Custom LDD bricks and fixes

[Stephan]

I will not get the error message since I have all the latest parts files in my folders.

With the images of the different new part subjects (new parts, prints, updated parts etc.), you might be able to locate the problem.

[suenkachun]

39 minutes ago, Stephan said:

I will not get the error message since I have all the latest parts files in my folders.

With the images of the different new part subjects (new parts, prints, updated parts etc.), you might be able to locate the problem.

No worries, I checked again by manually comparing the file lists but no results, hopefully this is just a glitch on my side and not a universal issue.

P.S., I did locate two more potential Bricks with a distorted Decoration surface though: Part 15210 and Part 15210 Four-sided Sign With Snap alongside the previously mentioned three Flat Tiles (3068/87079/4150). To confirm this, apply Decoration 93337 onto both Part 15210 and Part 30258. I looked up official images of the two Parts and the actual PNG image of 93337, which confirms that the curved corners do show within the Sign. As Part 30258 fails to show any of the rounded corners while Part 15210 includes the rounded corners but the edges appear to be distorted, it will be best to check both parts together. As mentioned before, this issue does not influence custom decorations or official ones, but do remember these two Parts when the other three Flat Tiles are fixed in the future.

[CorvusA]

Thank you so much for the new update

[Mobieus69]

Hi guys.  Haven't been on here in a while.  Thanks again to everyone for adding all these great new parts.  Can anyone tell me, in the all the releases since, has part no. 18675 been made decorate-able?  It's the Tie fighter cockpit windscreen piece.

[jester]

57 minutes ago, Mobieus69 said:

Hi guys.  Haven't been on here in a while.  Thanks again to everyone for adding all these great new parts.  Can anyone tell me, in the all the releases since, has part no. 18675 been made decorate-able?  It's the Tie fighter cockpit windscreen piece.

Will be in the next update)

[Mobieus69]

10 hours ago, jester said:

Will be in the next update)

Awesome!  Thanks.

[Zerobricks]

Thanks to everyone for another awesome update. Keep up the good job

[jester]

Hello guys
updated parts and new decorations for you 

[suenkachun]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere before, but I recently discovered a new way to install LDD fully on Windows 10/11. “LDD Version 4.3.11” is the correct Windows version to install but it includes the now permanent Flash Player Glitch. “LDD Version 4.3.12” was released to remove the Flash Player Glitch, but it has multiple issues such as the outdated Brick version.

The previous and current best method to install LDD as mentioned in this particular post is to download the “LDD Version 4.3.11” installer “setupldd-pc-4_3_11.exe”, use “7-Zip” to extract this once then further extract the “LDDSetup.exe” within which unlocks all of the main programme files of LDD; save these files somewhere on your PC and double-click the software executable “LDD.exe” to start using LDD, for convenience pin icon to Taskbar for easy access. However, drawbacks of this method include: LDD will not be properly registered on the System, you need to manually associate “.lxf” and “.lxfml” files with the software executable, the additional Start Menu Folder and Desktop Shortcut are not created, each time you open “LDD.exe” the Programme Window is not “Maximised” and you have to manually do this every single time (a personal annoyance for myself). The new method combines the installers for both “LDD Version 4.3.11” and “LDD Version 4.3.12” to achieve a perfect installation, as thanks to our current understanding of how LDD works it is perfectly fine to replace existing files. For new LDD users please use the following steps.

1. Download both the installers for “LDD Version 4.3.11” and “LDD Version 4.3.12” (“setupldd-pc-4_3_11.exe” and “setupldd-pc-4_3_12.exe”), please remember to open the “File Properties” of both files and unblock them before use as Windows might treat files as harmful ones from other computers once modified or downloaded.

2. Run “setupldd-pc-4_3_12.exe” to install “LDD Version 4.3.12” successfully, but with the “Add To Quick Access Ribbon” option unchecked as this feature is discontinued in Windows 10/11.

3. As mentioned above, use “7-Zip” to extract the “LDD Version 4.3.11” installer “setupldd-pc-4_3_11.exe” once then further extract the “LDDSetup.exe” within. Keep the now extracted folder “LDDSetup.exe” saved somewhere else.

4. Copy all files within the now extracted folder “LDDSetup.exe”, then navigate to “C:\Program Files (x86)\LEGO Company\LEGO Digital Designer” and paste, always selecting “Replace All” and not deleting anything. By doing this, you have successfully installed “LDD Version 4.3.12” but manually replaced all files with “LDD Version 4.3.11”.

