Creating a party is a simple activity once you have the compendium entries (the combatant definitions).
When building encounters VCC will show how many XP of your budget you have spent.

To create a party or encounter:

1. Open the party-editor window (Compendium > Edit Party....
2. You will see all the compendium entries you have (Monster and Characters) on the left. Double clicking on an entry will move it into the party.
3. Once on the encounter table, you can change the quantity and edit the alias and ID. To change ID, the quantity must be one (you cannot check or uncheck the Collapse similar entries to see individual entries).
4. Once you have all the entries you want in the encounter, you can save it using File > Save ....
5. Alternatively, you can add them directly to the current combat using File > Add to combat.

You can load saved parties or encounters at any time. We recommend you separate the character party and monster encounters into separate files to make it easier to choose your battles. You can load previously saved parties or encounters to change their build up.

Here are some suggestions for handling some combatants that are not basic type:

Traps

Create traps as monsters. If they cannot suffer damage to be disabled, give them a huge amount of HP. Otherwise use the HP to track the damage to them. If they don't have initiative, keep them in reserve when starting the combat.

Hazards

These normally define an area of threat and react to entry or beginning a round in them. Create them as monsters, and keep them in reserve.

Companions

Rangers may have companions. Companions' health works just like the Players, but they don't have their own initiative. So create a player, and when running combats leave the companion in reserve.