LPub3D 2.0 Released

[Trevor Sandy]

Greetings,

Today I released LPub3D 2.0.1 

You can download this release from sourceforge.net or check for updates in your existing installation.

There is a long list of enhancements and fixes - see change log below - some significant ones are:

- Rendering performance improvement with both LDView and LDGlite
- Callouts are now freely movable on multi-step pages
- All reproducible issues have been corrected - they were quite a few of them from legacy LPub
- Platform upgrade to Qt 5.6 (MSVC 2015) which will position the application for better maintenance and evolutions going forward.

 Screenshot:
   

Change Log:
 
LPub3D 2.0.1.717.2

Features and enhancements
------------
-Known Issue: Storing and retrieving the screen pos[ition] setting on multi-screen platforms causing a crash on startup. This feature has been disabled for the moment while I investigate. This unexpected behavior was introduced with the new version of Qt (development platform). The change you will notice is that the application will no longer start on the screen you closed it on last. Instead, it will will always start at x200 y200 on the main screen. Of course this issue is only related to multi-screen platforms. (r718)

LPub3D 2.0.1.717.2

Features and enhancements
------------
-Fix: In support of archive library move to AppData (see r707), the installation process will delete the 'old' LDRaw library archive directory even if it is actually the new directory. For example this can be reproduced if one attempts to reinstall LPub3D where the actual 'old' directory would have been deleted during the initial installation. The installation will now compare the 'old' directory to the new one and present the user the option to delete if the comparison does not match. (r715)
-Fix: At application launch, the 'Check for updates' does not detect the installed version. As a result, if the user performs a check for update or update checks are set to automatic, the user is presented with a message dialog stating a new update version is available when in fact this is not the case. The correct message dialog is now presented. Runaway eventloop when newest version is same as installed version. (r716)

