What you need to know before you Install

This is the section you are interested in for BOTH licensed and evaluation HSPF Toolkit installations.  We don't distinguish between the two.  Installation is handled through the link below.  The program will install itself on your machine.  You DO NOT have a choice of where it is installed!  Once installed, updates are automatic until we decide otherwise.  Updates are free for a particular product release. 

The version of the program that you installed is what we consider "feature locked", meaning that we aren't adding new features to the program but will make enhancements to the UI, improve help and error trapping, fix bugs, and other "maintenance" type activities.  We do reserve the right to actually add a new feature to the program at any time if we really want everyone to have access to the feature immediately.

For an established program like StormShed, the version updates had a cycle of 2-3 years, meaning that we didn't ask for money for the next version for 2-3 years after the previous version release.  For HSPF Toolkit, we will probably start on the next version IMMEDIATELY with a target update in about a year.  This is inevitable because it is a new product and far from being feature complete for its intended audience.  In fact, the level of interest in the program will drive the product development and enhancements.

We understand that engineers, or anyone for that matter, do not like continued updates, but consider this, no one paid us to develop this product so that we could sell it to you, and no one is forcing you to use the program, and you will never see or meet us in the lobby waiting to give a presentation.  So to that end, we are focused solely on developing a product that will do two things, empower you as the HSPF user and make it easier for you to do what you need to do.  We think HSPF Toolkit is capable of achieving those goals.

Requirements

• Windows XP or Vista
• Minimum 1 MB RAM, the larger the Time Series, the more RAM you will need.
• Multi-processor preferred. This program will take advantage of multi-processors to process info in the background!
• HSPF runtime.
• Optional, WDMUtil installed on the machine.
• Internet connection for product authentication.
• The contents of PrecipRegions.zip downloaded and installed somewhere on your network (see notes).
• Download and install this OCX to enable the use of the new GIS precipitation selector feature.  It is a required prerequisite to the program, but could not figure out how to get our installation technology to automatically include it with the installation.  Sorry.

Notes:

• It seems that the Basins4 version of WinHSPHLt.exe runs in Vista.  We have been unable to run the version of WDMUtil.exe in Vista.
• When running extended 15 minute extended time series, (100+ years at 15 min steps) there are serious memory issues.  We have not figured out what to do about it.  It seems because of Windows Vista Memory management, if you let the computer "sit" for awhile just before you do something with a DSN, it will work.  This happens because Windows does a lot of stuff in the background and if you initiate a memory intensive computation before it is done, . . . the system
• PrecipRegions.zip is a file that contains a GIS map of Washingtion State and allows you to just click on a location to get the precipitation at that location.  It will automatically compute the multiplier for you that offsets your project site from the nearest gage.  You will then be given the option of inserting that into the UCI.

Problems:  Cisco Security has interfered with HSPFToolkit on a number of installations.  Apparently, Cisco Security FAILS to raise a red flag during the installation and in fact leaves no message.  Apparently, exiting CS prior to installing does not help the install.  If you are running Cisco Security, your Cisco Administrator may have to add an exception for HSPFTool in order for the installation to complete properly.

We are providing a short installation video that is worth looking at before you proceed.  It is titled HSPFToolkit Installation Video and will download to your computer before starting.  Requires Windows Media Player.

So, click here to install either the evaluation or licensed version of the program on your machine.  We are busy working on this website, and a number of other projects, so believe it or not, on-line payment and licensing is not high on our priority list at the time.  There are more interesting things related to HSPF Toolkit as a product that we are working on.  Please call us (206-784-7175) or email us when you are ready to purchase a license.

Program Features added after the Video was created

Yeah, we keep upgrading the program even after the initial release.

• You can not double click on any record line in the UCI file to access a dialog based input form.
• We modified the Sum Schematic feature to provide a report for the entire schematic section.
• We added the ability to compare the PERLND AND IMPLND values in the UCI file against the Regional Parameters Database.