[Astronouth7303]

Lines start at 1. The compiler uses "syntax error" (w/o an error number) to mean "I'm confused. I'm giving up." Line 0 means before it even really starts reading the file. Maybe a permissions issue?

Check line endings, although that should not affect it. Also try running it through cpp18 (the preprocessor) and see if it tosses an error. (It probably won't but it's worth a shot.)

Unlike gcc, MCC18 requires separate compiling and linking stages. The linker is mplink.