CORTEX CONFIG CHANGELOG

Released 11/3/2026. Software only; the controller firmware stays 6.4.5.

• Fixed: Outputs 1 and 2 could briefly switch off once a second if their activation criteria were met while the software was connected and not logging.

Released 10/30/2026. Covers all changes since 5.1.7, the last release before version 6, including everything in the 6.3.7 public beta.

6.4.5 is the first release of Cortex Config 6 without the “Beta” label.

Requires 64-bit Windows 10 or 11.

Cortex Config 6.4.5 requires controller firmware 6.4.5. The software offers the firmware update when it connects. The installer removes an installed 6.3.7 and installs 6.4.5 in its place.

• Updating from 5.1.7 or earlier: large parts of the firmware were rewritten and the boost, vehicle and output configuration files were restructured. The update erases the settings on the controller, and V5 settings and files do not carry over to V6, so they have to be set up again. Read the update instructions before you start.
• Updating from the 6.3.7 beta: all settings are kept (tested on the bench, byte for byte). Please read Changes that can affect an existing 6.3.7 setup below before your first drive.

The installer and the software are now signed by SIRHC Labs LLC, so Windows shows SIRHC Labs LLC as the publisher.

New in version 6 (since 5.1.7)

Internal logging

• The controller can record data by itself, with no laptop in the car. The logger is triggered by boost pressure and stops after 500 data samples, which equals 20 seconds at a 25 Hz solenoid frequency. The activation threshold can be set to 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 or 2.5 PSI. The log is read back through the software.

Boost control strategies

• The control strategy is now set on each profile. One boost configuration file holds up to 6 profiles, each with its own strategy, so you can switch between methods (boost by speed and boost by time, for example) with the buttons on the display.
• The strategies are simplified to four types: Basic, 2D x 16, 2D x 64 and 3D.
• Configurable table axes: 2D strategies can be based on RPM, speed, time or any sensor on the general-purpose input. The 3D strategy uses RPM or speed on the X axis and any sensor on the general-purpose input on the Y axis.
• The scaling of the 2D and 3D table axes is set by the value of the first control point and the spacing between control points. Table labels and legends follow your settings.
• The boost level at which the solenoid activates is now set on each profile (Disable boost control below).
• Closed loop control is off unless the target boost is above zero.

Launch, scramble and gear change

• New spool stage in launch boost control: a temporarily higher open-loop duty cycle until a set boost level is reached.
• Launch control has its own folder in the boost configuration tree.
• Boost scramble has its own set of control parameters, separate from the individual gears.
• Gear change overboost control is now based on time only, with no boost reference.

Fail-safes

• The flex-fuel fail-safe, the GPI linear fail-safe and the basic mode of the water/methanol fail-safe are replaced by one general GPI fail-safe. It works with any analog or digital sensor on the general-purpose input and can trip when the sensor is below a value, above a value or outside a range. Uses include AFR, ethanol content, turbo speed and water/methanol pressure or flow.
• The advanced mode of the old water/methanol fail-safe, which follows the output duty cycle, remains as the water/methanol fail-safe.

Vehicle configuration

• Gear detection supports up to 10 gears.
• EVS ratio resolution improved from 1.00 to 0.01, which simplifies gear detection and speed calibration. The VSS Scaler setting is no longer needed and was removed.
• General-purpose input modes simplified to linear analog and linear digital, compatible with a broader range of sensors. Digital sensors have an optional moving average.
• The transbrake options on the general-purpose input now match those on the RPM and speed inputs.
• Vehicle speed signals of up to 192,000 pulses per mile are supported.
• The RPM reading goes up to 65,535 instead of overflowing at about 16,000. RPM settings in the software still go up to 16,000.

Outputs

• 3D control: each table axis can be set to boost, RPM, speed or any sensor on the general-purpose input, with the same first control point and spacing settings as the boost tables.
• 2D control: the duty cycle ramp can reference boost, RPM, speed, time or any sensor on the general-purpose input, and the ramp rate is now defined by two parameters.
• Outputs can activate based on any analog or digital sensor on the general-purpose input, and the maximum value of an activation window is optional.
• Outputs no longer depend on boost control, and they work with the profile set to OFF. The water/methanol prime feature no longer depends on the profile either.
• Output modes are reduced to OFF and AUTO (called ENABLED in the 6.3.7 beta). OFF disables the output completely, and AUTO runs it by the settings in the configuration file.
• Fixed a water/methanol purge activation bug.

