Posted January 27, 201312 yr Hi everyone, I'm encountering a weird issue with LPub 4.0.0.11. When rendering MPD models, LPub correctly shows the steps of each submodel, but the "main" model remains invisible. This happens with every MPD model I've tried. Clearing the LPub cache (in LPub\assem\*) so it re-renders the images doesn't work. The image containing the main assembly is simple empty. I've created a very simple model to reproduce the problem. Here's how my LPub renders this file: The empty place where the arrow points should show the completed assembly. I've tried reinstalling LPub but that doesn't work. What is causing this and how can I fix this?
January 27, 201312 yr Your file works for me fine in Lpub. I would suggest trying the two potential problem solvers below. 1)Make sure you have not duplicated your dat parts in the Ldraw parts lists (check all dictionary's for both parts). 2)Try adding the dat parts to all of the dictionary's of Ldraw's parts lists.
January 27, 201312 yr Author Your file works for me fine in Lpub. Great! That means the problem is not in the files I'm trying to open, but rather in my LDraw installation. I removed all the parts and reinstalled using the LDraw All-in-one installer. Now the test file renders correctly! Unfortunately, I still can't open this model. It's almost done, I only need to add one callout and save it as PDF A little more background information: I modelled this model in MLCad running in Wine under Linux. Since LPub doesn't work with Wine, I installed Windows XP into a virtual machine to use LPub. When I couldn't find some parts, I unzipped the unofficial parts library to C:\Program Files\LDraw I never experienced any problems and successfully layed out all the instruction steps with LPub. Suddenly, after making a trivial change to the model with MLCad (removed duplicate Technic Pin) LPub wouldn't render the main assemblies anymore. I would suggest trying the two potential problem solvers below. 1)Make sure you have not duplicated your dat parts in the Ldraw parts lists (check all dictionary's for both parts). 2)Try adding the dat parts to all of the dictionary's of Ldraw's parts lists. By "dictionary", do you mean the Parts.lst file? I've regenerated that using mklist.exe. How can I "check all dictionary's for both parts"?
January 27, 201312 yr Ok If you search for were you installed Ldraw: (C/program files/ldraw) with will see two folders named P and Parts if you open both of these and then both 48 and S (S is down the bottom of the page). Now if you insert both types of file in all four of these places (P,PARTS,48,S) and then open MLcad and click on 'scan parts',then retry to open the file with Lpub. While you are inserting the new files and you are getting a box that says that there is already the same part,and would you like to replace it? just over write it. Duplicate files will be shown like this: 24789(1) 24789(2) And so on...... Delete any of the duplicate files on all of the dictionary's. You can also search for duplicate files using a search box by entering the dat files. Edited January 27, 201312 yr by Alasdair Ryan
