RTS3-XP reads and saves the values of its parameters in the text file RTS3-XP.CFG or any conformant text file -- i.e. same format, same order, same number of parameters.
The parameters values are set or modified in the EDIT menu and may be saved in the File > Save Parameters submenu (they are not automatically saved at the end of the session -- they may be saved under another name such as RTS3-050408.CFG for a session made on April 5, 2008 and recalled later with the Files > Load Parameters sub menu).
| Only one 'species' ? | yes/no | 1 or 2 sets of zooids will be created |
| Simulation Mode | PIX/CHAR | PIX: a creature = a 4
x 4 pixels square - CHAR: a creature = a character. In CHAR mode, the space is bounded and results are not ecologically significant. |
| Internal clock pace | integer | Pace of each zooid or Vibilia internal clock: each creature "will execute all its biological functions (metabolism, feeding, moving) at every cycle of its biological clock. Each cycle represents 1 day. So the internal clock pace is the duration, in milliseconds,corresponding to 1 cycle of a zooid. |
| Simulation duration | real | Duration of the simulation in number of cycles (simulated "days"). |
| Restricted orientations | yes/no | yes: moves are restricted to 4 directions (N,E,S,or W) no : moves are possible along 8 directions (N,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W,or NW). |
| Pavement size | 0,1,2 or 4 | 0 means no checkerboard pattern (in the
"food area"); 1 means full pavements 1 x 1 location alternating with 1 x 1 empty areas; 2 means full pavements 2 x 2 locations alternating with 2 x 2 empty areas; 4 means 4 x 4 pavements. |
| Phyto renewal pace | integer | Number of milliseconds between successive renewals of the phytoplankton. |
| Food lag | integer | Delay before the periodic renewal of food will begin. Food_Lag is expressed in creature cycles, i.e. in "days". |
| Initial phyto amount | real | Food value at each non-empty position of the "food area" at the start of the simulation (0.0 to 10.0). Unit: micro.g.Chla per cubic meter, but will be converted internally to micrograms C per grid cell of 0.1 m3, and scaled down to 25, the scaling factor for chains (a real chain of 125 aggregates corresponds to a 'chain' with 5 aggregates in the simulation). |
| F_Unit | real | Scaling factor for converting food values in the final results. |
| Constant food | yes/no | yes: the food amount is regenerated as soon as a zooid has ingested
its ration; this is very useful for debugging, because (if Pavement
size = 0) there is then the same amount of food everywhere, and it
cannot be depleted. If Constant_Food=no, food is not updated when eaten (normal mode). |
| Display On | yes/no | yes: all creatures codes are displayed in the swimming area.
Displaying permanently the creatures codes consumes a lot of CPU,
which impacts the scheduling; the distribution of zooids may be
different with and without display, unless Internal_Pace is long
enough. If Display_On = no, only the creatures counters are shown. The beginning and ending food distributions are always available. |
| 1st AA zooid pos. (line) or (col) | # of pixels | AA = first set of zooids - BB = second set of zooids. (line): vertical location of the first zooid; 0 means vertically centered in the grid. (col): horizontal location of the first zooid; 0 means horizontally centered in the grid. |
| 1st zooid direction | N,E,S,W... | First zooid swimming direction, among those allowed by Restricted_Orientations (see above). |
| Embryonic delay | real | Duration between the zooid birth and its first move. If Random_Delay = yes, this duration (in days) will be random and uniformly distributed between 0.0 and Embryonic_Delay; otherwise its (constant) value will be Embryonic_Delay. |
| Random_Delay | yes/no | (Yes highly recommended, becauses the zooids will be slightly desynchronized, and have thus a better chance to avoid memory allocation problems during reproduction). |
| Mortality | real | Proportion (0.0 .. 1.0) of zooids which will be struck randomly by accidental death before maturity. |
| Number of chains | integer | Number of chain generations emitted during the life of the oozooid. |
| Number of aggregates | integer | Number of aggregates (= of individuals or blastozooids) making up a chain. The number of blastozooids making a real Salpa fusiformis chain is about 125. The current hardware/compiler combination cannot support the exponential growth of Ada tasks which would result from such a number of blastozooids. To cope with this limitation, chains in RTS3-XP are mini-chains which should not be composed of more than 5 aggregates. The amount of food in each location is scaled down by 25 internally to cope with this situation. |
| First oozooid lag | real | Usually 0.0 for the AA set, First oozooid lag is the delay (in 'days') before the creation of the first BB oozooid. |
| Stolon formation | real | Duration in 'days' between the emission of the free-swimming chain with immature aggregates to the apparition of the first female aggregates. |
| Stolon maturation | real | Duration in 'days' between the first female aggregates to the first male aggregates. |
| Between chain interval | real | Duration between two successive chain emissions by the oozooid. |
| Ooz. cadaver longevity | real | Duration before total decomposition of an oozooid cadaver. |
| Gonad maturation | real | Duration between the new female aggregate to a female with mature oocytes. |