User interfaces

• New display interface: menus use full words that scroll across the LED screen.
• Parameters and help texts were renamed and rewritten throughout the software to make configuration more intuitive, and closed loop control now uses standard PID (Proportional, Integral, Derivative) terms.
• Table rows are reversed so the highest control point is at the top and the lowest at the bottom, and 3D tables have their origin in the lower left corner.
• Parameter text is color-coded to show what a setting of 0 does (see the software section below).
• Files use version 6 extensions (.ccm6, .cdl6, .coc6 and so on). “Control Map” is now “Boost Configuration” throughout the software, and there is a New Boost Configuration button on the toolbar.
• The overboost fail-safe window now uses tabs, and logger parameters were renamed and cleaned up. “Transbrake Flag” is now “Launch Button Flag”.
• An empty boost configuration is not loaded into the software, which prevents the solenoid from being enabled at 0.00 PSI. The software no longer asks to save one.
• Firmware updates run in the order controller, memory initialization, display. After a memory initialization the software reads all settings back from the controller.

Changes that can affect an existing 6.3.7 setup

These change what the controller does with settings you already have. Please read them before your first drive on 6.4.5.

• Spool stays on until its boost limit. The throttle limit (Do not activate if throttle is less than) and the RPM limit (Do not activate if engine speed is greater than) are now checked only at the moment spool starts. In the 6.3.x betas, spool ended as soon as RPM passed the RPM limit or the throttle dropped, often well below the spool boost limit. If your RPM limit was cutting spool short, 6.4.5 will hold the spool duty cycle longer than before: check for overshoot, and lower Activate until boost is greater than if needed.
• Spool reactivation uses both of its settings together. Spool is re-enabled once boost has stayed at or under Reactivate if boost falls below for the whole Disable reactivation for time. Before, the boost level was ignored whenever a time was set.
• Launch by sensors stays on until the speed limit. Do not activate if engine speed is less than and Do not activate if throttle is less than now only keep launch from starting. Once launch is on, only Activate until speed is greater than ends it. Before, RPM dipping under the limit (for example on a bouncing rev limiter) switched launch off, and with the time strategy that started the ramp early.
• Each fail-safe has its own delay. The general-purpose input and water/methanol fail-safes now each have their own delay. In 6.3.7 they shared one.
• Closed loop with Max (+) combined adjustment at 0. The controller now still makes negative adjustments (it used to switch closed loop off completely). Closed loop is off only when both combined limits are 0.
• Gear change overboost control uses exactly its duty cycle. A negative integral correction is no longer added to it.
• Output total-time limit. A 0 in Reset total activation count every now disables the output, as the help text says (the output used to keep running). The allowed time starts over each time the period has passed.
• Time strategy after changing profile. The time ramp stays available for 20 seconds after a launch. Those 20 seconds now run whatever profile is selected. Before, switching the profile to OFF (or to a profile with another strategy) stopped the count, and after switching back the solenoid could follow the rest of the time table without a launch.

Controller firmware (since 6.3.7)

New

• Vehicle speed is measured in tenths of MPH. Boost tables by speed, launch control and the output speed settings use the full resolution (settings are still entered in whole MPH). The display shows whole MPH.
• The software can press the display’s buttons (Remote Control in the logger): change the boost profile and the output modes from the PC, even while logging.
• Faster settings transfers: reads no longer pause between pages, and writes send only the boost configuration pages that changed.

Fixes

• Digital sensors on the general-purpose input now read correctly at low frequencies. A sensor slower than the solenoid frequency (16-40 Hz) used to flicker between its reading and 0, which could trip a fail-safe or switch an output off. Readings are now steady down to about 3 Hz, and a sensor that stops reads 0 after half a second.
• Scramble or the launch button could stay on after an input was changed from a button to a sensor. If the general-purpose input was set to Scramble or Transbrake while the button was pressed (or with nothing wired, which reads as pressed) and was then set back to a sensor, the controller stayed in scramble (or kept the Launch Button Flag) until the power was cycled. The flags are now cleared when the vehicle configuration is written and no input is set up as that kind of button.
• Setting or clearing a password could change two other stored settings.
• More reliable settings reads (EEPROM reads are retried).
• Output total-time limit (“X seconds per Y minutes”): the time window now starts at the first activation (it could allow up to twice the time the first time).
• Transbrake: the flag is reset when the vehicle configuration is written (it could stay set after changing the GPI mode).
• GPI fail-safe: the out-of-range time must now be continuous, like the water/methanol fail-safe (separate short excursions no longer add up).
• Closed loop: the integral no longer builds up toward a direction whose combined limit is 0.

