Frequently Answered Questions

Troubleshooting

GNU/Linux

For GNU/Linux related questions, please refer to Dinamica GNU/Linux - Frequently Asked Questions

Question T-1

After installing Dinamica EGO it shows only a blank screen with a toolbar and a menubar. What is wrong?

To workaround the problem, open Dinamica EGO, goes to the Window menu and choose the Reset Window Layout item. Then, close Dinamica EGO and start it again. Dinamica EGO should display the correct layout on the next run.

Typically, this problem may occurs only on the first run of a new Dinamica EGO installation.

Question T-3

Dinamica EGO will not start because it says 'Could not create the Java virtual machine'. What is wrong?

Edit the file Dinamica.vmoptions located in the Dinamica EGO installation folder using a raw text editor (like notepad or notepad++). The content of the original file can be seen below:

-Xss1m
-Xms64m
-Xmx8096m

These values represent the maximum amount of memory available to Dinamica Graphical Interface (in megabytes). If Dinamica still not launching, lower the -Xmx value and try again. Only lower the value just far enough to allow Dinamica to launch, as the lower this value is, the less memory it is allowed to use. Lowering this value will not impact model execution performance but the Graphical Interface may become useless.

Question T-4

Dinamica EGO will not start because it says 'Unable to deserialize perspectives from XML'. What is wrong?

Probably, the perspective file used to store the layout of the graphical interface is corrupted. To workaround this issue, remove the folder containing the perspective configuration and restart the application.

The perspective configuration file is usually stored in the folder C:\Users\<User>\.jydocking.

Question T-5

My Anti-Virus is telling me that Dinamica EGO is trying to open an Internet connection. Why does Dinamica EGO need access to the Internet?

Dinamica EGO uses an Internet connection to check for new updates and to access the online documentation. No additional information, other than the version of the Dinamica EGO software installed in your system, is sent.

If you prefer, you can disable the version check disabling the “Tools => Options | System | Update” switch, but this is not recommended.

Question T-6

My Anti-Virus is telling me that Dinamica EGO is trying to download some files to my computer. Why does Dinamica EGO need to download new files?

Since version 2.0, Dinamica EGO has an auto-update feature, so it automatically downloads patches to upgrade the version installed in your system to the newest version. This makes the update process easier and less disruptive.

It works this way:

Every time a new version is available, Dinamica EGO automatically downloads the corresponding patches in the background. The patches are stored in the user temp folder.

When all file were downloaded, Dinamica EGO asks you to restart the application.

The patches are applied and the new version becomes available.

If you prefer, you can disable the auto-update disabling the “Tools => Options | System | Update” switch, but this is not recommended.

Question T-7

After an update, Dinamica EGO shows a message like 'Dinamica failed to auto update'. What should I do?

This error is really unusual. To help us investigate the problem, copy and send the auto update log file, named app_updater_log.txt, to dinamica@csr.ufmg.br. The log file is located in the folder C:\Users\<User>\AppData\Local\Temp\AppUpdater_DinamicaEGO.

Question T-8

Dinamica EGO asked me to restart the application and now it is stuck in a loop repeatedly showing a dialog saying 'Dinamica EGO will now ask for Administrator permission'. What is wrong?

The Windows User Access control (UAC) system is disabled on your computer. When UAC is disabled, Dinamica EGO can not open a special system dialog to ask the user for administrator privileges in order to proceed. This dialog also allows the user to cancel the pending update and run the version already installed.

To prevent the occurrence of this problem, enable the UAC system on your computer. If you can not enable UAC, you may turn off the auto-update feature to workaround this issue. However, turning off the auto-update is not recommended.

Question T-9

Dinamica EGO is reporting that 'The file X does not exist', but I am sure file X is there. What is wrong?

There is a bug in the current Dinamica EGO version preventing the software from loading and writing maps, Weight of Evidence coefficient files and CSV tables if the file name or its path include some non-ASCII characters such as ç, ã, ê and ü.

To workaround this limitation, make sure your are including only characters that are part of the English alphabet in your file names and paths. Other universal characters like _, - and white spaces can be used normally. Check the list of ASCII printable characters for a reference.

This limitation no longer applies to Dinamica EGO version 4.0.x and newer.

Question T-10

When I run my simulation/model, Dinamica EGO reports an error like 'The index 12345678 is out of bounds [0, 9876543]'. What is wrong?

You are probably using images with different geometries as part of your model in Dinamica EGO 3.0.x (or earlier versions). Make sure all your images have the same number of lines and the same number of columns.

It is worth noting that Dinamica EGO 4.0.x (and later versions) does not require input images to have the same number of lines and columns, or extents.

Question T-11

Dinamica EGO does not install on my computer. When I click on the Dinamica EGO installer, nothing happens. What is wrong?

First, make sure the installer is not corrupted. Also, make sure your anti-virus is not blocking the Dinamica EGO installer.

