LEGO® Digital Designer 1.3


Version 1.3 for Windows® 98, Windows ME,
Windows 2000 and Windows XP

Build 3.42.23456

Disclaimer

The software is provided as-is without any warranty of any kind. The entire risk arising out the use or performance of the software remains with you. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no event shall the LEGO Group of Companies (including LEGO Systems A/S) and its suppliers and licensors, be liable for any damages arising out of the use or inability to use the software.

To install and use the software, you must agree to the terms of the LEGO Digital Designer 1.3 License Agreement included with the software. Please be sure to read the License Agreement before installing LEGO Digital Designer 1.3 on your system.


Table of Contents:
  1. System requirements for this version
  2. Installing LEGO Digital Designer
  3. Launching LEGO Digital Designer
  4. FAQ and known issues for LEGO Digital Designer
  1. 32 bit/1024x768 screen resolution
  2. Uninstalling LEGO Digital Designer does not remove saved models
  3. LEGO Digital Designer causing rundll32 crash when changing colour resolution
  4. LEGO Digital Designer does not run after install
  5. Requirements Checker
  6. LEGO Digital Designer runs slow
  1. Other hardware or driver specific issues
  2. General troubleshooting for LEGO Digital Designer
  1. Updating drivers
  1. Uninstalling LEGO Digital Designer
  2. Technical support
  3. Legal

1) SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS VERSION

Minimum required machine configuration

  • 450 MHz Pentium III or Faster Processor
  • 128 MB RAM
  • 100 MB of free HD space
  • 16 bit (or more) Super VGA monitor
  • 16 MB graphics card (DirectX 8.0 or higher compatible)

Recommended machine configuration

  • 800 MHz Pentium III or Faster Processor
  • 128 MB RAM
  • 100 MB of free HD space
  • 16 bit Colour (or more) Super VGA monitor
  • 64 MB graphics card (DirectX 8.0 or higher compatible)

Software

  • Operating systems supported: Windows 98, 98SE, ME, 2000 and XP (Windows 95 and NT are NOT supported).
  • DirectX 8.0 or higher is required in order to run the LEGO Digital Designer application. Ensure that you have DirectX 8.0 or higher installed on your PC prior to running the program. The latest version of DirectX can be obtained from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/directx/

2) INSTALLING LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER

Please note:
Before you install LEGO Digital Designer, please uninstall any previous version installed. There are two ways to uninstall LEGO Digital Designer:
  • Click Start from the task bar, go to Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, and select LEGO Digital Designer from the menu. Follow the uninstall wizard.
  • Click Start from the task bar, go to programs, LEGO Software, LEGO Digital Designer, and click Uninstall. You can then select to remove or reinstall LEGO Digital Designer. Follow the Wizard to complete your selection.
After uninstall finishes you are ready to install the new version. Start the installer, and follow onscreen instructions.

Also you may need to turn off any resident programs like antivirus programs or Norton SystemWorks that monitor file installations.

Administrator privileges are required when installing LEGO Digital Designer on Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

TO INSTALL

  1. Launch your web browser
  2. Go to the LEGO Digital Designer installer at http://www.lego.com/ldd/
  3. Locate the link to the download page
  4. Click the download link to run the LEGO Digital Designer setup.
  5. When prompted, select Open
  6. Follow the on-screen installation instructions.
(Note: The LEGO Digital Designer setup the Microsoft installer application. If you do not have this application installed on your PC already, the setup will automatically install it. This will result in a slightly larger download. On Windows 98/Me a "security warning" message dialog might appear during install. It is safe to click ok to continue installing.)

IF THE LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER FAILS TO INSTALL FROM THE WEBSITE
  1. Launch your web browser
  2. Go to the LEGO Digital Designer website at http://www.lego.com/ldd/
  3. Locate the link to the download page
  4. Right-click the download link and select "Save as" to download the LEGO Digital Designer One-file installer.
  5. Select a suitable location for the file and click Save.
  6. When download is completed, locate the downloaded file ("LEGODigitalDesigner.exe") and run it.
  7. Follow the on-screen installation instructions.

