Download | Register | Docs & Help | Data Files | Add-ons & Extras | Gallery | What's New! | Home

As things change in the GCA world and surrounding areas, we'll post news about it here.

August 21, 2005

It's been a while since I've updated here. Today I uploaded an installer that contains the 3rd Edition Books data files that were converted over for GCA3/4 some time ago. If you have GCA 3, you already have these files. If you have GCA 4, you can now get them. You can download it here: 3rd_edition_books.exe Note that there is no guarantee that all of these files will work for you as you might expect. They haven't been extensively tested. Also, if you want to use them with GURPS 4th Edition, you must be aware that the skill types in these files are for 3rd Edition, so they'll need to be changed to work with 4th Edition.

June 19, 2005

I will be hosting a Pyramid chat this Friday, June 24th at 7 PM Central time. This chat will be about GCA 4, and as with all such chats, is open to all Pyramid subscribers. I hope to see you there! If you're not a subscriber already, consider doing so. It's an excellent weekly gaming magazine. Subscribe to Pyramid here.

May 19, 2005

Hey! Listen up! I can not send you GCA 3 download information if you don't provide a valid current email address! You must provide a complete current email address so I can contact you. This means in the form of "user@aol.com" or "user@earthlink.com" or whatever. It does not mean "user" or "earthlink.com" by themselves. I can't reach you then, not even to tell you to provide more info! You must be sure that the current email address you provide me actually works. It does no good to provide me with a complete email address if I then get "No such user" or "User refusing email" errors from your ISP's mail server!

April 14, 2005

GCA 3: The GCA 3 Preview ended last month. Now, if you are a registered user of GCA 2, you can download GCA 3 for your own personal use. If you are not a registered user of GCA 2, my apologies, but you'll have to wait for the release of GCA 4 from Steve Jackson Games in a few weeks. I'm handling the upgrades manually, via email and web download. If you would like a copy of GCA 3, and you're eligible for it (see above), send me an email including the name your copy of GCA is registered under, and if possible, the email address used when you registered. If I can verify you as a registered user, I will send you download instructions and your personal download code, which will allow you to get your copy of GCA 3. Thank you all for your support over the years, I appreciate it very much. I hope you continue to enjoy GCA, and I hope you'll also consider upgrading to GCA 4 soon. ;-) Thanks, Armin

April 14, 2005

I am not able to distribute GURPS 4th Edition data files. As a result, I have removed them from this site. I apologize for any inconvenience.

March 19, 2005

GCA 3: The GCA 3 Preview is ending at the end of the month. The currently available preview is the last that will be put up for public review. Exactly how I'll proceed with providing GCA 3 to registered users that wish to receive it is still being figured out. If you aren't a registered user of GCA 2, my apologies, but you'll have to wait for the release of GCA 4 from Steve Jackson Games in a few months.

March 13, 2005

GCA 3: A new GCA 3 Preview is now available.

March 1, 2005

GCA 3: A new GCA 3 Preview is now available.

January 19, 2005

GCA 3: A new GCA 3 Preview is now available.

December 31, 2004

GCA registrations and sales are no longer available from this site. I hope to continue the GCA 3 Preview for a while, so that the bugs and such it contains can be shaken out. However, all future sales of GCA will happen through Steve Jackson Games, once we complete GCA 4 in 2005. As mentioned previously, once GCA 3 is ready, it will be available only to registered users of GCA 2. For everyone else, I'm afraid you'll have to wait for GCA 4. I appreciate all the support and encouragement I have received from so many of you. Thank you very much. Here's to a great 2005!

November 29, 2004

GCA 3: A new GCA 3 Preview is now available.

November 21, 2004

The Future of GCA As many of you have no doubt heard by now, GCA is soon to be a Steve Jackson Games product. This shift raises a lot of questions, some of which I shall try to answer for you now. Registrations: I will stop accepting GCA 2 registrations at midnight, December 31st, 2004. Those folks who are registered users of GCA 2 up to that point will be eligible to upgrade to GCA 3, which I will release early next year. I have no intention of changing the registration price of GCA at this point: if it was good enough to register at my price point before, it still is now. I don't blame you, however, for deciding not to register, given the future changes. Versions: I will release GCA 3 myself, to registered users of GCA 2 who want it. GCA 3 will be the version of GCA 3 I would have released anyway, regardless of the SJGames deal. The deal does not affect what I had planned to include in the initial release of GCA 3 (and, in fact, GCA 3 already has more features than I had originally planned for it's initial release). This release is courtesy of Steve Jackson Games, and I appreciate it very much. GCA 4 will be released by Steve Jackson Games. To the best of my knowledge, there will be no discounted upgrade path from GCA 2/3 to GCA 4. This is only logical, as SJGames has not been involved in GCA releases prior to this point. GCA 4 will have additional features above and beyond those included in GCA 3. Let me reiterate: GCA 3 will be released as I'd intended; nothing is being removed (or held back) to put into GCA 4 instead. GCA 4 will have additional features, beyond those I had originally planned to include in GCA 3 (and, in some cases, beyond those I'd ever planned to include). Of course, all future upgrades will be made to the GCA 4 line, and the majority of GCA support will likely shift to SJGames. Conclusions: I believe this is very good news for everyone, overall. It does complicate a few things, for which I apologize. Also, if you are not yet a registered GCA user, I encourage you to hold off registering until GCA 4 is released by SJGames in 2005. (I do, however, appreciate the support, encouragement, and registrations of all those who still wish to do so.) GCA has had a long and successful life as a shareware GURPS aid so far. I look forward to taking GCA into the future with Steve Jackson Games. Thanks for your support. Armin