When using Windows 10 or Windows 8/8.1, Windows SmartScreen Filter (and some anti-virus) tends to warn the user about a potential hazard when installing Dinamica EGO. This is not caused by Dinamica itself, but simply by the fact that Dinamica EGO is not as popular as Microsoft Office or Google Chrome, so the anti-virus will flag the software as unknown or suspicious. It is safe to ignore this warnings and proceed with the installation, as long as you have downloaded Dinamica EGO from a reliable source, preferably from the Dinamica EGO website.

Question T-12

When I try to run Dinamica EGO, I get a message box that says 'Unable to load library “JavaBinding”'. What is wrong?

Installing the “Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015” on your computer will fix the issue. Usually, the Dinamica EGO installer tries to install the redistributable files itself, but in case it fails, you might have to install them manually:

Go to the Microsoft website, and click the “Download” button.

After installing this utility, try running Dinamica EGO again.

Documentation

Question D-1

I can't find Dinamica's pdf guidebook file anywhere. Where was it installed at?

In version Dinamica 2.2 and beyond, the updated guidebook is no longer available as a pdf file. It is available now as part of the online documentation Wiki and can be found here.

General

Question G-1

What languages is Dinamica EGO available in?

For now, the software is only available in English.

Question G-2

When I'm running a simulation model, Dinamica EGO closes without informing any error message. What should I do?

Open Dinamica EGO using administrator privileges using “Run As Administrator”.

Open the model.

Before you run it, change the main log level defined in “Tools => Options | General | Main Log” to “Debug”.

Run the model.

As soon as Dinamica EGO crashes and close go to the folder where it was installed, typically C:\Program Files\Dinamica EGO, and copy the file hs_err_pidXXXX.log (XXXX is a number)1) There may be more than one file with that name inside the installation folder. Make sure you get the most recent one .

Go to the user folder, typically C:\Users\<User>\Documents\Dinamica EGO, and copy the file debug.txt.

Compact these two files in a zip file and send it to dinamica@csr.ufmg.br so we can try to find out what's causing Dinamica EGO to crash.

Question G-3

Some times when I try to load a model in Dinamica EGO I get the following error message: 'The input port “<< some name here >>” is not defined.' What am I doing wrong?

It’s probably caused by an old Dinamica EGO version. Please update Dinamica by downloading and installing the latest version from the Download section of its website. It will likely solve your problem.

Question G-4

I am seeing the following message 'This operator is deprecated and should be removed in future releases of Dinamica.' What does it mean?

It means that the use of this operator is no longer recommended as it will be eliminated in the future. Please do not use it or if used, replace this operator in existing models with new ones that perform the same function.

Question G-5

What are difference between each log level available in Dinamica EGO?

Consult the info about Log Levels.

Question G-6

Why Dinamica EGO is automatically converting tests like i1 == null to isNull(i1)?

Unfortunately the expression

if i1 == null then null else 1

does not have the expected meaning. The evaluation of i1 == null always yields null because we can not use null as part of any algebraic expression without “poisoning” its execution. For the same reason, expressions like i1 + null, i1 / null, if null then 1 else 2 always yields null as result. To avoid that, we have to test if the value of a image is null explicitly using the operator isNull or ?. Based on that, the correct expression should be

if isNull(i1) then null else 1

Dinamica EGO automatically identifies the wrong expression and re-write it to better represent the user intention.

For more information about the expression syntax see the documentation of the Image Expression Type. And for more information about how null values are handled during the map and value calculations see Image Expression Null Value Handling

Question G-7

What image formats are supported by Dinamica EGO?

Consult the list of the supported map formats.

Question G-8

I can't find Dinamica's Examples. Where are they installed at?

The default location is C:\Users\<User>\Documents\Dinamica EGO\Dataset.

It is worth noting that the name convention used by the OS to represent these folder names may be different in a localized Windows version.

If you still can't find the folder Dataset, you may have installed it in a different location or you may have skipped its installation while installing Dinamica EGO. We suggest you to re-install the software making sure that the option to install Dinamica EGO's Examples is checked.

It is also possible to download the dataset with the examples directly without having to download and install Dinamica EGO itself: Dataset Download.

Question G-9

How do I change the folder where Dinamica EGO stores temporary images and temporary dll libraries?

By default, Dinamica EGO uses the Windows temporary folder to store temporary images and compiled libraries. Since version 3.0.17, it is possible to define a different temporary folder independently of the definition used by Windows itself. That can be done defining a environment variable “DINAMICA_TEMP_DIR” with the path for the new temporary folder.

On Windows 10, go to “Start menu -> Settings -> System | About | System Info -> Advanced system settings -> Advanced | Environment Variables | System variables”. Then, click on “New” and type “DINAMICA_TEMP_DIR” as the variable name and choose the new path as the variable content.

Question G-10

How does Dinamica EGO interacts with the CSR/UFMG servers? And what kind of information does it send back when I am running the software on my computer?

From time to time it sends a request to our servers checking if user has the latest version of the software. If he/she does not have it, it will download an update and apply it. The user is free to turn off the automatic update checking which will prevent any version checking from being performed. Bear in mind that, when checking for updates, the only information sent to our servers is the current version of the Dinamica software running on the computer. No other information that could potentially be used to identify the user or even the computer is ever sent!

