Somebody from GoG needs to take a look at this. The "Prepare for Battle" issue has caused many people to be unable to play the game. We need it fixed.

I take it you've tried the various suggestions about shutting down background programs and standing on one leg or putting your tongue at the right angle while starting it? It does seem to need a little tweak to get it stable for many.

Yep, I've also tried all of the fixes that people have put forth but none of them work. Shutting down background programs, changing the language and system location, doing a "clean boot", using the GOG installer, animal sacrifice etc. and it's still stalling out on the "prepare for battle" screen. Sometimes it crashes during the intro video.

I am the same and it still doesn't work. Come on, will anyone from GoG even say anything about this?

Have you checked gog's trouble-shooting guide for SotHR? You can find it here:

http://www.gog.com/support/warhammer_shadow_of_the_horned_rat/bgeneral_troubleshooting_guide_pc_windows_gamesb

It isn't there. The Prepare for Battle issue cannot be solved through any of those recommended steps.

Still no fix has been provided. Shadow of the Horned Rat still doesn't work. GOG, you're slipping.

So, you ever contact support about this?

They generally dont read individual game forums. You need to make a support ticket.

So what's the status of this game on Windows 8.1? Is there even a marginal chance of it working?

I had it working on 8.1, just had to turn off Adobe Creative Cloud before it would function. But after upgrading to Win10, it would not go into battles anymore

Yeah, I've put in a ticket. Was hoping more people would too.

Just bought it yesterday with the bundle, I have no problem running it.
Playing on Win 7.

I think it works well on Windows 7 with older Nvidia cards. I had very few problems running it on my 6-years old laptop with Windows 7. But, some people do have problems running it on Windows 7.

But it would be great if you can post your system specification. It might help others figure out when the game works and when it does not.