diff --git a/MUSHclient.cpp b/MUSHclient.cpp
index 1f1f48f8..32c554c4 100644
--- a/MUSHclient.cpp
+++ b/MUSHclient.cpp
@@ -233,9 +233,9 @@ BOOL CMUSHclientApp::InitInstance()
 
   char fullfilename [MAX_PATH];
 
-  MUSHCLIENT_VERSION = MUSHCLIENT_BASE_VERSION;
+  MUSHCLIENT_VERSION = VERSION_STRING;
 
-#if _MSC_VER == 1900     // 1200 for Visual Studio 6, 1900 for MSVC 2015
+#ifdef PRE_RELEASE
   MUSHCLIENT_VERSION += "-pre";
 #endif
 
@@ -843,7 +843,7 @@ BOOL CMUSHclientApp::InitInstance()
 
     version = db_get_int ("control", "Version", 0);	
 
-    if (version < THISVERSION)  // THISVERSION is defined at start of this module
+    if (version < THISVERSION)  // THISVERSION is defined in version.h
       {
 
       CWelcome1Dlg dlg;         // Welcome to this version dialog
diff --git a/MUSHclient.rc b/MUSHclient.rc
index 50f03e30..dc493aff 100644
--- a/MUSHclient.rc
+++ b/MUSHclient.rc
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 //Microsoft Developer Studio generated resource script.
 //
 #include "resource.h"
+#include "version.h"
 
 #define APSTUDIO_READONLY_SYMBOLS
 /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
@@ -75,8 +76,8 @@ END
 //
 
 VS_VERSION_INFO VERSIONINFO
- FILEVERSION 5,0,5,0
- PRODUCTVERSION 5,0,5,0
+ FILEVERSION VERSION_16WORDS
+ PRODUCTVERSION VERSION_16WORDS
  FILEFLAGSMASK 0x3fL
 #ifdef _DEBUG
  FILEFLAGS 0x1L
@@ -94,14 +95,14 @@ BEGIN
             VALUE "Comments", "MUSHclient - a client program for playing MUD games\0"
             VALUE "CompanyName", "Nick Gammon\0"
             VALUE "FileDescription", "MUSHclient\0"
-            VALUE "FileVersion", "5.05\0"
+            VALUE "FileVersion", VERSION_STRING
             VALUE "InternalName", "MUSHCLIENT\0"
             VALUE "LegalCopyright", "Copyright © 2016 Nick Gammon\0"
             VALUE "LegalTrademarks", "\0"
             VALUE "OriginalFilename", "MUSHCLIENT.EXE\0"
             VALUE "PrivateBuild", "\0"
             VALUE "ProductName", "MUSHclient\0"
-            VALUE "ProductVersion", "5.05\0"
+            VALUE "ProductVersion", VERSION_STRING
             VALUE "SpecialBuild", "\0"
         END
     END
diff --git a/MUSHclient.vcxproj b/MUSHclient.vcxproj
index 1dffe782..bf79ab67 100644
--- a/MUSHclient.vcxproj
+++ b/MUSHclient.vcxproj
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@
       <Optimization>MaxSpeed</Optimization>
       <InlineFunctionExpansion>OnlyExplicitInline</InlineFunctionExpansion>
       <AdditionalIncludeDirectories>$(SolutionDir);%(AdditionalIncludeDirectories)</AdditionalIncludeDirectories>
-      <PreprocessorDefinitions>NDEBUG;WIN32;_WINDOWS;ZLIB_DLL;LUA51;_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_CRT_NON_CONFORMING_SWPRINTFS;NO_WARN_MBCS_MFC_DEPRECATION;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
+      <PreprocessorDefinitions>NDEBUG;WIN32;_WINDOWS;ZLIB_DLL;LUA51;_CRT_SECURE_NO_WARNINGS;_CRT_NON_CONFORMING_SWPRINTFS;NO_WARN_MBCS_MFC_DEPRECATION;$(PRE_RELEASE);%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <StringPooling>true</StringPooling>
       <RuntimeLibrary>MultiThreaded</RuntimeLibrary>
       <FunctionLevelLinking>true</FunctionLevelLinking>
@@ -177,7 +177,7 @@
       <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'">%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
     </ClCompile>
-    <ClCompile Include="CHATSOCK.CPP">
+    <ClCompile Include="chatsock.cpp">
       <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Debug|Win32'">%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
       <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)'=='Release|Win32'">%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
     </ClCompile>
@@ -1429,6 +1429,7 @@
     <ClInclude Include="luacom\tLuaVector.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="luacom\tStringBuffer.h" />
     <ClInclude Include="luacom\tUtil.h" />
+    <ClInclude Include="version.h" />
   </ItemGroup>
   <ItemGroup>
     <None Include="res\cursor1.cur" />
@@ -1445,4 +1446,4 @@
   <Import Project="$(VCTargetsPath)\Microsoft.Cpp.targets" />
   <ImportGroup Label="ExtensionTargets">
   </ImportGroup>
-</Project>
+</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/appveyor.yml b/appveyor.yml
index 814d7ecf..4774952e 100644
--- a/appveyor.yml
+++ b/appveyor.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ branches:
   - master
 skip_tags: true
 configuration: Release
+environment:
+  auth_token:
+    secure: SKQr480MzNJLzmyrFxDeMta2nHica+9ed2n1Djpa53ioURK0NLo/iStu9DhUrQIK
+  PRE_RELEASE: PRE_RELEASE
 build:
   project: MUSHclient_2015.sln
   parallel: true
@@ -11,9 +15,6 @@ build:
 artifacts:
 - path: WinRel\MUSHclient.exe
   name: release_exe
-environment:
-  auth_token:
-    secure: SKQr480MzNJLzmyrFxDeMta2nHica+9ed2n1Djpa53ioURK0NLo/iStu9DhUrQIK
 before_deploy:
 - git config --global credential.helper store
 - ps: Add-Content "$env:USERPROFILE\.git-credentials" "https://$($env:auth_token):x-oauth-basic@github.com`n"
diff --git a/doc.h b/doc.h
index 9e442243..c63fc6c7 100644
--- a/doc.h
+++ b/doc.h
@@ -14,20 +14,10 @@
 #include "paneline.h"
 #include "miniwindow.h"
 #include "plugins.h"
+#include "version.h"
 
 #define COMPRESS_BUFFER_LENGTH 1024   // size of decompression buffer
-
-// ============================================================================
-
-// New versions - things to change
-
-#define THISVERSION 505                           // Step 1.
-const CString MUSHCLIENT_BASE_VERSION = "5.05";   // Step 2.
-
-extern CString MUSHCLIENT_VERSION;    // will have "-pre" appended by automatic builds
-
-// Step 3. Don't forget VERSION resource in Resources tab
-// Step 4. Remember: README.TXT 
+extern CString MUSHCLIENT_VERSION;
 
 // ============================================================================
 
diff --git a/version.h b/version.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a77a9a1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.h
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+#define THISVERSION 505
+#define VERSION_16WORDS 5,0,5,0
+#define VERSION_STRING "5.05"
+
+// remember README
+