LPub3D 2.0.0.714.2

Features and enhancements
------------
-Up to 60 percent increase rendering speed with configuration to render multiple files using a single call to LDView.
*All PLI (part list/BOM) parts for a given step are rendered in a single call versus individually. For CSI (Step models), all multi-step images on a page are rendered in a single call including callout(s). Single step page images are rendered with a single call for all model images including those in callout(s). This new configuration will default as checked in the preferences dialog.
*To achieve this behavior, input files (csi.ldr, pli.ldr) are now uniquely named because rendering multiple files is done by using -SaveSnapshots=1 instead of -SaveSnapshot=somefile.png and then listing all the LDR files at the end of the command line. There is no control over the output file names. Instead, LDView will automatically use the input base filename changing only the output filename extension from .ldr to .png.
*Enabling this feature is optional and can be selected on the Configuration/Preferences/Rendering tab by checking the box 'Use multiple files single call rendering' in the 'LDView is installed' group box. LDView must be installed and configured to enable this option.
*Notice: As this feature required a significant rewrite of the core image generation logic, it is likely to generate some unexpected behavior as not every scenario has been tested. Please report any unexpected behavior. Contact details can be found under the Help/About menu.
-Move LPub3D Ldraw archive libraries to AppData and rename unofficial library to lpub3dldrawunf.zip (r707)
*Archive libraries loaded automatically by ldraw during ldraw installation and is also distributed with portable media
*Archive libraries stored in user data (i.e. on Windows user/AppData/Local/Lpub3D Software/Lpub/libraries)
*LPub3D does not use parts from LDraw directory and ldconfig will fallback to the imbedded resource version if no LDraw directory is detected (This feature is not yet fully enabled. It is targeting a future enhancement)
*With exception of 'p' and 'parts', parts stored under .\LDraw\Unofficial are automatically added to lpub3d archive during application startup
*Lpub3d expects the official and unofficial library archive in the same directory.
*Lpub3d will prompt for archive file on startup if none is detected in the default expected location - this feature is targeted to support portable media and repackaged distributions (i.e. AIOI installations)
*If portable media installed in Program Files/(x86) folder, LPub3D will warn that it cannot place writable files at the default data location (folders under the installation directory) because UAC will prevent update access. This is useful for repackaged distributions (i.e. AIOI installations)
-Multi-step callouts are now movable (r656)
*Callouts on multi-step pages are now freely movable on the page.
-Add menu option to download official LDraw archive - unofficial archive was already available in v1.3.5 (r708)
*You can refresh both your official and unofficial LDraw library archives from the UI - As you may see from reading the change log, the aim is to over time allow LPub3D to be completely autonomous while maintaining it's ability to detect and consume unique and individual LDraw environment configurations.
-Add callouts, refactor and optimize LDView single call image generation, see r683,r684,r685 (r698)
*The LDView 'Single Call' rendering performance improvement will address parts list and model rendering for single step page, multi-step page and callouts - including divided pages/callouts. For example, a callout with 6 models, divided into 3 sections will send a single call to LDView to render all 6 model (CSI) images.
-Add progress bar to mpd/ldr file load (r690)
*Users can now see the progress of loading models. This is particularly useful for large models or models which include a large number of lines due to generated flex-parts etc...
-Enable 'Use multiple files single call rendering' for LDView from Preferences/Rendering/LDView is installed/Use Multiple files single call rendering. (r687)
*LDView 'Single Call' rendering performance improvement can be selected or unselected from the preferences dialog. Although I tested the as many scenarios as I can think of. If this new feature encounters some unique model file configuration that causes unexpected behavior, the user can revert back to the legacy functionality if s/he so desire.
-Increase PLI (Part list/BOM) and CSI (Model) rendering speed with LDView using -SaveSnapshots=1 (r683/r684/r685)
*'Single Call' performance improvement for LDView
-Redesign software and library update functionality (r710)
*Update architecture improved to allow archive library download during installation if no library is defined. This feature is positioned for mobile/packaged distributions (i.e. AIOI) distributions.
-Display application load progress during splash screen display (r676/r709)
*User can follow the application loading progress during startup launch
-Add context menu to pages without steps - e.g. Cover Page, BOM Page (r681)
*Pages without steps (e.g. Cover pages, BOM pages etc.) can be modified using the context menu. For example, to change background colour.
-Add missing context menu icons (r680)
*Small beautification enhancement - all context menu items now show a representative icon - this can be helpful when generating user guides for example.
-Suppress rotateIcon context menu item if rotate icon already inserted for step (r670)
*If a step already has an inserted rotate icon, the page/callout context menu will not present the option to add a rotate icon. Note: The option to delete a rotate icon presents from the context menu of the rotate icon itself and not from the Step/Callout's context menu.
-On a single-step page, place PLI (Parts List) on top of CSI (Model) images (r664)
*If a CIS (model) overlaps the PLI (parts list) the parts list will be presented on top so the instructions consumer can see all the parts implicated for the step presented. The reverse was previously the case.
-Upon reset image and model caches, reload current file, return to first page (r663)
*Reset cache options which clears all cache components (ldr, images, 3D views) will also reset the loaded file to the first page.
-Unique splash 3D model displayed during pdf printing, png, jpg and bmp image export (r657)
*Updated the 3D Viewer splash to reflect the format of output being generated - so an image depicting a pdf file will show when generating a pdf file and so on...
-ldglite update to 1.3.1 executable with -2g,2x option hardcoded for sharper images with offscreen rendering (r655)
*Incorporated the new ldglite renderer with 2x sampling for improved image quality
-Disable Clear Cache menu button when no file is loaded (r686)
*Just a little poka yoke. The cache locations are specific to the file loaded, so it does not help to have this button active when no file is loaded.
-Force to empty the cache before creating a PDF (r654)
*Added option to empty the image ldr and image cache before printing. With this feature the user can select the option on the print configuration dialog to clear the cache and regenerate images as the print/export job executes.
-Synchronize 'prev', 'next' and 'goto' page menu items (r653)
*User can enter directly any page number within range into the menu dialog. Clicking either the Previous or Next button will navigate to the page indicated regardless of if the page is the next increment backward (for Previous) or forward (for Next) or a page further backward or forward. The user can still hit the enter key to navigate to the indicated page - if not the current page of course.
-Suppress rotateIcon from CSI (model) item context menu if we have a callout and the callout assembled (r652)
*The menu option to insert a rotate step icon is not presented for assembled callouts.
-Select local page size and global and local page orientation - Portrait and Landscape (r518)
*Note: When manually editing the model file with either page size or orientation, it is recommended to insert both the size and orientation metas together. For example, even if you are only interested to add a page size, you shold update your file like the example
below - obviously selecting your own size values and orientation.
0 !LPUB PAGE SIZE GLOBAL 8.2677 11.6929
0 !LPUB PAGE ORIENTATION GLOBAL PORTRAIT
-Change: Page background context menu rearranged. "Change page background" and "Change Page Size or Orientation" now appear at the end of the menu list because they are likely to be least often used. (r641)
-Change: Point online manual to LPub3D content - was previously pointing to legacy LPub (r517)
-Refactor: Move library archives to AppData stabilization and robustness (r711)
-Refactor: Optimize fadeStep routines; change LDView logging details (r695)
-Refactor: Replace 0x050000 with QT_VERSION_CHECK(5,0,0) (r660)
-Refactor: Remove stretch/tile logic from coverImage management (r659)
-Refactor: Update CSI image mousePressEvent logic. (r640)
-Refactor: Update file load progress messages (r636)
-Refactor: Rearrange printToPdfFile page count (r632)
-Update: Clear 3D Window when there is no model to display - e.g. for cover or inserted pages (r701)
-Update: Set download dialog header to Library Updater when downloading library - otherwise Software Updater (r700)
-Update: AboutDialog window recognizes and displays Win 10 and OSX El Capitan(r665/r668/r669)
-Update: ldglite hard-coded default directory setting to ldglite1.3.1(r623)
-Update: 3DViewer minifig settings moved to ini file - LeoCAD Changeset 1870 (r617x)
-Fix: No image after initial generation when renderer other than LDView selected (r704)
-Fix: Set ldr load file to unofficial item by default (r691)
-Fix: Load inline submodels break (r688)
-Fix: Remove libpng warning: iCCP: known incorrect sRGB profile (r678)
-Fix: Convert special characters (copyright and trademark) from Wide Char to UTF8 for MSVC build (r677)
-Fix: Remove final colour model if exist when Fade Step is not enabled (r674)
-Fix: Clear cache when turning fade on/off (r674)
-Fix: FadeStep and preferCentimeter setting mixmatch (r674)
-Fix: Search directories not updated when directory added to Ldraw.ini (r673)
-Fix: When background is transparent context menu functionality is lost (fix is a hack which sets the bg-color to white with an alpha of 1.) (r672)
-Fix: When a CALLOUT allocation is changed, if you right-click a model in the callout and not the callout itself, the ALLOC meta is placed after the CALLOUT END and has no effect - meta appended but should be inserted (r650)
-Fix: Converting an assembly to a part results in a parse error when there are spaces in the file name (r649)
-Fix: If a divided STEP GROUP allocation is changed from vertical (Display as columns - default) to horizontal (Display as rows), selecting again Display as columns has no effect - meta appended but should be replaced (r648)
-Fix: When the "Redraw" icon is clicked on the LDraw File Editor window, the file editor resizes to 255x190 pixels (r647)
-Fix: Split BOM duplicates one part onto current and subsequent BOM pages (r646)
-Fix: Inserting a front cover page when the current first page is a multi step page (r645)
-Fix: Bug when using callouts in Multistep sequences. When you place your callout right from assembly, it appears on the left side. When you place your callout bottom, it appears on the top. (r643)
-Fix: wrong text when you export to PNG the window title says "Print to pdf" (r638)
-Fix: When publishing instructions with the option 0 !LPUB PAGE BACKGROUND TRANSPARENT a drop shadow layer was added (r637)
-Fix: Remove -w1 from default ldglite parms (r629)
-Fix: Periodic multi-step crash - 3DViewer image file line number mismatch (r628)
-Fix: Control manual page number entry (r627)
-Fix: Cleanup 'Copyright' and 'Trademark' unicode (utf8) chars on MSVC2015 build (r622)
-Fix: QPainter alphaChannel management - use setCompositionMode (r619/r620)
-Upgrade: With upgrade to Qt5x, moved to MSVC 2015 release builds to continue providing x85 and x64 builds as MinGW does not officially support x64 on Windows
-Upgrade: Updated development platform to Qt 5.6.1 (MSVC 2015) (r613)
-Upgrade: Updated Qt logging framework from Qt4x to Qt5x (r610)
-Upgrade: Updated development platform to Qt 5.5.1 (MinGW) (r608)
-Upgrade: Updated development platform to Qt 5.5.1 (MinGW) (r608) 

[Merlijn Wissink]

Very, very nice Trevor!
I'll take a better look at the changelog and the new version itself later today, but it all sounds great (especially the speed improvement and the local page orientation).

Great work! 

[Philippe Hurbain]

Wow! impressive changelog!!! - with many nice features
Another good thing is that the installer does no longer trigger Avast...
...but after installation (win7/64b) I get a message about missing MSVCP140.dll.

[Trevor Sandy]

Wow! impressive changelog!!! - with many nice features
Another good thing is that the installer does no longer trigger Avast...
...but after installation (win7/64b) I get a message about missing MSVCP140.dll.

Ah yes. welcome to .dll hell   

I suspected there will be some dll backward compatibility issues as I am building and testing on Windows 10. 

