WinRAT is built as a native Windows package, but you can install it on a Mac using the regular distribution .msi download, in a system called CrossOver from the company CodeWeavers. You can download CrossOver here: https://www.codeweavers.com. You will need to register as a user and a trial version is free. Once installed it runs in a protected space but has access to the regular file system so your existing sites can be loaded and saved. Saved sites are compatible with those built on a Windows platform and the interactive performace of the CrossOver system is good. The trial version is time-limited but the cost of a permanent licence is small.

The debugger window is raised when a model is executed, but this does not happen when you'd expect. The "source term" part of the model is run whenever details of a block are changed, or when block values may be changed in the site dialog. The loss term is run whenever any part of the layout changes. This means that when you choose the "Explode" menu item the loss values are already known so all that is required in the program is to display the results.

There is now an "Update" button in the "About" dialog to run the licence details dialog. You can use this to replace a licence outside the normal one-month notice period.

The material properties are stored in the file mpdb.xml (and mpdb.xsd). These files are read when the program starts up, and the program looks for them in the same directory (folder) as the program itself (winrat.exe). If it fails to find them in that folder it continues with no materials. This will cause error messages when loading a site, when the program cannot find the materials referenced in the site file, and it will not be possible to add chemicals to a new block. The most common cause of losing materials is when the program winrat.exe is copied to a different location (sometimes, for example, the desktop). If you want to have an icon to start the program, make a shortcut to the program and them move the shortcut to the desired location, leaving the program itself in its original location with the other files it needs. Alternatively, you can copy (or move) the entire folder containing all the files in the winrat distribution (ie. not your own site files) to a new location.

This problem is related to the loss of materials (see above), but in this case it is the algorithms that have not been found. They are in the file rat.mdl, also loaded at startup. The solution is the same as above: rat.mdl must be in the same folder as winrat.exe.

This menu item requires a selected, hazardous block. Since it is possible to have a number of hazardous blocks (blocks containing chemicals), the "Explode" menu item needs to know which one you wish to explode, so you need to select it (a single click in the block). The "Maximise" menu item does not require a selected block because it will work through all the hazardous blocks to find the most damaging one.

The Empirical algorithm does not use temperature or pressure. The algorithms are all described in detail in the help system, and different algorithms use different block attributes.

The simplest way to do this is to allocate the total site value to the default value category ("Residual") in the "Site details" dialog. Then, when creating each block, tick the "Lock value" checkbox. This enables editing of the block value field, and you can enter the value you want the block to have. Since the value is "Locked", it will not be changed by the program, and the program will distribute the rest of the category value amongst the remaining unlocked blocks if possible. The total site value will always be the sum of all the block values, so it can be less then the amount allocated to the value categories, if all the blocks have locked values.

No! You can have all your blocks belong to one category, or have a few categories. The main consideration is that when the program distributes the category value amongst blocks in a category, it allocates value weighted by block area. The idea is that some types of unit (eg. storage) have a generally lower value for their size than others (eg. process units). If you want to model a site with a large number of storage tanks, you could create a "storage" category and allocate to it the total value of the storage tanks on the site. Then when you create a block for each tank, set its value category to be "storage", and the program will distribute the value evenly amongst all the storage blocks.

The licence details are stored in the Windows registry, so you will need to enter the details afresh on each new computer, the first time you run WinRAT on it. There is no limit on the number of copies you can make of the licence details.

You can download the regular system, and we will supply you with a provisional licence (email us). This will allow you to drive the program, but will have the "Save" functionality disabled so you will not be able to store any work that you do. You will, however, be able to read site files generated by other users.

Under Windows XP and Vista, if you have installed WinRAT on a network drive, then Windows will behave as if the help pages come from an external website and may refuse to display them. The Windows help system uses html files and uses the same software as an internet browser to display them. If your system administrators cannot change the restrictions on browser display, then the simplest solution is to take a local copy of the file winrat.chm from the shared network installation folder. You can display the online help by double-clicking this file yourself, although the winrat program itself will not be able to find it.