Q: If I already flashed the radio and bootloader on a previous ROM, do I need to flash them again?
A: No, skip that step and move on.
Q: When do I know for sure if I can dirty flash?
A: Unless Beans say otherwise (read the update post), you should always be okay to dirty flash. Just make sure you do a backup in case something happens!
Q: I already have the latest vendor image, do I need to flash it again?
A: Nope.
Q: I am not on the latest vendor image, do I need to flash it?
A: Yes indeed. You will get a message that your vendor image is out of date otherwise.
Q: Why don't I dirty flash GApps in the first process?
A: Even if there is a new GApps package available, dirty flashing it will cause a lot of issues (Play Services errors, etc.). Once you flash GApps, they are backed up upon flash by a script and they are updated through the Play Store. No need to flash them.
Q: Should I wipe system when doing a dirty flash?
A: I would not recommend it. When you wipe system, your GApps are erased as well but their data remains in the data partition. When you reflash GApps, the GApps data may be for a newer version, causing issues. Updating through the Play Store may resolve this but just trust the above process and don't do any wipes other than caches when dirty flashing.
Q: Will Android Pay work on this ROM?
A: Even with the systemless root method described below, I have not seen a successful Android Pay activation. If for some reason I missed someone who did, it was pure luck. Android Pay is NOT expected to work with root/custom ROM (see
here). I will not sugarcoat it: if Android Pay is that important to you, you should be on stock with no modifications. Simple as that.
Q: OMG MY BATTERY LIFE SUXXXXXXX Y DO THIS HAPPEN? PLS FIX
A: Rarely, if at all, does a ROM impact your battery life. If you are having issues with your battery life, download
BetterBatteryStats and follow
this process and post your results; we can help and see what is going on. Think of a ROM as a car and the battery life is your MPG. Obviously the car has limitations about how much MPGs it can get; however, if you are flooring the car all the time, you cannot be surprised when the MPG is garbage. Same thing with a ROM. Android has a LOT of processes that run in the background which can affect battery life. Unless there are continuous posts about battery life in the thread, it is a user space issue, not a ROM issue.
Q: What should I do if I have a problem with any of this?
A: Either restore from your backup or do a clean install (see above). If you dirty flashed and encounter any problems, please do a clean install without any modifications before reporting any issues
If you still have any questions about something in here or anything at all, either shoot me a message or post it here; we won't bite.