parts snapping

[Martin Stockton]

Hi I wonder if there is a genius out there that can help me out? I have recently updated all the new parts, but now in the selection window I have at least 2 of everything? But what is troubling me more is that nearly all of the parts I select won't snap together!! Is there a setting that I can alter to resolve this issue? Please note that any help needs to be easy to follow as I have messed up the program lots of times trying to follow advice! When I said that I have downloaded new parts, really my daughter has done it for me as again I struggle with these things, so advice on downloading parts ( in simple English ) would also be gratefully received
Thanks in advance for anyone patient enough for my simpleness 
Regards Martin Stockton.

[David Manley]

Hi I wonder if there is a genius out there that can help me out? I have recently updated all the new parts, but now in the selection window I have at least 2 of everything? But what is troubling me more is that nearly all of the parts I select won't snap together!! Is there a setting that I can alter to resolve this issue? Please note that any help needs to be easy to follow as I have messed up the program lots of times trying to follow advice! When I said that I have downloaded new parts, really my daughter has done it for me as again I struggle with these things, so advice on downloading parts ( in simple English ) would also be gratefully received
Thanks in advance for anyone patient enough for my simpleness 
Regards Martin Stockton.

Hi Martin,

which tool are you using the LDraw files with? For example, is it LDCad or something else?

Regards,

David

[Martin Stockton]

Hi Martin,

which tool are you using the LDraw files with? For example, is it LDCad or something else?

Regards,

David

[Martin Stockton]

Yes it is on the LDCad program 
Regards Martin.

[N. W. Perry]

Yes it is on the LDCad program 
Regards Martin.

It sounds like you placed the updated parts in a different location than your existing parts library. (I wonder if your old parts still snap together, just not the new ones?)

If you go to the menu Prefs->LDraw->Search (library) paths… can you show us (or tell us) what appears in the window that comes up? It will look something like this:
   

[Evert-Jan Boer]

Yes it is on the LDCad program 
Regards Martin.

Maybe part snapping is disabled? You can use Shift+P to toggle part snapping on and off

[Martin Stockton]

It sounds like you placed the updaLDCad helpted parts in a different location than your existing parts library. (I wonder if your old parts still snap together, just not the new ones?)
If you go to the menu Prefs->LDraw->Search (library) paths… can you show us (or tell us) what appears in the window that comes up? It will look something like this:

[img]Doc9LDCad help[/img]
I hope this picture shows what it needs to!!
Regards Martin.

[N. W. Perry]

[img]Doc9LDCad help[/img]
I hope this picture shows what it needs to!!
Regards Martin.

There's no picture visible here. You ought to use the Attachments section below on the forum page, rather than the image tool in the message window.

[Martin Stockton]

It sounds like you placed the updated parts in a different location than your existing parts library. (I wonder if your old parts still snap together, just not the new ones?)

If you go to the menu Prefs->LDraw->Search (library) paths… can you show us (or tell us) what appears in the window that comes up? It will look something like this:

[N. W. Perry]

OK. You do seem to have several different locations being searched, which would explain the multiple copies of everything. You should need only one Official library—I'm guessing it's meant to be the …Documents\Lego\ldraw folder. But whichever one you want it to be, that should be set to type Official (not Donors), and you only need the top-level folder. You don't need …\models and …\parts and …\p since LDCad will automatically search for those sub-directories. So those extra entries can be deleted. (But keep the …AppData\Roaming\LDCad\donors entry; that is your actual Donors folder which is used for flexible parts and comes with LDCad.)

Then when you download the parts update, it should go into the folder that you've designated as Official. (If you download the whole library you can just replace the whole thing; if you download only new parts then they have to be added to the existing Official folder.)

Then for snapping to work (assuming it's enabled with shift+P), the library has to be associated with a shadow file—right now you do have that set up with the first entry, but it looks like that folder is only the updated parts that you downloaded, so that's why most of the parts you select won't snap.

