alienwar9

Blast from the past, here I come! I signed, even if I've been out of the loop for a few years.

You might have made my day! If I can figure out how to easily use this, you will have saved me weeks of painful work. I am sort of coming back from the dead after a horrendous experience with bricklink. I had about 9,000 pieces to purchase, with more than 1,000 different types, and I was in a hurry to meet a deadline. It took me 4 days of 16-20 hrs straight with 3 monitors of multiple store pages trying to manually filter for the cheapest prices.... and you can guess how many mistakes that led to. (Granted, I also happened to pick the exact day where bricklink crashed to start all this, so that didn't help). Anyway, I ended up $2,000 over budget, and I had to go back a few months later to recoup and purchase about $300 worth of missing pieces (either from my mistakes, or stores that forgot pieces because I asked for rush service....when bricklink crashed). I'm betting I'm not the only one with horror stories that could have been prevented. That is why I think this is one of the greatest developments for some MOC builders, saving people a lot of time, mistakes, and money. I'd be more than happy to donate or help out in any way (though my coding/programming skills are pretty much non-existant). I still have 5 more stages of my project to get through, so I'm fully on board the idea of this program!

I wanted to do a quick update for everyone on where the project is at. I've just gotten through ordering 52,000 pieces on bricklink, going to multiple Lego stores and butchering the pick-a-brick, and even getting some full stock boxes for the pick-a-brick wall. And if you haven't heard bricklink went down for a day and got hacked. But, for me, it felt like a week, because my pieces were stuck in stasis in the Wanted-List, un-editable (Wanted-list is still not fixed). So I had to go down hard on bricklink manually, and with 3 computer screens, over 20 windows, and over 60 hours of purchasing (47 of those in 3 days), I managed to get roughly 45,000 pieces from over 50 stores. By the way, this was my first time using bricklink...and my first day was the day it got hacked. Just my luck huh? Some of the stuff has already arrived. Some stuff is coming, and some stuff hasn't even been paid for and might not make it in time. I'm hoping all the important pieces come in time, but I have to say, I wish I had another week. Preparation holds no grounds to bad luck. On the bright side, the sections are picked, color corrected, realistically rebuilt for real pieces, and modified for cheaper pieces. I've even built some support pillars and a wall. Anyone want to help build??? Hopefully you will all get to see the finished results at Brickworld, and for those not attending, pictures will be up afterward. Oh, and you'll get to see how I cheated

MANUALLY. That is the word to describe how I just purchased those pieces. Ouch. 47 hours of purchasing, and over 50 stores, but its done. hopefully everything arrives in time. Some stuff already coming. Wish me luck!

Hi all, Seems like recently things have been falling apart, and last minute purchasing has become danger zone timing. I have been trying to quickly finish up my MOC in LDD and start purchasing all the pieces, but with bricklink down and then many issues after that, I have only managed to put less than half the orders in (roughly 20,000 pieces). Until the Wanted-list features are back up, there is no reasonable way to purchase the other 32,000 pieces that I can think of. With a little more than a week left until Brickworld, and the Wanted-list supposedly not being fixed until at least late tomorrow, it seems as if this project might not get finished in time. Truly unfortunate, considering I have been working on this for over 2 and 1/2 years. Yes, many things were done too late. Though to be honest I tried my best to get things done as quick as possible while trying to keep good results, but with the obvious hurdles of creating large project MOCs and the many "things that can go wrong will go wrong", the pivotal purchase point came and went, most likely missed. So, with that, I just wanted to share where this project is, maybe hear some other horror stories of things that went wrong in either MOC building, or preparing/setting up for events, and possibly even ask if anyone has any good ideas, tips, helpful suggestions, etc. Not sure if this is the best or right topic location, but since this is for Brickworld, I thought it might be somewhat related. (btw, the display is/was supposed to be part of the city below in my sig).

