Installation

This document guides you through installing and licensing RadMap on Windows.

System requirements

Windows 10 version 1803 (April 2018 Update, Build 17134) or later, or Windows 11 — 64-bit only. Earlier Windows 10 builds and Windows 7/8/8.1 are not supported.
Administrator account for installation
Approximately 1 GB of free disk space
Graphics supporting OpenGL 3.3 or later — any graphics card or integrated graphics from the last decade. Some virtual machines and remote desktop sessions do not provide it; RadMap then shows an OpenGL initialisation failed message and closes.

Note

RadMap uses Geant4’s multi-threaded simulation engine. A multi-core processor reduces simulation time roughly in proportion to the number of cores.

Install RadMap

Download RadMap_setup.exe from the RadMap release page.
Optionally, verify the download. In PowerShell, in the folder you saved it to, run Get-FileHash .\RadMap_setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256. The Hash it prints must match the checksum in RadMap_setup.exe.sha256 on the release page, also shown under the Download button on radmap.tech. A match shows that the installer arrived complete and unaltered.
Run the installer. Windows may show a User Account Control prompt — click Yes to allow the installer to run with administrator privileges.
Read the license agreement and accept it.
Choose an installation directory. The default is C:\Program Files\RadMap. You may change this to any path you prefer. The installer creates the directory if it does not already exist.
Click Install and wait for the Geant4 data sets to be extracted. This step takes a minute or two depending on your hardware.
When the installer finishes you can optionally launch RadMap immediately by leaving the Launch RadMap checkbox checked.

You can now use RadMap under the free license. The free license limits each simulation run to 50,000 primary particles — enough to evaluate RadMap and build your models. How many particles a precise result needs depends on the case; a full license removes the limit (see Licensing).

To look at an example project, choose File → Load project and open one from the Samples\Examples folder of the installation directory; to keep your changes to it, save it to a folder of your own with File → Save project as.

Licensing

Free license

No action is required. RadMap starts in free mode automatically. Each simulation run is capped at 50,000 primary particles.

Full license

A full license removes the particle limit. To obtain one:

Open RadMap and choose Help → License. The dialog shows your machine ID; Copy Machine ID copies it to the clipboard.
Send that machine ID to the RadMap team to request a license file.
When you receive the .lic file, open Help → License again and click Install License File….
Browse to the .lic file and click Open. The license takes effect immediately — no restart required.

To renew a license, install the new file the same way. It replaces the license in force. A file RadMap cannot validate is refused, and the license in force stays. RadMap keeps the license in C:\ProgramData\RadMap\radmap.lic, for every user of the machine, and Help → License shows that path.

The license is tied to the machine it was issued for and is not transferable to another machine. A full license may carry an expiry date; Help → License shows it, or Perpetual (no expiry). When a license expires, RadMap returns to the free license.

Verifying your installation

RadMap comes with five projects that check whether your installation reproduces the results this version of RadMap gave when it was released. Run them after installing, or whenever you need to show that an installation works as released.

Choose File → Load project and open a project from the Samples\Verification folder of the installation directory.
Open Simulation → Simulation settings. Under Save location, choose a folder of your own, such as Documents: the verification projects are installed read-only, so the results go into a copy and the project itself stays as released. With the free license, set Number of primary particles to 50,000. Leave the other settings unchanged.
Click Start simulation and wait for it to finish.
Select each dose map in turn and compare its dose rate in the Property panel with the table below, in the column of the check you ran: it must lie within the limits.
Choose Report → Create PDF report and open the report. Its dose rates must be the same, and so lie within the same limits; it states the number of primary particles. Keep it as the record of the check.

There are two checks:

The full check, at 2,000,000 primary particles, the number the projects are saved with. It shows that your installation reproduces this version’s results, to within about ±1 % for most dose maps. It needs a full license.
The quick check, at 50,000 primary particles, the most the free license allows. It finds a broken installation – missing or damaged data or program files – but not differences of a few percent: its limits are wider because 50,000 primary particles give a less precise result.

A run with any other number of primary particles is not a check.

Project and dose map	Expected value	Full check, 2,000,000 primary particles: acceptance limits	Quick check, 50,000 primary particles: acceptance limits
1 Cs-137 in air: Effective_dose_ROT (Sv/h)	4.92e-04	4.87e-04 – 4.96e-04	4.67e-04 – 5.17e-04
1 Cs-137 in air: Ambient_dose_H10 (Sv/h)	7.33e-04	7.26e-04 – 7.39e-04	6.96e-04 – 7.69e-04
1 Cs-137 in air: Air_kerma (Gy/h)	6.10e-04	6.05e-04 – 6.15e-04	5.80e-04 – 6.40e-04
2 Co-60 behind lead: Ambient_dose_H10 (Sv/h)	9.10e-04	9.01e-04 – 9.19e-04	8.58e-04 – 9.62e-04
3 Na-22 positrons: Ambient_dose_H10 (Sv/h)	2.59e-03	2.57e-03 – 2.61e-03	2.51e-03 – 2.67e-03
4 I-125 X-rays: Ambient_dose_H10 (Sv/h)	2.85e-04	2.83e-04 – 2.87e-04	2.73e-04 – 2.97e-04
5 Sr-90 bremsstrahlung: Ambient_dose_H10 (Sv/h)	1.32e-04	1.27e-04 – 1.36e-04	1.09e-04 – 1.54e-04

Acceptance limits: the expected value ± 4 standard deviations of a run with the given number of primary particles, the uncertainty of the expected value included, rounded outwards to the three digits RadMap shows. The expected values come from long runs of this version, ten times as many primary particles as the full check or more.

A correct installation falls outside the limits only rarely. If a result does, run that project again; if it is outside again, the installation is faulty. Reinstall RadMap, and if that does not help, get in touch (Getting help).

The projects exercise the parts of an installation that a fault would show in: the decay data and each table of conversion coefficients (project 1), photon interactions in shielding (2), positrons (3), the X-rays that follow electron capture (4), and electron transport with bremsstrahlung (5, which has Simulate electrons on).

Note

The projects are made to give precise results quickly, not as examples of how to model. Their dose maps are large and close to the source, so each map’s value is an average over a steep gradient: it means something only compared with this table.

Uninstall RadMap

Open Control Panel → Programs → Uninstall a program, locate RadMap, and click Uninstall. The uninstaller removes the application and all installed files. Your own project files (.rma) and results are not deleted.