I will rebuild the distributions with all needed runtime dlls statically linked. This solution should prevent the behavior you experienced but I'm not certain for all platforms.

Cheers,

[Trevor Sandy]

Wow! impressive changelog!!! - with many nice features
Another good thing is that the installer does no longer trigger Avast...
...but after installation (win7/64b) I get a message about missing MSVCP140.dll.

Ah yes. welcome to .dll hell   

I suspected there will be some dll backward compatibility issues as I am building and testing on Windows 10/Microsoft Visual Studio 2015. 

I will rebuild the distributions with all needed runtime dlls statically linked. This solution should prevent the behavior you experienced but I'm not certain for all platforms.

Cheers,

BTW, another solution to this behavior is to manually install the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015.

Cheers,

[Philippe Hurbain]

BTW, another solution to this behavior is to manually install the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015.

Yup, this dll got out of hell... but now I get the failure below (and no, reinstalling doesn't fix).

[Trevor Sandy]

BTW, another solution to this behavior is to manually install the Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015.

Yup, this dll got out of hell... but now I get the failure below (and no, reinstalling doesn't fix).

Interesting - I thought I configured a clean deployment environment and I did not see any dependency on this platform plugin. Anyhow, I'm not surprised as this was required (albeit under a different name) with Qt4x distributions.

Ok so perhaps you can help me figure out the missing dependencies on your platform.

0. Prerequisite: Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 installed.
1. Download a portable distribution of LPub3D i.e. LPub3D_x64-2.0.1.717.2_20160623.zip
2. Extract it to your C:\ so as to have C:\LPub3D_x64\*
3. Extract and add the attached .dll qwindows.zip into to platforms subfolder so as to have C:\LPub3D_x64\platforms\qwindows.dll
4. Try to launch and let me know if you receive other dependency prompts or if successful to launch

Attachment:

  qwindows_x64.zip (Size: 544.77 KB / Downloads: 4)

If you want to try with x32 you'll need to use the designated distribution and designated dll - also attached.

  qwindows_x32.zip (Size: 453.02 KB / Downloads: 1)

Cheers,

[Trevor Sandy]

Very, very nice Trevor!
I'll take a better look at the changelog and the new version itself later today, but it all sounds great (especially the speed improvement and the local page orientation).

Great work! 

Many thanks Merlijn ! 

If you don't mind please let me know if you encounter any unexpected behavior.

As LPub3D 2.0 was ported to Qt 5.6 and from MinGW to MSVC 2015 means there is a significant possibility for platform and compatibility issues with legacy platforms (WinXP, Win7, Win8 etc...).

I will try to solve any reported issues as soon as I can.

Cheers,

[Merlijn Wissink]

I had the same issue as Philo (windows platform issue).
After following your steps, it kinda works. It mostly crashes directly after the splash-screen, but sometimes it does start up...

[Philippe Hurbain]

Got back home, so I try on another machine (win7 home 64b). Here I had trouble installing VCredist (it says that it failed but seems installed nonetheless) so maybe part of the issues comes from that. When I launch LPub3d I get another missing DLL: api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll

[Trevor Sandy]

I had the same issue as Philo (windows platform issue).
After following your steps, it kinda works. It mostly crashes directly after the splash-screen, but sometimes it does start up...

Ok - thanks for the update. I'm repackaging the distributions just as Qt/Microsoft recommends. I imagine this will solve some problems.

The crash right after the splash-screen sounds familiar. 

What version of Windows are you running? How many screens do you have?

If you are comfortable with manipulating your Windows Registry. Follow these steps and let me know if the crash consistently persists:

1. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\MainWindow
2. Delete the String Value "pos" if it exist (in fact you may remove all the values in this key as the safe ones will be automatically regenerated the next time the application starts.)

If you are experiencing the issue I think you are here is a background: 
Known Issue: Storing and retrieving the screen pos[ition] setting on multi-screen platforms causing a crash on startup. This feature has been disabled for the moment while I investigate. This unexpected behavior was introduced with the new version of Qt (development platform). The change you will notice is that the application will no longer start on the screen you closed it on last. Instead, it will will always start at x200 y200 on the main screen. Of course this issue is only related to multi-screen platforms. (r718) 

Let me know how you are progressing.

Cheers,

[Trevor Sandy]

Got back home, so I try on another machine (win7 home 64b). Here I had trouble installing VCredist (it says that it failed but seems installed nonetheless) so maybe part of the issues comes from that. When I launch LPub3d I get another missing DLL: api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll

Ah, yes. I was just looking at the list of dependent items and the dll you list is one of them. I'm working on repackaging the distributions to account for all the dependent items. 

I'll try to have an updated release by the end of the night.


As you can see it is invariably more complex to make things more simple 

Cheers,

[Merlijn Wissink]

I'm using Windows 10 Pro 64bit. And, I'm using 1 screen, although at a relatively uncommon resolution. I used to have 2 1080p monitors for years, but I recently switched them for 1 'ultrawide' monitor with a resolution of 3440x1440.

I'll try your fix tomorrow. It's a bit late here now 

[Trevor Sandy]

Greetings,

I have repackaged the distributions to deploy the required Qt MSVC plugins and automatically detect and install the MS VC++ runtime dependencies.

However, there remains a nagging issue of intermittent crashes at startup. I'm convinced it is linked to the exchange between Qt and the OS but I have not yet found the source of the problem - even after several debugging sessions and a ton or research. 

If you experience a crash (or series of crashes), just restart the application a few times. You may encounter about 1-4 crashes back-to-back and then the application will launch again normally. This is a very strange issue. 

I can say with version 2.0, I am reminded of why I dislike so much the Visual Studio/Visual C++ dev platform 

As before, you can download from Sourceforge.net or run check for updates from within the application.

Up-to-date change log:

LPub3D 2.0.2.721.2 
 
Features and enhancements 
------------ 
-Fix: Add all Visual C++ dependencies to installation and portable distributions including VC++ 2015 redistributable runtime libraries (r720) 
 *Repackaged all distributions to incorporate all MSVC 2015 required dependency libraries. The Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 is also included in the portable distributions. For the executable installation distribution, the installation program will check if the required libraries exist before silently installing the respective Visual C++ redistributable. 
 -Known Issue: Storing and retrieving the screen pos[ition], size, state and geometry settings appear to be causing intermittent crash on startup - at the end of the splash screen display. (r718/r719) 
 *This functionality has been disabled for the moment while I investigate. This unexpected behavior was introduced with the Qt5.6/MSVC 2015 development platform. The change you may notice is that the application no longer starts on the screen you last close it. Instead, it will will always start at the same location. While I have experienced this behavior on a multi-screen display configuraion, there are reports that this behavior also exist on single-screen displays. 
-Fix: Disable search directory validation in Preferences dialog - temporary workaround (r721) 
 *Warnings are displayed when there are no unofficial subdirectories under the LDraw directory. In such case no warnings should be displayed.