Ooo, yay! I kind of felt bad for making the topic in the first place, because the first one was closed so quick after. But I just thought it might be an interesting thing to talk about each other's experiences and get a feeling for how this is affecting everyone. See if anyone had to do workarounds, maybe get tips on handling bricklink withdrawal I sincerely feel bad for Eric having to fix the problems by himself and fix all of bricklink. Has bricklink ever been down or attacked like this before? Or do I have the worst timing in the world, using bricklink for the first time? Oh, and I think I lost some hair. Only half my order has gone through. I'm stuck waiting for the Wanted-lists to be editable so I can remove what I have purchased so far and search for the stores with the most pieces that I have left. Looks like I'm going to spend a lot more on quick shipping By the way, does anyone know how to do a search for a large group of pieces in stores? The query stores check-mark in the wanted list does not hold through multiple pages.

Is it just me, or is bricklink down again? And yes, I know, the old thread was closed. And I'm sorry if this is a little cluttery, but seriously, I need to know what's up. I'm in the middle of finalizing a $2,500 order (half the total) and I've spent the last 9 hours straight with 3 computer screens and 8 windows comparing piece by piece prices. I'm super super scared The twitter feed says they have been attacked. I seriously want to grind whoever attacked the site in very sharp lego pieces. grrr Sorry. Anyway, anyone know what's up?

couldn't.be.worse.timing I'm late like a week for ordering in time for Brickworld, and today was supposed to be an all day sorting of 1,100 lots into their respective stores to purchase, and as soon as I get my 3 computer screens setup (yes, I'm doing row-by-row price checking on multiple stores at once) bricklink happens to be down! I suppose a week of things going wrong should be a sign, but I can't say I saw this one coming. Sorry all, my bad luck has entered the internet Now time to stare at the twitter feed.

I looked through the index, but none of the utilities have the feature that I need. Bricklink's list of wanted-list creator programs also don't have the feature. The only one I've found that comes close is brickstore, since it gathers price data from bricklink. But I'm not sure if the author of Brickstore will reply quickly enough (I think he is from Germany). (The site also hasn't been modified in 4 years ) I've gotten through 5 out of 23 pages of pieces so far though!

well, some good news. I converged the separate wanted lists into 1 and now there are only 1,119 lots! I saved many hours of work there

Hello everyone, I'm trying to get a huge order done (over 1,100 lots, over 50,000 pieces), and I'm wondering if there is any way to quickly setup a filter for prices. I have uploaded 4 separate wanted lists of the 4 sections of the MOC, and have gone to the "by shop" tab and sorted by lots (unique) to get the best match for stores, but once I start filling out the cart, I see that many pieces are just overpriced at the specific stores. I want to try and get an average price per piece at $0.12, and I used the program "brickstore" to calculate that reasonable average (at least I think it's reasonable). So I am trying to go for just under the average prices. I also noticed that you can setup a maximum price for the items in the wanted list, but as I have over 9,000 items, and having to click on each piece to check the average price and then set the maximum individually would be a pain, is there any way to quickly set maximum prices on a wanted list, say, to average prices? Or is there any program that will create a wanted-list that sets maximum prices automatically? Oh, and also, I noticed when you auto-fill cart minimum for a wanted list, it adds both new and used pieces, basically doubling the pieces you want. Is there any way to get it to fill up with used and then get the rest new, or do I have to go through every piece and subtract the number of used pieces from the purchase of new?

I have used the program "brickstore" to get an average price for entire mocs, and used it to get an estimate of $0.12 average per piece. But I am wondering if anyone familiar with it knows if you can set a price to every piece (like the average it allows you to set the pieces to) and then upload a wanted-list that INCLUDES those set prices as maximums. Does that make any sense? The reason being that I noticed that you can set price maximums that will constrict the search when looking at stores in the "by shop" view. But with 1,900 lots, searching for the average price and then setting individual price maximums for all of them is a mountainous task. So aka, is there any program that generates xml wanted-lists that can also auto-set price maximums?

