Problem running LDD. Help needed.

[Smokescreen_5]

Hi, I'm new to the forums and just recently download Lego Digital Designer. I believe its 4.3 not sure about all of the specifics. I was trying to create the Back to the Future Delorean set #21103 in the program. Everytime I start creating, it closes itself halfway through. Sometimes I get an error message, sometimes I don't. I see you guys have been working to fix flaws but so far I'm not sure what else to do. I've read through many other threads where it talks about deleting a preferences file which I don't know where it is. It talks about disabling enhanced bricks. And none of this seems to work. Heck the bricks that is loaded into the program, aren't all of the ones I need for putting the set together. I've had to use alternate part numbers at times. Other times, its simply not there. I've tried looking on the site for a .lxf file where someone already built the set, and yet that file is supposed to be for LDraw, and it doesn't even work. Any assistance would be greatful. Thank you.

[Zerobricks]

Hi, I'm new to the forums and just recently download Lego Digital Designer. I believe its 4.3 not sure about all of the specifics. I was trying to create the Back to the Future Delorean set #21103 in the program. Everytime I start creating, it closes itself halfway through. Sometimes I get an error message, sometimes I don't. I see you guys have been working to fix flaws but so far I'm not sure what else to do. I've read through many other threads where it talks about deleting a preferences file which I don't know where it is. It talks about disabling enhanced bricks. And none of this seems to work. Heck the bricks that is loaded into the program, aren't all of the ones I need for putting the set together. I've had to use alternate part numbers at times. Other times, its simply not there. I've tried looking on the site for a .lxf file where someone already built the set, and yet that file is supposed to be for LDraw, and it doesn't even work. Any assistance would be greatful. Thank you.

Greetings!

First of all what are you computer specifications?

Second, can you share your LXF file?

Edited December 3, 2014 by Zblj

[Smokescreen_5]

Greetings!

First of all what are you computer specifications?

Second, can you ahsre your LXF file?

Computer specifications? I'm using an old Dell Latitude E5400 laptop while still fumbling around with Microsoft XP Professional.

Second, I don't have an LXF file like I explained. Like I said I start to create one with Lego digital designer, and it shuts down, not saving any of the work I just did.

[Superkalle]

(Created separate topic of this)

[Calabar]

Computer specifications? I'm using an old Dell Latitude E5400 laptop while still fumbling around with Microsoft XP Professional.

Probably the weakness of your laptop is the video card, or maybe the amount of system memory. You should provide us the full specification (Processor, System Memory, Video Card, etc...), or we could only make suppositions.

You can use software like CPU-Z to see your specifications.

About your creation, are you aware there is an LDD Official Sets topic where you can find many official models, including the Delorean Machine? You probably found the LDRAW Official Sets topic and not the LDD one.

About the lack of bricks, you have to enable the extended mode (take a look at here)

Edited December 3, 2014 by Calabar

[Smokescreen_5]

Probably the weakness of your laptop is the video card, or maybe the amount of system memory. You should provide us the full specification (Processor, System Memory, Video Card, etc...), or we could only make suppositions.

You can use software like CPU-Z to see your specifications.

About your creation, are you aware there is an LDD Official Sets topic where you can find many official models, including the Delorean Machine? You probably found the LDRAW Official Sets topic and not the LDD one.

About the lack of bricks, you have to enable the extended mode (take a look at here)

Processor: 2.27 gigahertz Intel Core2 Duo

System Memory: 2004 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Display: Mobile Intel® 4 Series Express Chipset Family [Display adapter] (2x) Seiko Epson [Monitor]

Multimedia: IDT High Definition Audio CODEC Intel® High Definition Audio HDMI Service

Yes I know that there is a link for LDD Official Sets, yet when I went to that thread, the set 21103 Delorean link went to a page full of binary text and code vs an actual download file. ( http://www.eurobrick...topic=48285&hl= ) As far as my computer system goes, I thought that by unchecking the high quality rendering of lego bricks placed in the preference section, that it would help, but it didn't. I looked for the extended mode you are talking about but when I click on it, it only shows red legos. It doesn't show all of the other bricks out there. There's also an icon to filter box sets, yet when I click on it, it only shows Hero Factor. What I did instead, was simply created a parts list of all of the parts that come in the BTTF set, and saved the file every few minutes to try to avoid losing all of my work. I was finally able to create an .lxf file with all of the parts to the set, but that is as far as I've gotten so far. I would post it if I knew how, yet since i've just started using this website, I'm still learning the format.

