WinGX FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

A 1.1. You have old versions of these DLL files. The most likely reason is that the Setup program has not overwritten one or either of these files. The easiest solution is to delete all old versions of SALFLIBC.DLL and WGXLIBxx.DLL - which will be in your windows system directory (c:\windows\system for Win 95/98) - and run the Setup program again. For WinGX v1.64 the relevant date-stamps are:
SALFLIBC.DLL (27/04/00)
WGXLIBxx.DLL (11/03/01)
CIFTBX26.DLL (11/03/01)
Look for these files on your system. You should have only ONE copy of each on your computer, in the system directory. They must have these date-stamps.

Alternatively, you can download the current versions of all WinGX system-DLL's from this link. Unzip the contents of this archive file into your Windows system directory.

A 1.2. If you have already rebooted your computer to effect the change in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file, then there are two likely reasons

1. the spelling of the environment variable name or its value in the AUTOEXEC.BAT file is wrong
2. you have run out of environment variable space. Do the following to increase this :
   • add the following line to the CONFIG.SYS file in the root directory
     SHELL=C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND.COM /P /E:4096
   • add the following line to the SYSTEM.INI file (in c:\windows) under the heading [NonWindowsApp]
     CommandEnvSize=2424
   • reboot your computer

A 1.3. This was caused by a bug in the Salford library SALFLIBC.DLL. This has not yet been fixed properly, but the latest versions of PLATON have a fix-about and SHOULD NO LONGER show this problem. Please let me know if this is not the case.

A 1.4. This is usually only an issue with NT/2000 and is due to permission problems. It can also arise with Windows 95/98/ME if the directory has "attrib r" set ( i.e. readonly). The directory you use as the working directory MUST have read/write permissions for the user. Please see your system administrator if you do not know how to set these. Note that the directories pointed to by the environment variables WINGXDIR or ORTEP3DIR must also have user read/write permissions.

2. QUERIES ABOUT WINGX

A 2.1. WinGX now comes with a version of SHELXL97, but you may prefer to use the executable obtained for George Sheldrick (it will probably be faster). Install it as a User menu item. See the new WinGX installation instructions under section 1.3.3. "Setting up WinGX".

A 2.2. The program has not been installed properly. Re-install with the latest version from the web-site.

A 2.3. The parameter MenuWindowHeight in the [System] subsection of the WINGX.INI file has become set to a ridiculously small value. This occasionally happened in version 1.63 due to a bug, which this has been fixed in release 1.64. Reset the value of this parameter to something around 140-160 (the exact value depends on the Windows font sizes you are using). NB - you need to close down WinGX before editing this file.

3. QUERIES ABOUT ORTEP-3 FOR WINDOWS

A 3.1. This is either because:

1. There is a syntax error in your CIF. In this case the Ortep Message about using the coordinates from data_ block xx will NOT appear, but short error message(s) from CIFTBX flash on the status bar. Ortep-3 for Windows does not provide CIF checking algorithms (use WinGX for this purpose). You must ensure that your CIF fulfills all the syntax requirements.
2. There is some vital information missing in the CIF, e.g. cell constants. In this case you will see the Ortep Message box about using the coordinates from data_ block xx, but additional error message(s) will flash on the status bar. Please read the Ortep-3 for Windows documentation for the required CIF items.

A 3.2. The HPGL format does not support colours directly - it merely stipulates pen numbers for the graphic objects. The colours associated with any particular pen number are not dictated by the HPGL file, but by your local interpreter of the HPGL file, e.g. the PrintGL program. In other words you need to adjust the parameters associated with your local HPGL interpreter. If the HPGL file is imported into MS-Word, for instance, then the colour associations are fixed by the filter, and a particular pen number is always given the same colour.
On the other hand, the PostScript format DOES directly support colour and will give you the same colours as on screen. It should be used in preference to HPGL if the exact colour hue is important.

4. QUERIES ABOUT PLATON for WINDOWS

A 4,1. See above in GENERAL QUERIES FOR ALL PROGRAMS (Question 1.3)

A 4.2. This is because there is a previous instance of PLATON running (which may not be visible). This happens because you have not stopped PLATON properly, but just closed the Graphics or Text Windows (this DOESNT stop the program, unlike with other Windows applications). Use the Close Program window for Windows 95/98/ME (CRTL+ALT+DELETE key gives you this) or the NT Task Manager for Windows NT/2000 (right click on task bar) to kill all previous instances of PLATON and all should be OK.

The latest version of the Taskbar (1.02.2) should overcome this problem because it explicitly terminates all previous instances of PLATON before starting a new job.

Louis J. Farrugia

This page was last updated on: March 31st, 2001.