The installation file verified o.k. so I'm not sure what the problem could be. The game launches and shows the very first frame of the intro, then crashes. I've tried restarting the computer as well.

Win7 64-bit Pro SP1
i7 3770K @3.5 Ghz
GTX 680
16 GB RAM


On a side note GOG - You seriously need to break up these games into separate forums. It's ridiculous that 10 games should have to share the same space, especially when virtually all of them have large communities and significant issues associated with them.

This could have several causes. Make sure your system has everything needed to run the game:
- Install AC3Filter for audio decoding
- Install DirectX 9 redistributable
- Install an MPEG2 Decoder (e.g. this one http://www.si-gamer.net/gulikoza/bin/mpeg2dec.zip; extract to your WC4 directory and run register.bat)

If it still crashes, try running the game as Administrator by right-clicking the game's shortcut and select "Run as Admininstrator"
If admin-rights don't make a difference, try compatibility modes for Windows 95, 98 and XP (right-click the game's shortcut => Properties =>Compatibility tab)

Thank you for your help. I don't think I'd have been comfortable installing extra programs to try to fix it - these tend to fix the problem with one game while causing many more in other games.

The GOG installer already set the program to Run as Administrator, and in Win 98 compatibility mode. Changing to Win 95 allowed the game to run normally, though. So if anyone from GOG reads this, maybe update the installer to avoid the issue for people with similar configurations to mine.

So, solved?

Yes I believe it is.