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To look up a specific error message just to the error message section at the bottom of the page.

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Navigate to the project folder and locate the 'Help' folder. In this folder should be 'index.html' and 'faq.html'. If these files are missing download the visualisation file again and re-install.

If the files are there then:

Ensure that double clicking on a 'html' file opens the file in your web browser. If not the right click and click 'Open with'. Click the 'Choose program...' option. Select an appropriate web browser from the list and check the box 'Always use this program to open these files'. Now opening the help from the visualisation package should open the help files the browser you have chosen.

By default IDL trys to use 'netscape' to open any HTML files. If this is not install on your machine then the help functions will fail. To fix this set up a symbolic link between 'netscape' and the browser that you do have installed. So for example if you have FireFox installed then you need to do the following steps:

1) Make a link from /usr/bin/netscape to the firefox executable FireFox. If FireFox has been locally installed to /home/Fred/FireFox then log in as root and navigate to the /usr/bin directory and run:

ln -s /home/Fred/FireFox/firefox netscape

In the case of firefox an additional link then has to be placed in the FireFox installation directory. Currently the netscape linb will point to the correct firefox exe but this will then call netscape-bin. Navigate to the FireFox installation directory and add the link:

ln -s firefox-bin netscape-bin

To test type 'netscape' into the command line and this should start FireFox (or the browser you are using). If this is the case then the visualisation package should use this browser to display the help and faq pages.

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There has been some reported problems with 24-bit colour being used on Linux platforms. This may be due to a limitation in the number of colours that can be held in memory and so a temporary colour space is created for the graphics windows. This is switched to when the mouse rolls over these, hence the rest of the screen is affected. Try switching to a 16-bit colour mode which has been successful in fixing this problem.

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You can only see 'season' or 'year' data for years in a completed phase. This is because of the extra data processing that occurs at the end of each phase, which converts 'timestep' data into monthly averages.

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Don't use the print option. Save the image as a .jpg, .png or .bmp and check the 'white background' box. Then print the image directly from the folder you saved it to.

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Probably because the default x-axis scale on the graph is inappropriate for the field you are plotting. If you have no idea what values might be appropriate, use the 'my scale' option to change the range to something very large (e.g. -20 to +50 for temperature) and then reduce the scale later when you know what values are appropriate.

Alternatively, in 'timestep' mode, it may be because you have just restarted BOINC or it is going through a slow spell - wait a few minutes and see what happens.

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The resolution is the same as the model resolution. To read more about this, click here .

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Make sure that the Advanced Visualisation was installed in the same folder as your currently running experiment. Also look at the 'work' section of your BOINC interface to make sure that you really do have a climateprediction.net experiment currently running. If it has just started running, give it 5 minutes or so before trying to open the Advanced Visualisation.

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Click on the box next to 'auto-refresh' to tell the visualisation to update as the model runs. You can alter how frequently the screen refreshes using the 'preferences' menu item in the 'file' menu.

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Periodically BOINC suspends the current model from running and performs some bench mark tests. During this time, despite the fact that BOINC is running, the climateprediction.net model appears to have stopped. Open BOINC and check the messages for an indication that benchmarks are being run. If this is the case wait until it has finished and then try to plot again.

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Error messages

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To be able to plot the current state of an experiment it must be running when the visualisation is started. This error indicates that the current model has not been detected, this can for two reasons. Either the model is not running, in which case close the visualisation packages and start BOINC and ensure that the climateprediction.net model is running and restart the visualisation package. Alternatively the model is running but the visualisation has failed to find it. Ensure that the 'AdvancedVisualisation.sav' file is located in the climateprediction.net project folder (which is either 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\projects\www.climateprediction.net' or 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\projects\climateprediction.net' by default but will depend on where BOINC was initially installed).

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The current experiment is running and has been detected. This identifies a folder in which should be the files required for the model to run, this folder is noted in the error message. However, the folder does not contain the expected files and so the visualisation package will not allow any current experiment plots. Ensure that the 'AdvancedVisualisation.sav' file is located in the climateprediction.net project folder (which is either 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\projects\www.climateprediction.net' or 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\projects\climateprediction.net' by default but will depend on where BOINC was initially installed). Specifically ensure that the 'AdvancedVisualisation.sav' is located in the correct project folder if BOINC has been installed twice.

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The splash screen is the picture that first appears when starting the application. This requires the file 'splash_vis.bmp' to be in the same folder as the 'AdvancedVisualisation.sav' file. Ensure this is the case and re-start the visualisation package.

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If no currently running experiment is detected the visualisation package can still display plots based on finished experiments. However, in this case no currently running experiment has been detected and also no finished experiments have been found. In this case the visualisation package can not plot anything and so will exit. If you are sure there are experiments to plot ensure that the 'AdvancedVisualisation.sav' file is located in the climateprediction project folder (which is either 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\projects\www.climateprediction.net' or 'C:\Program Files\BOINC\projects\climateprediction.net' by default but will depend on where BOINC was initially installed).