The user can send data to our servers by accessing the “submodel” repository on the application or by downloading “submodels” from our server. All those actions have to be explicitly started by the user. When checking the “submodel” repository, the user receives a list of “submodels” available for download. If the user decides to install one of the “submodels” from the list, a file is downloaded and placed in the user's %localappdata%\Dinamica EGO X folder (where X is Dinamica EGO's major version number), so it can be used by the software.

When browsing a model, and clicking on the “?” button on the action bar, the user will access an online wiki page from our servers with the documentation of the given functor/operator. This is just a standard request for an static page (e.g. http://www.csr.ufmg.br/dinamica/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=calc_cost_map), and it does not send any information that could be used to identify the user or the computer.

License

Question L-1

I’m interested in purchasing Dinamica EGO software for using it in my dissertation. How can I do that?

Dinamica EGO is a free for scientific, commercial and non-commercial use. Go to the Download section of this website and get it. It includes everything you need to get it started (file examples).

Calibration

Question C-1

Is it possible to automatically calibrate the values for “mean patch size”, “patch variance” and “patch isometry” using Dinamica EGO?

There isn't any mechanism for automatic calibrating those values in Dinamica EGO. In case you don't want to use trial and error we recommend using a different software like Fragstats to calculate the parameters.

Question C-2

Why does Dinamica EGO say it can not calculate the multi-step transition matrix?

Unfortunately, the multi-step matrix can only be calculated using the functor Determine Transition Matrix if the single step matrix have a decomposition to its corresponding eigenvectors and eigenvalues. The lack of a that decomposition means that the process can not be represented as ergodic matrices; that is, the eigenvalues are not real numbers. Remember that the time-step matrix is obtained as follows:

P=M*V*INVM

M matrix of Eigenvalues
V matrix of Eigenvectors (V is a diagonal matrix with values different from zero only in its diagonal)
INVM inverse of matrix of Eigenvalues

To get the time step matrix, the elements of matrix V must be raised to the power (1/t), where t is the number of time steps within a time-period. Not all matrices have real-number Eigenvalues, hence the error.

However, it is possible to workaround this limitation calculating a different transition matrix for every year using crude rates instead of net rates. The model variable_time_step_net_transition_rates and submodel Calc Net Transition Rates available as part of the standard Dinamica EGO distribution use that technique.

Question C-3

How can I improve the similarity values resulting from my model calibration?

See this post from Dinamica website about validation.

Performance

Question P-1

How is it possible to maximize Dinamica EGO performance?

See "Useful Tips: Increasing performance".

Question P-2

How much memory (RAM) is Dinamica EGO able to handle?

Windows 64 Bits (Vista 64, 7 64, 8 64, 10 64, Server 2008 R2, Server 2012, Server 2016) & Linux	Dinamica EGO is limited by the amount of memory that you have in your system. So, if you are using Dinamica on a 64 Gigabyte computer, Dinamica will be able to use all memory available, if necessary.
Windows 32 Bits (Vista 32, 7 32, 8 32 and 10 32)	Dinamica EGO is limited by Windows Operating System memory policies (~2 Gigabytes per process), no matter how much memory you have installed in your system. However, Dinamica is a “LargeAddressAware” application, so it is possible to increase the amount of memory used in a 32 bit arquiteture to ~3 Gigabytes following the instructions available here. Beware that changing the Windows memory partition policy can have some unpredicted consequences. Being a a “LargeAddressAware” application also means that the 32 bit version of Dinamica is able to handle ~4 Gigabytes when running on a 64 bit Windows Operating System.

Question P-3

How can I prevent Dinamica EGO from showing “Memory allocation has failed” when it runs my models?

You can try some solutions:

Run Dinamica EGO 64 in a Windows 10/8/7/Vista 64-bit environment and add much more memory to your computer. Do not use a Windows 32-bit environment to run your simulations;

Make sure the flag Disable Raster Map Swapping in Tools|Options|Advanced is unchecked. If your are using the Console Launcher, you will have to edit the model configurations. Unchecking this flag degrades performance, but uses less memory;

Reduce the number of lines and columns in your maps;

Reduce the number of different transitions (2 to 1, 5 to 3 etc) in your simulation. This will reduce the number of layers in the probability map and use less memory;

Use sub-regions in your simulation. This allows Patcher and/or Expander to work with your landscape and probability map one sub-region at a time, using less memory.

Usage

Question U-1

Console Launcher output window only shows the last messages produced by model execution. Is there any way to see the complete model output?

In the folder where the model is been executed, there is a complete log file written by the Console Launcher with the model name. It allows the Console to run several models at the same folder one after another without discarding the previous output logs.

Clicking on the “Show More” on the Console Launcher Output panel, it is possible to see a list of output log of models that have completed the execution and are available for inspection.

Models

Question M-1

What is CARLUC? Where can I find further information regarding it?

CARLUC algorithm is described in the following articles: Hirsch, A.I., Little, W.S., Houghton, R.A., Scott, N.A., and White, J.D. 2004. The net carbon flux due to deforestation and forest re-growth in the Brazilian Amazon: analysis using a process-based model. Global Change Biology, 10, 908-924.