Dilvish

That's too bad. I was hoping there was better compatibility.

Thanks, Kalle! Forgot to mention two things: 1. LDD models are welcome, as I believe they can be converted to LDraw format, but not vise versa. 2. Any submissions must be made under the Creative Commons license. Basically, it allows anyone to redistribute or modify the work as long as *that* person is equally generous in allowing *their* modifications to be shared and modified, and so on ad infinitum. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Some of you might be aware of Datsville, a ~20 year old community project aimed at creating a multi-user town in LDraw. There's a historical page dedicated to it at LUGNET, and a GitHub project with recent activity. There are also a Facebook page and a Flickr photo stream. Some recent discussion has appeared on the LDraw.org forums and LUGNET. What we need, however, is more submissions! If you'd like to create and submit a new model please drop us a line. Note that all submissions need to be licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA license or public domain. There are high resolution 8192x4096px versions of the above images on Flickr if you click on the download link and select "Original Version".

Each 32x32 map "tile" would have its own associated file. I.e. clicking on the image for each "tile" would let you download the model for that individual tile. You could then open the model in LDD or whatever yourself if you wanted to. (I supposed there could also be an option to select multiple files at once, or to merge multiple models/tiles into a single file, but that would require additional thought.) No. The website would only assemble and display the pre-rendered images for each model/tile - not render 3D models themselves. Think of it like a 2D/isometric video game like SimCity 2000 or Diablo: each tile is like a sprite and is discrete. The sprites are then arranged to recreate the larger scene. And, since each model/tile is dealt with individually, there would probably be no one, large super-model. Yes! I think there should be a voting mechanism for zoning and road directions. I would like to see 3D terrain too, but I'm not sure yet what the proper way of doing it would be.

There is FreeBuild, which seems a lot like Minecraft except with Lego-like bricks. But I was purposefully trying to avoid any sort of real-time rendering as that is a complete pain on today's computers (...and also limits the size and scope of the community "world"). I envisioned something that any visitor who comes along can view and examine using their Web browser. Hence the statically rendered isometric images. Clicking on the image could also direct visitors to other types of content and media. Maybe a little homepage or blurb from the model's author. I.e. an emphasis on presentation and "showing off" over possibly competing factors.

I thought it was tricky at first too.

Not sure if there should be a restriction on the size and dimensions of submissions to ensure that they each fit onto a single baseplate. It *would* make things a lot simpler to administer.

Poop. I was hoping to import one of my models into LDD. :(

Very cool!!

It would be really cool to have an OpenStreetMap-like site where people can submit their creations (in *.lxf or *.ldr format) and have them appear in the landscape. You could register with the site, pick a square on the map where you want to build, and submit and upload your file to the server. After a certain amount of time it would appear where you placed it. I've been thinking about a few community rules for such a system, too. They are: 1. You can only build on X% (percent) of the map. If there are 10 users, you can build on 10% of the map. If there are 100 users, you can build on 1% of the map. The map itself will never run out of space though. 2. Tiles immediately adjacent to a road connection require some sort of committee to determine the result. The immediate neighbors for instance. 3. That's all! Landscape images would be rendered in isometric perspective (using POV-Ray probably), and all creative content would be licensed under the CC-BY-SA, as per a lot of other community sites such as wikis like Wikipedia, sites like StackEchange, etc. Any support for such an idea, or tips & help on creating it? I am a pretty decent Web developer, and already have some paid hosting service that is basically sitting around unused. Later!

Also, you might want to check out Datsville. It was a community project by members of LUGNET created in LDraw. No one has worked on it much in nearly a decade. Even on modern computers it takes a while to render. Some screenshots taken in LDView: http://s421.photobucket.com/albums/pp292/SharkD2161/LDraw/?action=view&current=town_full_lite_new_terrain_a.png&newest=1 http://s421.photobucket.com/albums/pp292/SharkD2161/LDraw/?action=view&current=ldr_datsville_lite_screen_a.png&newest=1 http://s421.photobucket.com/albums/pp292/SharkD2161/LDraw/?action=view&current=ldr_datsville_lite_screen_b.png&newest=1 http://s421.photobucket.com/albums/pp292/SharkD2161/LDraw/?action=view&current=ldr_datsville_lite_screen_c.png&newest=1 http://s421.photobucket.com/albums/pp292/SharkD2161/LDraw/?action=view&current=datsville_town0-1_normal.png&newest=1 http://s421.photobucket.com/albums/pp292/SharkD2161/LDraw/?action=view&current=datsville_town0-1_lite.png&newest=1 I created the terrain seen in the first image in a heightfield program called Wilbur, then converted it to LDraw format using 3DWin. It still needs a lot of work. I need to smooth some of the creases as well as add stuff like foliage, river water, rocks, etc. I am getting about 2 frames-per-second in LDview, so navigation/flying through the scene remains rather painful. I had to use LDBoxer (which I mentioned in my previous post) to get it to even render that fast! I also created a few buildings for it, but I haven't added them to the city yet.

Reminds me of the entrance into the Enclave's bunker in the video role-playing game, Fallout (1997). It starts out in a gas station too!

Do LDraw-related tools render faster than LDD? I know there is a tool called LDBoxer which can significantly lessen the load on your computer and graphics hardware (at the price of quality if you're not careful).

Street or pedestrian view. Multiplayer (as in 1-8 players at most) over a local network.

The "freemium" model where you get to play for free but pay for some of the higher level stuff might work. Also, I like the idea proposed earlier in this thread where you get credits you can apply to the game every time you buy a real set. Of the two, I prefer option #2.

Haven't played around with the program much since I am having problems on Windows 7 and misaligned dialog boxes. That said, MLCAD is really starting to annoy me and is starting to show its age. It simply was not designed for modern high-resolution widescreen displays. Expect more comments once I've played around with it a bit longer.

Can't wait to drive through it in a virtual car!! Also, would be cool if other people could add to it to make the city bigger.