[Merlijn Wissink]

This is super weird.
I updated the application (although using SourceForge, since the included updater didn't do anything for some reason).

I started the application. It crashed, I started it again, it started successfully. Then I closed it again and started it again, it crashed again.

Everytime it crashes, one of those standard Windows popups appears where you can either 'close the application' or 'debug' (or whatever it's called in English, my Windows is set to Dutch). So, for once I pressed the debug button instead of the close button. Nothing happened, except that LPub3D magically did start up...

Now, it doesn't crash a single time at start-up (or i'm incredibly lucky). I've started it like 20 or 30 times in a row now and not a single crash. I cannot think of any way how that single Windows button (that seemingly did nothing) fixed it 

[Philippe Hurbain]

...looks like Sourceforge executable is still version LPub3D 2.0.2.717.2  ?

[Trevor Sandy]

This is super weird.
I updated the application (although using SourceForge, since the included updater didn't do anything for some reason).

I started the application. It crashed, I started it again, it started successfully. Then I closed it again and started it again, it crashed again.

Everytime it crashes, one of those standard Windows popups appears where you can either 'close the application' or 'debug' (or whatever it's called in English, my Windows is set to Dutch). So, for once I pressed the debug button instead of the close button. Nothing happened, except that LPub3D magically did start up...

Now, it doesn't crash a single time at start-up (or i'm incredibly lucky). I've started it like 20 or 30 times in a row now and not a single crash. I cannot think of any way how that single Windows button (that seemingly did nothing) fixed it 

Well you are experiencing the exact same behavior I am. And like you I find it very strange. More so that I'm not able to find the reason for the problem but I believe I know the source.

I don't think it is the end of your crashes, but let's see. In the mean time, I'm continuing to look for the problem source. Hopefully I can have it resolved this weekend.

Cheers,

[Trevor Sandy]

...looks like Sourceforge executable is still version LPub3D 2.0.2.717.2  ?

Did you mean 2.0.1.717.2 ? 

I uploaded again the distributions and now it seems to display the correct versions - 2.0.2.721.2

Let me know if you encounter any issues on your platform - other that the famous startup crash - with this latest update. Many thanks!

Cheers,

[Roland Melkert]

Well you are experiencing the exact same behavior I am. And like you I find it very strange. More so that I'm not able to find the reason for the problem but I believe I know the source.

I don't think it is the end of your crashes, but let's see. In the mean time, I'm continuing to look for the problem source. Hopefully I can have it resolved this weekend.

Cheers,

This might be caused by an uninitialized variable as debug version/runs usually zero out those while a releases optimized that out. A crash is then left to chance as it depends on the value the variable happens to get on program start.

 Don't know how this works combined with a single (non debug) exe though but the debugger might have wiped the used memory or something.

[Trevor Sandy]

This is super weird.
I updated the application (although using SourceForge, since the included updater didn't do anything for some reason).

I started the application. It crashed, I started it again, it started successfully. Then I closed it again and started it again, it crashed again.

Everytime it crashes, one of those standard Windows popups appears where you can either 'close the application' or 'debug' (or whatever it's called in English, my Windows is set to Dutch). So, for once I pressed the debug button instead of the close button. Nothing happened, except that LPub3D magically did start up...

Now, it doesn't crash a single time at start-up (or i'm incredibly lucky). I've started it like 20 or 30 times in a row now and not a single crash. I cannot think of any way how that single Windows button (that seemingly did nothing) fixed it 

Just a note - the updater is now configurable. The default status is to do nothing (perhaps I should change this) so you have to configure your preferences and you'll be able to visually track your update check. Here is a screenshot:


  UpdatePreference.png (Size: 51.61 KB / Downloads: 1,597)

[Trevor Sandy]

Well you are experiencing the exact same behavior I am. And like you I find it very strange. More so that I'm not able to find the reason for the problem but I believe I know the source.

I don't think it is the end of your crashes, but let's see. In the mean time, I'm continuing to look for the problem source. Hopefully I can have it resolved this weekend.

Cheers,

This might be caused by an uninitialized variable as debug version/runs usually zero out those while a releases optimized that out. A crash is then left to chance as it depends on the value the variable happens to get on program start.

 Don't know how this works combined with a single (non debug) exe though but the debugger might have wiped the used memory or something.

Hi Roland - Actually to give some context on this issue. I saw it the first time after porting to Qt 5.6. This version of Qt introduced a lot of changes to the way graphics drivers are managed on Windows. Some of these changes I don't think are very backward compatible (at least, not without a great deal of rework). 

Anyway, this issue first presented with I set the application to force the use of OpenGL (myApp.setAttribute(Qt::AA_UseDesktopOpenGL)) versus using ANGLE which is the Windows-friendly default. However, using ANGLE is not an option as my imbedded LeoCAD module performs direct OpenGL calls. Nevertheless, ANGLE is still somehow a dependency.

I can consistently reproduce the crash if I enable the following MainWindow management code which worked without issue on Qt 4.8:

void Gui::readSettings()
{
   QSettings Settings;
   Settings.beginGroup(MAINWINDOW);
   restoreState(Settings.value("State").toByteArray());
   restoreGeometry(Settings.value("Geometry").toByteArray());
   QSize size = Settings.value("size", QSize(800, 600)).toSize();
   QPoint pos = Settings.value("pos", QPoint(200, 200)).toPoint();
   resize(size);
   move(pos);
   Settings.endGroup();
}


void Gui::writeSettings()
{
   QSettings Settings;
   Settings.beginGroup(MAINWINDOW);
   Settings.setValue("Geometry", saveGeometry());
   Settings.setValue("State", saveState());
   Settings.setValue("pos", pos());
   Settings.setValue("size", size());
   Settings.endGroup();
}


With this code, the application will launch without issue the first time. Once I move the window (let's say to another screen - Point(4121 161)) the application will crash. It is as if the pos coordinates become out of bounds or something.

The debugger points to a ScopedPointer problem relates to window management but I can't make heads or tails about where the problem is starting from. The picture below show a view of the debugger at the segmentation fault.

The interesting thing is when I disable the above code the crash is no longer consistent but becomes intermittent - as I have described it above and in the release notes. 

The debugging prompt when you encounter the error is just the operating system recognizing that a crash dump file is available and prompting the user to launch whichever application on the system that is designated for debugging.

   

Cheers,

[Merlijn Wissink]

Well you are experiencing the exact same behavior I am. And like you I find it very strange. More so that I'm not able to find the reason for the problem but I believe I know the source.

I don't think it is the end of your crashes, but let's see. In the mean time, I'm continuing to look for the problem source. Hopefully I can have it resolved this weekend.

