Loading error for .p4w files in Phast for Windows

[swilke]

Good evening,

I am using Phast for Windows Version x64 3.4.0.12927 and am having trouble loading saved files in the programs own .p4w format. Whenever I attempt to open either a file I created myself or one of the two tutorial files "flow.p4w" or "transport.p4w" that are distributed with the tutorial slides, I get three error messages:

1. Failed to open document
2. An unsupported operation was attempted.
3. Exception thrown in destructor (f:\dd\vctools\vc7libs\ship\atlmfc\src\mfc\viewcore.cpp:59) An invalid argument was encountered.

In contrast, I can open the many example files that are installed with Phast for Windows just fine. Creating new files works, too. Starting the program as administrator doesn't help either. Could it be a problem related with external files like shapes or background images?

[dlparkhurst]

Attach the p4w file, preferably for a flow-only simulation that fails to load, and we will take a look at it.

[swilke]

It didn't help to reinstall. Maybe something related to external files like shapes and images?

[swilke]

Just tried again and suddenly it worked and all files loaded. Restarted computer. Now nothing works and the loading fails... I am a bit confused.

Had to split the upload due to file size restrictions.

[TS]

Hi Everyone.
I have the same problem. Could you solve the problem?

[dlparkhurst]

First, my apology to swilke if I did not reply to those posts.

We think the problem is that you may have more than one HDF dll (hdf5.dll).

Do the following at a Windows command prompt:

where hdf5.dll

If 2 or more instances are listed, then try rearranging your environmental variable path so that

C:\Program Files\USGS\phast-3.6.15100\bin\

occurs before the other location.

We will keep checking to reproduce the problem, but let me know whether this suggestion works.

[dlparkhurst]

I did reproduce the problem. I "repaired" my HDF from an msi file, but I am not sure whether I actually installed a newer version or the repair made other changes. However, after the repair, I was able to open the files posted by swilke. We'll keep looking.

[TS]

Thanks for your request, but it doesn't work. But it was a good advice as well.
I have solved the problem nearly.
I unistalled the program modelmuse, hdf-exporter and the batch version of phast. When the windows version of Phast was alone, it runs without any problems. After then I reinstalled the batch version of Phast (i nead it because of the hdf-Exporter). Now it works nearly with all p4w.files, but not with all. It doesn't open the p4w.files with shapefile for chemistry definitions. The files with the restart-chemistry definition are open without a problem.

Best Regards
Tina

[dlparkhurst]

We finally isolated the problem. There is a value in p4w files that is read incorrectly as a variable of the wrong size (32 bit instead of 64 bit). P4W mostly works, but if it fails, there is really no reliable work around.

Contact me offline through this forum and we can discuss options for you. We currently are working on new versions of all codes and will fix this bug in the next release. I think it only affects shape files.

[dlparkhurst]

A fix (Phast for Windows Version 3.7.4-prerelease-1) is available at

https://github.com/usgs-coupled/wphast/releases

Hopefully new versions of all PHREEQC programs will be released in the next couple of months (today is March 21, 2024).