Hello! New to GOG and just bought Quake II was really looking forward to using on my retro gaming laptop. On the store page under the games requirements (I have XP SP3) the system well exceeded the minimum system specs. Quake seems to run fine under Windows 10. The Install on Windows XP went perfect but when trying to launch I get a program crash error "quake2.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for inconvenience."
Retro Laptop Hardware
Nvidia Quadro NVS 360M 256mb 512mb shared
3GB Ram
Intel core 2 duo 2.0 ghrz
Does anyone know how to resolve this issue?
Could this be a hardware Issue?

Remove any compatibility from all exe/lnk (installer set some that not needed and do not set that needed). Then set disable windows desktop themes. Game must be installed to X:/games/quake-2/ (no programme files). As I remember, quake 2 installer is compatible with Win XP, but goglauncher.exe is not.

Check game page on GOG support and download two dll files.
Delete or rename gog launcher, draw dll (if exist) and links to them. Create new ones directly from quake2.exe. Never use goglauncher.
Better download and install retail 3.20 patch. And, again, start quake2 using new links from quake2.exe. google it commands for addons.

What .dll files do I need to use? There are many on the GOG support page listed Thanks for your help btw

Thanks!

I installed Quake 1 & 3 no problems, but Quake 2 whenever I enter water it stops and goes back to my home page.
Help

Galaxy client do not support WinXP.

Download offline installers. Since them still 2.x they support Windows XP.

I'm 4 years late, but I had this issue myself today with GOG's release of Quake II under Windows XP. For those still looking for a fix, the trick is that you must delete or rename the file in the root level of the games installation folder named "winmm.dll". I actually had this same issue with the GOG version of Carmageddon II and this same fix worked for that GOG release as well. Hope this helps someone!

Oh thanks for info! When i did mention renaming dll i mean ddraw/d3d and forget about that (but i didnt say specific names cause i knows i forget something).

this is a other wrapper that also use windows dll name to make it autolad. This is music wrapper inside to make music work from Music/#.ogg folder.

Although i still have doubts it is required for winmm.dll. U sure it wasnt something else that help? I can agree it is GOGs specific implementation issue, but i careful in making such assumptions (im old mathematic im always sceptical). In case it was not - i didnt said that! :p
Because in general such wrappers are WinXP compatible. If GOGs one really require to be renamed it is GOGs one specific limitation.

Ok cool thanks for the update, it’s good to know what that file actually is for!

Yes, I’m sure that specific file is the cause of the issue under Windows XP as I was able to reproduce the error and resolution across four of my Windows XP LAN PCs last night. This file probably has no issue on Vista and above but for XP it seems to cause the crash on game launch.

Unreal that it took me so long to find this solution. Worked for me in Windows XP SP3. (worked for both Carmageddon 2 and Quake 2!

Thank you!