A particular difficulty in creating a working version of DL_POLY_2 prior to version 2.11 is creating the DL_PARAMS.INC file (section 8.1.1), which specifies (among other things) the array sizes for the compiled code. The copy of DL_PARAMS.INC supplied with DL_POLY_2 contains settings appropriate for the test cases and some of the benchmarks but is not guaranteed to be appropriate for any user's specific requirements. Users must determine their own requirements and so produce their own version of DL_PARAMS.INC before compiling a working version. While DL_POLY_2 contains many error checks to prevent the arrays being exceeded during a run, it is tedious to have to recompile the code each time an error is detected. Furthermore the large number of parameters required to specify the entire code makes it very unlikely that the code will run successfully first time, or even after several attempts.
To assist with this difficulty, the utility program PARSET has been created (section 7.1.1). It can be used to create a DL_PARAMS.INC file that is suitable for the simulation being attempted. It works by scanning the DL_POLY_2 input files (CONTROL, FIELD and CONFIG) and then writing out a sample DL_PARAMS.INC file, which has the name NEW_PARAMS.INC.
PARSET is not foolproof however. The user must prepare the correct input files beforehand, which can be difficult without the error checking the DL_POLY_2 code affords. Also, because of the complexity of the requirements, PARSET can only supply a reasonable estimate of some of the array dimensions, and these may not be quite right for every case. (It will be reasonably close however). Notwithstanding the limitations of PARSET its use as a labour saving device is recommended.
PARSET is described in detail in section 7.1.1. The program is found in the utility subdirectory.