Yes, same problem. :/

I also confirm it crashes under Windows 8.1.

Oh Well, gog really do need to either patch it to work with windows 8 and 8.1 or stop selling it.

Ummm, no. GOG does not CLAIM it works on Windows 8, only up to Windows 7 - Windows (XP, Vista, 7). If they were claiming the game worked on Windows 8, then that would be a problem, but they are not.

Of course, it'd be great if GOG or the community came up with a fix.

Yeah, i found that out after i posted that message, but so far, all games that work on windows 7 have worked on windows 8 and 8.1.

Not sure why Wing Commander IV works flawlessly, but not this game, when this game came out later, which technically should make it more likely to work....its silly.

Guess there are times when they just can't get a game working no matter how hard they try.

What is the main start up issue, what causes the problem I should say? If it is anything like Fallout 3 and Windows 8 issue, it might be due to a piece of removed directx code moving from Windows 7 to 8.

One time I attached WinDbg to the process to see where I got the crash, and it was a failure inside a Conquest-specific DLL. There would need to be some serious reverse-engineering to fix this.

I've just managed to launch the game under 8.1, but in software mode.

I got it to launch using the Application Compatibility Toolkit, using both fixes below:

- DXPrimaryEmulation with "-DisableMaxWindowedMode" as parameter, out of curiosity, as it helps with some other games. Here, it seems to prevent the crash at launch. Still, this fix alone isn't enough, as the screen remains black, although all sounds (cutscenes, menus) play in the background.

- so I've added ForceDirectDrawEmulation, and this time videos show! And more important - everything works now in software mode (guess it's to be expected with this fix, I think it prevents 3D renderer to be detected) - everything apart from the Options menu, which hangs the game if clicked.

But I've quickly started the campaign, a quick battle, tried videos and the other menus, and they all work (again, in software mode). If these fixes help, maybe there's a way to get the game to run fully (and in accelerated mode) with something like DxWnd?

Last time I've tried this, I only got cutscenes showing, with black screen afterwards. So I guess there's something changed in new drivers (I'm using a laptop with Optimus, the game running on nVidia (v344.48). Otherwise, IntelHD 4000 gives the same results, driver is 10.18.10.3945).

Hope this helps!

Note: I checked in ACT and the game also has the fix DWM8And16BitMitigation applied (and RunAsAdmin too), but I assume gog or Windows apply them automatically.

Unfortunately, still doesn't work for me. I did get a slightly different result; a white loading box rather than a grey loading box before things came up. I confirmed my GeForce driver is now 344.48. Would you mind pasting a screenshot of your ACT database overview? Maybe there's a setting there in the overview you didn't remember you're applying.

Here you go, I've also uploaded the .sdb file from ACT if you want to try it directly:

http://1drv.ms/ZXULEM

Thanks for sharing, but it still didn't fix things; I'm still getting the black screen.

I know it's somewhat unrelated to Windows 8 but I went to manage my 3D settings and well - lol - Game is identified as Lord of the Rings - Conquest! XD

http://i.imgur.com/WviWMCY.jpg

Still hoping for a fix to this. Although with Win10 around the corner, who knows it might get unbroken again? ; p

I so want this game to work on Windows 8.1.