Windows standalones

[Shari]

Schultz knows nothing about Windows, as we do Mac here, so here goes 
the Windows questions:

* what I've done so far *

I downloaded the Metacard.exe engine.

Saved my program's icon as 16 colors in Windows .ico format with 
GraphicConvertor.
Just chose the 16 color option, and Save As... without diddling with 
any of the default preferences (which there appear to be a lot of).

My program has the standalone with several embedded stacks, one 
exterior stack to save data to, and a text file, though that file 
isn't critical.

* questions *

When doing the standalone build, should the Windows icon be embedded 
somewhere in the stack first?  Or just as is, the .ico file in the 
same folder as the program?

How does Windows handle the creator code and file types?  On the Mac, 
I set the file type and creator of the external stack so that 
double-clicking the stack would launch the standalone, rather than 
Metacard.  Also, the standalone has it's own icon, not the same icon 
as the standalone.  This is done in the resource fork on a Mac.  How 
would I achieve these same results on Windows?

It took quite a bit of diddling to find a combination that worked. 
As the wrong combination would overwrite the custom icon of the 
external stack, with Metacard's icon.  How to accomplish this for 
Windows?

Presumably it should be saved as a Zip file.  Any words of wisdom here?

Presumably if I dragged the final zipped file to a PC formatted disk, 
or burned it onto a CD, anyone with Windows could access it?  Or is 
there something special that needs to be done here?

* the happy news *

The Mac PPC version is finished and being uploaded as we speak :-) 
Though it may take awhile for Info-Mac to post it.

Shari C

-- 
--Shareware Games for the Mac--
http://www.gypsyware.com