5. Personslly, I then set up all LDD Start Menu Folder and Desktop Shortcut files by setting “Maximised” Programme Window as default and turning on “Run As Adimnistrator”, both in the “File Properties” of each individual file.

6. Run LDD via the Desktop Shortcut and still pin to Taskbar if you want to, this will officially generate the following two folders: “LEGO Creations” in “C:\Users\username\Documents\” and the Database folder “LEGO Company” in “C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming”. Follow the instructions in partner topic “[KEY TOPIC] LDD New Parts” to install the latest (unofficial) LDD Update and you are good to go!

If any existing Windows LDD users wish to reinstall LDD (to register programme and add back missing files) on their existing PC (like what I did) or want to migrate your existing LDD to a new Windows PC, please use the following steps.

1. Locate the following two folders on your current Windows PC: “LEGO Creations” in “C:\Users\username\Documents\” and the Database files “LEGO Company” in “C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming”, then copy and paste them onto an external source (Hard Drive) which essential backs them up. If you are reinstalling on the same PC then please remove LDD completely after the two backups.

2. Reepat all six steps above for new LDD users to successfully install LDD on either the same PC or new PC except for the installing recent (unofficial) LDD Update bit. Once complete first copy and paste the backup of the entire “LEGO Creations” folder to “C:\Users\username\Documents\”, always selecting “Replace All” and not deleting anything. Next, navigate to “C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming” and delete the original Database folder “LEGO Company” since the contents within have now been extracted to enable recent (unofficial) LDD Updates to be installed. Paste the backup of the Database folder “LEGO Company” right here which completes the new installation process. You will now have a fully installed “LDD Version 4.3.11” with the latest (unofficial) Updates plus all of your previous work retained. The final step is to reassociate “.lxf” and “.lxfml” files with the now properly registered LDD instead of the software executable (file thumbnails will be updated once complete), then you are good to go!

Whether you are trying LDD for the first time, returning to LDD after a break or previously installed LDD not using the full method due to the Glitch, I’m hoping that this information will be useful in some way. Thanks for stopping by!

[Brickchap]

Hi, could someone please help? LDD keeps crashing. I try and create a new file but when I click 'Save' the programme crashes. I currently have large files such as 7192 pieces, I import this into a blank file then delete the models I don't need. This brings it down to about 5000 pieces. When I try to save this file, LDD crashes. Other times I have managed to save the file and done some work (just made like 4 or 5 minifigures) and successfully saved for a little while then it crashed again and now it says I can't open the file.

I've read on other posts that some people have had models with 10,000 bricks and no trouble. Even with only 3000 bricks often my LDD glitches or becomes slower, but in the past I have managed up to 9000 pieces on one file without crashes. I try to copy paste various models into separate files so individual files don't have too many bricks, but this is often where I get crashes or lose entire files to somewhere.

I have an MSI Gaming tower that is only about 2 or 3 years old and is very capable of running a programme like LDD.

Especially as many of you have started creating new pieces (made after 2016) and adding them to LDD, how do you stop LDD from crashing in the first place? Does adding new pieces make the programme slower?

Edited January 17, 2023 by Brickchap

[suenkachun]

On 1/17/2023 at 2:51 PM, Brickchap said:

Hi, could someone please help? LDD keeps crashing. I try and create a new file but when I click 'Save' the programme crashes. I currently have large files such as 7192 pieces, I import this into a blank file then delete the models I don't need. This brings it down to about 5000 pieces. When I try to save this file, LDD crashes. Other times I have managed to save the file and done some work (just made like 4 or 5 minifigures) and successfully saved for a little while then it crashed again and now it says I can't open the file.

I've read on other posts that some people have had models with 10,000 bricks and no trouble. Even with only 3000 bricks often my LDD glitches or becomes slower, but in the past I have managed up to 9000 pieces on one file without crashes. I try to copy paste various models into separate files so individual files don't have too many bricks, but this is often where I get crashes or lose entire files to somewhere.

I have an MSI Gaming tower that is only about 2 or 3 years old and is very capable of running a programme like LDD.

Especially as many of you have started creating new pieces (made after 2016) and adding them to LDD, how do you stop LDD from crashing in the first place? Does adding new pieces make the programme slower?

Personally, I have been dealing with LDD-related Graphics issues for years. My first ever post and topic on Eurobricks was this back in 2015 when LDD on my old Windows 8.1 Laptop started to crash unexpectedly. After I failed to locate a solution online, I joined Eurobricks which was the best decision ever. Anyways, here are some information I have gathered over the years which might be useful.

