"Blocked for this application" error

[goncharovdk]

Hello, I'm an economics student who tried to open a model downloaded from a professor's website. I got the next error message: "Stop from Vensim: Unable to open the package <filename>.vpmx (blocked for this application)".

The message does not seem clear to me. OK, the file is blocked but why? Does this mean that the file is blocked by Windows due to a reason? Don't think so, as the message header cleary says it's from Vensim, not from OS.

Is it blocked by Vensim itself? What's the possible reason? Versions incompatibility? Do I need full version instead of PLE Academic to open it? Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[Administrator]

You'll need to ask the person that published the model. They've published it as only being able to be opened by a certain version of Vensim, and must have unticked PLE.

[tomfid]

One possibility is that it uses subscripts, which won't work in PLE. You could try opening it with the free Model Reader instead.

[goncharovdk]

You could try opening it with the free Model Reader instead.

Yes, it seems that the model was published for the Reader to be read-only. But this creates one more problem.

I've installed the Reader but it just does not start. The error is: "Resource file comes from a different version of Vensim (002)", and then "Reinstall Vensim (error 977)".

I've uninstalled both the Reader and the PLE, rebooted and installed the Reader only again. This does not help. Installation option "Reset all Vensim settings" also does not help.

[goncharovdk]

Gosh... Forum search for "resource file" says "The following words in your search query were ignored because they are too common words: resource file."

[tomfid]

You can google the same via "site:www.ventanasystems.co.uk resource file" - but it won't help because there's evidently an installer bug - I can replicate your experience. We'll get it fixed ASAP.

[Administrator]

If you download and install the model reader again, it should work ok now.

[goncharovdk]

If you download and install the model reader again, it should work ok now.

Thank you, yes, I've downloaded the Reader again and now it starts.

But this is not the end of the story. When I tried to open the model, nothing happened at first. No error messages, but the window header said: "No model open". The file is added to the list of recent files though.

After a couple of restarts, the Reader started to display "read_ini_file" error message after each start. But now I can open the model at last!

To be honest, after all that, I'm not sure if the model works as supposed by its author. Will experiment with it in the nearest days.

Just FYI, now I have both PLE and the Reader installed in different folders. Not sure if this could be the cause of trouble.

[goncharovdk]

Still does not work.

In "New GUI" mode, nothing happens on model opening. In "Old GUI" mode, "read_ini_file" message is shown, and the model is still not usable (as I expected). Model parameters sliders are dead.

[Administrator]

Can you point us to the model so we can try it?

Running tests here, all works fine for me.

Also, are you on Windows or Mac?

[goncharovdk]

Can you point us to the model so we can try it?

Yes, sure. I'm trying to open models provided with "Money and Macroeconomic Dynamics" book by prof. Kaoru Yamaguchi. The model I'm talking about is named Auctioneer. It's from Chapter 2. (Models published on this website are packed to zip files, so I can't provide a direct link, sorry.)

I'm on Windows 10.

[Administrator]

Thank you.

We've updated the model reader, if you download and install again, things should now work ok (I've tested using the model from the link you provided).

[goncharovdk]

We've updated the model reader, if you download and install again, things should now work ok (I've tested using the model from the link you provided).

Thank you very much, yes, the new version works much better in both "New" and "Old" GUI modes. No strange errors etc. There are some error messages when switching GUI modes with a model opened, but this seems justified. Simulation works also, in general.

But - maybe, I'm doing something wrong, but - I still cannot manipulate with sliders in any GUI mode. Also, the current values of variables attached to sliders aren't shown. In Old mode, I can see the allowed range for the variable on the slider. In New mode, no numbers near sliders at all.

[Administrator]

Sliders are working fine for me. Are you using SyntheSim mode to run the simulation?

[tomfid]

Works for me too ... but there are a lot of models. Is the problem in a particular one?

[goncharovdk]

Thanks for the replies. Unfortunately, right now I cannot provide more feedback as I'm now busy preparing for exams. If there will be something meaningful to add, I'll post it here later, sorry.