# VASSAL Reference Manual

Home > Module > Help Menu

## Help Menu

The "Help" menu in the main control window contains general help files for VASSAL. You may add more help files specific to the module you are creating by right clicking on the [Help Menu] component in the Editor and selecting the appropriate Add option.
This can also be used to include a PDF file, e.g. of a rulebook, in your module (see Using PDF Files , below).

## Sub-Components

### HTML Help File

Adds an entry to the help menu. Selecting the menu opens an external browser on the user's machine with HTML content that you specify.
Menu Entry: The menu item to be added to the Help menu.
Contents: A folder on your local file system. The contents of the folder will be copied into the module and expanded onto the user's machine when the user selects the menu item. The folder can contains any number of sub-folders and can include image data, style sheets, etc. Be sure that your HTML content makes use of relative URLs.
Starting Page: The file within the Contents folder that the user's browser will be pointed to.
Note: You can launch an external URL in the user's browser by specifying the URL as the Starting Page and leaving the Contents set to null.

### Using PDF Files:

To include a PDF file on your help menu, follow these steps:

- Put your PDF in a directory on its own on your hard drive (e.g. in a "help" subdirectory of where you keep your original art files, etc)
- Right click the [Help Menu] component in the Editor and select Add HTML Help File.
- For the menu entry, type "Rulebook" or whatever you want displayed as the actual Help Menu entry.
- Set the Contents to the directory (on your hard drive, not in the Vassal vmod/zip file)
- Set the Starting Page as the PDF file name.
- Save the module and you should be good to go.

### Plain Text Help File

Adds an entry to the Help menu in the main controls window. Selecting the menu displays a new window with the contents of a plain text file.
Menu Entry: The menu item to be added to the Help menu.
Text File: A file containing the contents of the window to be displayed.

### About Screen

You may use any image you wish as an 'About' screen for your module. Feel free to include text in the image that credits you and any other contributors to the module.
The About Screen will always display the current version of both the VASSAL and engine and your module.
The About Screen image is also used as a "Splash Screen" when starting your module.

### Tutorial

You may create a tutorial by writing a logfile and making it accessible from the help menu.
Menu Text: The menu item under the Help Menu
Logfile: The logfile that players will step through when they select the corresponding menu item.
Launch automatically: If selected, then players will automatically be prompted to run the tutorial the first time they load the module.
Confirm message: The text in the yes/no dialog that is displayed to the player when they load the module for the first time. Answering "yes" will load the tutorial logfile.
Welcome message: The message that displays in the chat log when the tutorial is loaded.