I see there is some colormfa/colormfd installed maybe its the problem

If you camt connect by kline the only way is to read immo data from ecu and write it to new cluster and add key. you wont decrypt file read from eeprom directly ( only dejavuu can do it as far as i know )

Of course you can immo off ecu , change vin in epprom to match the old cluster and add new transponder ( you need to prepare dealer key and then add it to cluster - fvdi can do it )

ive got carprog and i can read the replacement cluster just fine its for sure the cluster and not the mfa as i have removed all wires. your saying its as simple as replacing the vin of the replacement with the original vin and iw will figure itself out after programming the key? i thought you must chang ethe CS, MAC and Vin? im still a bit lost here and cant seem to get anything from the ecu here on the bench, im not sure cause theres no gateway hooked up or what but i cant even get vcds to connect to the ecu. 100% my desk setup works fine.