The Simulation Manager (SM) dialog provides access to simulations and information on their progress as they proceed as well as to results that have previously been generated. You can use it load results either to the standalone Results Viewer or to the inbuilt DesignBuilder results display screen.
The SM dialog can be accessed from within DesignBuilder on the Simulation screen using the 
toolbar icon. Alternatively you can open the Simulation Manager dialog as a standalone application by selecting the Start > DesignBuilder > Simulation Manager option. This allows simulation results to be accessed independently of the main DesignBuilder application which can be especially useful when running parametric studies such as optimisations.
The Simulation Manager dialog looks something like the image below.
Or when a batch of parametric simulations is running:
Behaviour is different depending on whether the application is loaded from within DesignBuilder and if so whether you are at building level or below. In the latter case, only the simulation results for the current building are displayed. Alternatively if you start the SM dialog from outside DesignBuilder or from site level with a model open or when no model is open from the Opening screen then all simulations (sometimes referred to as "jobs") are displayed.
Tip: You can close the Simulation Manager dialog while simulations are running without affecting the simulations. To continue to work on your model or run other calculations while simulations proceed simply close the SM dialog. You can even close DesignBuilder and the simulations will still continue to run.
Returning to the Simulation screen, you can re-open the dialog to check progress and results using the Open Simulation Manager dialog toolbar icon 
.
Load results to DesignBuilderIf you opened the SM dialog from DesignBuilder and you are at building level or below in the model then the Load results to DesignBuilder icon will be available. Clicking on this causes the results for the currently selected simulation to be loaded to the DesignBuilder Simulation screen. You must go the Simulation screen to actually view the results.
View results in DesignBuilder Results viewerClicking on this icon opens the results for the selected simulation to the Results Viewer application including data stored in both the EnergyPlus tabular summary html and eso output files.
Tip: To load multiple result sets to the same Results Viewer session you should first select multiple simulation jobs before clicking on the View results in DesignBuilder Results viewer toolbar icon. This allows you to view results from a number of simulations on the same graph.
View files associated with current simulationSelecting this command opens a list of all of the files associated with the simulation currently selected including both input and outputs files.
From here you can save a file to disk or open it using the application currently associated with the file extension.
This option is only available for simulations that have completed.
Stop current simulationIf the currently selected simulation is still running then it can be terminated using this command. In this case simulation results will not be available.
Delete selected simulationsTo delete one or more simulation result sets select the jobs for deletion using <Ctrl> mouse click and press the Delete selected simulations toolbar icon to remove all data for the selected simulation jobs including any input and output files.
SettingsThe Settings command provides access to the Simulation Server Settings dialog which allows you to view and control some of the settings used by the Simulation Manager on local and network machines.
The Calculation Description that you provide on the General tab of the Simulation Calculation Options dialog is used to identify the simulation in the in SM grid. In some cases it will be important to describe the simulation accurately especially as it is used to identify datasets when loading data to the Results Viewer. If you need to change the Description after the simulation has been submitted you can do that by right clicking with the mouse on the description that you would like to change. When you have finished typing click on the green tick or press the <Enter> key. To cancel any changes made click on the red cross.
You can view the status of each of the connected servers as well as the machine-dependent maximum possible number of parallel simulations and also the maximum number of parallel simulations. There is also a checkbox to allow servers to be selected/deselected. When a server on the list is deselected then its jobs do not appear in the main SM window.
You can access all settings for the server by clicking on the Simulation Server Settings toolbar icon to open a dialog. Depending on your Windows privileges you may or may not be able to edit the following settings:
Simulation Server Settings (without Administrator rights)
Simulation Server Settings (with Administrator rights)
Depending on what else the machine is being used for you should be careful not to allow the simulations to use all of the processing capacity of the machine. The maximum value allowed is 1 less than the number of processors on the machine. For powerful machines the number of processors will typically be equal to the number of physical cores x 2, so for a 4 core machine with 8 virtual processors you cannot enter a value here greater than 7 which would allow you to run up to 7 parallel simulations. If the machine is being used for other applications as well as DesignBuilder you should leave at least 2 processors. For quad core machines with 8 virtual processors a good upper limit will be between 4 and 6.
You can also use this dialog to stop and restart the localhost server.
If you have been informed by the Support Desk about an update or if there was some problem with the download initially then you can ensure that the programs will downloaded again by clicking on the Clear Cache Now button before running new simulations using the Simulation Manager.
You may notice that simulations take a little longer to carry out the first time as EnergyPlus needs to be downloaded. After this EnergyPlus is cached and the download is not necessary.
The first time you request a simulation in the Simulation Manager for a particular version of EnergyPlus (or after clearing the cache) you must have an Internet connection to allow EnergyPlus to be downloaded.