Main machine: Champion PC(local brand with OEM) I5 3.1 GHz, 4 GB, GeForce GT 240, Windows 7 64-bit.
IBM ThinkCentre: single core pentium 4, 1.5 GB, GeForce 6200, Windows 7 32-bit.

I have used machines with much more power than that with no lockups. GeForce GT 550, GeForce 6800, 8800 etc. most of these have over 512 megabytes of video memory, and at least 4 gigs of ram.

I seriously don't think the problem is necessarily your parts even if they are lower end specs. I don't think it's a problem with Wrapper either, as most people have no problems with it. That is the reason why Arablizzard includes it in the installer.

There are a number of other issues that could be causing your problems though, and some which may be windows (and or registry) related or anything else. Software and hardware conflicts. Bad ram or failing hardware (things may appear normal even but hardware problems underneath).

I'm having similar issues on Win Vista. The game menu opens, I click "New Game," some sort of map appears, the game claims to be "Copying files to hard drive" and before the copying is 1/4 done, the game crashes.

Game runs great for me on Win8.1x64...and with a Glide wrapper, too. Have you installed the latest (and last) DX9.0c version? I believe it's dated June 2010 and available direct from Microsoft. You definitely need to install that if you haven't...it won't overwrite dx11, in case you are worried about that. It installs alongside DX11.

You sir are a genius. I got a new computer several months ago with windows 8 and tried this work around then with great success. After a power surge a few days ago my computer was messed up and MOE was one of many programs that didn't run properly. Uninstalled and re-installed using your work around and had success again. Thank you very much!

Any step-by-steps for a non tech savvy guy who just wants to play KG:MoE on a PC running Windows 8? I'm not sure exactly how to install the various "gliders" and whatnot. Looking for a bit of nostalgia and didn't expect there to be as many glitches/crashes...

Thanks for any help!

Nevermind. It was way simpler than I realized. I guess I just wasted time and money installing in a Windows 8 OS? Hopefully GOG or someone will fix whatever the bug is. I can't get past the Title Screen. When the game begins to load it crashes before it even gets to "Loading Kingdom of Daventry"

If I'm missing another thread that solves this issue, please feel free to direct me elsewhere.

Sounds like it could be a file copy problem. Where do you have the game installed, are you running the game as an administrator?

I am using Windows 8 and having the same issues with the game crashing after starup and trying to "Load Kingdom of Daventry".

Are there step by step instructions for dummies anywhere on how to fix this problem? I'm useless and can't comprehend all the programming edits and nGlide info I've seen on here :-(

It's just downloaded to a folder on my desktop. Well, it was. I went ahead and removed it for now. While I had it, I ran it as an administrator, in various compatibility modes, and even made adjustments to the Glider settings. Still would just crash to Windows right after I went to start a new game. Not to mention that the intro video won't show.

Long pathnames result in buffer overflows in the game (random memory overrides).
You should try to install to x:\games\kqmoe and see if that works.

edit: the game seems to access memory references (of event objects) that sometimes are already freed, or reused for new allocations. Might be one of the reasons why Windows' compatibility database includes Win95 heap manager emulation. Well, I had no spare time to continue with the analysis. I could try to hack something together that defers memory deletions (just for testing purposes).

Didn't think of that. I'll try it and let you guys know if it worked. Thanks!

You are using a Glide wrapper, hopefully? Game runs great for me in 8.1x64 @1920x1200 with all graphics options on running nGlide 1.03 (no earlier versions--they don't work with the game.) [url=http://www.zeus-software.com/ ]http://www.zeus-software.com/ [/url]

I am running 8.1, what I have found to work is installing nGlide 1.04 along with running in windows 95 comp mode. Once you are at the main menu, go into options and change it from direct to 3dfx. This will make you be able to get past the loading daventry screen and into the game, but then trying to switch back to direct causes it to crash, moving the camera doesn't work, and changing anything in the menus along with quitting causes it to crash. It also lags horribly but maybe anyone reading this can use this to figure something else out.

Tried without w95 comp mode? Deleted glide2x.dll from game root directory?

Is this issue only with KQ8? I saw that KQ7-8 didn't have Win8 listed as being compatible with win8, and was wondering if it was both games or just the last.

I know a similar thing happens on Gabriel Knight 3, Had to miss out on the final chapter of that series, would hate to miss out on the last one of this series too....(though I heard it wasn't that good)