Hi, Not sure if this is in the right forum, but I'm running a little low on time and I think it is at least a little bit related. I've finished color checking and gotten the sections of my city ready in LDD for BrickWorld, and used LDD Manager to get it done while also upload the parts to bricklink (thank you so very very much for the wonder that is LDD Manager! ). Unfortunately, it gets really messy once at bricklink. There are 1,965 items or lots in my wanted list, and over 50,000 pieces...and I can't seem to find an easier way to search for the best stores to purchase from (or even an easy way to organize the purchases). I've at least divided the wanted lists into 4 separate sections, based on the city sections, but they all have around 500 lots. Is there any program or option to sort/group items into "store based" wanted lists? Is there any way to check if stores have ALL or enough of the pieces in a lot that you need? (so say you need 300 1x1 black bricks, and the wanted list/by store tab shows stores that have 10 lots that you need, if one of those has the black bricks, can you know if they have ENOUGH?) Is there any way to sort stores by cheapest AND with enough pieces? ...what about also with the highest matching lot count? Is there any way to quickly find the items you need in a store, add them to your cart, and purchase? Is there any way to sort by nearest location? (aka less shipping costs, and shorter delivery times) OH, and is there anyone who would like to help? I am trying to get all this ordered at least in the next couple days, and I have all day long to work on ordering everything, but it needs to be soon so everything has enough time to ship. I've been super crammed with time, and so I'm getting a bit confused and making mistakes like asking this last minute 2 years of work and everything comes down to a few days. yikes Anyway, any help would be greatly, GREATLY appreciated. (I'll give you a part of the city! ...kidding. I'm just kidding.) Thank you!

@Andy D: This is going in my basement (only place with enough room). Funny thing, the tallest buildings will have to go in between the ceiling support beams . I am planning on finishing it this year and also auctioning it off for charity, so I don't think I have to worry too much about spousal objections . @Legocrazy81: I'm hoping they won't. That's why I plan to actually put LED lights in all the ...lights. Looks like 5 and 6b have been overtaken by 1 and 7. Note though, that unless I take out the subway in section 1 (which I might have to anyway), that would be the only section I could make since it is almost 50k pieces by itself. The only possibility would be section 1 and 2, and it looks like section 2 is not a favorite. I highly suggest taking a look at the original posts for each section to see more pictures (all links are above the section pictures), or just check out the brickshelf folder. I admit that 1 picture is not enough to get an idea of the section. Thank you again for all the kind words ! I have to finish the lower half of the city (what's left) in LDD before I can start ordering parts, but I will keep you updated until that point. P.S. Any good shops on bricklink for large quantities?

@ Ricecracker: thank you for setting up the poll!!! I had this imagined in my head as a poll and you have made my dreams come true @Legocrazy81: thanks for pointing that out! I cannot believe that I kept all those there . A leftover from a previous design I guess. @prateek: I'm actually praying that I can get some help from TLG or something. The whole project idea is to auction this off for charity in the end. I had a post long ago discussing how I could approach this, but back then I seemed more like a mad-man rambling on a crazy idea, and it was my first MOC so I really looked insane. The idea is to get at least a section done on my own and show it as proof-of-concept or something and see where it goes from there. But I am fully willing and ready to fund this entirely on my own (I just have to work harder this year ) Thanks for all the kind words! So far it looks like section 5 and 6b are the favorites. Any and all feedback are super duper welcome! (the highway is now comfortably lit)

