Okay, having just been trying after some time to get a box hacked (and not succeeding just yet because of a head unit not wanting to play ball), I've realised there is a major issue with the PhatHack DMS Tools.
This problem ONLY affects anyone who has PhatHack Media Manager installed, and I will work to find a resolution to the problem as soon as I can (probably for the next release of the application).
With the architecture re-structure of PhatHack Media Manager from internal classes (stuff stored in memory) to database storage, one of the shared components originally used to write core PhatBox files to the DMS (DMS.DLL) was modified accordingly. I had been under the assumption that although this particular DLL had changed, being .NET based having two versions of it would not have been a problem. However, I missed the fact that it had been made COM exposed and therefore available for re-use from any other code... which means that only 1 version of the DLL will ever be available ... that being the most recent one.
Unfortunately this means that the DMS tools can never complete it's work correctly when writing the files the DMS relies on for playback purposes. This most notably affects the hack process. It does have minor impact on the 'Create New DMS' process, and the 'Repair (FULL)' process which will also write a demonstration playlist (so you can check out your new DMS in the car before hitting any software to manage it)... but this ONLY affects the playlist side. Firmware updates, and 'Repair (PHTSYS)' is NOT affected by this issue.
If you need to run the DMS tools to apply the hack, and have PhatHack Media Manager installed then un-installing the application, the DMS tools.. and re-installing the DMS tools will allow you to use the DMS tools successfully.
This issue will have been around some time, so apologies for not having spotted this earlier.