November 18, 2004--Very Important Notice

GCA 3: The Basic4th.GDF included on this site is written for GCA 2, as a work-around to support GURPS 4th Edition. It is not, by itself, sufficient to work correctly with GCA 3. GCA 3 requires that one of the loaded data files supply skill type information, which no data file written for GCA 2 includes. GCA 3 also uses additional tags for stat items to tell it which stats to display in the main stats area of the Stats window. No data file written for GCA 2 includes that info, so loading only v.2 files will result in your Stats display appearing as an empty gray blob. GCA 3 comes with two Basic Set data files: GURPS Basic Set 3rd Ed. Revised.gdf and GURPS Basic Set 4th Ed.--Characters.gdf, for GURPS 3rd Edition Revised and for GURPS 4th Edition, respectively. We're still working on these files, but you *must* load one of these files for GCA 3 to work properly, and if you're using any data files made exclusively for GCA 2 or GURPS 3rd Edition, that must be the GURPS Basic Set 3rd Ed. Revised.gdf data file. If you don't like the data files that we've got, here are the basic things you need to make older Basic Set files work in GCA 3 without requiring the loading of one of the files I mention above: You must copy the [Settings], [SkillTypes], [BasicDamage], and [ConvertDice] sections out of GURPS Basic Set 3rd Ed. Revised.gdf, and either paste them into your preferred file, or into a separate data file that you always load with your preferred file set. You must add a mainwin() tag to each stat you want to appear on the main stats section of the Stats window. Use mainwin(1) to have a stat appear in the first slot, mainwin(2) to have a stat in the second slot, etc. If you have stat costs doubling in play, you must include an inplaymult(2) tag for each such stat, as the old doubleinplay() tag no longer works. I hope this helps solve some of the problems people are having trying to use v.2 Basic Set files with GCA 3.

November 17, 2004

GCA 2: Some more updates and files from Eric B. Smith. Both basic4th.zip and ffolk4e.zip have been updated. Plus a new file: aliens4e.zip contains alien races updated to 4th Edition.

October 31, 2004

GCA 3: Another quick bug-fix for the second GCA 3 Preview is now available. This should fix the problem some users are having with the Load-Out Manager.

October 29, 2004

GCA 3: A quick bug-fix for the second GCA 3 Preview build is now available.

October 27, 2004

GCA 3: The second GCA 3 Preview build is now available.

October 22, 2004

GCA 2: Oops. Yesterday's update included out of date files. That's fixed now, and both basic4th.zip and ffolk4e.zip are now the correct files.

October 21, 2004

GCA 2: Eric B. Smith has been working away again: he has created a new version of the GURPS 4th Edition Basic Set data file for you, which addresses some issues, and expands on previous versions. It also uses fewer mods for setting a variety of sub-types of various items, which is easier for some folks to work with. You can get it here. This is helpful (and required) for the data file he created for a 4th Edition version of the races from Fantasy Folk, which you can get here. And, finally, Eric has also updated the GCAPRN 1 flex file he created.

October 4, 2004

The GCA 3 Preview has begun. You can find it on the GCA 3 Preview page. Please read the warnings on that page, and the limited info on the download page, before downloading. Keep in mind that this is beta software. If anything about that bothers you, please don't try it. If you have bug reports, please use the GCA 3 Bug Reports forum rather than emailing me.

October 1, 2004 - New Registration Fee

As of October 1, 2004, the registration fee is now US$22. We thank you for your support. Registering GCA is easy! Just visit our handy Register GCA page for more info.

September 17, 2004 - Price Increase Pending

Since GCA 2 was released nearly eight years ago, the registration fee has remained the same. Unfortunately, the cost of just about everything else has increased over that period of time, including the cost of the average GURPS book, and my development time. And I don't think one price increase in eight years is too bad. As of October 1, 2004, the registration fee will be US$22. Until then, the fee remains US$17. Registering GCA is easy! Just visit our handy Register GCA page for more info.

September 12, 2004

Another couple GURPS 4th Edition updates again: We have another update to the GURPS 4th Edition Basic Set data file. You can grab the basic4e.zip file, by clicking here. Eric B. Smith has updated the GCAPRN 1 flex file he created to work with the updated Basic4E.GDF file, and to be backward compatible with the G4Lite.GDF file we got before. This file is now included with the new updated Basic4E.ZIP file above, and in the G4Lite.ZIP file below. You can grab gurps4e.flx alone by clicking here. (Remember, this is *not* compatible with GCAPRN 2!)

