Upgrading to the latest software version

Upgrading to the latest version of EFFECTS/RISKCURVES ensures you have access to the most recent features and improvements. The latest releases of EFFECTS/RISKCURVES versions 10 and 11, as well as the latest release of version 12, can be downloaded from the EFFECTS & RISKCURVES Downloads Centre using the relevant login and password. For access to the user portal please get in touch with us. It is important to note that projects created with EFFECTS/RISKCURVES v12 (using the .EFFX extension) are not backward compatible with previous versions. Depending on the version of your existing project, different steps are required to convert old projects to the new format in EFFECTS/RISKCURVES 12.

In cases where a calculation model has newly added input parameters in the new version, some fields may show up empty, illustrated in red. Pressing “Defaults” will fill in the default values without overwriting the already entered fields.

Upgrading projects

Version 11 projects

• EFFECTS and RISKCURVES v12 automatically translates version 11 projects into version 12 format. 

• Once saved as version 12, these files are not backwards compatible with older versions (because the project structure has been extended).

• Note that many models have changed, using modified input parameters, leading to a "changed after calculation" situation after loading an older version project.

Version 10 and 9 projects

• Version 11 will read version 9 or 10, where it is advised to store the translated file using a distinct new name. 

• The version 10 or 9 projects can be converted in these two steps:

  • Open, recalculate and save the version 10/9 project file in version 11.

  • Open, recalculate and save the version 11 project file in version 12.

• Multiple major versions can be installed simultaneously on the same desktop, so no uninstallation is needed.

Older version projects

• Older version project files need to be translated using project convertors that were included in each subsequent version. 

• Older project files (e.g., .alf/.clc for version 7, .effects/.riskcurves for versions 8 and 9, etc.) must be converted using project converters included in each subsequent version.

User-defined chemicals 

From version 11 to 12

Version 12 uses the same database structure and file formats as previous versions 10 or 11. Therefore, user databases created with version 10 or version 11 can directly be used in version 12.

From version 9 to 10 or 11

Version 10 and 11 use a database model that differs from previous version 9 and 8. For user-defined substances which were created in version 8 or 9, a dedicated converter is installed with version 10. Although versions 8 and 9 already used the new ".tci" database format, user-defined chemicals were stored in one central database, which was inconvenient when rolling out database updates. Therefore, versions 10 (and 11) use separate "user database" files to store all user additions and modifications to chemical substances and mixtures. The Chemicals Importer available in version 10, extracts user-defined chemicals from the single "chemicals.tci" of version 8 or 9 (by default, it will be stored in C:\ProgramData\TNO\Effects 9.0\Databases\ for EFFECTS and C:\ProgramData\TNO\Riskcurves 9.0\Databases\ for RISKCURVES) and store them in a new "user database" which can be accessed with version 10 or 11.

If you have imported too many chemicals by mistake, you can delete them later in the Database Editor. The database editor also allows copying a user-defined mixture or chemical from one user database to another user database. This can be used to combine additions from multiple users in a company-shared "added chemicals" file on a network drive.

From version 7 to 8 or 9

User chemicals which were defined in older versions 7 (extension *.rdb) have to be converted using the Database Converter available in version 8 or 9. This can be accessed through the menu Tools. To convert user-defined chemicals from your old database (.rdb file), start the converter and click “Open File”. Select the database file with your user-defined chemicals and click “Open”.

Select chemicals in the left-hand list, and drag them (or click the '>>' button) to the right-hand list: this will import the selected chemicals into the new database labelled as user-defined chemicals. The right-hand list shows all the chemicals in the new user database.