The first thing to check is whether your PC meets LDD’s basic requirements. Next, always set LDD to run using the most powerful Graphics Card on your PC (such as NVIDIA) by default (which was suggested by the official LDD Development Team Members whom I emailed back in 2015 as my old Laptop had both an Intel Card and an NVidia Card) and when opening larger LDD Models make sure that nothing else is running in the background except LDD, which helps to improve LDD’s performance. To further boost performance, please turn off all Advanced Graphics options in the LDD Preferences, something that must be sacrificed for LDD to run a bit more smoothly, also turn off the sound in LDD which is usually not required anyway, which has helped me greatly as LDD now has one less item to load. In addition, please avoid “Hiding” and “Unhiding” Bricks multiple times in a row when saving is required as this will put more pressure on LDD’s display thus a crash may be more likely.

The number one cause of LDD crashes these days after all basic settings above completed is too many Bricks connected together. Quoting an old reply I got back in 2015: “LXF files are nothing but zipped xml files, along with a png preview image. What makes LDD crash is not so much the size of these files, but the amount of polygons it has to render: Many bricks result in bigger XML, thus in a bigger LXF file, while polygons do not necessarily correlate with brick count: A synonym for ‘polygons’ is ‘studs’.” Basically, the more Studs LDD has to render the more likely that LDD will crash even though the Brick Count and File Size of each LXF File are relatively small, back then the file which caused my LDD to crash had a staggering 32 48×48 Baseplates all connected together. Therefore, try keeping each LDD Model small from the beginning or even plan ahead to start splitting the expected-to-be-larger Models in early stages of construction when fewer Bricks are involved. A bonus solution which helped me briefly in the past is to remove all Baseplates and keep the rest of the elements loosely placed together, just make sure to note down the Baseplate configuration or save them elsewhere so that this can still be accessed if required. For existing large LDD Models, instead of importing into a blank file to split I suggest making several copies of the same file, delete sections and save until each file contains a unique section of the Model as importing will most likely contribute to another crash. When transferring small sections between files, instead of direct “Cut/Copy/Paste” or “Import/Export” try saving the selection to the “Templates” section found in each Mode, delete from original file and insert into new file.

Regarding your concern about newly added Bricks, this usually has nothing to do with LDD crashing as the design of Bricks are not related to LDD’s Display capabilities. Except when the Brick is misplaced or is still missing Collision Data, which may cause the Programme to glitch out in certain cases. However, as I have posted on this topic before LDD Decorations can now be produced using new methods which display them in Ultra-High-Definition with File Sizes of the PNG images up to 4 MB, while the improved LDD Decoration standards also contribute to larger File Sizes of the PNG images (e.g., 1024 Pixels times 1024 Pixels instead of 128 Pixels times 128 Pixels). If the LXF File contains a large number of Ultra-High-Definition LDD Decorations, this will put more pressure on LDD’s display thus a crash may be more likely.

P.S., I currently run LDD on my Windows 11 Laptop with Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics/NVIDIA Geforce MX450 (set as default Display Card) and most of my larger LXF Files on average contain over 12,000-18,000 Bricks with the largest ones containing over 20,000 Bricks each, all successfully opened without LDD crashing except for a few Files which I am currently trying to rescue by splitting them up. The key things I always do are: set up my Laptop and LDD to run in the most optimised environment, only have LDD open and nothing else in the background unless absolutely necessary and avoid all actions which may cause LDD to crash such as constantly “Hiding” and “Unhiding” Bricks. Hoping that this information has been useful.

[Stephan]

LDD itself will not be slower when new parts are added (I have not seen that yet, and we have added about 1400 new/updated parts or something like that). It takes a tiny bit longer to load, but will not be slower during use.

[Ladondorf]

Could you add this piece?

[SNIPE]

Can we update the part names so that they show the part ID next to the names, if you mouse over a part in the parts bin.

I know you can just drag a part into the workspace and look at the status bar but that is time consuming.

There is a tooltip if you mouse over a part in the parts bin so perhaps just add it there. you could probably make a script that does it for each file automatically.

