Frequently asked questions

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Revision as of 05:59, 17 November 2012 by imported>Fggluck
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AgentCubes

The AgentCubes worlds are not rendering correctly. What can I do? (Windows)

Most likely this is an outdated driver problem. Older GPUs (graphics chips) or less powerful ones found often in laptops, particularly Intel ones, are notorious for not rendering OpenGL properly. If your CPU is not sufficiently powerful or if your system does not feature sufficient video memory then there may be little that can be done. However, in most cases updating your video driver will fix things.

If you do not know what graphics chip you have, you can launch AgentCubes, and the first screen does a hardware test and will tell you. Start up AgentCubes and the screen with the rotating cubes has your hardware information on it. You can also use the About AgentCubes function to access this diagnostic tool. To update your video driver locate instructions on the web. There are options in your Windows control panel to update the video drivers. Sometimes this process is not entirely successful and you are better off going to the vendor support of your video hardware. For instance, if you have Intel video hardware you check the Intel Driver Update Center. Here you can find what you need, and follow the installation instruction. AgentCubes should render properly once this is done.


Will my computer be able to run AgentCubes? What are the requirements?

  • AgentCubes for Mac: OS X 10.6 or higher, Intel Processor. 2GB RAM or higher, 150 MB available HD space.
  • AgentCubes for PC: Windows 7 (Vista not supported, XP not supported), Intel pentium 4 1.3 GHz or better, GB RAM or higher, 150 MB available HD Space. Recommended: dedicated video card (e.g. NVIDIA or ATI/AMD).


How do I know that I am in AgentCubes Lite Mode?

AgentCubes runs in a Free Downloadable Lite Mode when no Registration Key has been purchased or entered. You know you're running in Lite Mode when many of the Actions and Conditions are greyed out and will not respond when you click on them. If you would like to run a fully-functioning version of AgentCubes, purchase a key, and enter it when prompted as AgentCubes is starting.


How can I add agents in the z-plane with the multi agent insert tool?

Normally when you click and drag with the multi agent insert tool, it will add agents in the x-y plane as you drag.  If you hold down the shift key while dragging the mouse up or down, it will add or remove stacks of agents to the z plane. 


How can I disable Conversational Programming?

Conversational Programming provides you with semantic feedback of specific agents. This will annotate conditions and rules to show if conditions are true and if rules would fire. To disable this simply deselect the agent by clicking at the background of the world (not some other agent).

How do I use the "Plot to window" function?

AgentCubes has a powerful plotting capability that permits collecting data from AgentCubes simulation properties and agent attributes, plotting them dynamically during simulation, and exporting the data to a spreadsheet format for further analysis. Click here to see an example of the use Plot-to-window function.

In the first field of each plot-to-window function, the name of the variable (simulation property or agent attribute) to be plotted is specified. The second field specifies the title of a window in which to display the data as it is generated. NOTE: multiple variables may be displayed in the same window; however, the limit is two (2) variables per plot window. Attempts to display more than two variables in the same window will result in only two of the variables being displayed. In order to display three or more variables in the same simulation run, simply specify additional display windows, by specifying a different name in the second field. This is shown in the example Plot-to-window function at the link above.


The third field in the plot-to-window function specifies a brief description of the meaning of the variable being plotted. This will become the name of a column of data that is later exported to an external spreadsheet format. The final field specifies the color of the line used to plot the variable.


After a simulation completes, the "Export to spreadsheet" button in the plot window creates a ".CSV" file with the data from the plot, with one column for each variable plotted. At the top of each column is the name that was specified in the third field of the plot-to-window function.

Click here to see an example of multiple Plot-to-window function windows during a simulation.

Click here to see an example of data exported from a Plot-to-window function.