[MLCad] List of known bugs in MLCad 3.3

[Willy Tschager]

Hi,

I'd like to put down a list of the known bugs in the current 3.3 version. Feel free to add:

• If I go to MLCad setting, tab Rendering and choose "Background color" in that color dialog I can not browse through the colors - http://news.lugnet.com/cad/mlcad/?n=2305
  
  
• In some cases I cannot manipulate the rotation matrix because the angle value in the vector field (which I never saw much use of anyhow) is something like -9.223372 * 10^n and MLCad does not understand it. So whenever I try to open up the rotation matrix field I get a dialog saying that the angle should be between -180 and 180 and the field remains disabled. What's worse, the same is for the vector fields and thus I cannot reset the angle! All I can do is reset the matrix manually in LDDP. *Highly* annoying - http://news.lugnet.com/cad/mlcad/?n=2307
  
  
• There is a bug in the generated partslist when using a new color. For example when I use a part with color 81 Metalic_Green it reports as Chrome_Black. See: http://www.binarybricks.nl/test/colorerror.gif Can this be resolved with a change in ldconfig or is a real bug in MLCad 3.30? - http://news.lugnet.com/cad/mlcad/?n=2343
  
  
• File > Scan parts generates a Parts.lst file that breaks long filenames:
  75174p01c01.daAnimal Dragon Oriental w. Chr.Gold Head and Tr.Red Wings (Comp.)
  
  
• Copying a color to the colorbar the statusbar will always show the default color name from 1 - 16.
  
  

w.

[Chris Dee]

> File > Scan parts generates a Parts.lst file that breaks long filenames:
> 75174p01c01.daAnimal Dragon Oriental w. Chr.Gold Head and Tr.Red Wings (Comp.)

Does anyone know if this is because MLCad has its own parts.lst generator or that it is calling mklist.exe with inappropriate options?

Chris

[Robin Chang]

Most obvious one I can think of so far is the lack of an undo feature. A single mistake may mean scrapping several minutes' worth of progress.

[Arthur Sigg]

MLCAD Version 3.40

• Marking a part in a 2D panel this part does NOT highlight in the list above. Clicking on the slider in the list (if any) will solve it.
  
• Not really a bug but a dream: Marking parts (which are not visible in a 2D panel) using the 3D panel.
  

[Philippe Hurbain]

[*] Marking a part in a 2D panel this part does NOT highlight in the list above. Clicking on the slider in the list (if any) will solve it.

Actually it depends on the machine (probably on video board drivers). I have a PC that shows this behaviour, another one that works correctly.

[*] Not really a bug but a dream: Marking parts (which are not visible in a 2D panel) using the 3D panel.
[/list]

How many times did I wish for that!!!

[Michael Horvath]

MLCAD doesn't like nested MPD files.

I.e. when an MPD file references another MPD file the positions get messed up.

LDView works fine with these files.

[Michael Horvath]

Also, for very large models, if you switch views from top to bottom for instance, you are no longer centered on the parts you were working on. Instead you have to move the camera and find the location you were last at.

[Michael Horvath]

MLCad doesn't come with an uninstaller. Thus any registry changes remain after you delete the program forcibly.

[Michael Horvath]

MLCad won't let me import the attached file into an MPD.

[Roland Melkert]

I think that's because of the FILE line, which technically makes it a mpd

[Michael Horvath]

Oh. Never mind then.

[Michael Heidemann]

Yes, we can not say it's a plain model file only from the extension. The content is important. And MLCad can not import mpd-content files. But in this case its easy as only the first line "0 FILE ..." needs to be deleted to make it a plain model file.

[Michael Horvath]

It seems a lot of Datsville files suffered from this. Maybe due to being split from an MPD file a long time ago?

[Nathanel Titane]

MLCAD should be open sourced.

[Michael Horvath]

MLCAD should be open sourced.

Yes. It is still my editor of choice. And there are not really many bugs.

[Willy Tschager]

Will never happen.

w.

[Travis Cobbs]

I'm pretty sure it contains code that doesn't belong to Michael, and because of that he couldn't make it open source even if he wanted to.

[Michael Horvath]

I have a large complicated model with sub-models and sub-sub models. When a part or sub-model is missing, MLCAD spawns an error. Unfortunately, this error does not tell you where in the model hierarchy the file is missing. This should be fixed, IMO.

[Michael Horvath]

Minor feature requests:

1. Assign the "CTRL+A" shortcut to "Select All". This is pretty common among Windows software.
2. Assign some sorts of keyboard shortcuts to panning the camera in the viewing panes. My middle mouse button is not working so well lately.

[Michael Horvath]

I just noticed that in the "Step, Grid, Snap" settings you can't raise the step units over 100. This makes it tricky to move baseplates if you want to do that.

[Willy Tschager]

Use the "Position & Orientation" dialog if you wanna move real coarse.

[Stephen]

As Willy said, the "Position & Orientation" dialog is useful for exact moves even in large amounts.

But the 100 restriction you see on the grid settings is purely a UI limit on that dialog. If you have the need you can RegEdit some larger values in there (whilst MLCad is not running) and they will function correctly (I've only tested it up to 1000), and of course you can make yourself a little .reg file to automate this if for some reason you have the regular need for it

[Stephen]

2. Assign some sorts of keyboard shortcuts to panning the camera in the viewing panes. My middle mouse button is not working so well lately.

My middle mouse button is also useless now. I think all the sweaty gunge that collects on the wheel has dribbled down inside and solidified within the microswitch

Perhaps not always as good as direct keyboard shortcuts, but are you aware that you can pan even in Edit mode using Shift and left mouse button? I find that extremely useful, even moreso than keyboard shortcuts would have been on the larger models.

[Michael Horvath]

Perhaps not always as good as direct keyboard shortcuts, but are you aware that you can pan even in Edit mode using Shift and left mouse button? I find that extremely useful, even moreso than keyboard shortcuts would have been on the larger models.

Oh, wow! I didn't know that. Thanks!

[Michael Horvath]

80 LDU ended up being sufficient, so I guess it's not that big a deal.

[Stephen]

1. Assign the "CTRL+A" shortcut to "Select All". This is pretty common among Windows software.

True, although I can't personally say I've ever missed having Ctrl+A functionality in MLCad, probably due to the fact that I use "Select All", "Select Same Type", and "Select Same Color" equally as much as each other, and all three are sitting right there next to each other on the Controlbar Toolbar making them accessible in a single click.

However, if you're particularly desperate for it, you can get the desired Ctrl+A functionality by modifying just two bytes of MLCad.exe (or a copy of it) with a hex editor. Let me know if you want the details (for MLCad 3.40).

[Willy Tschager]

Sounds like your are NOT reading my tutorials?! Are you?

w.

[Michael Horvath]

Sounds like your are NOT reading my tutorials?! Are you?

w.

LOL! I thought I was an expert!

[Michael Horvath]

Here's another minor feature request: "Zoom/Focus on selected part". It can be a pain to hunt for a part in all four views. This would make that a lot easier.

[Jaco van der Molen]

Can this thread be unsticky?

[Max Martin Richter]

Yes, for sure.