Running vista64 with saitek x52 system, every time I try to start the game I get as far as the title screen then game stops with message
Debug Fatal Unable to register Apache Havoc: No_Dplay_Error_message_Found.
I have tried running it under all compatibility modes, tried it with x52 connected and disconnected, tried running as administrator all to no avail always get the same message.
Any help gratefully received

Can't say I have run into that error, but the error message seems to be pointing towards a display error.
Have you tried upgrading your video card drivers ( although considering it is such an old game that may not do anything )
Perhaps try to change your resoultion on windows to fit game resolution before starting the game.
Is there an option ( fi you righ click on executable and go to properties -> Compatability, I think ) to run it as a winXP\win98 app or similar

Thanks for replying, not sure if it is a display issue or a direct play one.
either way I tried your suggestion but no luck ,still getting same error.

I already did, I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling, same result,same error .
I do think it is a direct play issue but no idea what to do about it.

Could you please post your system specs, monitor size and aspect ratio please?

Monitor is a 24" wide screen with an aspect ratio of 16:10.
Specs are:
CPU Intel q6600 running at 2.7Ghz
Memory: 8Gig
Graphics: pny Geforce 8800GT
Sound: ASUS sound card ( the model name escapes me at the moment)
All running on a Foxconn X38A motherboard
All drivers are up to date, I hope this helps, and before I forget the os is Vista 64 premium.

Did you get the game to run at all?

Try to run the game with a single core for starters. Also go into your nvidia control panel and make sure that anti aliasing, anisotropic filtering and Vsync are all set to application controlled.

No idea how to get it to run on a single core but tried the control panel suggestion, still no joy.
Got a reply from support suggesting I download the mods from EECH central that didn't work either so I am thinking of just letting it go and forgetting all about it.
@ Tallart, Have never got past the splash screen that shows the two helos

Load your game up and whilst its crashed out, hit ctrl alt del and bring up your task manager. You need to find the games process in the process tab and right click that. You can then set the game to run on a single core using the affinity menu, Core 0 would be your best bet. If the game doesn't have its process up during the crash you can set core affinity using a shortcut command.
http://www.vistax64.com/gaming/197915-setting-processor-affinity-made-easy.html

I now know how to set core affinity, thanks Ralackk .
The game was already set to run on single core so I tried it on all cores and so on but still no joy.
This game is driving me crazy, I have had no problems with anything else I have downloaded from here just this one

Yes I can find it,
Why do I want to find it?

It contains the DirectPlay api. The game error message means that it did not found DirectPlay error message string for the failure which happened. One explanation is, that it did not found DirectPlay api at all. This can happen if that file file or corresponding registry entries are missing.