LDD Updating/Patching

[lol username]

No new information here, just posting this for reference.

 

When LEGO Digital Designer is installed, it places an Assets.lif file in its installation directory (such as C:\Program Files (x86)\LEGO Company\LEGO Digital Designer). This .lif file contains another .lif file; db.lif.

 

When LDD is run for the first time, it extracts db.lif from Assets.lif and places it in a folder in C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\LEGO Company\LEGO Digital Designer. When LDD downloads new updates, this is the file that is patched.

 

I just redownloaded/reinstalled LDD today, and the db.lif contained within Assets.lif is brick version 2248. When LDD was launched, the db.lif in AppData was updated to 2248.1 (which only adds one new brick), but Assets.lif remained unchanged.

 

So, if you're making a tool that uses LDD's lif files in any way, remember it's db.lif in AppData that's kept up to date, and the db.lif within Assets.lif is likely to be out of date.

 

Note that for some reason, patching doesn't change the file modification date of the db.lif in AppData - even after patching from 2248 to 2248.1, Windows incorrectly claims it was last modified on September 4, 2016 (presumably the date of version 2248).

 

tl;dr

 

If you want up-to-date bricks, DO use:

 

C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\LEGO Company\LEGO Digital Designer\db.lif

 

And do NOT use:

 

C:\Program Files (x86)\LEGO Company\LEGO Digital Designer\Assets.lif