ACTIVE INITIAL differences warning?

[Aidan.s.oliveira]

I am trying to send a Vensim model, with simulations we ran, and the vdfx data files for the simulations, to someone who is unable to run the simulations on her computer. The warning messages she gets is "ACTIVE INITIAL differences found" for many of the stocks and auxiliary variables. I didn't use the "ACTIVE INITIAL" function for most of the variables that get the warning message, so I am not sure why she is getting that warning. I did use the "SIMULTANEOUS" function for many of the variables to avoid an error message that would otherwise result, so perhaps that's causing an issue. I'm not sure why the warning messages should prevent her from seeing the simulations though. Is there something that can be done to let her see the simulations even though the warning messages show up?

[tomfid]

You can turn warnings off in Tools>Options>General.

However, ACTIVE INITIAL warnings only show up at run time, so someone who's only loading VDF files for viewing shouldn't see them.

Can you do a web meeting to see what's really happening?

[Aidan.s.oliveira]

I can do a web meeting. However, I am posting as attachments my Vensim file and data files just in case you can figure out what's happening just by looking at them. Are you able to run the simulations? Also, does "Tools>Options>General" work for Macs too? When I go to tools, I only see the option for "Control Panel", "Molecules", "Selection History", "3rd Party Tools", "Language", and "Switch Back to Old Sketch".

[tomfid]

I don't see any reason for this to happen. I get an active initial warning list if I run the model, but I can load and view the vdfs without any warnings. My warnings are not suppressed.

I think at least some of the SIMULTANEOUS equations are indicative of missing stocks. For example, the SIMULTANEOUS in the Fuel Efficiency of Car is unrealistic, because the vehicle fleet can't change instantaneously in response to prices or other conditions. Fuel efficiency is embodied in the stock of cars in existence, which has a long lifetime. You could either model this as an explicit coflow (stocks of cars and fuel requirements) or something simpler like Fuel Efficiency = SMOOTH( Target Efficiency, fleet adj time ), Target Efficiency = f(price, etc).

[Aidan.s.oliveira]

Yeah, you're right about fuel efficiency not changing immediately. I should probably amend that in a future version of the model. Nevertheless, I need to find out how to get her to open up the simulations I sent above. From my understanding so far, she should probably just suppress her warning messages to try to get it to run. You mentioned to go to " Tools>Options>General". Is this for all versions of Vensim? I'm asking because my Vensim program (VensimPLE on a Mac) doesn't have "Options" under "Tools"?

[tomfid]

I think the SIMULTANEOUS function isn't supported on PLE. (If it works, it's probably a bug.) She could use the free Model Reader to run it though.

[Aidan.s.oliveira]

I was able to open up the simulations just fine, and I'm using the PLE version. She isn't able to open them up using the PLE version, so there has to be something else going on. Here are the exact warning messages she got. Do you get these warnings when you run the simulations?

[Administrator]

You mentioned to go to " Tools>Options>General". Is this for all versions of Vensim? I'm asking because my Vensim program (VensimPLE on a Mac) doesn't have "Options" under "Tools"?

On the Mac, the settings are in the standard place (click Vensim PLE, then preferences).

[tomfid]

The menu locations may have changed between v7 and v9, so I'd recommend an update. Anyway, another easy option is to just ignore the warnings - the model still runs.