There is a Offline Help Manual -a very well manual- made by Harbinger. It has almost all you need to working with OpenMPT. Get it from here: http://forum.openmpt.org/index.php?topic=4387.0

the .chm file manual is glaringly missing from OpenMPT. I am sure I and others are asking for feature requests for things that are already in openmpt just simply because there is no easy-to-access manual to refer to.

At the very minimum, you could add this pdf manual to the openmpt installer and make a start menu shortcut for it, a whopping 3 lines of installer code. please. for everybody. you will get a LOT more users, probably! make sure the manual has an index and TOC.

and since there is a manual, the link for it should be placed alongside the other download links for OpemMPT, not buried in a forum somewhere where people can't find it.

that manual needs to be updated, since VST2MID appears to no longer exist.
That means no more midi output. I am asking tobybear what happened to it.

It is an old issue and yes, it is being worked on. But I won't include a 13mb heavy PDF file with a 2mb program, so if you want a proper help file to be made, you can help making it happen: http://forum.openmpt.org/index.php?topic=4525.0

I was wrong about vst2mid, it is still there, but it is grouped within a group of a group of plugins called MIDIBag, and within that, MIDINet and within that group, VST2MID. it's buried. but this would be relevant information in the manual. I have never worked on a manual before other than an RTF file or a web page, so I don't know what goes into it.
http://www.tobybear.de/p_midibag.html

just knowing that it is being worked on is nice to know.

BTW, size makes no difference anymore that I know of. most everyone has broadband now. is this a problem worldwide?

If bloat is no problem for you, that's ok, but I'm a huge fan of efficiency and size coding. If something can be done in 1 MB, why would you want to do it 10?

Another way is get optional download of OHM in installers page. Does not fix, but (maybe) will avoid some less clicks until CHM version of OHM is done.

No, that doesn't make things better (== make the helpfile smaller and nicer)

The 1.19 OHM is enough up-to-date for new users to jump in. There are only a few somewhat minor features added since then, and these will be written into the upcoming CHM, which should be less than a few months away.

I'm sure when it's complete and uploaded, Jojo will fix the Help menu in MPT to access it.

Until then, jmichae3, learn to use the tools you DO have at your disposal, and remember that all of us are contributing without compensation. This requires humility and patience from everyone involved -- developers and users alike.

I write and maintain about 50+ small to medium utilities without compensation.
I want to put quality into my apps. they should be simple to use. if they are not simple to use due to the nature of the program, they should come with some sort of built-in help. at least that's my thinking.

I realize you are already working on help for this program. much appreciated. saw the post about the wiki pages.

it would be simple to make a download button for the OHM pdf file to the openmpt download page wouldn't it (so people could find it)? then you could call this bug closed. I am not just asking for myself - what about all the other befuddled folk who are downloading the program and have no help? please. at least until the help file is working. thanks.

<blockquote>it would be simple to make a download button for the OHM pdf file to the openmpt download page wouldn't it </blockquote>
Please have a closer look at that page again.

<blockquote>I write and maintain about 50+ small to medium utilities without compensation.</blockquote>
It's great that you have so much spare time, but I hardly have enough time to bring OpenMPT into the shape I want it to see in. And it's not like a lot of people are helping, either. If Harbinger wasn't there, we probably wouldn't even have this big manual, which is now in the process of being transformed into a wiki (which will then in return be compiled into a PDF or CHM again).

Help file is finally included in the download package again...