GENERAL
Girlfriend is an artificial intelligence program which mimics the responses
of a human female in a conversation.  You enter a sentence through the key-
board, and she answers in a few seconds.

REQUIREMENTS
Girlfriend requires two software kits in order to function:
1) an Environment kit, and 2) a Personality kit.  There is only one Environ-
ment kit, but you can have several Girlfriends by purchasing multiple Person-
ality kits and installing them on your hard disk.  However, you cannot mix 
disk-based with CD-ROM based Personality kits in the same directory.  For ex-
ample, you should install the CD-ROM into \GF1\ and the disk-based one into
\GF\ or something similar.

Hard Disk Space
The Environment kit requires about 4-6 megabytes.  Personality kits vary in
size.  Some require over 8 megabytes of hard disk space.  Girlfriend Teri on
disk, for example, needs over 10!  On the other hand, the CD-ROM versions of
Personality Kits require very little space, since all the data is kept on the
CD-ROM.  See the installation manual for the particular Personality Kit for
specific requirements for that product.

Graphics
Girlfriend requires VGA.  Type GF to start, or GF /H for a list of command line
switches that allow you to specify graphics and sound environments.  If you
have an SVGA board, it will work, but you will not get any better resolution
than with a standard 640x480x16 VGA card.

Memory (RAM)
Versions after V2.8 have considerably reduced memory requirements, by using
advanced new software techniques.  You now only need 520K of conventional
memory, and NO expanded or extended memory!  Thus, it does not matter whether
you have 4MB or 8MB or 16MB or only 640K installed.

TO IMPROVE SPEED
Girlfriend is an artificial intelligence system.  Of course, the human brain
is almost INFINITELY better suited to the type of pattern recognition required
for understanding English than even our fastest modern computers.  So, some-
times you will find her "thinking" for almost a minute about something you said
before she comes up with a reply.  Read HOW TO CONVERSE WITH YOUR GIRLFIREND
below. If you have a computer that is slower than a 486DX-2, then skip to the
very bottom of this help file for some further tips.

HOW TO CONVERSE WITH YOUR GIRLFRIEND
Scientists at AIdeaLabs, M.I.T., and many other research facilities have been
trying to duplicate the human mind for a long time.  We have achieved sur-
prising results, but not perfection!  Girlfriend does have some limitations,
so what follows are some hints for better conversations:

1. Keep your sentences simple.
Girlfriend takes a simple sentence and generates a reply.  She cannot handle
sentences with over 9 words.  Make a simple statement, question, or im-
perative.  Don't combine two sentences together with a comma.

Don't say:      "YOUR HAIR HAS GOT ME SO TURNED ON, I THINK I'M GONNA DIE!"
Do say:         "I LOVE YOUR HAIR"

Don't say:      "HOW OLD ARE YOU, AND WHERE DID YOU GET THAT SEXY BODY?"
Do say:         "HOW OLD ARE YOU?"

2. Talk about her:  her body, her clothes, her environment.
Girlfriend is "locked" into your computer.  She knows nothing of the World
Series or the current NFL champions.  She knows nothing of current events.
How could she?  So, talk about her cute little body or her clothes!  Tell her
about yourself, but don't go overboard!  To a limited extent, she can under-
stand dialog about your job, your relatives, your friends, and so on.  Ask her
"WHAT OUTFITS DO YOU HAVE" if you want to know what's in her closet.  They will
be grouped into complete outfits, but you are free to request that she wear
them together as outfits, or as individual items.  Realize that most graphics
are based on complete outfits, so you may not get to see what she looks like if
you insist on making her put on bizarre combinations.

3. If she doesn't understand you, re-phrase your sentence.
If she constantly tells you she doesn't understand, change the sentence around
and ask it a different way.  For example, if you said "YOUR EYES SUCK BIG TIME"
and she didn't get it, try "I HATE YOUR EYES" next time.

4. Don't use idiomatic phrases, slang, colloquialisms.
Don't say:      "WHAT A BODACIOUS SET OF GAZONGAS!"
Do say:         "WHAT SIZE IS YOUR BRA?"

Don't say:      "YOUR EYES JUST BLOW ME AWAY!"
Do say:         "YOU HAVE SEXY EYES!"

5. When you are through, say "BYE" or "GOOD-BYE".

6. Hiding your activities
If your boss, wife, or jealous lover shows up unannounced, just press the
ESCape key or type in "hide" when it's your turn to talk.  A meaningless, but
serious-looking spreadsheet will appear on your screen.  After you have con-
vinced the intruder that you are working on something very important, just hit
ENTER and return to your Girlfriend conversation.  Or, if the intruder persists
on looking over your shoulder, just type "ABORT", and Girlfriend will vanish
into thin air, leaving nary a trace of your adulterous tryst!

7. DOS Shell
If you want to exit to DOS temporarily during a conversation, just type "DOS"
when it is your turn to talk.  To re-enter Girlfriend, type "EXIT" at the DOS
prompt, and you will return right back where you were.  You can do this to
check your directory, change the date/time, or other simple things.  But don't
forget to EXIT back to Girlfriend before you try doing much else!

8. Aborting hopeless sentences
If she gets caught trying to decipher a hopeless sentence, and you realize
that she will never figure it out (maybe you misspelled something), just hit
the ESCAPE key, and she will abort her attempt to translate your sentence.

9. Mood Meter
Don't you wish sometimes you could stick a mood thermometer into a human woman
and tell whether she was mad or happy?  Well, Girlfriend has such a device
permanently installed!  In case you don't have lots of experience with human
women, here's the idea: Try to keep the mood in the UPPER region!

10. Rooms
The girls in some personality kits (Suzy, Teri, etc.) live in apartments which
have multiple rooms.  You can ask her to "GO TO THE BEDROOM", etc. for more
interesting activities and views.  The room name is shown at the top left.

11.  Face Shots
If you are getting only face shots (no body visible), it means this: You have
gotten her in a position, in a room, on a piece of furniture, wearing clothing
in a combination for which there is no image.  To correct this, have her go
into the living room, sit down, and put on some outfit which you know is in her
closet.  This will bring back the full-body graphics.  (On the other hand, you
may enjoy fantasizing about having her in those other poses!)

12. You cannot shock Girlfriend.  So, do anything you would do with a real gal!

13. To repeat the previous sentence you typed in, you can say "REPEAT" or 
"AGAIN" or just hit the UP arrow.


IF YOUR COMPUTER IS A 286, 386, or 486SX, OR YOU ARE ON A NETWORK
You may experience some very slow response times.  If this happens to you, try
the GF /LOWIQ switch.  This will improve the response time, but it will do so
at the cost of some comprehension.  That is, she may not understand some of
your sentences, but the majority of them will be processed faster.  If you have
a 486DX-2 or above, definitely do NOT use this switch, because it makes her
dumber.

FOR INFORMATION ON THIS VERSION,
exit to DOS and say TYPE RELEASE.V31 or whatever version you have.  There are
specific release notes for each version that explain the improvements, bugs,
and other information to help you.

Now press ENTER to return to GIRLFRIEND