September 6, 2004

David L. Watkins has provided us with an updated GURPS 4th Edition Basic Set data file. You can get the basic4e.zip file, by clicking here.

September 3, 2004

Thanks to David L. Watkins, we have the first iteration of a GURPS 4th Edition Basic Set data file. You can get the basic4e.zip file, by clicking here. Here's what David had to say about the file:

I finally have a completed data file for GURPS 4e. I don't have spells or techniques, as I wanted to get this out the door so people could use it.

Comments or feedback on the file can be made on either the gca-l mailing list or the message boards.

August 28, 2004 (Again)

John Kono has made available a slightly different version of the Gurps Lite (4th Edition) data file for GCA 2. You can get the G4Lite-111.ZIP file, by clicking here. (the other file is available a few items below). This one is meant to saisfy a bit different needs than the previous one, so I strongly recommend reading his excellent ReadMe file, and choosing the one that fits your needs best. (The ReadMe also covers some of the caveats of using this file with GCA2, which isn't fully compatible with new GURPS 4th Edition features.)

August 28, 2004

The following is reposted from an email I sent out to the GCA-L on August 26, 2004. I meant to post it here as well, but got sidetracked, and forgot. Sorry about that. (Also, I mention GURPS 4th popping up all over--I was meaning discussion about it from folks who had the books. It turns out that distributors won't be shipping it until August 31, so your FLGS won't get it until after that.) Hi, Folks, I know some of you are getting a bit restless about GCA 3, especially with GURPS 4th popping up all over now. I thought I'd give you a brief update. GCA 3 is being worked on, and a very great deal has been accomplished lately. We've got a working program that is capable of creating and managing real characters. All of the essential features are in there, such as needs checking (which is better and more complete than that in GCA 2), defaulting, and modifiers. However, there are currently a lot of program options missing that GCA 2 has, such as half-point spin buttons, certain printing options, the ability to turn off defaulting, and the ability to manually clear a pre-req needed flag (although currently, I don't think there's any standard needs() option that GCA can't check correctly, so the flag is right if it's there). I'm telling you this so that you know that there is stuff working, but also, still stuff missing. In any case, once we finish up the stuff we're currently working on, I hope to put together a public beta version for people to play with, and see what it is we're doing. I expect this to happen in the next couple of weeks, at the outside--I'm trying to avoid releasing something that I then have to make significant changes to, and some of what we're doing right now calls for some big changes in certain features currently in the program. (That's not to say that there won't be big changes in the future, but I'd like to avoid making big changes that affect data files, if I can avoid it.) Not all the features that I want to include are there yet, but I'm not going to wait on that before making a public beta available. I'd rather folks have a useable program to play with while playing with the new GURPS, than make them wait even longer for me to add features. If folks have questions, I'll be happy to answer them, as I'm sure anyone else in the current beta would be. We are working hard, and hope to get something out to you as soon as possible. Armin

August 19, 2004

Whoops. Looks like we had a bad link in the announcement about the new message boards. That's fixed.

August 4, 2004

We now have some shiny new message boards for support of GCA, and for communication within the GCA community. We have had, and will continue to have, the gca-l mailing list for many years, but I know that a lot of folks don't like to sign up for mailing lists, or simply prefer boards. With this additional new option, I hope the GCA user community will continue to grow and prosper.

July 20, 2004

John Kono and Eric B. Smith have done some work for you, to create a Gurps Lite (4th Edition) data file (and a print template for GCA Character Printer 1). Here's what Eric has to say about the files:

Here is a fixed up version of John Kono's G4Lite.gdf file along with a modified version of my FlexForm file for GCAPrinter v1 to better display some of the changes. Fixes to G4Lite.gdf: Added Will, Fright Check, Vision, Hearing, and Taste/Smell Stats for completeness' sake. Changed skills to use a backslash seperator (e.g. ST\H, IQ\A) Removed +1 CL:Influence bonus from Charisma. Charisma adds to those skills for the use of Influence Rolls only, not to the skills as a whole. Removed +2 CL:Influence from Voice. Again, this gives a bonus to reaction rolls & Influence Rolls, not to the skills as a whole. Added Talents & Talent Groups Fixes to MyCaster.flx: Renamed to G4Lite.flx Added a spot for Basic Lift below Speed Fixed the Basic Damage listing to be correct for ST 1-20 (for ST above 20 we'll have to wait for the new Basic Set to know how correct the printout is). Fixed the Statistics listing for Equipment stats - if you choose to use EquipTL3.gdf or EquipTL7.gdf the equipment stats will be printed out, if you do not use them they will not be. Note: This file also includes a very full Spell listing, including full spell descriptions as used in Magic~.gdf. Of course, the cost for these spells will be incorrect, but only if you spend more than 2 pts in a particular spell, so it should be easy to just port them in without a problem.

You can download the two files together in the G4Lite.ZIP file, by clicking here.

Recently archived What's New items.