3) LAUNCHING LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER

Click the Start button on the task bar, go to Programs, LEGO Software, LEGO Digital Designer, and select LEGO Digital Designer. This will start LEGO Digital Designer.

This first time you launch LEGO Digital Designer it will take between 1 and 5 minutes to finalise the installation.

4) FAQ AND KNOWN ISSUES FOR LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER

4A. 32 BIT COLOURS / 1024x768 SCREEN RESOLUTION

Windows must be able to run at a colour resolution of 16777216 colours (32 bit) and a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels. If running in any other resolution, LEGO Digital Designer will try to change your colour and screen resolution automatically. If you receive error messages when running LEGO Digital Designer to this effect, and to ensure that LEGO Digital Designer is able to switch automatically, make sure that it is possible to change the resolution in Windows to 32 bit colours and 1024x768 pixels manually. A note on 16 COLOURS: Using the Windows desktop with 16 colours and attempting to launch the LEGO Digital Designer software will result in several warning dialog boxes. This is because Windows is unable to switch to the proper colour and screen resolution required by LEGO Digital Designer. Try to manually change your resolution settings to these values as explained above. This may require installing the latest graphics drivers and rebooting Windows.

4B. UNINSTALLING LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER DOES NOT REMOVE SAVED MODELS AND SNAPSHOTS

When uninstalling the LEGO Digital Designer software, all your saved models and snapshots will be retained on the hard drive. Should you choose to reinstall LEGO Digital Designer the data will still be available. As the saved data is very compact it will take up only a tiny portion of your hard drive space. However should you wish to clear out the space, you will be required to do so manually using the windows explorer.

The models and snapshots will be located in My Documents\My LEGO Creations.

4C. LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER CAUSING RUNDLL32 CRASH WHEN CHANGING COLOUR RESOLUTION

If you have temporary left the LEGO Digital Designer application using Alt + Tab (or similar task switching), changing the colour resolution will cause a "RunDll32 general protection fault in gdi.exe". This will also occur if the colour resolution is changed after the application has been closed. A reboot is required before the PC will be operational again. This issue is currently unresolved, but changing colour resolution should be avoided if the PC has not been rebooted since LEGO Digital Designer was used last.

4D. LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER DOES NOT RUN AFTER INSTALL

After the splash screen, LEGO Digital Designer closes down, or the application simply cannot be launched.

It has been discovered during testing that occasionally LEGO Digital Designer cannot be launched. To try to fix this problem it is recommended that you delete the Q files created by LEGO Digital Designer.

To delete the Q files on Windows XP and 2000 you need to navigate to:

C:\Documents and Settings\(user name)\Local Settings\Application Data\Qubesoft

and delete the folder called LEGO Digital Designer

To delete the Q files on Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows ME you need to navigate to:

C:\WINDOWS\Local Settings\Application Data\Qubesoft

and delete the folder called LEGO Digital Designer

Then try to run the program again. This might solve your problem. The Q files and directory will be recreated when LEGO Digital Designer is started again.

Ensure that you have DirectX 8.0 or higher installed on your PC prior to running the program.

The latest version of DirectX can be obtained from Microsoft at
http://www.microsoft.com/directx/

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If you protect your computer with an Internet firewall that uses pop-up style program access protection (e.g. ZoneAlarm) then LEGO Digital Designer may stop working as soon as the "Loading" screen appears. If this happens, try pressing Ctrl-Alt-Delete to show the pop-up and configure your firewall. If the pop-up does not show, you may have to reset your computer. The pop-up is activated because LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER accesses the Web to check for updates when it starts up.

To fix this problem, take these steps before you start LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER:

Open the Preferences tool using the Windows "Start" button;
Start->Programs->LEGO Software->LEGO Digital Designer->Preferences.

Select "User Defined" and click "Customize".

Click "OK" in the "NOTICE" dialog about advanced users.

Set "Fullscreen: Off" in the Display settings.

Set the "Resolution / colour depth" to "640 x 480 x 16" in the Display settings.

Click the "Save and Close" button at the bottom.