Hi, Just yesterday I finished the last section to the upper half of my large city in LDD and I thought now would be a great time to share it in the town forum. I also thought it would be a great opportunity to get feedback and help in deciding which section should be built first and brought to BrickWorld Chicago 2012. ************************************* Please help me figure out what's the best to take! Vote for your favorite combination of sections that totals 50,000 pieces. ************************************* The entire city, crassly photo-shopped together From the white building in the center, everything to the right is finished in 7 separate sections: (links to original LDD forum postings with additional pictures and information) SECTION 1: (includes 7 buildings, an underground subway station, and plaza with water fountain) SECTION 2: (includes 2 buildings, an underground parking garage, 2 river docks, 1 draw bridge -motorized-, and 1 stationary bridge) SECTION 3: (includes tallest 6 ft. skyscraper, parking lot, half of "lower Wacker drive", and double deck drawbridge with control tower -motorized-) SECTION 4: (includes second tallest skyscraper with exterior elevators and rooftop heli-pad, half of "lower Wacker drive", and double deck drawbridge with control tower -motorized-) SECTION 5: (includes third tallest skyscraper with rooftop pool, angled "Lake Shore Drive" highway, city parks with water fountains, and underground pathway with Lake-walk) SECTION 6 (a,b): (includes 9 buildings, a parking garage, a rooftop terrace, 2 drawbridges -motorized-, a small park, and a diagonal street) SECTION 7: (includes 4 buildings, El-line with station, underground street-car path, "San-Francisco" style roads, El-tracks through building, and multiple building advertisements) Note that this whole part of the city is raised 15 bricks, so supports were built underneath. It is all built in CC style, meaning everything is detachable and every floor separates (even the streets are snot built attachments). Super easy transportation YAY! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATS Piece count: Section 1: 38,768 Section 2: 17,635 Section 3: 26,428 Section 4: 21,649 Section 5: 28,079 Section 6a: 29,084 Section 6b: 19,924 Section 7: 27,565 Project start date: 9/23/09 LDD start date: 2/11/2010 Contrast work start date: 3/04/11 Contrast half way point: 4/17/12 Original Post with more information --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's Left The lower half of the city, including re-workings of all CC buildings, industrial area, highway, and docks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's Next Brick World is coming up. I have reserved a table. But now I need to figure out which section(s) to take. I can make a total of 50,000 pieces for the event, give or take a few thousand. So any combination that adds to that will work. ************************************* Again, please help me figure out what's the best to take! Vote for your favorite combination. (Preferably sections that are next to each other, but they don't have to be.) ************************************* And to help you out, here is a map of where the sections are: Thanks and hope you all enjoy!

@Brickdoctor: the funny thing is I never intended to build the El-station. It was just going to be the tracks. Now there are 2 stations in the city! A subway station on the other side of the river and this El-line station. The streetcar is a 3rd completely different system running in the city that goes underground here. Unfortunately the way the city is designed and the issues with adding curved tracks and the size it takes up, there is no closed circuit for any train. Alas, little bumper stoppers will have to do @Lego Otaku: yes, it just barely worked and started to slow down with the last additions. I did have advanced shading on and all the way up when I took the pictures but it was stuttering (but piece outlines definitely doesn't work). The key is that everything is in a separate connection. I had to take out the bottom bricks connecting the El-tracks so that there was no connection between buildings. LDD doesn't like large connected pieces. Still, I've managed to get 40k pieces running in this version of LDD, and 51k in LDD 3. @DLuders: I've signed up for table space already, and I'm planning on either having some pictures up of the rest of the city or having a laptop out. Honestly, bringing/moving my computer anywhere is a pain so I never considered it, and the other issue is with loading the LDD files. With the film festival, I don't think a live flyby would fit. also the time it would take to show off all the sections might be a little too long (and I'm not the best camera-man in LDD ). I might bring my computer anyway though, since most laptops can't run the files. (I might need more table space then )

