[Lazarus] Errors reading non-English characters

[David M. Lawrence]

I have a computer model that -- under older versions of Lazarus -- 
compiled and ran fine.

I have been trying to update that model, however, and it does not read 
non-English characters such as the accented "e" in "Abéché" correctly.

In the older code, the program could read such strings from a text file 
fine, but when I try to compile an updated version of the program, the  
updated version reads the site name from a file such as the one below 
and translates "Abéché" into "Ab?ch?".

Abéché, Chad
     13.5    20.9    550
    26.8   28.1   31.2   33.3   33.2   32.2   28.7   27.0 28.4   30.0   
28.5   25.9
    45.0   49.0   50.0   49.0   50.0   48.0   45.0   39.0 45.0   46.0   
46.0   43.0
     8.0    9.0   11.0   11.0   11.0   15.0   14.0   17.0 15.0   15.0   
11.0   10.0
     0.0    0.0    0.5    1.0   24.0   26.0  141.0  232.0 67.0   14.0    
0.0    0.0
   141.0  152.0  189.0  206.0  203.0  175.0  152.0  119.0  138.0 164.0  
156.0  132.0
    25.0   23.0   21.0   24.0   39.0   47.0   66.0   79.0 66.0   37.0   
28.0   29.0
       0      0      0      0

Furthermore, the previous version of the model accurately processes 
batch files of site data like below:

\Africa\Chad\Ndjamena.dat
\Africa\Chad\output\Ndjamena.out
\Africa\Chad\output\Ndjamena.png
0.5
\Africa\Chad\Abéché.dat
\Africa\Chad\output\Abéché.out
\Africa\Chad\output\Abéché.png
0.5

The old version of the program reads batch files just fine. The old 
code, when recompiled in Lazarus, can process individual data files, 
such as that for Abéché, OK, but it blows up when trying to process data 
for Abéché in batch mode. The accented "e" is again corrupted, so the 
source file cannot be found -- generating a file not found error.

Note that the relevant variables for site and file names are defined as 
string variables.

So what has changed in Lazarus regarding string processing and what do I 
need to do to fix the problem? Is there some option I need to set in 
Lazarus to allow extended character processing? If so, how do I do so?

Dave

-- 
------------------------------------------------------
  David M. Lawrence        | Home:  (804) 559-9786
  6467 Hanna Drive         | Cell:  (804) 305-5234
  Mechanicsville, VA 23111 | Email: dave at fuzzo.com
  USA                      | http:  http://fuzzo.com
------------------------------------------------------

"All drains lead to the ocean."  -- Gill, Finding Nemo

"We have met the enemy and he is us."  -- Pogo

"No trespassing
  4/17 of a haiku"  --  Richard Brautigan