Joint Problems..

Ok.. i have two things .. 1.. I am deeply confused by conditional branches, but I think I need to know how to use them to do this.. so could anyone post a tutorial. I am failing bad at finding one.. annd.. I am trying to make it so that in the beginning of my game, the main character has a battle with this mage guy. The main character can't actually 'win' the battle, but I want to make it so that once the mage's HP hits a certain point the battle will be over and the game continues. Could anyone help me with this?

Make a parallel process that sets a variable to the monster's hp, then add a conditional branch that ends the battle IF the variable is equal to or lower than the hp value you want. If your still confused, I can post a screenshot of how to do this.

I understand what you are saying.. but how do I do this when the events leading up to the battle are already in an autorun event? Maybe make a switch at the end of the cutscene leading up to the fight.. then make a new event with preconditions set for the fight and have that one as a parallel process? I think that may work. Let me try

How do I set up a variable? When I try I set up the variable range (what I'm guessing will be the number for the HP I want the monster to have to be defeated) to 50 - 100. I set the Operator to "Set", and then I hit Monster. There is a a drop box with numbers in it.. but the numbers have no words by them. It looks like:
1.
2.
3.
(ect..).. Maybe this is what I am doing wrong. Am I supposed to put the name of the monster there? If so, how?

and I have the drop box next to that set to "HP".. which I am guessing sets it up so that if the monster's HP is equal to a number between 50 and 100 then the battle will end. x_x or maybe I'm wrong. I am not good with variables

maybee this would help you. i made this well hope you can use it.
its a demo of what you ask

the link is here

Spoiler for:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O8Q6ROUE

It won't open. =/

It won't open. =/

what wont? the link? the download?

tell us some stuff....

I downloaded the link, but when I try to open the file it won't work. I guess its a sample game but it won't play

Conditional Branches are used to check things. Like, if  a switch is on, or if variable A is more than [insert number here]. Stuff like that.

For the battle thing. Go to  monster group and to the mage. In page one, in the trigger, check the monster box. Then click on the dropdown list and choose the Mage. Then put the percent of Mage's HP below it. In the event editor put end battle (its in the third page). If you put 25 %, the battle will end when the Mage's HP is below 25 %.
That's all you have to do.

I downloaded the link, but when I try to open the file it won't work. I guess its a sample game but it won't play

What RPG Maker are you using? Probably XP, right? However, what version is it? If you have the illegal PK (Postality Knights) version, you won't be able to play games made with the legal version.
 I guess that's your problem so talk to dollmage (that's the right person, isn't it?) and if it is that way (that you have PK and he don't) then you'll just have to download the legal version.
 Tell me if that's the problem, then I can help you get the legal version instead! ^^

 ~Kesshomaru

EDIT:  Otherwise, if you can't even open the file you downloaded, then maybe you just need to get a zip software!
 WinRAR is the better choice and you can (direct) download it here! You could also visit Rarlab's website by clicking here.

its wont open hmmm that's funny im using a legal version of rmxp the english one.

may be it wont open

1) your using PK postality Knights (is that correct?)

2)your using the rmxp jap. version

Any way, shouldn't you be able to open it if you make a new project and move the three folders (Data, Audio, Graphics) into the new project from the one you want to open?