Bojan Pavsic

Thanks, Peter Like i already said, the thing got out while it was not ment to. The only thing i'd like is to improve the LDD experience in a legal way and there's a much better chance to do that if we don't go just full out and publish everything without TLGs approvement. I know LDD is free and everything's accessible if you only know how, but they still didn't publish all the available parts (i hope they have very good reasons). I can't really delete all the files that got out and i can't make people to not publish them. p.s.: It's not about my work or time i spent on those files... It was interesting to take those things apart, but i think we have better chances to improve the LDD if we don't go against TLG but with them.

I'd be very happy if the file wouldn't be distributed, because i'm in process of creating a new palette with only valid colors for each part and i will try to contact TLG and get their approval to distribute that one. That will happen in a week or two, because right now i'm busy with making a connect 4 robot with NXT for a Lego show that will take place here in Slovenia next Saturday. I'll keep you posted.

Camera IS NOT fixed :) Move it with SHIFT+Right button drag. Bojan

You know, it's pretty hard to contact someone on this forum if he doesn't leave a mail in his profile or doesn't have 10 posts for a personal message :) Bojan

Nothing really :) It's just used to display the items. The only think that might be of any help is the file format of the 3D stuff, but that's nothing else then a short header with some count values and lists of coordinates after that. Which is not really a "sophisticated" file format that would be linked to any graphics engine.

Sadly i didn't know that... I just opened the *.lif files in a hex editor and started to look for patterns... From there i basicly found out the structures which enabled me to unpack the lif into a directory structure with files... PNG, JPG, XML, GIF files are easily distinguishable by the headers they have, i only had some minor problems with the files with '10GB' signature. From all the info in other files and parts of the lif file, i realized it's binary representation of the parts (3D points, vertices, normals, indexes of vertices grouped up into polygons - triangles) and after some patterns that i found in there, i loaded the data into openGL and voila... there were the bricks in 3D. With all that knowledge, i just extracted the parts list, multiplied that with all the colors i found in the factory palette and included that in the factory.lif (ofc updateing the headers of the chunks in there). That's all i've done. Dunno thou if knowing that it was QSDK engine would help or not.

I can't you don't have the 10 posts yet and i don't know your email address. Just get those 3 posts :)

Nice screenshots, i hope the game works on 3-4 years old computers too.

Hm, i had the same problem, it was the knot for me.

Fantastical buildings, BlueBard.

The file is no more accessible and authentication is required for the whole site, because it's a site for my personal use (much other stuff then only Lego) and too many ppl were snooping around after i had the lego file on there.

I totally agree with that, but the fact is those parts are already in LDD, on everyones computers that have LDD installed. They're just not visible on the palette. They could just make the 4th type like "All the bricks u ever wanted" and it would take them 5 mins to create that.

I removed the factory.lif from the web to not cause any more trouble. About the files... I did find out how the *.lif files are made up (basicly a simple file system with folders & files). The db.lif has png and jpg pictures (decals) for the elements, xml (collisions, connection points - studs, ways of rotation - hinges) and binary (3D vertices, normals and polygons - indexes to vertices) definitions for the parts, assemblies (groups of parts). Palette lifs have a list of elements with colors, availability (count) and assemblies and premade models, parameters like buyable, countable for the parts on the palette... etc... Nothing was encoded, there's no CRC, so it's basicly fairly easy to decode, but i wont go into details here because that would probably be against the ToS too. Well... was a nice project and anyone with a little programming knowledge and a hex editor could do that. I never disassembled the ldd.exe or debugged it to find out how it works.

No worries, i can remove the link. But i don't agree about the purpose of LDD, because there's a lot of bricks included in the LDD instalation that do not support the DesignByMe service (creator palette, mindstorms palette).

Well, tbh, i did this for me, because i live at 2 locations and i don't drag my lego collection with me. With the understanding of the file format, i'm able to create a "countable" palette with all the bricks that i own with the count of them in each color. That way i can play with lego my lego collection virtually when i'm not at the place where i have them. While doing this, i just thought maybe someone else would appreciate it and i made a palette with everything LDD has. It's was not targeted at children & DesignByMe, but more at AFOLs that make virtual designs.

It will automaticly overwrite the factory.lif, which means the hack will be gone. Same thing happens if u delete the file. LDD will just update it, so you can't really "break" LDD with using this file. The data for the items is in db.lif, where i extracted the list and multiplied it with all the colors that existed in the original factory.lif. I that inserted that list (all times x all colors) into factory.lif and updated the file headers to new file size. If the update will remove any of the items that i added, i don't really know how it will affect LDD, but i'm 99% sure the item just wont be on the palette anymore (because i tried to add a technic differetial and nothing happened). @thomassio: http://www.medvedek.org/browse/LDD/factory.lif

Hey, i'm the one that made the "hack". I just want to clear some stuff... All the bricks were already included in LDD. The only thing i've done, was to add them to the building palette, so i wouldn't really call it a "hack". And i wouldn't call the limited parts pool a challenge, because some of the bricks really come in totally wierd colors... For example the Arch 1 x 5 x 4 is only in a wierd dark brown color, with no other brick or plate in the same color. So basicly u can't use it at all, because it'll just stand out (in the bad sense) from your MOC. Another thing that was bothering me were the door/window frames & glass for them. Frame 1x4x6 is in 3 colors, 1x4x3 is in 2, but 1x2x3 is in only one... So if you want to use all 3, the only viable color is the one from the 1x2x3... Glass for them is fixed too, because not all have both trans-colors. I think LDD is a great tool and a great piece of software. I like it very much because of all it's functionality, but why did TLG include specifications for 1800!!!! parts in it, while putting on the palettes like 10% of that. I think there should be a palette added with all the bricks for the ones that want to use them and enjoy the software to the fullest. These are the reasons why i choose to make the step to see what's hiding in the files that are included with LDD. If TLG wont like it (which i think they wont), i'll gladly remove the link. But i'd really like to know the reasons why they're letting the users of their software work with just a little part of what LDD really can do.