install another CM ROM in order to keep your settings but don't forget to do 3 every time. 

Troubleshooting

Embarrassingly, my e980 produced an error when I firstly attempted to install the rom. It produced 'error 7' (assert failure) at the first line of updater script, which indicated that I picked up a wrong rom which was not compatible with my device. But I was pretty sure that my phone was e986. What the.. 

Hence it was natural for me to open up the updater script in the ROM. The script ('updater-script') is at META-INF>com>google>android in the ROM. You can extract it to somewhere and edit it using a typical editor like Notepad++ as it's just a plain text file and then you may overwrite the file with your changes. I recommend you to use 7-zip to handle zip files.

The complainer was something like this: 

assert(getprop("ro.product.device") == "e986" || getprop("ro.build.product") == "e986" || .......

As we can see, "e986" is already there so it looks unlikely to have downloaded a wrong ROM. Maybe the device name was something unusual on my phone.. So I put a check code to display my phone's property at the top of the updater script. 

ui_print(getprop("ro.product.device")); ui_print(getprop("ro.build.product"));

And guess what? It displayed vu2kt. VU2KT!!!!!!!!! This means LG Optimus Vu 2 for KT (a cell-phone services provider in LG's hometown). Did I have Optimus Vu? Absolutely not. The phone was definitely e986. Now, workaround is my friend. My friend just put a new entry of vu2kt there conveniently and it worked fine. :) I think there was just a mistake somewhere in my phone. 

Interestingly, actually there was a common feature in VU2 & G Pro - the "Rubberdium" pen. Although the pen is not bundled with G Pro package, it works fine anyway. I bought that by myself. However, frankly speaking, it never catches up Galaxy Note series. Other than the lacking pressure-sensitive input, G Pro + Rubberdium beats nothing against the Notes. Personally I think the input is too laggy. 

Result

Quality of the ROM

It's pretty fantastic regarding that it is only the first RC. I haven't got anything serious yet. The battery feels like draining little bit faster but I am not sure. But - I'm missing some bundled apps in the original ROM like QRemote and QMemo. After installing a CM, you should find similar ones from Play Store. Now the quick memo button on the left side is just a search button. :) 

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