Click the "Save and Launch" button.


LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER will now start up in a window, and your firewall pop-up will appear. If you cannot move the mouse cursor, press the windows button on the keyboard to release it. Configure your firewall as required and allow LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER to finish installation. Once it has loaded select "Start a new model" and choose any brick palette, then close LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER by clicking the exit button in the bottom-right of the main build screen. (You can use the F11 button on your keyboard to switch the windows mouse cursor on and off in windowed mode if you need to).

Open the Preferences tool again and select "Recommended spec (default)", then press "Save and Launch". LEGO Digital Designer will now start normally. You can now run LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER as normal from the desktop icon or the Windows Start menu.

4E. REQUIREMENTS CHECKER

If the Requirements Checker pops up when you launch installation it is an indicator that your computer does not fulfil the requirements for running LEGO Digital Designer. You can choose to cancel the installation, or you can choose to install LEGO Digital Designer anyway. However, if you choose to install LEGO Digital Designer you might experience problems.

4F. LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER RUNS SLOWLY

It is a known issue that many bricks on screen in LEGO Digital Designer can cause the machine to run slower. To improve performance, it is recommended that you close running background applications. It has also been seen that graphic cards with shared memory can cause performance problems.

If above does not help, open the Preferences tool placed in the start menu.
  • Click Start from the task bar, go to programs, LEGO Software, LEGO Digital Designer, and click Preferences.
  • By default the Preferences tool uses "Recommended" settings.
  • Choose "Low spec" setting.
  • Click "Save and close" to close the "Customize" dialog, click "Save and Close" to save the setting and close the Preferences tool.
Restart LEGO Digital Designer.

5) OTHER HARDWARE OR DRIVER SPECIFIC ISSUES

Graphics cards with 16 MB or 32 MB RAM may not display the brick thumbnails in the brick tray properly. The thumbnails can either be completely missing or distorted. This will not prevent you from building. Even though the thumbnails are not displayed correct you will be able to build with the bricks not displayed.

If you meet this issue please make sure you are using the latest display drivers available for you system. In general we recommend that you keep your display driver current.

Feedback regarding this issue is appreciated. Please use the Email Tech Support form on the LEGO website.

6) GENERAL TROUBLESHOOTING FOR LEGO DIGITAL DESIGNER

General troubleshooting can resolve many issues experienced with running a program. If the issue you are experiencing is not specifically addressed, please read the following General Troubleshooting section before contacting Technical Support.

Please remember, when making changes to your system it is a good practice to take notes and backup along the way to enable you to reverse your changes.

6A. UPDATING DRIVERS

In general if you are experiencing performance issues, lock ups, blue/black screen, error messages, etc. it is advisable to check with the machine manufacturer to ensure that you are using the most current drivers available. Sound, Video and CD-ROM manufacturers often release a number of new driver versions in a year to enable the user to get the best performance from their hardware. These drivers often contain improvements and sometimes include fixes for known issues with the hardware. If you are unfamiliar with updating your drivers or have any questions about your system drivers, please contact your computer manufacturer or supplier for assistance.

7) UNINSTALLING LEGO Digital Designer

There are two ways to uninstall LEGO Digital Designer:
  • Click Start from the task bar, go to Settings, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, and select LEGO Digital Designer from the menu. Follow the uninstall wizard.
  • Click Start from the task bar, go to programs, LEGO Software, LEGO Digital Designer, and click Uninstall. You can then select to remove or reinstall LEGO Digital Designer. Follow the Wizard to complete your selection.

8) TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Thank you for downloading LEGO Digital Designer. Issues known at the time of release are listed above in this document. You can find more details in the FAQ and Tech Support pages on the LEGO website.

9) LEGAL

LEGO® Digital Designer 1.3 by LEGO System A/S, DK-7190 Billund, Denmark

Distributed by the LEGO Group, DK-7190 Billund, Denmark. © 2003 The LEGO Group and its licensors.

Acknowledgement

This product was built using the Q1.1 Engine under license from Qube Software.

Zlib is used under license from Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.