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2.18. File Compatibility: @RISK 4.5–7.x

Applies to: @RISK 4.5–7.x

I have some models that were developed with an older version of @RISK. Will they work in @RISK 7?

@RISK 4.5, 5, 6, and 7 model files (Excel workbooks) are generally compatible. Models created in an older version of @RISK should run just fine in a later version. Simulation results between the two, on the same model, should be the same within normal statistical variability. They will typically not be identical, iteration for iteration, because of precedent checking and other features introduced in newer releases. (See Random Number Generators for more details on this point.)

There are three caveats with using older models in @RISK 5, 6, or 7:

@RISK 4.5 and 5.0 recomputed statistic functions like RiskMean and RiskPercentile in every iteration. @RISK 5.5 and later compute them at the end of simulation. This is more logical, and makes for better performance. But if your model depends on having partial results available in the middle of the simulation, you will want to change your model or change that setting. Please see "No values to graph" Message / All Errors in Simulation Data for more about this.
Linked fits (fitted distributions that update automatically when the underlying data change) from @RISK 4.5 will have to be re-run in later versions of @RISK. But the program itself will prompt you for this the first time you run a simulation.
Functions with Multi in their names are legacy functions and will get #NAME errors in later @RISK, unless you also have TopRank loaded. To solve the problem, simply remove Multi from the function names.

Models created in a newer version of @RISK should run fine in an older version, as long as they use only features that were available in the older version. If you define a model using new features of @RISK, you probably will not be able to use that model with older versions of @RISK. Two notes:

@RISK 4.5 will ignore distribution property functions that were added in later, such as RiskUnits. However, functions that contain those property functions will sample properly.
Newer functions, such as RiskCompound and RiskTheoMean, will return #NAME in older releases of @RISK.

I saved simulation results with the older version of @RISK. Can the new version read them?

@RISK 5, 6, and 7 can read each other's simulation results, whether stored in the Excel workbook or in an external .RSK5 file, but they cannot read @RISK 4.5 simulation results.

Exception: If you filtered simulation results (Define Filter command) in @RISK 5 or @RISK 6 and stored the filtered results in the Excel workbook, @RISK 7.0.0 can't read the file. This is fixed in 7.0.1, but if you still have 7.0.0 please see "Could not read data from file ...tmp." for a workaround.

@RISK 4.5 cannot read simulation results that were created by later releases, whether stored in the Excel workbook or in an .RSK5 file.

See also:

For macro compatibility of various releases, see Upgrading Palisade Software.
Version Histories (lists changes of note, version by version, from @RISK 5.0 to the latest version)

Last edited: 2016-08-17

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