Yes. Here is the fifth of 11 sections of my city project. And I should note the word finally. This has been the longest time between sections, partly because of me being so busy, and partly because of me being creatively dry with the city. I didn't like the last building I made, and that really dragged things down. Thankfully, it seems I got my....mojo? back. This also happens to be one of the most dynamic sections, with 3 levels: street level, El-line, and underground street trolley. A staircase brings people to the El-station, and two "San Francisco" style roads lead down to the rest of the city. Also, here is my necessary aerial shot. Here is a great street view, and the second favorite part of this, the El-station. Note that the pieces don't come in that color....so look away if you are weak stomached, but I am painting the pieces. The only time I will do this. I found reference pictures that I HAD to get right, and no piece in the proper color creates the feel that rusty orange colored beams do. (By the way, I created that street lamp and designated it to that street location BEFORE I saw the reference picture. How perfect is that!) Building 7 was the most fun I've had with this in a while, and I think it shows! Designed after the iconic One Times Square building in New York, I melded it together with another creator's inspiration building, and my original narrow bottom design to create a multi-styled building with numerous advertisement,TV, and scrolling text signs (and a neat New Years dropping ball!). (all to be covered in stickers or lit). Buildings 3 and 4 are my most heavily "borrowed" designs, as you might be able to see the similarity. And finally, one of my initially most favorite buildings is finished: building 2. (I really want to make the neon sign glow!) Piece count: 27, 565 On the down side, I've realized I am once again way over my estimate for piece count. I've also been in a bit of a rut trying to get enough money for the project, and I'm scared I might miss my target finish date. Not all is lost however. My near future schedule is going as planned, and I don't have much more to go. The CC town hall purchase no doubt has helped things, and I've got a new partner who might be helping me with everything. OH, and I've decided the city will be ****lit!**** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ But the BEST PART OF THIS IS ----------> The upper city is DONE! EDIT And with that, I'm going to post I have posted a compilation in the town forums of what is done so far. I've also signed up for brickworld, and plan to bring one section built IN REAL LIFE! Yeah I know, what a crazy concept. Anyway, you can get a good look at all sections and vote for which one you think I should bring. (I might even be able to bring 2). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As always, more pictures are on my brickshelf; thanks and I hope you all enjoy!

CUUSOO this NOW. I don't care that I'd have to save up for it like the falcon, I would do it! And I think if this would be rebuilt with TLC to be more piece conscious, it could fall into a reasonable price point. Something like a "double CC" extra-exclusive set. While it is not based off a popular franchise or famous landmark, I think it would sell on the beauty alone. It has one of the cleanest facades, incredibly well designed interiors, and is a very fitting size for the modular street considering the building type. Most of the time these buildings end up being too big and out-of-place, but this fits in perfectly. Sincerely, this makes me want to remake my city to fit something like this in there; it's just so beautiful .

Those 1x1s are wondrous pieces! Elevator?! (though open form) and the skylights . I'll give the price a break considering the size and mini-fig count. On a side note, anyone know what the Victorian gothic style building is in the video in the beginning right after R2?

Thanks for all the kind words! I have a question. I wanted to know what the rules are on double posting in other categories, or linking, etc, because I wanted to share this with the sci-fi forum section also.