January 27, 201312 yr Author Thank you very much for helping out, Alasdair! I followed your suggestions and when I scan parts in MLCad it says: I also searched for duplicate files and found the following files: (warning: long list ahead) 1-16cyli.dat 1-16edge.dat 1-16ri19.dat 1-4chrd.dat 1-4con0s.dat 1-4con11.dat 1-4con12.dat 1-4con13.dat 1-4con14.dat 1-4con15.dat 1-4con19.dat 1-4con1.dat 1-4con23.dat 1-4con24.dat 1-4con28.dat 1-4con2.dat 1-4con3.dat 1-4con4.dat 1-4con5.dat 1-4con6.dat 1-4con8.dat 1-4con9.dat 1-4cyli2.dat 1-4cyli.dat 1-4cyls2.dat 1-4cyls.dat 1-4disc.dat 1-4edge.dat 1-4ndis.dat 1-4rin10.dat 1-4rin11.dat 1-4rin12.dat 1-4rin13.dat 1-4rin14.dat 1-4rin15.dat 1-4rin16.dat 1-4rin17.dat 1-4rin18.dat 1-4rin19.dat 1-4rin20.dat 1-4rin23.dat 1-4rin24.dat 1-4rin29.dat 1-4rin34.dat 1-4rin38.dat 1-4rin39.dat 1-4rin48.dat 1-4ring1.dat 1-4ring2.dat 1-4ring3.dat 1-4ring4.dat 1-4ring5.dat 1-4ring6.dat 1-4ring7.dat 1-4ring8.dat 1-4ring9.dat 1-8chrd.dat 1-8cyli.dat 1-8disc.dat 1-8edge.dat 1-8ndis.dat 1-8rin10.dat 1-8rin16.dat 1-8rin19.dat 1-8rin39.dat 1-8ring1.dat 1-8ring2.dat 1-8ring3.dat 1-8ring4.dat 1-8ring5.dat 1-8ring6.dat 1-8ring7.dat 1-8ring8.dat 1-8ring9.dat 1-8sphe.dat 2421a.dat 2-4cyli2.dat 2-4cyli.dat 2-4cylo.dat 2-4disc.dat 2-4edge.dat 2-4ndis.dat 2-4rin11.dat 2-4rin12.dat 2-4rin16.dat 2-4rin17.dat 2-4rin31.dat 2-4ring1.dat 2-4ring2.dat 2-4ring3.dat 2-4ring4.dat 2-4ring5.dat 2-4ring6.dat 2-4ring9.dat 25931-12.dat 25931-8h.dat 2-8sphe.dat 3-16chrd.dat 3-16cyli.dat 3-16disc.dat 3-16edge.dat 3-16ndis.dat 3-16rin7.dat 3-4cyli.dat 3-4edge.dat 3-4rin14.dat 3-4ring7.dat 3-8chrd.dat 3-8cyli.dat 3-8edge.dat 4-4con0.dat 4-4con10.dat 4-4con11.dat 4-4con12.dat 4-4con13.dat 4-4con15.dat 4-4con16.dat 4-4con17.dat 4-4con18.dat 4-4con19.dat 4-4con1.dat 4-4con20.dat 4-4con21.dat 4-4con22.dat 4-4con24.dat 4-4con25.dat 4-4con2.dat 4-4con30.dat 4-4con31.dat 4-4con35.dat 4-4con36.dat 4-4con3.dat 4-4con41.dat 4-4con4.dat 4-4con5.dat 4-4con7.dat 4-4con8.dat 4-4con9.dat 4-4cylc2.dat 4-4cylc.dat 4-4cyli2.dat 4-4cyli.dat 4-4cylo.dat 4-4disc.dat 4-4edge.dat 4-4ndis.dat 4-4rin10.dat 4-4rin11.dat 4-4rin12.dat 4-4rin13.dat 4-4rin14.dat 4-4rin15.dat 4-4rin16.dat 4-4rin17.dat 4-4rin18.dat 4-4rin19.dat 4-4rin20.dat 4-4rin21.dat 4-4rin22.dat 4-4rin24.dat 4-4rin25.dat 4-4rin26.dat 4-4rin29.dat 4-4rin30.dat 4-4rin33.dat 4-4rin34.dat 4-4rin36.dat 4-4rin37.dat 4-4rin39.dat 4-4rin43.dat 4-4rin44.dat 4-4rin47.dat 4-4rin49.dat 4-4rin50.dat 4-4rin52.dat 4-4rin77.dat 4-4rin97.dat 4-4ring1.dat 4-4ring2.dat 4-4ring3.dat 4-4ring4.dat 4-4ring5.dat 4-4ring6.dat 4-4ring7.dat 4-4ring8.dat 4-4ring9.dat 4-8sphe.dat 5-16edge.dat 5-8cyli.dat 5-8edge.dat 6637a.dat 6637b.dat 6637c.dat 6637d.dat 7-16cyli.dat 7-16edge.dat 7-16rin3.dat 7-8cyli.dat 8-8sphe.dat t04o2000.dat t04q4444.dat t08q4444.dat So many duplicate files! Should I be worried? Should I delete them all? HELP!
January 28, 201312 yr Those are fine. here is a example of copied parts: 10130c01 28/1/2013 .dat 10130c01 (2) 28/1/2013 .dat 10130c01 (3) 28/1/2013 .dat The parts that have numbers surrounded by brackets are copied parts of the top one. Did you try to add the two types of file to all four dictionary like I listed above? Edited January 28, 201312 yr by Alasdair Ryan
January 28, 201312 yr Author To be honest, I have no idea what you mean by "add the two types of file to all four dictionaries" By dictionary, do you mean this thing? Probably not So can you open my model? What's wrong with it?
