Modify the AUTOSCAN.TXT file for fun and profit!

[Jef]

EDIT 13.3.23

It should go without saying, before you make changes to things, create a back up. If you follow the advice in this post and screw things up, then do a fresh install of VCDS.

When you go to do the Auto-Scan, you have to select the type of vehicle from a list. With newer VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda vehicles that use the CAN Gateway for diagnostics, you can simply select the Auto-detect (CAN only) from the top of the list.

But for older vehicles that use the K-Line for diagnostics, you need manually select from the list. But there may be cars listed that you will never see in your market. For example, here in North America, there is little chance we'll work on a Seat of Skoda.

This list comes from the AutoScan.txt file where VCDS is installed and can be edited. From the the first screen of VCDS, click on the tiny VCDS icon in the top left corner and then select "Open VCDS Folder"

Now locate the "AutoScan.txt file and open it in Notepad.

Once opened up in Notepad you can now make changes to the file. For example, one can select all of the Seat vehicles and then delete them.

A VW dealer tech could, for example, delete all of the non VW listings, thus have a much smaller list to go through. Or an individual could move his car listing to the top. Say you own a 2003 Audi A8. You can find your A8 in the listing:

Copy it and then paste it to the top of the list:

Now save the updated AutoSan.txt file. Next time you go into Auto-Scan, you would find your Audi A8 at the top of the list.

Note that when you do another install or update of VCDS, the AUTOSCAN.TXT file will revert back to the original state.

 

[Uwe]

Note that when you do another install or update of VCDS, the AUTOSCAN.TXT file will revert back to the original state.

The Installer will make a backup copy of your AutoScan.txt file:

Delete $INSTDIR\AutoScan-oldest.txt
Rename $INSTDIR\AutoScan-older.txt $INSTDIR\AutoScan-oldest.txt
Rename $INSTDIR\AutoScan-old.txt $INSTDIR\AutoScan-older.txt
Rename $INSTDIR\AutoScan.txt $INSTDIR\AutoScan-old.txt

-Uwe-

 

[Cristian G]

When you "paste" your favourite vehicle to the top of the list, can you also remove modules from the list that are not fitted?
My "new" (to me) Audi only has about 8 modules fitted but VAGCOM spends a large amount of time trying addresses for those that are not fitted.

If I delete them from the vehicle list, will it cause any other issues?

Thanks in advance guys.

Cristian

 

[jyoung8607]

When you "paste" your favourite vehicle to the top of the list, can you also remove modules from the list that are not fitted?
My "new" (to me) Audi only has about 8 modules fitted but VAGCOM spends a large amount of time trying addresses for those that are not fitted.

That's perfectly fine, although you should use MyAutoScan.txt if you're making custom entries. It is, in fact, the entire point of that file: to create a custom Auto Scan module list containing only the modules you care about, that will be preserved across upgrades.

Jason

 

[waho]

When I select MyAutoScan.TXT file it comes up with with MyAutoScan notebook, and not the list, what am I missing? VCDS 14.10.2

 

[Uwe]

We concluded it would be better for user-made entries to go in a separate file so they won't get overwritten when the software is updated. Other than that, it works exactly the same.

-Uwe-

 

[waho]

So how do I add my car?

 

[waho]

Another thing I noticed is that on some peoples scan it gives an explanation of the scan numbers, how do I add that?

 

[NEtech]

See the example in MyAutoScan.txt
Or show the Autoscan from your car here, and we make it for you.

 

[waho]

I do not get a Autoscan.TXT file, I get a MyAutoScan.TXT file. There is no list of vehicles listed.

 

[NEtech]

Please make an Autoscan of your car and insert the result here, like:
Start VCDS > Press button [Auto-Scan] > In "Select Chassis Type" select your car > Press [Start]
Paste the Autoscan result here inside this text:
[code]
Your autoscan here.....
[/code]

 

[waho]

What does this have to do with modifying the Autotext file?

 

[LN-TAL]

To know which modules should be included in your autoscan.txt file ?!

 

[NEtech]

What does this have to do with modifying the Autotext file?

Not modifying Autotext file, but modifying MyAutoScan.txt
Until now, I understand you could not find out, to see the example showed in the text file: MyAutoScan.txt, and change that for your car!
So there for if you showed an Autoscan of your car here, I would make the line that should be used for your car in your text file: MyAutoScan.txt
But it looks like your are not interested in that.

 

[waho]

Problem I have is that when I go to MyAutoScan.txt file no vehicles show up.

 

[golfi_vend]

Problem I have is that when I go to MyAutoScan.txt file no vehicles show up.

Yes because it's YOUR autoscan file, there you can ADD your vehicle in same format as it is in regular autoscan file.

 

[waho]

I entered the chassis type from the list, along with all the listed scans in MyAutoScan.TXT file. Now when I go to the select chassis type list the first vehicle is my type. Unfortunately it only shows scan 01, under Select Chassis Type it comes up with 8E-Audi nothing else. What am I doing wrong? Also how do you delete the wrong entry.

 

[waho]

Never mind, got it working

 

[bluey]

The instructions are a bit unclear.

MyAutoScan.txt has the list of vehicles added to the front end of AutoScan.txt. So copy and paste the vehicles you want at the top of the list from AutoScan.txt into MyAutoScan.txt and they will appear.

;
; This file has the same format as the main AutoScan.txt file,
; but it's intended to contain custom entries for your own car(s)
; that will be displayed before the standard models in the selection
; box on the Auto-Scan screen.
;
; Chassis Code (max 3 characters),
; Description  (max 15 characters),
; Comma-separated list of addresses (max 125 addresses)
; Maximum 250 chassis types (total of both files)
;
; Example:
; 01,My Car,01,03,15
;
; Remove the semi-colon from the above line to see how it works.
; ... or add your own using that format
;

1J,VW Golf/Bora IV (1998 > 2006),01,02,03,08,15,16,17,19,22,29,35,36,37,39,46,47,55,56,57,75,76
AA,VW Up (2012 >),00

 

[Uwe]

Any entries you put in MyAutoScan.txt will appear in the drop-down box on the Auto-Scan screen before the entries that come from the main AutoScan.txt file.

The primary use for MyAutoScan.txt is so you can create custom entries for your older cars that only list the modules actually installed in those particular cars rather than using the pre-existing entry containing all the modules that could possibly be installed in those cars. Doing that can speed up the scan for those cars quite a bit.

Note, this capability is effectively redundant on modern cars that have a Gateway Installation list. On those cars, just use "Auto-Detect" and VCDS will not waste time looking for modules that aren't present.

-Uwe-