[Lowrance / Lei Mapcreate Tips]

YOU CAN CREATE MAPS THAT ARE NOT LOCKED TO A SPECIFIC SD CARD

 

This applies to version 6.3 of MapCreate and is unnecessary in 6.2 or earlier.

 

NOTE 1: This tip will not circumvent most of LEI's copy protection. You still need the original product CD when you launch MapCreate. You still need their card reader/dongle to register your memory cards. You still need a registered card in the reader when you start to create the map file.

 

NOTE 2: Making maps for your own use with software you bought is a legitimate purpose. Creating maps and letting other people use them without buying the software is copyright infringement. Don't do it! As this tip potentially lets people do just that, discussing it may be a violation of the DCMA, or worse, Groundspeak's forum policies. I'll let the forum moderator make the call.

 

1) Locate the folder \Program Files\LEI\Mapcreate...\RES on your hard drive. The exact path name may vary by the exact version of MapCreate you have, but the leaf name will be RES. For future use, you might also want a shortcut to this folder on your desktop. Open the RES folder.

 

2) Go through the usual steps of creating a map border, and SAVE the map border file with a distinct and appropriate name (e.g., "XYZZY").

 

3) After saving the border file, click the Create Map toolbar button or menu item. The program will prompt you to put one of your REGISTERED cards into the card reader and tell you that this map will be locked to this specific memory card and unusable on any other card.

 

4) Click Okay and let MapCreate churn away for however long it takes to create the map. BUT when it presents you with the "Save File..." dialog to save the map file, don't click anything.

 

5) Go to the RES folder you opened earlier (you can bring it to the foreground by clicking on its item in the taskbr). There will be file with the same as your map border but an extension of AT5 (e.g., "XYZZY.AT5").

 

6) Right click on this AT5 file, and select "Send To... " to make a copy either to your desktop, the "My Document's" folder, or any other location you like.

 

7) Go back to MapCreate and CANCEL the save file dialog.

 

The resulting AT5 file is not registered to any specific memory card, and may be loaded on any MMC or SD card in your collection.

Can anyone verify that the above technique -- not having to register a card -- works with an iWay 100M? I've tried it 4 times and can't get the GPSr to read the custom map file that is created in MapCreate 6.3. The unit "sees" the .at5 file that I create using MC, but the iWay won't load the file when I turn the unit on. The little SD card icon appears very, very briefly in the lower right corner when I first turn the GPSr on then I eventually get a message that I have no map file loaded. When I view the menu screen that allows me to see what files are on the SD card all the files are there.

 

I'm using the LEI card reader to do all this. do I need to use a non-LEI reader in order to get this to work perhaps? I'm using a Sandisk 1G card and creating a custom map file ~300Mb. It's not the card, since I gave up and went ahead and registered the card and loaded the same custom map onto the registered card and everything works as intended when the card is registered.

 

Love this forum btw, so much great information!

 

I have the same experience with my iWay 100M, MapCreate 6.3, and different SD card capacities. Would really appreciate a solution...

 

Thanks!

 

eio.

[Lowrance / Lei Mapcreate Tips]

YOU CAN CREATE MAPS THAT ARE NOT LOCKED TO A SPECIFIC SD CARD

 

This applies to version 6.3 of MapCreate and is unnecessary in 6.2 or earlier.

 

NOTE 1: This tip will not circumvent most of LEI's copy protection. You still need the original product CD when you launch MapCreate. You still need their card reader/dongle to register your memory cards. You still need a registered card in the reader when you start to create the map file.

 

NOTE 2: Making maps for your own use with software you bought is a legitimate purpose. Creating maps and letting other people use them without buying the software is copyright infringement. Don't do it! As this tip potentially lets people do just that, discussing it may be a violation of the DCMA, or worse, Groundspeak's forum policies. I'll let the forum moderator make the call.

 

1) Locate the folder \Program Files\LEI\Mapcreate...\RES on your hard drive. The exact path name may vary by the exact version of MapCreate you have, but the leaf name will be RES. For future use, you might also want a shortcut to this folder on your desktop. Open the RES folder.

 

2) Go through the usual steps of creating a map border, and SAVE the map border file with a distinct and appropriate name (e.g., "XYZZY").

 

3) After saving the border file, click the Create Map toolbar button or menu item. The program will prompt you to put one of your REGISTERED cards into the card reader and tell you that this map will be locked to this specific memory card and unusable on any other card.

 

4) Click Okay and let MapCreate churn away for however long it takes to create the map. BUT when it presents you with the "Save File..." dialog to save the map file, don't click anything.

 

5) Go to the RES folder you opened earlier (you can bring it to the foreground by clicking on its item in the taskbr). There will be file with the same as your map border but an extension of AT5 (e.g., "XYZZY.AT5").

 

6) Right click on this AT5 file, and select "Send To... " to make a copy either to your desktop, the "My Document's" folder, or any other location you like.

 

7) Go back to MapCreate and CANCEL the save file dialog.

 

The resulting AT5 file is not registered to any specific memory card, and may be loaded on any MMC or SD card in your collection.

Can anyone verify that the above technique -- not having to register a card -- works with an iWay 100M? I've tried it 4 times and can't get the GPSr to read the custom map file that is created in MapCreate 6.3. The unit "sees" the .at5 file that I create using MC, but the iWay won't load the file when I turn the unit on. The little SD card icon appears very, very briefly in the lower right corner when I first turn the GPSr on then I eventually get a message that I have no map file loaded. When I view the menu screen that allows me to see what files are on the SD card all the files are there.

 

I'm using the LEI card reader to do all this. do I need to use a non-LEI reader in order to get this to work perhaps? I'm using a Sandisk 1G card and creating a custom map file ~300Mb. It's not the card, since I gave up and went ahead and registered the card and loaded the same custom map onto the registered card and everything works as intended when the card is registered.

 

Love this forum btw, so much great information!