MICRODEM Download

MICRODEM is a microcomputer mapping program written by Professor Peter Guth of the Naval Academy.

To get the program:

• Complete MICRODEM install (~30 MB).  This  installs the 64 bit version.  You can download the help file separately, or use the update function inside the program (on the help menu). The 64 bit version will be faster, and allow access to larger data sets. The first time you attempt to access the help file, the program will ask permission to download it. 
• MICRODEM install, 32 bit  (~20 MB).  The 32 bit version will no longer be updated, and is not recommended.  You should upgrade your OS and run the 64 bit version.  
  • BDE (Borland database engine) install. If you do not have the BDE and are running the 32 bit version of the program, you should download and install before running MICRODEM.  The program can automate this, but will probably not do it elegantly and will give you a number of error messages which you can avoid by installing the BDE first.  We are working to eliminate the use of the BDE, at which point this step will disappear.
• The best way to update the program EXE depends on  your OS, the security imposed by your network, and whether you have admin rights.  In order of ease of use, these are:
  • Option on the Files, Tools menu inside MICRODEM.  This will close the program and update the executable, and restart the program.  Your current version will be archived if you wanted to revert to it.
  • Use the browser downloads below.
• The best way to get or update the help file (65 MB) is to use the option on the Files, Tools menu, or on the help menu inside MICRODEM.  Insure the help file is closed first.   This is currently working reliably as far as we know.  If it fails, download the  MICRODEM help file here.  Use the "Save file as" or "Save target as", place in the MICRODEM directory (c:\microdem), and insure the browser does not append (1) or (n)  to the file name.  You are likely going to have to change the file properties to unblock it (right click on the file in Windows File Manager, pick option at bottom right to unblock).

• The military icons generator is available as a separate program (1.5 MB) which allows you to create unit icons and paste them into your favorite graphics program.  An improved version is included in MICRODEM.

Executing the installation program will create icons on the start menu and two directories:

• c:\microdem.  You can put this elsewhere, but if you encounter problems, you were warned and we will not try to figure out what is wrong.
• c:\MapData\ with subdirectories. You can put this on another drive, but it must go into the root directory of its drive.

The program  will create a log of program operations in the file 'microdem_debug_log.txt', in c:\microdem\logs;  the easiest way to get the file is to to open it from the Help menu while the program is still running. You must copy this file immediately after encountering an unexplained crash, because the file is overwritten every time you run the program. Send the file to me and I can better determine what caused the problem. The debug log is not complete, and I may have to add additional debugging messages to the program and have you repeat the error and send a new log until we can isolate the problem.

You can get data sets configured to work with MICRODEM.  We are moving the download of data to occur inside the program, which will automatically put the data sets in the correct locations.  See the documentation.

If you want to perform code archaeology, you can get the DOS source code from about 1995.

Last Update: 2/28/2016