jaap Posted February 19, 2012 Posted February 19, 2012 (edited) Hi there, We have about 10-15 lego sets that I would like my kids to use and build other stuff with, other than the designs than come with the instructions from Lego. For example they would like to build the designs in other sets but it is hard to tell what special bricks you will need, and I can not buy them any set they like from the Lego catalogue. Is it possible to import in LDD the LXF-files from the sets that we already have and then have LDD check what designs from other LXF-files we can possibly build? It seems that all info for this would be available in the LXF-files and just needs to be combined. When I start LDD in the "Digital Designer - Free Build"-mode there is an icon that provides something called "Filter Bricks by Boxes" in the bottom left corner. Then I can choose from two options "LDD" or "Hero Factory". I dont see anything happening when I click one of these options. Does anyone know if this icon with these options provided a list of all the Official Lego Boxes but is not supported anymore in the current version of LDD (I am using version 4.2.5 for Mac) Thanks folks Edited February 19, 2012 by jaap Quote
jaap Posted February 19, 2012 Author Posted February 19, 2012 OK, I got a little further with the "Filter bricks by boxes"-icon. With the menu (the menu at the top of the screen on a Mac ) option "View" and then choose "New Themes", I managed to get some extra boxes to choose from with the "Filter bricks by boxes"-icon after I selected "Lego Mindstorms" from the available "New Themes" The bricks I got filtered with these Mindstorms boxes seemed rather few, so I am not sure what the purpose of these Mindstorms options in LDD is. thanks Quote
DLuders Posted February 19, 2012 Posted February 19, 2012 @ jaap: Welcome to Eurobricks! Have you seen the Rebrickable.com website? It shows you what can be built from the existing Lego sets you own. You can buy any missing parts you need from Bricklink.com ("The Unofficial Lego Marketplace"). Be sure to visit the Bricklink Help Center to learn how it works! Quote
dwarf-brik Posted February 19, 2012 Posted February 19, 2012 On 2/19/2012 at 8:57 PM, DLuders said: @ jaap: Welcome to Eurobricks! Have you seen the Rebrickable.com website? It shows you what can be built from the existing Lego sets you own. You can buy any missing parts you need from Bricklink.com ("The Unofficial Lego Marketplace"). Be sure to visit the Bricklink Help Center to learn how it works! Just be careful on Bricklink - it's a great site, but it's really easy to spend HOURS on there trying to find seller that stocks all the pieces you need. It's also really easy to spend huge amounts of money that way. Quote
DLuders Posted February 19, 2012 Posted February 19, 2012 Well, that's why people use Brickforge's Brickstore to build their Bricklink wanted lists! Quote
Sjuip Posted February 20, 2012 Posted February 20, 2012 On 2/19/2012 at 7:45 PM, jaap said: Is it possible to import in LDD the LXF-files from the sets that we already have and then have LDD check what designs from other LXF-files we can possibly build? It seems that all info for this would be available in the LXF-files and just needs to be combined. When I start LDD in the "Digital Designer - Free Build"-mode there is an icon that provides something called "Filter Bricks by Boxes" in the bottom left corner. Does anyone know if this icon with these options provided a list of all the Official Lego Boxes but is not supported anymore in the current version of LDD Welkom, Jaap! Here is a (little) explanation for the 'Filter Bricks by Boxes' - as far as my own knowledge goes (I am a Windows user). As you might have already found out, this option enables to use the program with a limited amount of bricks (i.e. from a certain set). In the present version of LDD (4.2.5) I doubt whether there are many people using it. In the early days of LDD, many Creator sets were listed under this button. That way, you could see - during building in LDD - whether or not you had enough real bricks from a set to actually build the model. I myself used this option a lot with Set 10183 Hobby Train: it was a true sport to find out if you could build a new MOC from that set purely on the computer. There were two downsides: - You can only filter by single set. In other words: you cannot build from the contents of several sets combined together. - Only a limited amount of sets were available in LDD. There used to be much more than are available now, but still limited, mainly to Creator sets. The contents are/were available through *.lif files that are/were installed with the LDD software (in Windows they are in a folder named 'Pallettes'). To make full use of the filter option, LEGO would have to add a *.lif file for each individual set ever released. That would be the equivalent of the databases that form the set inventories that you can find om www.peeron.com and www.bricklink.com . Obviously, that is not going to happen. Somewhere along the line in Version 3 or the earlier editions of Version 4, they changed the amount of, and the accessability to, the *.lif files . Previous lif-files (such as my beloved 10183) were removed and the program no longer recognised lif-files that were manually added (as I used to do with lif-files from earlier editions). So: only for a very few currently enabled sets you can check brick availability when building something else. And no, you cannot make and import inventories from sets to overcome this - you can load a Set LXF and disassemble it in LDD (make neat rows of parts ), store as a inventory LXF and use it for new builds. And no, the filter option does not allow you to combine inventories fro multiple sets.... Personally, I would love to have the possibility to the filter against more sets. Top of the bill would be if LDD would allow the creation of custom-build LIF-files - that would enable you to make your own inventories to toy around with... Quote
Calabar Posted February 20, 2012 Posted February 20, 2012 On 2/20/2012 at 6:03 PM, Sjuip said: Personally, I would love to have the possibility to the filter against more sets. Top of the bill would be if LDD would allow the creation of custom-build LIF-files - that would enable you to make your own inventories to toy around with... That's one of my main requests in the LDD5 wishlist. Some time ago I tried to modify existing sets, but it seems LDD have some kind of mechanism to prevent that. Probably they check for the file size, or the number of lines... Extra files I tried to add are not recognized too... (I hoped that simply modifying the list in the preferences.ini file I could add some of that, but I was wrong! ) Quote
Sjuip Posted February 20, 2012 Posted February 20, 2012 On 2/20/2012 at 6:34 PM, Calabar said: That's one of my main requests in the LDD5 wishlist. I know, I know!! It's in your extensive list "what to want for LDD5"! But it won't hurt to shout it out aloud again, can it? On 2/20/2012 at 6:34 PM, Calabar said: (I hoped that simply modifying the list in the preferences.ini file I could add some of that, but I was wrong! ) Yep. I tried that also - no joy either. Somehow the newer LDD versions don't like the old *.lif files. Shame! Anyway, I keep the stock of old *.lif - just in case... Quote
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