Edit: nevermind on the .lxf file sets. I was looking at the wrong thread apparently. Found 2 submissions of the BTTF set, thought it seems even they had problem with incorrect pieces. Still trying to figure out how to load it, or link it which it looks as if they use brickset.com somehow.. Still working away.

Edited December 3, 2014 by Smokescreen_5

[Calabar]

About your computer, probably your problem is the video cart, an integrated Intel GPU.

Update the video cart driver to the last compatible release and disable all advanced graphic effects in LDD.

Yes I know that there is a link for LDD Official Sets, yet when I went to that thread, the set 21103 Delorean link went to a page full of binary text and code vs an actual download file.

The topic you linked is for LDRAW sets, non for LDD ones.

The text code you obtained is the content of an MPD file (generated from MLCAD, an LDRAW based software). In fact MPD files are text files.

LDD instead created lxf files, that are zip files.

EDIT: ok, you already seen the problem!

Edited December 3, 2014 by Calabar

[Smokescreen_5]

About your computer, probably your problem is the video cart, an integrated Intel GPU.

Update the video cart driver to the last compatible release and disable all advanced graphic effects in LDD.

The topic you linked is for LDRAW sets, non for LDD ones.

The text code you obtained is the content of an MPD file (generated from MLCAD, an LDRAW based software). In fact MPD files are text files.

LDD instead created lxf files, that are zip files.

EDIT: ok, you already seen the problem!

You said to use extended mode to see the pieces from newer sets such as set 21103. When I do that, it doesn't have all of the correct pieces. Am I missing something here? All it shows is red pieces that I can then later change to the correct color and put a decoration on, yet they don't have all of the decorations.

[Calabar]

The extended mode allow you to access to all the bricks available in LDD in all colours (even if a specific brick has never been printed in that colour), but not all the bricks are available in LDD.

So it is not strange to find missing bricks when you built an official set, and you have to fill this lack with other parts or brick build solutions.

About stickers and decorations, surely LDD provide only a small amount of them (probably due to the need of disk space they require and the inadequacy of the user interface to manage a large amount of decorations).

[Smokescreen_5]

The extended mode allow you to access to all the bricks available in LDD in all colours (even if a specific brick has never been printed in that colour), but not all the bricks are available in LDD.

So it is not strange to find missing bricks when you built an official set, and you have to fill this lack with other parts or brick build solutions.

About stickers and decorations, surely LDD provide only a small amount of them (probably due to the need of disk space they require and the inadequacy of the user interface to manage a large amount of decorations).

I was more or less referring to how updated the program it is. From what I can tell its been a while since pieces have been updated. For example with the BTTF 21103 set, the orange 2x4 flat bricks # 4158355 will not come up when I type in the search bar. Yet if I scroll through the flat bricks, I can eventually find an orange 2x4 flat brick I need. Items like brick #6055829, a 1x2 flat orange piece for the license plate does not show up either with the 2015 license plate, but I can find a 1x2 flat orange piece with no markings. Normal bricks like the 2x2 flat black piece #302226 or a 1x4 flat black piece #371026 CAN be found in the parts list. If I go to brickset.com I can find nearly every single piece ever created by LEGO. I guess I figured the designer of the program would by now have implemented every single piece into the program. So far, this is what I've come up with..

Edited December 4, 2014 by Smokescreen_5

[Calabar]

I suggest you to search for pieces using the DesignID and not the ElementID.

As there are many ElementID for any DesignID, it is not strange that LDD miss some ElementID during the search. Maybe the ElementID that you can find in a search are those related to parts in LDD mode, but in Extended Mode, where you can assign every colour to every available brick, ElementIDs are not compiled (for all the combination, at least... because for some combination ElementID don't exist, as many combinations don't exist in real bricks). The question is even more complicated if you consider stickers and decorations.

Note that the Extended Mode is a supermode that the LDD staff makes available to us AFOLs to allow us to use LDD with its full potential, but it is a sort of "use it as it is", without warranty. The fully supported mode for LDD is the "LDD Mode".

Another suggestion is to use LDD Manager to generate a LXF file containing all the available bricks for a set. It can save you a lot of work when you build an official set. Take a look at it.

[Smokescreen_5]

Ok, can you remind me again what a Design ID is? I only know how to look up a part by part number or by skimming through sections until I find what I'm looking for. For instance, whenever I look at a sets booklet, it gives a part number to every single piece in the set. Is the part number the element ID or the Design ID?

[Calabar]

Take a look at the guide I linked you in the post #5 (this one), there you can find an explanation.

The ID you can read in a booklet is an ElementID.