| Female duration | real | Duration beween the first mature female to the apparition of the first male aggregate. |
| Male duration | real | Duration between the apparition of the first male aggregate to the death of the aggregate. |
| Bl. cadaver longevity | real | Duration before total decomposition of an aggregate (blastozooid) cadaver. |
| Ooz. adult weight | real | Weight of an adult oozooid, EXCLUDING the "Reserves, in µg.C (30_000.0 max). |
| Bl. adult weight | real | Weight of 1 adult aggregate (blastozooid), EXCLUDING the "Reserves", in µg.C (30_000.0 max)." |
| Ooz. initial weight | real | Weight of a newborn oozooid when it leaves its parent chain, EXCLUDING the "Reserves". |
| Bl. initial weight | real | Weight of a newborn blastozooid when it is emitted by the oozooid, EXCLUDING the "Reserves". |
| Ooz. growth coeff. | real | An empirically determined growth coefficient for the oozooid. |
| Bl. growth coeff. | real | An empirically determined growth coefficient for the blastozooid. |
| Repr. Cost coeff. | real | % of Ooz. adult weight or Bl. adult weight subtracted from the reserves during reproduction. |
| Res. min. coeff. | real | % of Ooz. or Bl. initial weight corresponding to the reserves at
birth. N.B. This percentage is usually > 1.0 because the reserves at birth are constituted by the eleoblast. The min. level of reserves will be set to: minus (the amount of reserves at birth). |
| Food Conversion coeff. | real | % of the daily ration transformed into reserves. |
| Metabolic coeff. | real | % of the current weight subtracted each day from the reserves by the metabolism. |
| Food coeff. | real | % of the current weight, which, if food is non limiting -- but non
clogging, could be ingested in 1 day. NOTE: may be > 1.0 |
| Debug AA ooz. | integer n | If n > 0, write in the trace file the results of the Trace instructions for the first n oozooids of the AA population. |
| Presence of Vibilia | yes/no | If no, no Vibilia may be created, and the following parameter values (which should be present) will be ignored. |
| Vibilia infestation lag | real | Delay before creation of the 1st Vibilia. Infestation_Lag is
expressed in zooid cycles, i.e. in "days". If Infestation_Lag = Simulation_Duration, the value of Infestation_Lag is ignored; instead, the 1st Vibilia should be created, at any time, with a click of the left mouse button. |
| 1st Vibilia pos. (line) | # of pixels | Vertical location of the first Vibilia. 0 means vertically centered in the grid. |
| 1st Vibilia pos. (col) | # of pixels | Horizontal location of the first Vibilia. 0 means horizontally centered in the grid. |
| 1st Vibilia direction | N,E,S,W... | First Vibilia swimming direction, among those allowed by Restricted_Orientations. |
| Nb of jumps | integer | Number of moves executed during 1 internal cycle. NOTE: if too big, may cause TIME SHORTAGE error. |
| Search radius | Ignored - NO LONGER IN USE (location available for another parameter). | |
| V. mortality | real | Proportion (0.0 .. 1.0) of Vibilia which will be struck randomly by accidental death before maturity. |
| Nb of V. broods | integer | Number of Vibilia broods = number of full ovarian cycles of the Vibilia. |
| Nb of V. larvae/brood | integer | Number of Vibilia larvae per brood = max. number of larvae in the brood pouch. |
| Nb of V. larvae per host | integer | Max. number of V. larvae deposited onto a chain by a female (only 1 larva is deposited if the host is an oozooid). |
| Pantochelis to Proto. | real | Duration from the deposition on the host (pantochelis larva) to the 1st protopleon stage (in days) = V_Transformation. |
| 1st Protopleon till ad. | real | Duration from the 1st protopleon molt to the adult molt (in days) = V_Development. |
| Adult to female w/larvae | real | Duration from the adult molt to the presence of pantochelis larvae in the brood pouch (in days) = V_Maturation. |
| V. adult intermolt | real | Duration from the time where larvae are laid in the brood pouch to the next adult molt (in days). |
| Vibilia longevity | real | Maximum age (days). V_Longevity should be greater than or equal to V_Transformation+ V_Development+ (Number of V. broods * V_Maturation). |
| V. cadav. longevity | real | Duration of a Vibilia cadaver before total decomposition (in days). |
| V. adult weight | real | Weight of an adult Vibilia, EXCLUDING the "Reserves". |
| V. initial weight | real | Weight of a pantochelis larva, EXCLUDING the "Reserves". |
| V. growth coeff. | real | An empirically determined (negative) growth coefficient. |
| V. repr. cost coeff. | real | % of Vibilia adult weight subtracted from the reserves during reproduction. |
| V. res. min. coeff. | real | % of Vibilia initial weight corresponding to the reserves at birth.
A larva does not use its reserves (it feeds on the host's reserves). However, V. res. min. coeff. should not be set to 0.0 because the min. level of reserves is set in the program to minus (the amount of reserves at birth). |
| V. food conversion coeff. | real | % of the daily ration of the host's reserves which is transformed into Vibilia reserves. |
| V. metabolic coeff. | real | In the adult, proportion of the reserves consumed by the metabolism
in 1 day; in the young, this will be computed for the current weight, relative to the adult weight. |
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Last modified 2008-07-02