Clearing unnecessary language files (*.r##) is a relatively easy way to gain that oh so coveted space on your C:\ drive. These are left from the original FW and also added every time you install an app, especially one by Nokia. You can get a HUGE amount of space back using this method, but there is always the chance of getting a little overzealous and removing too much, so proceed with caution and consider carefully your level of expertise before you begin. Also, having a hacked phone is a prerequisite, as this requires full access to C:\ gained through the Open4All RP+ patch in ROMPatcher+.
If your phone is not yet hacked, follow this tutorial:
http://symbian-developers.net/tutorial-how-to-hack-your-symbian-device/Before you start, a word of advice: these files are
INSIDIOUS and if you become frustrated easily, this may be better left alone. It is not too hard to do this when creating CFW, but on a phone with touch interface only and a relatively small screen, it becomes far more frustrating.
For starters, here is a(n incomplete) list of language codes:
http://www.symlab.org/mirror/developer.symbian.org/main/documentation/reference/s3/pdk/GUID-31C133DE-F245-5992-9A41-20A99291E72A.htmlIf you do not see your language on this list, open Z:\resource\Bootdata\languages.txt to see what languages (codes) are installed in your current firmware. The
,d indicates your default language. If you have no idea what language you use, you can open the *.r## files as hex and read what they say, so the .r## that uses your language is the number you want to keep.
X-Plore is my personal choice for tasks like these because it is very fast compared to FileBrowser. Set the file organization to
Sort by... Extension to make this faster and easier by grouping the files for you.
These files are found mainly in the !\Resource\ and !\Resource\Apps\ directories, but they also exist in !\Private\ subs as well. !\Private\200159c0\ is a widget directory, so you will find it to be a gold mine for unnecessary files. They are also found in XML and Qt language directories (but this is going way down the rabbit hole, i think).
When you come to find *.r## files that are not your language's code you can delete at will, but
ALL *.r00 and *.r01 files MUST be left in place, and this goes for folders, too. These files are used by the phone itself, so deleting these will cause big problems. For example, on my phones i use only *.r01 and *.r02, so anything .r00/.r01/.r02 stays and i delete the rest.
IMPORTANT: When you come across a lone language file with an .r##
NOT 00 or 01,
DO NOT DELETE IT. An example of this is in widgets (especially user-created) where only the developer's language is present.
When you find subdirectories labeled as language codes (see images 29 and 30), open several random folders to make sure they all hold the same files and are indeed language-related before deleting them (image 29).
This can also be applied to help files (which will be an *.h## extension).
This might sound like a lot of work, so it might not be for everyone, but the minimal effort i invested (like i said, touch interface and a small screen is not ideal for this sort of thing) yielded more than
25MB(!) on the N8 and i did not spend much more than 10 minutes doing it before i got bored (bear in mind, though, that this was on a phone running an OFW, so the UDA had quite a few languages installed).
Just take it easy and if you are unsure, do not delete it.
If you wind up mucking up your phone, you can recover from your mistakes by re-flashing your phone
including UDA.fpsx (
User
Data
Area, or C:\ in plain talk) in
Software Update mode and start over. Mistakes are part of learning. You might have to reinstall apps you have installed on C:\ as well.
Sorry for not having more screen captures - i did not think about using this as an opportunity for a tutorial until i was nearly finished. Any questions are welcomed and i will try to respond promptly.
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