Open General
by Luis Guzman

HOW TO INSTALL, LEARN MORE and KEEP UPDATED

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To install Open General ...

Download the official all-in-one installer: Open General Installer (from open-general.com)

VERY IMPORTANT:

The installer will ask to pick a game folder but avoid selecting any of the folders that Windows uses for special purposes like: "Program Files", "Program Files (x86), "Documents", "Downloads" or "Users".
It is strongly recomended to create a new folder like C:\OpenGen or similar. Please don't forget this important warning!

This installer includes the last stable version of executable, all officially released equipment files, campaigns and scenarios, the official OpenIcons files,all GUI, media files. After finisihing decompressing all files, it will create a shorcut (icon) in the desktop to allow running Open General easy. It is updated whenever there is a new stable executable or with new/updated campaigns, icons, etc.

There are some "unofficial" materials (equipment files, campaigns, icons, etc.) which aren't part of this package, like the Polish EFILE_OGN_GUS (can be downloaded from Kampanie Open General) or Duke Falcon's Xeno General and Fantasy General.. (can be downloaded from: Duke Falcon's E-files topic at JP's).

The all-in-one installer includes everything is needed to play Open General, except the PNG/JPG maps, but the game can dowload any missing maps automatically. The all-in-one installer is a self extract zip file that  will create an icon on the desktop and will ask for a  folder to copy the installation files.

You can pick same folder than PG2 (none of the PG2 files are overwritten) or a different folder, but you should avoid Windows "fake-folders" like "Documents", "Programs Files" or similar,  as later you won't be able to add new stuff or even save your savegames.

Open General uses AVI files and requires Video codec: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, for intro video. You can download (it's free) from: http://www.videohelp.com/tools/ffdshow

To run for first time ...

Once installer have finished copying files, please spen a minute to read Read me first file . as it has a short but important info, then click on the new icon you will find in your desktop and that will launch Open General. Over the main window should pop up a dialog showing all campaigns included in the installer for the different equiment (aka "Efile"). The first line is a short tutorial campaign. This pop up dialog will appear everytime you run the game, but you can disable/enable at your will.

Whenever you have disabled that dialog, you should use the main game menu to choose an EFile (first icon on left) and then pick any Campaign, Scenario or Savegame related to that EFile To learn more, go on reading about features below ...

Stay updated ...

After the first install, you don't need to download and run the all-in-one installer to get updated. You can update only the components you need:

You can be mailed whenever a zip package has been updated checking or subscribing to the announcement topic at Open General Forum : OpenGen installers and updates in the repo. But please remember, you must have a running install before using any of these packages!

The easiest way to know when there is something new or fixed, is to join OpenGeneral Forum and subscribe to the topic OpenGen Questions & Bug to get emailed

Further info ...

If you are new to Open General I strongly suggest to read first the nice Manual made by Guillermo Bores (aka Guille) explaining step by step the basic components and most important rules. A must for beginners!. Guille's manual is available in English: Open General Manuals  (pdf)  

If you have never played PG2, it would be good to play the tutorial campaign available in EFILE_OPENAK while reading: Basic Campaign Tutorial

Spanish speaking people can also read the "school" pdf themes: Open General School page

Everybody should read Blitzstoper advanced: Tactical Manual for OpenGeneral players because it includes very useful hints related with campaigns, written by a very expert player

From Menu on top you can can visit rest of pages explaining the features either for players and/or designers and the most important tables.

Forum ...

Most of the active comunity players and designers are members of: OpenGen Forum thus it is worth to join it, in order to check questions raised by other players and post your own questions, as well as to know current work in progress by designers.

The forum is also the best way to report any bug or to raise a suggestion or to discuss something. When reporting a bug, please always include a link to a sample file to allow replicate the bug (or send to me by email)

You also might check Challenge Campaigns Forum to enjoy the experience of playing same campaign with other players, a very instructive practive to master Open General.

Game includes a buton at right side or main game menu to launch your default browser to read JP's Forum

Additional packages at Open General Website

InstallCCPack.exe Is an additional installer including all campaigns played at JP's Challenge Campaigns. It is a one-click install package containing all of the files needed to play the entire set of Challenge Campaigns.

InstallPG2Pack.exe Is an additional installer including many custom PG2 campaigns that can be played with OpenGeneral It is a one-click install package containing all of the files needed to play many of the best campaigns made by the community of PG2

Note: campaigns included in these packages were made for Pg2 so don't expect to see any of the new features in any of these campaigns. Also if you have played before using PG2 you can notice they play slightly different, because Open General AI is different.

Opendat Elements Individual opendat images of the most frequent nations by most important periods, including the *.psd templates and a csv catalogue.