Rob83... a recent issue of PC Plus had Borland C++ Builder 4 free on a coverdisk. Grab that if you can. And get yourself to the nearest PC World and look for something called the Game Programming Kit version 3, or something like that (yellow box). As I believe you get the low-level version of Visual C++, and probably not the latest version, but you get it cheaper, with a load of mildly game-relevant stuff thrown in, like a book, and one of the free 3D engines (Genesis, perhaps). Chekc the box to make sure I''m telling the truth, as my memory is not perfect. Note also that I am not necessarily recommending the package as such, just as a cheap place to get a starter version of Visual C++. I think that you can''t legally distribute applications with the versions of MSVC or BCB that I have mentioned, but least you have the tools and are up and running - you can upgrade to full versions as and when you need to.

cheers kylotan, i''ll have a look around

btw, about how many months back was this issue of PC Plus?
i might be able to get a back issue

I bought this copy of PC Plus in the last month. If you''re lucky, it''ll still be on the shelves.