Display

• Buttons respond more reliably: presses are debounced, and commands to the controller are repeated until confirmed.
• Output mode 1 shows AUTO instead of ENABLED.

Cortex Config software (since 6.3.7)

New

• Dark theme, now the default (a refreshed light theme is in Preferences > Appearance). New icons.
• Rebuilt data logger:
  • Gauge View: a live dashboard with round gauges, number tiles with peak markers and status lights.
  • Graph View: value tiles at the cursor, time axis, zoom with the mouse wheel, keyboard navigation, and an overview graph of the whole log.
  • Compare two runs: a second log drawn dashed over the current one, lined up on an event or by hand, with the differences shown in the tiles.
  • Replay a saved log in real time (0.25x to 4x).
  • Remote Control: change the boost profile and output modes from the PC (firmware 6.4.5 or newer).
  • New bright default colors; right-click a value for its color, range, units and line.
  • GPI Raw is shown to the hundredth of a volt, for calibrating sensors.
• Strategy chart beside Basic and 2D tables: select cells by clicking or dragging, and drag to change values.
• Apply Gear 1 changes to all gears, for per-gear tables and the PID, Spool, Gear Change and Overboost windows.
• Output 3D tables can be shown in 3D, and the 3D view works for any table size.
• Table editing: Ctrl+A selects every cell, the + and – keys work in every table (= works without Shift), and paste from Excel or Notepad works in the output 3D and water/methanol tables and fills down like a spreadsheet.
• Settings windows show what a setting of 0 does (blue: ignored, orange: turns a function off or changes it; hover for details).
• The software checks the USB port’s Latency Timer when connecting and offers to fix it if it is set too low (a low setting caused “Error Reading Boost Config” on some laptops).
• The COM port list shows only Cortex EBC controllers (every port is listed if none is found).
• The software asks before an action that replaces or discards unsaved settings: Exit, New and Open in the Vehicle and Output Configuration windows, loading settings from a log, Clip, and Copy Profile.

Improvements and fixes

• Help texts (tooltips) updated for the firmware changes above, with notes added where they left something out: the fail-safe and output GPI modes must match the input mode of the general-purpose input; an output with every activation mode disabled never turns on; bump and scramble buttons switch to ground; the launch throttle limit needs an analog sensor; a closed-loop term stays active once its boost error threshold has been met, until boost control is disabled or the gear changes; spool is not used in profiles referenced to time; boost control comes back as soon as boost is under the overboost threshold; an output’s single activation limit starts over once the activation criteria are no longer met.
• More reliable USB communication: new serial port library, reconnect after the cable is unplugged, a connection watchdog, and a stray byte no longer makes a command fail.
• A lost connection now ends a running log and says so, instead of failing silently.
• Output Configuration fits small laptop screens and scrolls; MPH units are no longer cut off.
• Settings are stored rounded instead of cut off; fields can’t be set to values the controller would treat as empty.
• Table toolbar: a number typed after Enter starts a new value (typing 25, Enter, 50 on another cell used to give “2550”); fill, add and subtract round to what the table shows.
• Copying a profile onto itself no longer breaks the water/methanol fail-safe window.
• Logger Chart View: choosing the same value for two axes no longer stops the chart from updating.
• The software says when the controller refuses a command, and unexpected errors are written to Documents\CortexConfig\error.log.
• Many smaller fixes in table editing, pasting, interpolation, file handling and the Output Configuration window.

Documentation (since 6.3.7)

• The user manual now covers the new logger, the strategy chart, Apply Gear 1 changes to all gears and the logger keyboard shortcuts.
• The user manual and the Quick Start Guide now explain how the USB drivers get installed: Windows installs them by itself the first time the controller is plugged in, the computer has to be online for that, and it can take a few minutes. (The installer does not install drivers; it did not in 6.3.7 either.)
• The manual has a new topic, Installing the USB Drivers Manually, for the cases where Windows does not get it right: downloading the driver from FTDI and installing it through Device Manager.