Cheers,

Well, it actually was the end of my crashes. Over the course of yesterday I started LPub3D regularly to see if it crashed, but it started successfully 100% of the time. In fact, I was able to load models, create instructions, everything*.

Today I started the computer again, I started LPub3D. And.... it crashed. But, I performed my 'fix' and it's working again without any crashes*.


*I actually did found a crash (but it seems unrelated to the start-up issue): if I try to load an LDraw file without any steps (either a part or just a model without steps). LPub3D crashes. After a restart, I have to perform my 'fix' again in order for it to work again.

[Trevor Sandy]

Well you are experiencing the exact same behavior I am. And like you I find it very strange. More so that I'm not able to find the reason for the problem but I believe I know the source.

I don't think it is the end of your crashes, but let's see. In the mean time, I'm continuing to look for the problem source. Hopefully I can have it resolved this weekend.

Cheers,

Well, it actually was the end of my crashes. Over the course of yesterday I started LPub3D regularly to see if it crashed, but it started successfully 100% of the time. In fact, I was able to load models, create instructions, everything*.

Today I started the computer again, I started LPub3D. And.... it crashed. But, I performed my 'fix' and it's working again without any crashes*.


*I actually did found a crash (but it seems unrelated to the start-up issue): if I try to load an LDraw file without any steps (either a part or just a model without steps). LPub3D crashes. After a restart, I have to perform my 'fix' again in order for it to work again.

Very well - if you can PM me an example of the file you are using the generate the LDraw crash it will help me to faster find the problem.  

I tested a large flattened file from Philo and I did not have any problems. In fact I just loaded this file now again successfully after my recent updates:- see screenshot below:

   

[Roland Melkert]

With this code, the application will launch without issue the first time. Once I move the window (let's say to another screen - Point(4121 161)) the application will crash. It is as if the pos coordinates become out of bounds or something.

The debugger points to a ScopedPointer problem relates to window management but I can't make heads or tails about where the problem is starting from. The picture below show a view of the debugger at the segmentation fault.

The interesting thing is when I disable the above code the crash is no longer consistent but becomes intermittent - as I have described it above and in the release notes. 

The debugging prompt when you encounter the error is just the operating system recognizing that a crash dump file is available and prompting the user to launch whichever application on the system that is designated for debugging.

This all seems far outside normal LPub related code (resize event). So it might be a Qt bug concerning multiple screens?

The stack trace suggests it fails while creating a  QRect (http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qscreen.html#geometry-prop) by using an invalid scoped pointer object's raw pointer (http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qscopedpointer.html#data).

Or...

I do remember Qt's OpenGL stuff can get confused when doing your own GL stuff (e.g. binding VBO buffers without resetting it to zero afterwards etc). so something like that might be at play too. 

Good luck hunting

[Merlijn Wissink]

I used a few random .dat part files on my desktop, and this file. All of them made LPub crash. When I used another .mpd it didn't crash. The only difference between the not-crashing .mpd and the other files is that the working one has steps. So, I figured the missing steps might be a problem?

The minidump says it's exception code 0xC0000005 with exception information:
The thread tried to read from or write to a virtual address for which it does not have the appropriate access.

Btw: it also happens when I run LPub3D as administrator.

[Trevor Sandy]

I used a few random .dat part files on my desktop, and this file. All of them made LPub crash. When I used another .mpd it didn't crash. The only difference between the not-crashing .mpd and the other files is that the working one has steps. So, I figured the missing steps might be a problem?

Looks like the meta command '0 NOFILE' is missing from the end of your last '0 FILE...' in the mpd.

The problem is corrected in 2.0.3. There is a block of logic that checks if fade step is turned on in which case it will insert a last page with the final unfaded model. In doing this check at the end of the mpd, if the last line in the main ldr starts with 1 - 5, the application will produce this error. If the last line starts with 0 (such as 0 NOFILE, 0 STEP ....) the behavior will be as expected. The problem was I am doing a line check after the last 1 - 5 line which may not exist- hence the crash.

Cheers,

[David Manley]

Greetings,

Today I released LPub3D 2.0.1 

I'm installing LPub 2.0 on Vista. I have User Access Control enabled for my user code, so when I run the installation, it prompts me for my administrator password. As a result, it then seems to be creating the "libraries" folder within the AppData folder hierarchy of the admin user [admin\AppData\Local\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\libraries]. Once the installation completes, I run LPub 2.0 with my normal (i.e.non-elevated) user id. It searches for the "libraries" folder within the AppData folder hierarchy applicable to my user id [%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\libraries]. This folder does not exist.

Is there a requirement to run LPub3D as the admin user? If not, how does one configure the installation to create the libraries subfolder and content within the user profile folder hierarchy for my user id rather than that for the admin user?

Regards,

David

[Trevor Sandy]

Greetings,

Today I released LPub3D 2.0.1 

I'm installing LPub 2.0 on Vista. I have User Access Control enabled for my user code, so when I run the installation, it prompts me for my administrator password. As a result, it then seems to be creating the "libraries" folder within the AppData folder hierarchy of the admin user [admin\AppData\Local\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\libraries]. Once the installation completes, I run LPub 2.0 with my normal (i.e.non-elevated) user id. It searches for the "libraries" folder within the AppData folder hierarchy applicable to my user id [%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\libraries]. This folder does not exist.

Is there a requirement to run LPub3D as the admin user? If not, how does one configure the installation to create the libraries subfolder and content within the user profile folder hierarchy for my user id rather than that for the admin user?

Regards,

David

David - There is no requirement to run LPub3D as the admin user. However, Admin-level access is needed to install a program on modern versions of Windows. 

This access is usually resolved by the logged in user accepting the famous 'Do you want to allow the following program...to make changes to this computer?' message:

  UAC-02.jpg (Size: 31.05 KB / Downloads: 1,513)

This message is generated when your UAC settings are set like this:
   

Of course the logged in user must be enabled with the rights to install programs. For me, I set my logged in user as an administrator:
1. Under Control Panel=>User Accounts 
2. Select Change your account type
3. Select Administrator on the dialog presented which should look something like this (this is a Win10 version):
   

[Solution Option 1]
With these settings in place you can install programs under your logged in user credentials and, in the case of LPub3D, will be able to deposit the LDraw archive libraries and other updatable content to the local AppData directory of the logged in user.

