GURPS(R) Character Assistant 1.11
Copyright 1995 Armin D. Sykes. All rights reserved.

GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, 
used by permission. All rights reserved.

The GURPS game is copyright (c) 1986-1989, 1991-1994 by Steve Jackson
Games Incorporated. This product includes copyrighted material from the
GURPS game, which is used by permission of Steve Jackson Games
Incorporated. All rights reserved by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Welcome to GURPS Character Assistant
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

GURPS Character Assistant is a program designed to assist players in
creating GURPS characters. While creating GURPS characters is not an
overly complicated process in itself, it can take a great deal of time
due to constant point shuffling in an effort to arrive at a satisfactory
character within the allowed number of points.

GURPS Character Assistant is designed to be a friendly and attractive
alternative to the pencil, paper, and eraser mess that usually results
when creating a character. By using the program, you will be able to
create characters in only a fraction of the time that it used to take
with a pencil and a calculator. You may even find that you are able to
make better characters, because you can see the results of changes to
attributes, advantages & disadvantages, and skills right away.

I have put a lot of effort into the design and development of GURPS 
Character Assistant, but that doesn't mean that it's quite perfect yet.
If you have any problems, or better yet, suggestions for improvements that
you'd like to see, please feel free to contact me. I am always looking for
ways to improve the program and provide a more useful tool.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Note On VBRUN300.DLL
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

This program requires the VBRUN300.DLL file. 

If you received the GCA.ZIP archive:

     THIS FILE IS NOT INCLUDED WITH THE GCA.ZIP ARCHIVE! 

     VBRUN300.DLL can be found in many places, including the WinShare 
     (GO WINSHARE) forum on Compuserve, and the Windows RT (m505) and 
     Microsoft RT (m1335) on GEnie. Please check in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM 
     directory to see if you may already have the file, since it is used
     by a wide variety of Windows shareware programs.

If you received the GCAV.ZIP archive:

     This file is included in the GCAV.ZIP archive, so you will not need
     to look any further if you do not already have VBRUN300.DLL on your
     system.

This DLL should be placed in your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory in order to
ensure that all programs requiring it will run properly. By doing 
this, you can delete VBRUN300.DLL from any other directories where it
may reside, because all of the programs will be able to run if Windows
can find this file in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Note On .VBX and .DLL files
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

GURPS Character Assistant uses several files that have a .VBX or .DLL 
extension. Aside from VBRUN300.DLL, mentioned above, these files are all 
included in the GCA.ZIP archive. The GCAV.ZIP archive includes all of 
these files, including VBRUN300.DLL.

To be sure that GURPS Character Assistant runs properly, you should 
either keep all of these files in the directory where you installed GURPS 
Character Assistant, or copy all of these files into your WINDOWS\SYSTEM 
directory. If Windows can not find these files, GURPS Character Assistant 
will not load.

Please note that some of these files may already exist on your system.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Setting up GURPS Character Assistant in Windows
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

You will need to create a program item for GURPS Character Assistant
inside Windows.

Open the program group that you would like to use to contain GURPS 
Character Assistant. With the program group open, select NEW from the
Program Manager FILE menu. 

You will then be asked if you want to create a new Program Item or 
Program Group. Select Program Item.

You will then be provided with a small dialog box to enter the information
for your new program item.

In the text box for Description, enter what you want the icon to be
labeled in Program Manager, such as GURPS Character Assistant.

In the text box for Command Line, enter the full path and program name
for the program. The program name for GURPS Character Assistant is 
GURPS.EXE. For example, if you unzipped the GCA.ZIP or GCAV.ZIP archive 
into a directory called GURPS on drive C, you would enter a command 
line of:

     C:\GURPS\GCA.EXE

You may also click on the Browse button to get the standard file access
dialog box, which will allow you to browse through your drives and 
directories if you can't remember into what drive or directory you put 
the program.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional Documentation
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

All additional documentation for GURPS Character Assistant is currently 
contained in the GURPS.HLP help file. This file may be read by selecting 
one of the help options from the program's Help menu. Also, you may access 
the GURPS.HLP help file by double clicking on the file name in the Windows 
File Manager.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
If GCA Seems To Hang When Starting Up
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

If GURPS Character Assistant seems to hang when the program starts, it is
possible that Windows has detected some kind of conflict and is trying to
tell you about it. However, because the splash screen is set to stay on
top of all other windows, the Windows error message is also covered up.

If this happens, try pressing ENTER. If there is a hidden error message
window, this should clear it and allow the program to end. Then, add the
command

     /notop

to the end of your Command Line for GURPS Character Assistant. To do this,
click on the icon you installed for GURPS Character Assistant in Program
Manager, and select Properties from Program Manager's File menu. Then tab
to the Command Line box, and move to the end of that. Enter the /notop
command right after the GURPS.EXE part, separating them by a space.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Distribution
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

GURPS Character Assistant may be distributed freely so long as it is
distributed in its complete and unmodified form. In other words, you can
give copies to your friends, but it would be best if you gave them the 
GCA.ZIP or GCAV.ZIP archive so that you didn't forget a file or two.

Under no circumstances can GURPS Character Assistant be distributed for a
fee. I do not charge for my labor on this program, and neither can you.
If you distribute GURPS Character Assistant as part of a collection of
shareware programs on disk, you may charge a small fee to cover the costs
of the disk and postage, not to exceed $5. You may provide GURPS Character
Assistant for download on a BBS system, even if it is a for-pay system, so
long as a separate charge is not incurred for the download of GURPS
Character Assistant.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Complete Files List
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

File              Notes
----              -----
readme.txt        this file
gca.exe           GURPS Character Assistant program file
gurps.hlp         GURPS Character Assistant help file
basic.dat         data file for GURPS Basic Set
magic.dat         data file for GURPS Magic
grimoire.dat      data file for GURPS Grimoire
example.gca       simple example character
csspin.vbx        -
ss3d.vbx           \
ss3d2.vbx           \
grid.vbx             = support files
vsvbx.vbx           /
cmdialog.vbx       /
commdlg.dll       -
vbrun300.dll      in GCAV.ZIP archive only
whatsnew.txt      file detailing the new additions to GCA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for trying GURPS Character Assistant. Since you have gone through
the effort of downloading and trying out my software, why don't you let me
know what you do or don't like about it? What would you like added or
changed? What would you prefer be implemented in some other fashion?

The more people I hear from, the more likely any particular item will be
given my full attention. I can be reached at any of the addresses listed
below.

Snail Mail:    Armin D. Sykes
               Miser Software
               4130 SW 117th AVE, #401
               Beaverton, OR 97005

E-Mail:   CIS: 72700,1724     via internet:  72700.1724@compuserve.com
        GEnie: ARMIN.SYKES                   armin.sykes@genie.com
          AOL: ArminSykes                    arminsykes@aol.com
