DIY coding and updating ?
 

That software is the same the dealer uses.

Whether it is safe? All in the eye of the beholder.

People here do do it.
And, yes, you could "brick" the car if you really mess up.

How easy it to really mess it up though ?

Having never used the software but having using Citroen diagbox and Honda HDS I understand it wont be idiot proof but is there step by step guides for doing what I want to ?

Very easy, especially for a noob. Just the car battery dying while you are writing to the computer in the car will brick it.

As per any programming session though.

I guess I mean could some write what buttons to press in what order or does it not really work like that ?

First familiarize yourself with one software.....INPA is a good start.....PA soft is another easy one.

Learn and understand BMW modules individually.....then progress to programming to what you feel comfortable.

Your Navcoder demo not really useful not without a license and is also limited features.

I'm on early stage using Rheingold now.

Good luck and back-up anything before you delve deeper!;)

I highly recommend the current programming and coding software used by BMW dealerships - Integrated Service Technical Application
Programming (ISTA/P) and diagnosis (ISTA/D). Here is the detailed documentation for how to use it for programming and coding.
http://www.meeknet.co.uk/E64/BMW_Int...pplication.pdf

And here's the diagnosis counterpart of ISTA - ISTA/D. It's pretty straight forward but here's the detailed doc:
http://www.carhealth.ru/images/PDF/istad_en.pdf

If you have to use NCSExpert, there's ncsdummy which makes using it easy. http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/sh...-of-NCS-Expert. There're some things that ISTA (or for that matter the prior generation SSS) cannot do, e.g. it cannot setup door autolock when driving off on my 1997 E39. It says the feature is not available on year model of the car (indeed it's not officially from factory for USA models of that year), but NCSExpert happily configured it - go figure.

You can code door autolock easily with PA Soft. I use PA Soft for a lot of thins as well as INPA/ISTA

What's the best way to get ISTA? Are there any special adapters required besides an OBD2 cable. I've heard many different things about that.

What I'm saying is that my 1997 528 auto-lock is not an available feature from the factory (no key memory feature). Even my local dealer could not activate the feature. PA soft/ISTA/SSS etc cannot activate the feature except NCSExpert. Remember that NCSExpert is factory software and thus much more powerful and not as limiting as the "high level" software such as ISTA etc.

Another limitation of ISTA/SSS is that after removing factory headunit/radio on my X5 (replaced with Dynavin N6), I can no longer code the car always getting error missing module (missing display and radio as expected per vehicle order) and it cannot be bypassed. But NCSExpert codes it with no problem at all (since it does not do VO checks/verification) - thus the power and danger of NCSExpert.