[Solution Option 2]
Alternatively, if you can accept to hack the system. You can do the following:

1. Logged in as Administrator - so you can access the local AppData directory - move [admin\AppData\Local\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\libraries] to the same location for the usual logged in user so as to have [<logged in user>\AppData\Local\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\libraries]
2. Log out as Administrtor and log in as logged in user
3. Start LPub3D and you will receive a prompt that the archive library directory cannot be found with a dialog to select the new location. 
4. Select the location created in step 1. 
Note: The behavior here is that LPub3D will write a registry entry 'PartsLibrary' capturing the location of the archive library 'complete.zip'. When you move the library as you did in step 1. LPub3D will inform you that it cannot find the library and prompt you to select a new location. If the location is valid (i.e. it contains complete.zip), LPub3D will update the registry entry 'PartsLibrary' with this new location. Keep in mind that sufficient access rights will be necessary to update the registry but this should not be a problem (assuming your access control settings have not been altered) as the application owner (system) will be making this update.
If you select cancel at the library prompt, you will receive a further prompt to create the library folder (under the logged in user) and download the libraries automatically. However, as your logged in user may not have sufficient rights to do these actions, it is not advised that you select this option.

[Solution Option 3]
A third alternative is to create the library archive folder wherever you want and update the registry entry [Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\Settings\PartsLibrary]:
1. Launch regedit (you'll need to be logged in with the appropriate access control to do this)
2. Navigate to the location above and update the Value data by changing only the location path to the new path so and example would be from [C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\LPub3D Software\LPub3D\libraries\complete.zip] to [C:\LPub3D\libraries\complete.zip].

Let me know if you are able to progress successfully.

Cheers,

[Travis Cobbs]

Based on what David wrote, I think you misunderstood. Try this on your home computer:

• Totally uninstall LPub3D
  
• Create a limited user account (one that doesn't have admin rights; note that I think this is recommended by Microsoft for all everyday user accounts now*).
  
• Log into the limited user account.
  
• Install LPub3D. When prompted, select an admin account and enter that account's password.
  
• Try to run LPub3D.
  

Now, I haven't done the above, but based on what David reported, I'm pretty sure LPub3D will fail to run. That's what he meant when he asked if LPub3D requires the user to be an admin in order to run it. I suspect that right now it does, and that this wasn't done intentionally.

* Here is a quote from Microsoft from the Vista timeframe:

The recommended, more secure method of running Windows Vista to make your primary user account a standard user account.

I don't know if they have since changed their mind about the above or not, but I have definitely run into programs that didn't run in "standard user" accounts.

[Trevor Sandy]

Based on what David wrote, I think you misunderstood. Try this on your home computer:

• Totally uninstall LPub3D
  
• Create a limited user account (one that doesn't have admin rights; note that I think this is recommended by Microsoft for all everyday user accounts now*).
  
• Log into the limited user account.
  
• Install LPub3D. When prompted, select an admin account and enter that account's password.
  
• Try to run LPub3D.
  

Now, I haven't done the above, but based on what David reported, I'm pretty sure LPub3D will fail to run. That's what he meant when he asked if LPub3D requires the user to be an admin in order to run it. I suspect that right now it does, and that this wasn't done intentionally.

* Here is a quote from Microsoft from the Vista timeframe:

The recommended, more secure method of running Windows Vista to make your primary user account a standard user account.

I don't know if they have since changed their mind about the above or not, but I have definitely run into programs that didn't run in "standard user" accounts.

Ok - Thanks Travis. Ary your directing your instructions above to me or David? If me, are you suggesting that LPub3D might inadvertently require admin rights to run and I should look at changing this ?

Cheers,

[Trevor Sandy]

Greetings,

You can download this LPub3D 2.0.3 from sourceforge.net or check for updates in your existing installation.

LPub3D 2.0.3.729.1 

 
Features and enhancements 
------------ 
-Change: Check for update settings are now enabled by default. Previously, it was necessary to configure update settings in the Preferences/Other tab before one could visually confirm an update check. (r722) 
-Fix: Warnings are displayed when there are no unofficial subdirectories under the LDraw directory. (r723) 
 *When no search directories are defined (i.e. No Unofficial or Models directories exist) and the user opens the Preferences dialog, teh LDraw Content Search Directories dialog will validate an empty dialog with a warning that the 'entry' is an invalid search directory. In such case no warnings should be displayed. 
-Fix: Installation program presents options to delete 'old' library directory on new installation when no old directory existed. (r724) 
 *Comparison of old and new are not the same evaluated to true. Comparison improved to check that old is actually a directory also. 
-Change: Preferences/Other/Check for updates/Version now presents all valid updatable versions in a dropdown list. (r725,r728) 
 *Manage better the update dialog. Restrict entries to only valid update versions. 
-Fix: Crash when last line in main model of mpd file is a part type line - i.e. line starts with 1 to 5. (r726) 
 *This behavior will be seen when the user loads a model file without the meta tag '0 STEP' or '0 NOFILE'. 
-Fix: Export and PDF generation produces "Failed to create CSI" and does not produce model images in the generated document.(r727) 
 *Temporary testing code blocked the creation of CSI images - my apologies:-( 

[Travis Cobbs]

Ok - Thanks Travis. Ary your directing your instructions above to me or David? If me, are you suggesting that LPub3D might inadvertently require admin rights to run and I should look at changing this ?

Cheers,

I'm directing the instructions to you, Trevor. And yes, that's what I'm suggesting. Based on what David wrote, it appears that LPub3D doesn't work for standard user accounts, and this is generally a bad thing. Bear in mind, as I mentioned, I didn't personally follow the steps, so it could be something else, but that's what it seems to be.

[David Manley]

Ok - Thanks Travis. Ary your directing your instructions above to me or David? If me, are you suggesting that LPub3D might inadvertently require admin rights to run and I should look at changing this ?

Cheers,

I'm directing the instructions to you, Trevor. And yes, that's what I'm suggesting. Based on what David wrote, it appears that LPub3D doesn't work for standard user accounts, and this is generally a bad thing. Bear in mind, as I mentioned, I didn't personally follow the steps, so it could be something else, but that's what it seems to be.

Hi Trevor,

Travis' description is spot on.

Given the release on 2.0.3, I uninstalled 2.0.2 as a separate step and then installed 2.0.3 from scratch. After the install, it had created the "LPub3D Software" directory hierarchy and contents under the admin "AppData\Local" user. I copied the content to the corresponding "AppData\Local" directory under my non-admin user. While this appears to resolve my install, it "feels" wrong.

Regards,

David

[Trevor Sandy]

Based on what David wrote, I think you misunderstood. Try this on your home computer:

• Totally uninstall LPub3D
  
• Create a limited user account (one that doesn't have admin rights; note that I think this is recommended by Microsoft for all everyday user accounts now*).
  
• Log into the limited user account.
  
• Install LPub3D. When prompted, select an admin account and enter that account's password.
  
• Try to run LPub3D.
  

Now, I haven't done the above, but based on what David reported, I'm pretty sure LPub3D will fail to run. That's what he meant when he asked if LPub3D requires the user to be an admin in order to run it. I suspect that right now it does, and that this wasn't done intentionally.

