Known Limitations 64 Bit

Petro-SIM 64-bit Experiences and Known Limitations

Petro-SIM 5 and onward is available in 32-bit and 64-bit editions, fully supporting side by side installation. You can install both and switch between them using the KBC registration tool. Case files are fully interchangeable between the editions and former known issues of the 64-bit version have been addressed. The 64 bit version of Petro-SIM will allow you to have very large models or have many models open at the same time and switch between them. It also solves slightly faster (5 to 10%) than the 32 bit version. For newer Petro-SIM versions (7.1 onwards), it is the recommend default version.

For reference purposes for older versions, these issues were addressed:

In older versions the Xpress-SLP solver option within the Blender and Optimizer is not offered in 64-bit form. Please select the Ipopt or COBYLA algorithm instead. The default algorithm is Ipopt, which is available in 32 and 64 bit versions. Update: Any service packs or versions made after July 2017 will offer the Xpress-SLP option in 32 and 64 bit mode.
PI API connections are not supported in 64 bit mode. Starting in 6.1, PI SDK and PI AF are supported and can be used in 32 and 64 bit mode.
Data import from HCAMS is not available in 64 bit under older HCAMS versions. This has been been fixed by Haverly, although 64 bit Petro-SIM cannot use the Haverly crude selector view, but it will let you browse for CRU files which can then be successfully imported. One work around is to import them in 32 bit Petro-SIM, save the case, and then use the case in 64 bit Petro-SIM.
The CBI pyrolysis furnace engine is also supported in 64 bit mode starting with Petro-SIM 6.0 onwards.
There are known issues using HTRI eXchanger Suite 7. HTRI has fixed this, and it is working if you update to HTRI version 7.2.1. (Bug 5049). HTRI version 8 works fine.
Normal 32 bit Petro-SIM extension unit operations will probably require re-registration, as that adds a registry entry that allows 32 bit extensions to be used by 64 bit applications.
The PIPESYS extension (build 4 onwards) will now work in 32 and 64 bit Petro-SIM. Older versions would fail to initialize in 64-bit Petro-SIM. Schlumberger has addressed the issues.
The hydraulic plugin unit operation when used with PIPESIM 2012 (32-bit) may exhibit issues in 64 bit Petro-SIM. We therefore recommend using 32-bit Petro-SIM with 32-bit PIPESIM 2012.2. Never versions of PIPESIM are based on an entirely new 64-bit user interface for which there is no integration support.
The hydraulic plugin unit operation (in 32 or 64 bit Petro-SIM) can be used equally well with 32 or 64 bit versions of Maximus. All combinations work well.
The 64 bit installation only install the 64 bit Sqlite ODBC driver, and the 32 bit version installs only the 32 bit Sqlite ODBC driver. Some deprecated functionality such as the Meter report (last shipped in 6.2) may not be able to access an Sqlite database, depending on the Excel architecture. The simple work around is to simply install a 32 bit version of Petro-SIM as well. Excel functionality is now all .Net-based, and routes through System.Data.SQLite which is platform-independent.

CAPE OPEN Issue

Some providers such as HTRI may not install the CAPE OPEN type libraries. So if you are using 32 bit CAPE OPEN components with 64 bit Petro-SIM and it is not working, then be sure to download and install the 32 AND 64 bit CAPE OPEN type libraries from the CAPE OPEN web site. Petro-SIM 32 bit installs only the 32 bit type libraries. Starting with version 7.1, Petro-SIM 64 bit installs both the 32 AND 64 type libraries, so this should cease to be an issue. If need be, you can download the type libraries from the the CAPE-OPEN web site.

Excel 64-bit Experiences and Known Limitations

SIM Suite 6.2 SP2 and later support 64 bit Excel. Earlier SIM Suite versions do not support 64 bit versions of Excel. Note that Petro-SIM 32- and 64-bit versions will both work equally well and you can mix different architectures of Excel and Petro-SIM.

Recognizing that some client organizations have and will use the 64-bit installation for Office products, we have made a temporary workaround available to support Excel 64 bit versions in earlier SIM Suite versions. The SIM Suite Registration Tool 7.0.21 is available in both 32- and 64-bit versions on the KBC Downloads site. To run the SIM Suite using Excel 64-bit, you must download and install the 64-bit registration tool. If you are re-packaging it for custom deployment, you will need to run “{Install Path}\RegisterSIMSuite.exe /selfregister /force /silent” with administrative privileges after installation.

Once you have installed this version of the registration tool, the core functionality of older versions of the SIM Suite should function properly in Excel 64-bit. Features that will not work include V3 SIM migrations and monitoring functionality integrated in the Meter Report with Charts workbook.

Using 32 bit Extension Unit Operation in 64 bit Petro-SIM

If you use a newer version of the registration tool to register extensions, it adds a DllSurrogate entry that allows 32 bit extensions to be used in 64 bit Petro-SIM mode. This approach works well with VB6 and VB.Net extensions. Some extensions do require some attention, please consider the following:

Extensions that run under dllhost.exe do not get a large stack, so very large local (on the stack) temporary data structures need to be avoided. Rather allocate and delete them again.
Do not cast a pointer to one interface to another interface. This only happens to usually work in 32 bit in process extension code. Rather always properly call QueryInterface.
Do not use BuildPlot, use BuildPlot2 instead, otherwise the pointer returned will be null. Call QueryInterface on the pointer returned by BuildPlot2 before calling any plot functions on it.
When debugging, attach to dllhost.exe, not Petro-SIM. You can time the attachment by adding a message box call in the DllMain routine.

You can see general Sim Suite system requirements here.