SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

The software was developed and tested primarily on up-to-date Windows XP 
machines. However, it appears like it will work on Windows 2000 
and possibly earlier. We recommend using Windows XP if possible.

INSTALLATION

1. Download either
EpicAppSetup.exe OR EpicApplicationFiles.zip.

The EpicAppSetup.exe is a full Windows installer that makes it
easy to install and remove the EpicApp program just like any other Windows program. 
You can choose whether to have it listed in the Start menus, 
and can uninstall and reinstall the program to reset the preferences.
(Thanks to Travis Seymour for preparing the installer).

The EpicApplicationFiles contains the EpicApp.exe file and its DLLs;
you can unzip it and place the resulting folder anywhere on your machine, 
as long as you keep the DLLs in the same folder as the .exe. 
"My Documents" or a sub-folder of it should work fine as a destination.
You start the EPIC system by double-clicking on the EpicApp.exe icon.

2. Download the TutorialModelsWindows.zip file and unpack it on your machine; 
"My Documents" or a subdirectory of it should work as a destination.

3. A folder named "Tutorial Models (Windows)" should result. 
Open it and you should see three folders named 
"Software Check", "Williams Exercise", and "Wickens Exercise".

BASIC CHECK

Please verify that the EPIC software will run properly on your machine 
by doing the following:

Step 1. Start EpicApp. You should see a small toolbar menu titled
"EpicApp" with the mostly familiar "File Edit View Help Control" 
items on it, and a set of windows in three rows, labeled as follows:

Normal Output, Trace Output
Physical Vision, Sensory Vision, Perceptual Vision,
Physical Audition, Sensory Audition, Perceptual Audition

The Vision windows should each have a small circle and a 
larger concentric circle centered in them.  Note that 
the window arrangements are remembered, so if you have modified them,
they will appear in different places next time you start EpicApp.

Step 2. Open the "Control" menu and select "Open Device Processor...". 
Navigate into the "Software Check" folder and select "VPTS.dll" and 
click on "Open". You should see "linked to device processor" 
in the "Normal Output" window.

Step 3. Open the "Control" menu and select "Compile ...". Navigate to the
"Software Check" folder and choose "VPTS_Demo.prs" as the production
rule file. In the "Normal Output" window, you should see a message giving
the full file path, ending in "VPTS_Demo.prs compiled."

Step 4. Open the "Control" menu and select "Run". Stuff should appear and 
disappear in the windows.

Some strings of hyphens and "O" (e.g. "O---") should have appeared in the Vision
windows, and strings containing "Headphones" and "Beep" should have appeared in the 
Audition windows.  The Normal Output window should have a lot of material in it,
starting with a long listing of parameters, and including with pairs of lines
like:
Trial 1 VM RT 574
Trial 1 AV T 599
(the exact numbers may vary).

Step 4. If you repeatedly select Control/Run (or use the shortcut key), similar stuff
should happen until after trial 10, you should get messages giving average RTs 
and the statement "Simulation Done!"

If you have successfully gotten to this point, it looks like 
the basic software runs correctly.

OTHER CHECKS

1. Check that the other models run.
If you open the device processor in the Wickens Exercise folder, and then Compile 
the rules in the same folder in the file "WStarterRules.prs", and then select Run,
you should see lots of things happening in the Space windows, and final lines in
the Normal Output window giving statistics for Easy Tracking and various Separations.
Details on this model are part of the tutorial.

Similarly, you can try running the model in the Williams Exercise folder, which should
produce colored geometric shapes in the Space windows.

2. Check the logging facility. 
Open the "Control" menu and select "Logging ..." and then in the "Logging"
dialog, select "Browse." Navigate to a suitable directory, change the file name if you 
want, and click on "Save".
The "Logging" dialog should show a checked box labelled "Loging Enabled".
Click on OK. The "Normal Output" window should say "Logging started!"
Run the model some more to produce some output. Then open the "Logging" dialog
and uncheck "Enable Logging" and "OK". "Logging stopped!" should appear in Normal Output.
On the desktop, locate and open the "Epic_log.txt"
This file should open in a text editor so that you can view the record of
the output that appeared in the "Normal Output" window.

3. Check that you can edit the production rule files.
On the desktop, navigate to and double-click on the "VPTS_Demo.prs" file. It should open
in NotePad. You want to edit and save these files as plain-text files (no embedded formatting
codes). If you change the editor used, you may need to adjust your text editor
 settings to ensure this.