General Updates

• Added: Autoset feature for Water/Methanol Fail-Safe tables
• Added: Interpolation feature to all tables
• Fixed: Bug preventing Water/Methanol Fail-Safe window from opening in some cases.
• Fixed: Bug preventing solenoid duty cycle from being increased past 20 Hz.

General Updates

• Added: Software is now available in PSI and Bar units
• Added: Passcode protection to prevent unwanted viewing/modification of Cortex EBC settings
• Added: Shift indication feature to Cortex EBC display
• Updated: Software Help utility and hover box content has been completely overhauled

Boost Control Updates

• Added: Time x 64 boost control strategy
• Added: Boost scramble capability (uses settings for Gear 8)
• Added: Separate positive and negative duty cycle limits for  closed loop control
• Added: Closed loop control functionality to launch boost control
• Added: Gear based resolution to gear change overboost control
• Added: Time based logic to gear change overboost control
• Added: Copy feature to all gear based boost control dialog boxes
• Added: Copy feature for boost contol map profiles
• Updated: Water/Methanol Fail-Safe can be used with flow sensor or pressure sensor
• Updated: WBO2 Fail-Safe can now be used with any sensor that has a linear analog output

Input Updates

• Added RPM, Speed, and General-Purpose Inputs can be used for launch boost control activation, boost scramble control activation, or transbrake bump control
• Added: Max detectable speed sensor input frequency has been increased to 12,500 Hz
• Added: Additional speed sensor signal filtering
• Added: Ability to use any type of frequency based water/methanol flow sensor with General-Purpose Input
• Added: Water/methanol pressure sensor detection capability to General-Purpose Input
• Added: Ability to connect any type of linear analog signal to General-Purpose Input

Output Updates

• Added: Transbrake bump control capability
• Added: Speed + TPS 3D mapping option
• Added: Water/methanol priming feature
• Added: Settings to simplify output setup when using the Water/Methanol Control Pack
• Added: General-Purpose Input can be included in output activation criteria in both TPS and GPI Linear modes.
• Added: Checks to ensure outputs are properly configured when writing Output Configuration files to Cortex EBC

• Fixed bug causing flex fuel content to be displayed incorrectly on device

• Updated RPM detection algorithm to help reduce noise/spikes when using a coil pack trigger as an engine speed signal source.
• Improved display algorithms to reduce flickering captured by video cameras.

CONTROL MAP

• Control Map parameters have been reorganized into Fail-Safe, Open Loop, and Closed Loop categories.
• Flex fuel content and fuel temperature fail-safes have been added.
• Water/methanol flow fail-safes have been added.
• Activation time limit has been added to WBO2 fail-safe logic.
• End Duty Cycle parameter has been removed and replaced by a Total Control Duty Cycle Limit parameter in the Closed Loop settings.
• Gear  Change parameters have been added to help reduce boost spikes that occur on applications where the throttle plate remains open during gear changes.
• Spool Hysteresis parameter has been added to allow spool logic to be reactivated before boost returns to 0.0 PSI.
• Use Transbrake parameter has been added to launch options.
• Gear detection expanded to support up to 8 gears.

VEHICLE CONFIGURATION

• RPM detection has been redesigned and now uses two parameters for all signal types.  The new algorithm can handle cam or crank position sensors with just about any tooth/trigger pattern.
• Analog Input is now a General-Purpose Input that can be used with some frequency based sensors.  Available Options now include:
  • Throttle Position Sensor
  • WBO2 Controller Linear Output
  • GM Flex Fuel Sensor
  • SIRHC Labs Water/Methanol Flow Sensor
  • Transbrake Switch
• Throttle logic has been updated to support inverted throttle signals where voltage decreases as throttle angle increases.
• Gear detection parameters have been updated to support 8 gears.

OUTPUT CONFIGURATION

• Output control resolution has been expanded from boost based 24 point 2D tables to boost + RPM based 384 point 3D tables.
• Time based progressive ramp can now be reset on gear changes if all other activation criteria is still met.
• Gear based activation parameters have been updated to support 8 gears.

LOGGER

• Chart View has been added to create charts from data logs.
• Road Dyno has be redesigned to use vehicle speed calculated by the Cortex EBC.

MISC

• Parameters that can be displayed by the Cortex EBC device have been changed.
• Peak boost can now be viewed on the Cortex EBC display.
• Bug causing RPM and VSS signals to occasionally dip when a gear change is detected has been fixed.
• Bug causing calculated MPH to overflow and drop back to 0 above 160 MPH has been fixed.