EDIT:

Also it would be nice if many parts were not placed relative to the LDD floor, at 0.5L offset by default (when dragging parts from the parts bin to the build window). I was looking at technic thick lift arms and some were alighted to the floor whilst others were 0.5L off set)

All the beams were oriented with the holes facing the same direction also, so the parts orientation isn't what caused it

Regards, SNIPE

Edited February 6, 2023 by SNIPE
Added request to fix part offsets

[Obsidian Prime]

So, I got the folders needed for the new parts, did the installation process, but I am not seeing the new parts. Do I actually need to pull the Lego Digital Designer file out of the LDD New Parts file and replace as needed?

[Tracytron54321]

Can you add 87816 (Hero Factory Stringer chestpiece), 87810 (Hero Factory Bulk chestpiece), 87839 (Upper arm/leg 6M w/ball cup), 61794 (Foresight w/ cross hole 7,08) and 85079 (Shell 2 5x6x2)?

Edited February 25, 2023 by Tracytron54321

[nanoreber]

Now (with december 2022 update) when loading my 2600 set 2 bricks are removed (I think there are no other changes for this set),

Both removed bricks are 54200 (black) located on both top corners of front panel. Those are in collision with plate 1x3 Medium stone grey. 50746 (transpared) can be placed there without error (same 85984). It look like there is small collision (on included screen this brick is red), but it look correct as in this set. Updateing that bricks doesn't fix that problem.

[kodlovag]

Would it be possible to add the 983 minifigure hand, as a standalone part? I mean I dont want to separate the torso assemblies (like the shock absorber), or remove the hand from the arm. Just to use the hand as part of a MOC.

[BrokenEye]

In the next update, could you please make it so studs will fit into round technic holes and the bases various 4x4 round bricks and domes fit onto the tops of 4x4 barrels and other bricks with similar rims?

[Stephan]

6 hours ago, BrokenEye said:

In the next update, could you please make it so studs will fit into round technic holes

They already do. But only for single studs since connection a multi-stud parts to multiple Technic holes is an illegal technique.

[BrokenEye]

10 minutes ago, Stephan said:

They already do. But only for single studs since connection a multi-stud parts to multiple Technic holes is an illegal technique.

It is? But they fit so well. Surely that can't be damaging.

Is fitting 1x1 round pieces into the 1x1 round piece-shaped hole in the bucket legal? I've definitely seen it used in sets (and I'm pretty sure the hole is 1x1 round piece-shaped on purpose), though the pieces aren't technically connected.

[Stephan]

4 hours ago, BrokenEye said:

It is? But they fit so well. Surely that can't be damaging.

Yes, because the Technic holes are ever so slightly smaller I believe which puts stress on the elements.

4 hours ago, BrokenEye said:

Is fitting 1x1 round pieces into the 1x1 round piece-shaped hole in the bucket legal?

Well, they are actually not tightly attached to the bucket, so there is nothing to be illegal :)

[Garry_rocks]

3 hours ago, Stephan said:

Yes, because the Technic holes are ever so slightly smaller I believe which puts stress on the elements.

It's not because of some extra stress on the stud, otherwise single stud elements would become damaged too. It's because it'll be too hard for children to disconnect two parts with multiple "stud to technic hole" connections, like say 1x3 plate attached to the side of 1x4 technic brick. Are we still bound to "only 100% legal connections" rule in LDD?

[Calabar]

14 hours ago, Garry_rocks said:

It's not because of some extra stress on the stud, otherwise single stud elements would become damaged too.

As far as I remember, the distance among two Technic holes is slightly different from the distance among standard pins, while the studs and the Technic holes are compatible.
So attach a single stud to a Technic hole is allowed, while attach a brick with two o more studs to an array of Technic pins is not as it stress the bricks.

EDIT: it seems I didn't remember correctly.
Just recovered the document explaining this and other issues: CLICK.
You are true about the excessive strength of the connection and the difficulty by children to detach it.

Edited March 12, 2023 by Calabar

[SylvainLS]

@Garry_rocks For info, one stud in one Technic hole is illegal now.  At least it was for the BrickLink Designer Program.  The Technic hole is indeed smaller than an antistud and stresses the stud but it was considered acceptable before.  The “7-year-old rule” made it totally unacceptable for more than one stud.  Also remember that it’s not because LEGO did it once (or thrice), that it’s okay.  Rules change.

@Calabar Er  , the only distance difference with Technic holes is that Technic holes on bricks are higher than side studs (by 0.12mm).  The (horizontal) distance between two Technic holes is obviously the same as the distance between two studs, at least on the same Technic part (that is: it may not be the same for two parts side by side).  Just look at a 1x16 Technic brick and try and devise a way to have the distance between the holes different than the distance between the studs to see why it’s obvious