Knowledge Base

Issues with Building PSCAD Projects on a Network Drive

It is recommended that our customers always build their PSCAD projects on local drives.

Projects should not be built on a network drive, as this can be very difficult to set up and diagnose. Also, if this is set up successfully, it can be unreliable, as it can be impacted by updates made by your IT Department.

To illustrate how building on the network can fail, the following provides an overview of this process, using the Intel® Fortran and Microsoft® Visual Studio compiling combination:

  1. PSCAD will compile the schematics into Fortran code on the network drive.

  2. Intel Fortran compiler will be called to create object files on the network drive.

  3. Visual Studio “building” utilities will link and combine all the objects and build an executable simulation on the network drive.

In Step 3 above, the Visual Studio utilities will often fail to link objects that are on network drives. This may be due to network delays, firewalls, antivirus software and built-in network security. There are also path issues related to how path names are resolved and defined and what is acceptable by the Visual Studio “building” utilities.

The above issues also occur when using other compiler combinations as well.

Although certainly not a recommended practice, the following are some tips for PSCAD users who would like to try building their projects on a network drive:

  1. If 8.3 file naming is not enabled: Remove any PSCAD files from the network, enable 8.3    (see link below), then return the PSCAD files back to the network.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.3_filename

(or)

Ensure there are no spaces in the file path to your projects and libraries, and that your paths are short.

2.  Obtain full access permissions to the network drive by your IT department.

3.  Ensure PSCAD is configured as an exception in any firewalls.*

4.  Ensure PSCAD is configured as an exception in any antivirus protection.*

*Refer to the following resources for requirements related to setting your protection software:

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