January 28, 201312 yr So can you open my model? What's wrong with it? Yes I can see your pick-up fine. If you search for were you installed Ldraw and then open that folder: (C/program files/ldraw) with will see two folders named P and Parts if you open both of these and then both 48 and S (S is down the bottom of the page)while doing so place each of the files you are having trouble viewing in each folder. After that open MLcad and click on 'scan parts',then retry to open the file with Lpub.
January 28, 201312 yr Author Yes I can see your pick-up fine. If you search for were you installed Ldraw and then open that folder: (C/program files/ldraw) with will see two folders named P and Parts if you open both of these and then both 48 and S (S is down the bottom of the page)while doing so place each of the files you are having trouble viewing in each folder. After that open MLcad and click on 'scan parts',then retry to open the file with Lpub. Whoa! You mean I should actually copy pickup.mpd to each of the parts directories? That's... weird. So I placed pickup.mpd in all four of the parts directories, then scanned for new parts with MLCad. However, it still says: "There are no new or changed parts!" After this, I cleared the LPub cache and retried to open pickup.mpd in LPub, and I still see this: Why can't I see my pick-up? Edited January 28, 201312 yr by Hedgie Oversized image converted in text link. Maximum size allowed is 800x600.
January 28, 201312 yr I would uninstall and then reinstall Mlcad and Lpub and try to open your files then. Edited January 28, 201312 yr by Alasdair Ryan
January 29, 201312 yr Author I found it! After reinstalling countless times and opening several models from different locations, a pattern emerged. Everytime I downloaded a model from the internet and opened it from the My Documents\Downloads folder, LPub worked flawlessly. But everytime I opened a model from my own collection, LPub produced instructions without a main assembly. All my Lego-related stuff lives on a network drive that's accessible as E:\ There's probably an assumption somewhere in LPub that the parts directories are on the same drive as the model file. I should report this as a bug to the author of LPub, but I wouldn't know where to find him/her. I'll just put this conclusion here clearly for future readers stumbling upon this thread: LPub correctly renders files on local drives, but incorrectly renders files in subfolders of network drives. (This conclusion was refined after Calabar placed his comment below. At first I thought it happened on any drive that's not C:\) Alasdair, thank you very much for taking your time to help me. It must be hard explaining stuff to noobs like me Even though your solution didn't work, I learned a lot about LDraw thanks to your help. As a token of my appreciation, here's the final PDF version of the pickup-truck I was having trouble with: (Click on the image to download the PDF. Warning: it's a large download of about 40 megabytes. If you get a 404, I've probably taken it offline again to save bandwith. Act fast!) Edited January 29, 201312 yr by Hedgie
January 29, 201312 yr @Hedgie A little question: the problem happens if you open the file from another disk/partition on only if the file is on a network drive?
January 29, 201312 yr I have just conducted a quick test,and loading files models with sub parts works fine for me The main think is that you got it working. Here is a test file with a sub part added into it. I also made one with buffer exchange in the file. Edited January 29, 201312 yr by Alasdair Ryan
January 29, 201312 yr Author @Hedgie A little question: the problem happens if you open the file from another disk/partition on only if the file is on a network drive? Great question! I tried it and the answer is it happens only on the network drive. And I found something else too: I can only reproduce the problem by placing test.mpd in a subfolder on the network drive. If I put it on a USB stick or even the root of the network drive (E:\test.mpd) LPub renders it correctly. By the way, since I'm using VirtualBox, Windows sees the network drive as having the filesystem type "VBoxSharedFolderFS".
January 30, 201312 yr Ah, in that case it may not be an LPub issue at all. I've seen various "issues" if you map a network drive on a host machine and then attempt to access it via the shared folders thing in VirtualBox. You might be better of directly mounting the drive from within the guest OS.
December 19, 20159 yr Sorry, for bumping this topic. I found it would be better to share relevant information in single topic, rather than to start a new one. I'm using Linux as well and wish to keep my LEGO digital building to native/Wine applications without help from virtual machines. Nothing really has changed in last more than two years since the start of this topic in terms of an issue. Both native and Wine apps are misbehaving - main model is just not being shown messing up the whole page formatting. I was just about to ask for help, if anyone found a way around when it just hit me! It turns out you can start using LPub with workaround mentioned above without help from Windows OS running in Virtualbox (or any other similar setup). You just need to put your LDR/MPD file in the root of "C drive" for existing Wine installation. In my case it is: /home/YOUR_USERNAME_HERE/.wine/drive_c Edited December 19, 20159 yr by zux
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