* Here is a quote from Microsoft from the Vista timeframe:

The recommended, more secure method of running Windows Vista to make your primary user account a standard user account.

I don't know if they have since changed their mind about the above or not, but I have definitely run into programs that didn't run in "standard user" accounts.

Ok - Thanks Travis. Ary your directing your instructions above to me or David? If me, are you suggesting that LPub3D might inadvertently require admin rights to run and I should look at changing this ?

Cheers,

I setup and executed this test as Travis described and LPub3D installed and ran successfully. However, as David pointed out, the data directory was created under the Administrator profile - and not the logged in user's profile as would be expected.

So at this time, I conclude that LPub3D does not require the user to be an Administrator to run. 

I will look into why the installer program follows the Administrator profile and not the logged in user to setup the data directory during installation. If I understand correctly, I think this is the issue David is trying to solve?

Cheers,

[David Manley]

I will look into why the installer program follows the Administrator profile and not the logged in user to setup the data directory during installation. If I understand correctly, I think this is the issue David is trying to solve?

Hi Trevor,

that is the issue I'm suggesting to try to solve since when LPub3D is run following the install, it fails to find the "libraries" folder because it is in the admin user profile rather than the non-admin user profile. It's not a huge problem because of the manual workaround to copy the folder from the admin to the non-admin user profile but correcting it would make the initial use of LPub3D a little smoother.

David

[Jaco van der Molen]

Nice! Hadn't had time to take a complete look yet, but will do soon.
I have a new model to render.

Edit 1: After installing I got MSVCP140.dll is missing too. Installing Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 fixed that.

Now trying things out!

[Roland Melkert]

Trevor have you tried using MinGW(64) to compile LPub3D ? it will remove all the visual studio run time dependencies and probably make code more portable too (if any changes are needed).

https://wiki.qt.io/MinGW-64-bit

[Philippe Hurbain]

- Platform upgrade to Qt 5.6 (MSVC 2015) which will position the application for better maintenance and evolutions going forward.

Looks like there is a downside to this, see http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.ph...try2599640

[Trevor Sandy]

Trevor have you tried using MinGW(64) to compile LPub3D ? it will remove all the visual studio run time dependencies and probably make code more portable too (if any changes are needed).

https://wiki.qt.io/MinGW-64-bit

Roland, Thanks for the link. I was using the x32/x64 Qt MinGW distributions hosted on SF before moving to Qt 5.6. However, they stopped providing the x64 builds at I believer Qt 5.1. I couldn't get the LeoCAD library to compile on that version.

I decided to move to MSVC to be able to keep providing x64 distributions on Qt 5.6. I noticed a link on the url you sent that has a pre-built Mingw x64 for Qt 5.6. 

"Alternate QT 5.6.0 build by MultipleMonomials because the link above has broken: here. (Compiled with TDM-GCC-64 and cygwin64, no ANGLE) (includes libgcc, winpthread, and libstdc++ DLLs)"

I'll take a look and see if I can use that. I've been checking regularly to see if I could find a mingw x64 Qt 5.6 distribution so it's good that something finally popped up. 

The code remains as portable as I can keep it developing exclusively on Windows for the moment. In fact, I continue develop on mingw32 (the only available mingw architecture provided by Qt). I just compile my release distributions on MSVC 2015 so I can produce x32 and x64 builds. So to this end, the code base remains quite multi-platform. I'm in the process of setting up an OSX environment but I'd like to stabilize 2.0 before focusing on establishing the MAC port.

Cheers,

[Trevor Sandy]

- Platform upgrade to Qt 5.6 (MSVC 2015) which will position the application for better maintenance and evolutions going forward.

Looks like there is a downside to this, see http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.ph...try2599640

Philo - not to worry  

The MSVC builds are only release builds to support both x32 and x64 architectures on Windows. I still exclusively develop on mingw maintaining portability code for OSX, Windows, mingw and MSVC as much as possible. For the next LPub3D evolution, I'd like to introduce an OSX distribution but before that I'm focused on stabilizing 2.0.

The main point of my quoted statement above is to say moving to Qt 5.6 (MSVC) / 5.5.1 (MinGW) is better than staying on 4.8 for the reasons highlighted.

Cheers,

[Jaco van der Molen]

Hi all, and especially Trevor,

Thanks for this update!
And all who installed before who found out some bugs and install / run problems that are now fixed :-)

Here are my findings and verdict:
- The render speed is VERY impressive. Pages load quick!
- Choosing a page size from the various standard is nice
- Love to be able to set local page size

One error:
- When I close LPub3D it crashes. Settings are not saved.

[Trevor Sandy]

Hi all, and especially Trevor,

Thanks for this update!
And all who installed before who found out some bugs and install / run problems that are now fixed :-)

Here are my findings and verdict:
- The render speed is VERY impressive. Pages load quick!
- Choosing a page size from the various standard is nice
- Love to be able to set local page size

One error:
- When I close LPub3D it crashes. Settings are not saved.

Hello Jaco,

Many thanks for your findings. This release was particularly challenging as I took on switching the platform in addition to a significant redesign to enable the LDView single call render. 

I think you may like that it is now possible to freely move callouts on a multi-step page. For me, that was a nice one to do.

Philo also reported the crash on close. This behavior is hard for me to track down as I am on Windows 10 and I have not experienced it - at all. Can you tell me if the crash is consistent, i.e. crashes every time you exit the application or intermittent ? What is your operating system version ?

For the Settings, I deliberately reset the registry to avoid any corruption from settings associated with older versions of LPub3D and this new major version and platform (Qt 5.6 from 4.8 and MSVC versus MinGW release builds). Going forward, configuration settings will not be overwritten.

Cheers,

[Philippe Hurbain]

For me the crash is completely consistent. Just have to fire LPub3D, then close it. No need to open/render a file. OS: Win7Pro SP1.

[Trevor Sandy]

For me the crash is completely consistent. Just have to fire LPub3D, then close it. No need to open/render a file. OS: Win7Pro SP1.

Ok thanks Philo. I'm going to setup a Win7 VMWare environment to see if I can make some progress on this.

Cheers,

[Aleksandr Balbatunov]

- Platform upgrade to Qt 5.6 (MSVC 2015) which will position the application for better maintenance and evolutions going forward.

Looks like there is a downside to this, see http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.ph...try2599640

Philo - not to worry  

The MSVC builds are only release builds to support both x32 and x64 architectures on Windows. I still exclusively develop on mingw maintaining portability code for OSX, Windows, mingw and MSVC as much as possible. For the next LPub3D evolution, I'd like to introduce an OSX distribution but before that I'm focused on stabilizing 2.0.

The main point of my quoted statement above is to say moving to Qt 5.6 (MSVC) / 5.5.1 (MinGW) is better than staying on 4.8 for the reasons highlighted.

