[LDCad] Installation -- Bricks Partly or Not Visible in LDCad 1.6c

[Chad Voller]

n00b here, please excuse me if this post is in the incorrect forum. I've searched a good bit but have not found an answer.

My son is just getting to learn computers and he loves Lego, so I searched and found LDraw.
I downloaded the All in One, then installed pretty much everything on his computer.

After setting the search/library paths official location to c\users\public\documents\ldraw\parts on his machine, when using LDCad the parts are not all there. They sort of render in bits and pieces... sometimes the full part. Just talking about simple bricks.

However, following the same pattern on my computer, I'm able to see all of the parts, just fine.

I tried an uninstall / reinstall on his machine, but the problem persists. 

I would be very grateful for any suggestions that could help me.

[Orion Pobursky]

n00b here, please excuse me if this post is in the incorrect forum. I've searched a good bit but have not found an answer.

My son is just getting to learn computers and he loves Lego, so I searched and found LDraw.
I downloaded the All in One, then installed pretty much everything on his computer.

After setting the search/library paths official location to c\users\public\documents\ldraw\parts on his machine, when using LDCad the parts are not all there. They sort of render in bits and pieces... sometimes the full part. Just talking about simple bricks.

However, following the same pattern on my computer, I'm able to see all of the parts, just fine.

I tried an uninstall / reinstall on his machine, but the problem persists. 

I would be very grateful for any suggestions that could help me.

Hi Chad and welcome,

Sounds like the parts library was incomplete for some reason. I recommend you download complete.zip found here:
https://www.ldraw.org/parts/latest-parts.html

Then unzip and copy over the ldraw folder you listed above. This basically resets the entire library. Please let me know if you have any further questions or issues.

[N. W. Perry]

After setting the search/library paths official location to c\users\public\documents\ldraw\parts on his machine, when using LDCad the parts are not all there. They sort of render in bits and pieces... sometimes the full part. Just talking about simple bricks.

Try setting the location to just c\users\public\documents\ldraw\ (in other words, without "parts" at the end). On a hunch, I tried setting my configuration the way you have it, and the result looked very similar to what you describe.

[Orion Pobursky]

Try setting the location to just c\users\public\documents\ldraw\ (in other words, without "parts" at the end). On a hunch, I tried setting my configuration the way you have it, and the result looked very similar to what you describe.

Oh. I missed that detail. This is probably the correct solution to the problem.

[Chad Voller]

Oh. I missed that detail. This is probably the correct solution to the problem.

Thanks to you both, I will try the latter first and then the former if the latter does not work.
Will report back within a few hours.
Thanks!

[Chad Voller]

Try setting the location to just c\users\public\documents\ldraw\ (in other words, without "parts" at the end). On a hunch, I tried setting my configuration the way you have it, and the result looked very similar to what you describe.

Oh. I missed that detail. This is probably the correct solution to the problem.

Ok, N. W. Perry's solution worked out for me! After removing "parts\" from the end of the path, closing the program, and reopening, the parts are now fully formed!
Thanks, this is a huge step for us rookies in using LDCad! 

[N. W. Perry]

Ok, N. W. Perry's solution worked out for me! After removing "parts\" from the end of the path, closing the program, and reopening, the parts are now fully formed!
Thanks, this is a huge step for us rookies in using LDCad! 

Happy to help, glad it worked out!

[Roland Melkert]

Ok, N. W. Perry's solution worked out for me! After removing "parts\" from the end of the path, closing the program, and reopening, the parts are now fully formed!
Thanks, this is a huge step for us rookies in using LDCad! 

Did you use the AIOI to install LDCad?

If so there might be a problem with it as it should have set the parts folder for LDCad automatically.


Or did you get the 'select LDraw folder' dialog at first start up?

If that was the case it should have complained about that location not being a valid LDraw location if it didn't there might be a bug at play.

[Magnus Forsberg]

I too used the AIOI when my old pc chrashed and I had a new pc to set up.
Remember thinking it was strange that I had to set up LDCad to find the right folders, and I even had to set up the ldconfig.
The first time I opened LDCad after the AIOI I saw no parts and no colourwheel.
If I remeber correct I didn't change anything during the install. I accepted everything it suggested.

[Willy Tschager]

Did you use the AIOI to install LDCad?

If so there might be a problem with it as it should have set the parts folder for LDCad automatically

The AIOI copies a complete.zip to the LDraw folder with the \parts and \p subfolders. It also copies a main.cfg with this content:

Code:

<LDrawPaths>
off->sLDrawPath

[editing]
defSteppingVersion=1
defAuthor=sUserName

to:  AppData\Roaming\LDCad\config

In the post install process it finally does this replacement:

Code:

The session variable for %LDrawPartsLibraryPath% is %CommonDocumentsFolder%\LDraw

******************************************

-- Set a string for the commun documents folder
sLDrawPartsLibraryPath = SessionVar.Expand("%LDrawPartsLibraryPath%");

if (bLDCadIsInstalled) then

sMainCfgPath = SessionVar.Expand("%ApplicationDataFolder%" .. "\\LDCad\\config\\main.cfg");

-- Read the contents of main.cfg file into a string.
sMainCfg = TextFile.ReadToString(sMainCfgPath);

-- Check the error code of the last example.
error = Application.GetLastError();
-- If an error occurred, display the error message.
if (error ~= 0) then
    Dialog.Message("Error", _tblErrorMessages[error], MB_OK, MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);
else
    -- Replace every occurrence of the string "sLDrawPath" with the string "expanded LDraw path".
    sNewMainCfg = String.Replace(sMainCfg, "sLDrawPath", sLDrawPartsLibraryPath .. "\\complete.zip", true);
    sNewMainCfg = String.Replace(sNewMainCfg, "sUserName", SessionVar.Expand("%UserName%"), true);   

    -- Write out the modified contents of the text file.
TextFile.WriteFromString(sMainCfgPath, sNewMainCfg, false);

    -- Check the error code of the last example.
    error = Application.GetLastError();
    -- If an error occurred, display the error message.
    if (error ~= 0) then
        Dialog.Message("Error", _tblErrorMessages[error], MB_OK, MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);
    end
end
end

To make it short. It does directly point to the complete.zip file and not the directory.

Hope this helps

w.

[N. W. Perry]

The AIOI copies a complete.zip to the LDraw folder with the \parts and \p subfolders.

[…]

To make it short. It does directly point to the complete.zip file and not the directory.

Hope this helps

w.

LDCad prefers to use the compressed (.zip) file as the library. Sounds like if the user has uncompressed that file inside the "LDraw" folder, you may have to manually back up one level (because the default search path points to the .zip file inside the LDraw dir rather than the dir itself)?

Just a guess, as I did not use the AIOI myself.

[Roland Melkert]

The AIOI copies a complete.zip to the LDraw folder with the \parts and \p subfolders. It also copies a main.cfg with this content:
.......
To make it short. It does directly point to the complete.zip file and not the directory.

Looks ok

It shouldn't matter if the user unpacked the zip as long the zip itself also stays available.

If it were to be missing LDCad gives a 'could not open ....' error at start up and ends up with all empty bins.

So I'm still not sure what went wrong here.