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The visualisation package loads some images for the buttons and without these images the visualisation can not load. Ensure that the file 'button_images.sav' is in the same folder as the 'AdvancedVisualisation.sav' file and restart the application.

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The help HTML file noted in the error message has not been found. Ensure that the file exists and try again. Alternatively browe to www.climateprediction.net and follow links to an on-line version.

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When the visualisation package started a current model was detected as running. This error message is created when an attempt to get the data from the currently running experiment has failed. Firstly ensure that the model is actually running but opening up BOINC, select the 'Work' tab, right click on the climateprediction.net project and click on 'Show Graphic'. The standard visualisation should display the current models data. If this is not the case then ensure that your project setting allow the model to run at this time. If the model is running then restart the visualisation package and attempt the plot again.

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This error is specific to the TOA net shortwave radiation plot. A required file of data for this plot has not been found, in either a zipped or unzipped format. Without this data the plot can not proceed and so nothing is plotted. Without the data these plot options are not possible, try again with different ranges selected.

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It is recommended that once an experiment has finished the folder of archived data is moved to another location on the hard drive. To allow the user to plot these experiments it is possible to select another folder to search for archived folders of data (click 'File' -> 'Change experiment' and then click the 'Add' button). This error message occurs when the visualisation application starts and the user has defined a folder to search for archived folders of data but the specified folder does not exist. Once the application has started click the 'Add' button again and select a folder which does exist.

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The user is trying to plot data from the current experiment, but that data does not exists yet and so the plot is not possible. Note that only after a phase has been completed is the data written to file in a usable manner. This means that it is possible that the timestep plot indicates that the current experiment has completed data up to 1814 but when trying to plot data from year 1813 it fails. this is because until the phase has completely finished this data is not available. Additionally this error message indicates that the model is still in phase 1 and so there will be no data to be plot, except for timestep plots.

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The user is trying to plot data from the current experiment, but that data does not exists yet and so the plot is not possible. Note that only after a phase has been completed is the data written to file in a usable manner. This means that it is possible that the timestep plot indicates that the current experiment has completed data up to 1814 but when trying to plot data from year 1813 it fails. this is because until the phase has completely finished this data is not available.

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The user is trying to plot data from an archived experiment. However, this plot requires a file which does not exist, either zipped or unzipped, and so the data is not availabale for this plot. Without the data these plot options are not possible, try again with different ranges selected.

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The user is trying to plot data from an archived experiment. A data file has been found, but only in zipped format. Before being used it must be unzipped. This operation has failed, the user can try to unzip the file manually (file name noted in the error message).

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A data file has been found, and opened successfully. However, when searching that file for a particular field it has not been found. Either the file is corrupt or there has been an error in the application. If this error persists then inform the climateprediction.net team via the website www.climateprediction.net

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A data file has been found, and opened successfully. The correct field to plot has been located in the file but the size of the returned data is not as expected and so this plot is not possible. Either the file is corrupt or there has been an error in the application. If this error persists then inform the climateprediction.net team via the website www.climateprediction.net

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The user is trying to output the data for a 'Surface map' plot at each timestep using the auto ouput option. However, the foilder specified does not exist and so this operation is not possible. Check the output folder by cicking 'File'->'Output data' and then check that the folder in displayed in the 'Auto output folder' box exists. To chnage it click the 'Browse...' button.

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The user is trying to output data but the file specified can not be opened. The reason is given at the start of the error text but ensure that the file is not open by any other application.

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The user has tried to plot data help in the first memory slot, but currently there is no data available. To use this function put data in the first memory slot by plotting a 'Surface map' plot and clicking the 'Put plot into memory slot 1' button.

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The user has tried to plot data help in the second memory slot, but currently there is no data available. To use this function put data in the first memory slot by plotting a 'Surface map' plot and clicking the 'Put plot into memory slot 2' button.

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The folder names created for completed experiments are based on the models shared memory key and as such are not very clear. The user can re-name archived experiements, which rather than changing the names of the folders creates a file to look up the user defined names. Due to the structure of how theses names are stored the user can not include either '@@' or '::' in the user defined experiment names. This error occurs because the user has changed the experiment names and it includes these forbidden character combinations, change the required experiment name to a valid name and re-submit the request.

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The folder names created for completed experiments are based on the models shared memory key and as such are not very clear. The user can re-name archived experiements, which rather than changing the names of the folders creates a file to look up the user defined names. The user can not name an experiment 'Current Experiment' since this is a reserved name within the application, change the required experiment name to a valid name and re-submit the request.

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The folder names created for completed experiments are based on the models shared memory key and as such are not very clear. The user can re-name archived experiements, which rather than changing the names of the folders creates a file to look up the user defined names. The user must enter a name for each experiment, ensure each experiment has a valid name and re-submit the request.

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The folder names created for completed experiments are based on the models shared memory key and as such are not very clear. The user can re-name archived experiements, which rather than changing the names of the folders creates a file to look up the user defined names. The user must enter unique name for each experiment since repetition might be potentially confusing, ensure each experiment has a unique name and re-submit the request.

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