Cheers,

Hi Trevor,

I appreciate your input into LPub3D development, which I've been using for some time and find it much better than original LPub. 

The message cross-posted by Philo was posted by myself on EB forums (as I was not registered here before). The main concern I wish express is that LPub3D v2.x no longer works in Linux . While it never run natively there is a lovely tool/app/feature many Linux users utilise to run Windows-only programs called "Wine" and it worked just fine for me. Now that you have moved to MSVC2015 it is no longer possible to use newer versions of LPub3D due to complete incompatibility of VC2015 redistributable package with Wine. While it would be awesome to have a cross-platform software that would run natively on Linux I wish to ask for a little favour - making LPub3D at least Wine compatible and not to be tied tightly to Windows OS. Otherwise v1.3.5 is the last version can be used, unfortunately.

[Trevor Sandy]

- Platform upgrade to Qt 5.6 (MSVC 2015) which will position the application for better maintenance and evolutions going forward.

Looks like there is a downside to this, see http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.ph...try2599640

Philo - not to worry  

The MSVC builds are only release builds to support both x32 and x64 architectures on Windows. I still exclusively develop on mingw maintaining portability code for OSX, Windows, mingw and MSVC as much as possible. For the next LPub3D evolution, I'd like to introduce an OSX distribution but before that I'm focused on stabilizing 2.0.

The main point of my quoted statement above is to say moving to Qt 5.6 (MSVC) / 5.5.1 (MinGW) is better than staying on 4.8 for the reasons highlighted.

Cheers,

Hi Trevor,

I appreciate your input into LPub3D development, which I've been using for some time and find it much better than original LPub. 

The message cross-posted by Philo was posted by myself on EB forums (as I was not registered here before). The main concern I wish express is that LPub3D v2.x no longer works in Linux . While it never run natively there is a lovely tool/app/feature many Linux users utilise to run Windows-only programs called "Wine" and it worked just fine for me. Now that you have moved to MSVC2015 it is no longer possible to use newer versions of LPub3D due to complete incompatibility of VC2015 redistributable package with Wine. While it would be awesome to have a cross-platform software that would run natively on Linux I wish to ask for a little favour - making LPub3D at least Wine compatible and not to be tied tightly to Windows OS. Otherwise v1.3.5 is the last version can be used, unfortunately.

Hello Aleksandr - No problem. I can release an x32 version on MinGW. Look for a portable MinGW distribution at LPub3D 2.0.4 which should be out later today.

Let me know if it works for you.


Cheers,

[Trevor Sandy]

Greetings,

LPub3D 2.0.4 is now available for download and update.

You can download this release from sourceforge.net or check for updates in your existing installation.

In addition to the default Visual Studio 2015 d (x32/x64) for Windows, I have also released a MinGW distribution (x32) for Windows to support a wider cross-platform compatibility.

The MinGW distributions, like the MSVC versions, are available in both installer: LPub3D-2.0.4.737.2_20160702_MinGW_x32.exe and portable: LPub3D_MINGW_x32-2.0.4.737.2_20160702.zip distributions.


LPub3D 2.0.4.737.2
 
Features and enhancements
------------
-Fix: Release Windows MinGW x32 builds (r737)
 *Update deployment utiliites to produce both MinGW and MSVC builds. MinGW will only support x32 architecture for the moment.

-Fix: Search directories for LDGlite (LDSEARCHDIRS) not loaded as expected at startup (r735)
 *Loading the LDGLite search directories at startup occurred out of order (before general search directories) so the LDGlite routine did not pass the conditional test to actually load search directories. This behaviour would cause a crash if parts to be loaded were in the standard LDraw official or unofficial directories - for example under ..\Unofficial\myParts - and LDrawini was not in use. LDGLite would not be able to find the part and; consequently, would not be able to generate a part image.

-Fix: Fade steps skips the second step in a model. Fading starts on the third step. (r734)
 *No fade parts index generated on the first step because nothing was faded; however, we still need an index to know where to start on the second step. Fade step routine fixed to generate an index as long as there are valid parts in the step.

-Fix: Installer program configured to deposit a master copy of user data (libraries, lists, etc...) in the installation root directory. (r733)
 *Allow user data creation at initial launch. Upon initial application launch, if user data does not exist, it will be created. This will address the issue of Windows standard users not having access to user data after installation. Additionally, this design allows for multiple users on a single machine to have their individual user settings and data.

-Fix: Set progress dialog to nonmodal. (r732)
 *Prevent the progress dialog from blocking input to other windows.

-Fix: Data directory installed under Administrator AppData path instead of logged in user which is likely to be a standard user (r731)
 *User data - LDraw archive libraries, logs, extras and other updatable data items - will be installed at initial application launch by default. Because Administrator privileges are required to install LPub3D, user data installed during installation will be deposited under the Administrator user's AppData path. This data will not be accessible to standard users. User data can be installed during application installation as a checked option. This option may be desirable if the logged in user installing LPub3D is also the Administrator. If user data is installed during installation, user data for standard users will be automatically created during initial application launch. On initial application launch, the standard user will be given the options to select, copy (from the installation directory) or download the LDraw archive libraries. (Known Issue: Standard user icons are not being generated at the moment. Also, the uninstall routine will not remove standard user data created at application startup. I'm still working on improving the deployment package to handle these items). 

Cheers,

[Trevor Sandy]

For me the crash is completely consistent. Just have to fire LPub3D, then close it. No need to open/render a file. OS: Win7Pro SP1.

Ok thanks Philo. I'm going to setup a Win7 VMWare environment to see if I can make some progress on this.

Cheers,

I performed the test with a virgin install of Windows 7 (IE10) x32 and I could not reproduce this behaviour. For me the application performed as expected throughout.

Here is a video of the test for your review.

Cheers,

[Philippe Hurbain]

For me the crash is completely consistent. Just have to fire LPub3D, then close it. No need to open/render a file. OS: Win7Pro SP1.

Ok thanks Philo. I'm going to setup a Win7 VMWare environment to see if I can make some progress on this.

Cheers,

I performed the test with a virgin install of Windows 7 (IE10) x32 and I could not reproduce this behaviour. For me the application performed as expected throughout.

Here is a video of the test for your review.

Cheers,

 Sorry i should have precised that I use 64 bits version. And it was not a fresh install but an update from previous version. Dunno if it makesa difference...

[Merlijn Wissink]

Ok. So, I updated to this new version yesterday and I'm now experiencing something very weird.
Whenever I start the computer, a windows explorer window opens (after Windows login of course) into the folder: C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp\LPub3D which contains 2 shortcuts to open or uninstall LPub3D.

First off: why does it open?
Secondly: why is LPub3D doing anything after boot anyway? It's not a service or anything