all LDD files at the bottom So once again I find myself distracted from my main project, this time inspired by a mech from a video-game called killzone 3 (named the same too). This started as a simple template for a much larger mech build, that turned into its own distraction. In typical fashion, the version I wanted to build had a foot the size of this one's lower body (after building this, I'm glad I didn't. That would have been a pain of a project and taken too much time). At slightly over 6,000 pieces, the MAWLR would be one of my smallest MOCs. It is built in Mini-scale, and I HIGHLY suggest opening the LDD file, because pictures don't do it justice. (and for once it's not dangerous to open ) Features include a rotating and pivoting head, posable legs, adjustable feet, multiple turrets, rotating main canon, and opening flight engine doors. Yes, its also a spaceship! MOC includes lower control tower for a complete look to seal off leg attachment area. This is a concept model, so I wasn't going for correct colors or building techniques. I do however want to submit the MAWLR by itself to CUUSOO, and wanted to see how many of you would be interested just to get an initial idea. It would be TLG's first fantasy, non-licensed model this big (unless... ). Remember, it is 6,000 pieces. So if you could please let me know yes/no would you want this, and why. It will help me get an idea for future CUUSOO submissions (and if I should try modifying my other MOCs for CUUSOO). Anyway, back on topic, here are a few more pictures of the MAWLR by itself, in attack mode (with Lego special effects! ), and in space. After finishing the MAWLR, I made the laser and some special effects and said, Ooooo this needs land! And then this happened: I made a wasteland where the good guys were struggling to get through, a central power corridor that divided the land, the mechanical city that the MAWLR stands above, and finally a quarter cutout of a disc space bridge (kind of like in the game). Once again there are so many tiny details that if I tried to get them in pictures, I'd have 30 or so more . So if you can, try opening the LDD files of the fields. I promise they are not that big. And if you are really daring, you can try and open the 26,000 piece completed model....with flex pieces!!! The little nougat colored guys are the good guys, and the dark red horns are the bad guys. Details on the disc include a space port, two shuttle launching stations on the outside of the disc, and a walking bridge to the core. In the city, there are multiple buildings, guard towers, vents, turrets and energy piping. In the fields, there are mysterious outcroppings, bunkers, tunnels, bridges, communication towers, sensors, dilapidated buildings, mountainside villages, and hidden paths and features. The good guys have plenty of varied vehicles of their own scattered throughout the fields and flying around. Finally, OVERHEAD SHOT!!!! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OK, so you want the LXFs. For above pictured: MAWLR plain - LXF - 6,000 pieces MALWR battle - LXF - 6,700 pieces MAWLR takeoff - LXF - 6,100 pieces MAWLR fields - LXF -26,000 pieces This is the lower area: fields lower - LXF - 10,800 pieces Upper area with MAWLR: field upper+ - LXF - 17,800 pieces Upper area without MAWLR: fields upper - LXF - 11,000 pieces As always, my brickshelf folder has more pictures in higher resolution. and remember, let me know if you would want. Hope you like!

Thank you for the clarification. Silly me, I thought you meant editing the LXF file's code to change the pieces. Yes, it is a pity for trains. And an absolute NIGHTMARE for super large LDD builds. eh, LDD has made me do worse.

oh YAAY! Finally I can stop having to click "no" do not update. My pieces are back! From the bottom of my heart, thank you TLG for supporting LDD so so well. On a side note, Sjuip mentioned that you have to append old LXFs to get the train wheel to load. Are there any other pieces that have changed numbers that will cause this problem? And also is there a tutorial somewhere on how to go about appending an LXF (legal?). I feel a little embarrassed and out of the loop for asking. I've had a micro LDD-dark age.

I'll just answer this because its a long time dream for me. The MAIN reason for not doing a BSG license theme is because it is an adult show with adult themes and language (at least the newer version). TLG is a company that's main focus is children, and they avoid anything that may be inappropriate for children (that is one of the main reasons that they stayed away from realistic guns). If you have noticed, none of the licensed products have had a mature or R-rated relation. Actually, to be honest I am quite surprised that they agreed to do licenses for pg-13 films and material (My personal opinion is that it strongly had to do with the fact that the last Star Wars film was rated for a more adult audience and they were already deep into the license to let go at that point so they decided to give in). Secondly, the old series is just that, too old. TLG tends to stick with licenses that are relevant currently, and BSG (even the new series) is not a relevant show. On the other hand, with the new movie being made (hopefully it actually goes as planned and doesn't fall apart) BSG might once again be relevant. The problem still, is whether the new movie would be ok content wise for children. And secondly, TLG would probably not want to take a license for a single film, and looking at the TV series, the above problems come up again. I'd personally LOVE to see it happen, but then again, I'd love to see TLG take on any other sci-fi space series, or even make up their own, that felt more realistic than most of their space themes. On the bright side, there are still people out there making amazing creations on their own. My wish, that they put their stuff up on CUUSOO and win. For example, the astounding creations here. EDIT: Seems Joebot beat me to it eh, I'll post this anyway. (Its different enough, right? )