So to summarize, you should really have only two entries in this window:
1. Type: Official | Location: your main LDraw library, with any new parts added into this library | Shadow: like you have it set up now
2. Type: Donors | Location: the fourth one in your current list | Shadow: not needed

[Martin Stockton]

OK. You do seem to have several different locations being searched, which would explain the multiple copies of everything. You should need only one Official library—I'm guessing it's meant to be the …Documents\Lego\ldraw folder. But whichever one you want it to be, that should be set to type Official (not Donors), and you only need the top-level folder. You don't need …\models and …\parts and …\p since LDCad will automatically search for those sub-directories. So those extra entries can be deleted. (But keep the …AppData\Roaming\LDCad\donors entry; that is your actual Donors folder which is used for flexible parts and comes with LDCad.)

Then when you download the parts update, it should go into the folder that you've designated as Official. (If you download the whole library you can just replace the whole thing; if you download only new parts then they have to be added to the existing Official folder.)

Then for snapping to work (assuming it's enabled with shift+P), the library has to be associated with a shadow file—right now you do have that set up with the first entry, but it looks like that folder is only the updated parts that you downloaded, so that's why most of the parts you select won't snap.

So to summarize, you should really have only two entries in this window:
1. Type: Official | Location: your main LDraw library, with any new parts added into this library | Shadow: like you have it set up now
2. Type: Donors | Location: the fourth one in your current list | Shadow: not needed

Thank you so much for your help. I am going to get my daughter to look at it and hopefully she can use what you have said to get me back on my way!!
Regards Martin.

[Martin Stockton]

Thank you so much for your help. I am going to get my daughter to look at it and hopefully she can use what you have said to get me back on my way!!
Regards Martin.

Hi again, we seem to be running into trouble again with this issue. My daughter has gone through your help and now we seem to have lost all the parts and the screen instead of showing the lego it has just got red crosses. I have tried to show you this but its in a word document so i hope you can see it!!
When I got the computer the chap I got it from installed Team Viewer so that someone can remotely log into mine and poss sort things out? If this is something you can do I would be very grateful for any help.
Regards again Martin Stockton

[Martin Stockton]

Hi again, we seem to be running into trouble again with this issue. My daughter has gone through your help and now we seem to have lost all the parts and the screen instead of showing the lego it has just got red crosses. I have tried to show you this but its in a word document so i hope you can see it!!
When I got the computer the chap I got it from installed Team Viewer so that someone can remotely log into mine and poss sort things out? If this is something you can do I would be very grateful for any help.
Regards again Martin Stockton

This is a view of the other screen shot!!

[Roland Melkert]

This is a view of the other screen shot!!

At this point it is probably easier to just reset the configuration.

For this close LDCad and delete:
c:\users\martin\appdata\roaming\ldcad\config\main.cfg

Then restart LDCad, accept the license and when it asks for the library point it to the folder containing complete.zip

[Martin Stockton]

At this point it is probably easier to just reset the configuration.

For this close LDCad and delete:
c:\users\martin\appdata\roaming\ldcad\config\main.cfg

Then restart LDCad, accept the license and when it asks for the library point it to the folder containing complete.zip

That sounds a good idea, but will I be able to save my designs?
regards Martin

[N. W. Perry]

That sounds a good idea, but will I be able to save my designs?
regards Martin

Yes, your designs are all saved separately as .ldr files. This will only reset settings of the program itself.

[Martin Stockton]

Yes, your designs are all saved separately as .ldr files. This will only reset settings of the program itself.

phew!

regards Martin.

[Martin Stockton]

phew!

regards Martin.

Hi all again, 
My daughter and I are failing miserably at this problem!! When we got our computer the chap that set it up for us installed " Team Viewer" so someone else who knows what they are doing can log into my computer to help me out!! If anybody out there is able to help me with this I would be eternally gratefull.
Regards Martin Stockton.

[Sieradzki]

Cześć wszystko znowu, 
Moja córka i ja zawodzimy żałośnie przy tym problemie!! Kiedy dostaliśmy nasz komputer, facet, który go dla nas skonfigurował, zainstalował „Team Viewer”, więc ktoś inny, kto wie, co robi, może zalogować się do mojego komputera, aby mi pomóc! Jeśli ktoś jest w stanie mi w tym pomóc, byłbym dozgonnie wdzięczny.
Pozdrawiam Martina Stocktona.

Witam.

Jestem nowy. Od miesiąca instaluje LDraw zawsze z błędem. Mam Win 7 Prof 32bin.
Proszę o pomoc.

Pozdrawiam Darek.