So you started your Xtherion and got a (black, horizontally-splited) compiler window. What now?
Well, you could place cursor over different control panels and buttons and see what they are for. From 0.3.7, when you place the cursor over a button or whatsoever, a help balloon will pop-up with a text string to explain what it is for. The same happens on status bar, at Xtherion's window bottom. Further, status bar will show also information about objects in map editor canvas. So you should pay attention to it.
If you find these help balloons annoying, you can edit xtherion.ini. This file is located on therion's sources, in “xtherion” directory. Open xtherion.ini, search for the line:
# set xth(gui,balloons) 1
and change it to:
set xth(gui,balloons) 0
Next time you run Xtherion, balloons will not appear (but strings will continue being displayed in status bar).
Of course, all control panels and buttons will be disabled until you open an existing file or create new one. Likewise, there will be control panels disabled until you insert something adequate, i.e, Point control panel will be disabled until you insert at least one point. Don't worry, status bar messages will appear even if controls are disabled.
We suggest you to go to File → Open and select a thconfig file from available examples. Then simply press “Compile” button or F9 key. Next to “Compile” button you can see now a yellow box which says “RUNNING”. This means that Therion is creating things from commands found in thconfig, .th and .th2 files. When compilation is finished, mesagge box will display “OK” and you'll find, in example's directory, new .pdf, .thm (3D model) and .sql files. Open .pdf files with a pdf viewer. Open .thm file in Therion's model viewer window. Open .sql file in any text editor. Enjoy.