Yeah so i just installed Stronghold on my laptop and it just wont start up. i click the desktop start up icon and it says Stronghold.exe has unexpectedly stopped. Any help? please.

For anyone to help you you'll have to help them understand the situation. We have no idea what specs your laptop has, nor what OS you are using, nor any details of your installation such as where you've installed to, whether you've tried running as admin, trying out compatibility modes, etc.

Help us to understand what you've done and tried and what you are running it on and we might be able to help you solve it.

Well, running on Windows 8 beta isn't supported by GOG and I've no knowledge of any intricacies of the system that might be any different to Vista and 7.

Would still be useful for us to know the specs of your laptop, even if they do meet system requirements. Some makes and models of components have issues that others don't. As such, please list your CPU, RAM, GPU, soundcard if applicable, or the make and model number of your laptop so that we can find out its specs.

I don't recommend installing any games into Program Files as this then makes the game files subject to UAC and DEP security measures which some older games do not like at all. I install to my own folder, C:\Games\.

You can try changing the compatiblity modes on the game executable, too, such as trying different Windows version compatibility modes, running the game as administrator (even if you are an admin account as there is a hidden true administrator account), disabling visual themes, etc.

Are all your graphics and sound drivers up to date? That's something else you can try changing.

Final thoughts for now are that there could be possible program conflicts, so try disabling any anti-virus and firewall software or other background tasks and then try running the game to see if that gets it working. If it does then it could imply a conflict with one or more programs that you have running.

okay so i tried the installing it into C:\Games\ instead and it got through the first load screen then stopped/

IF there is a compatibility option trying running it on XP service pack 3.IF that does not work, try an older windows compatibility option.

I've listed a number of things to try but so far gir0007 has only said that they've tried one of them and we still don't know the specs of the system it is being run on except that it is using the (unsupported) Windows 8 beta.

1) Install outside of Program Files
2) Try various compatibility modes
3) Run as administrator (and installing with "Run as administrator" should be tried too)
4) Disable visual themes
5) Stop any background tasks and running programs to see if any are causing conflicts

And one last one that I've not mentioned already, submit a support ticket to GOG through their support form and they recommend providing a dxdiag export. Though they will undoubtedly say that Windows 8 beta is unsupported, but they might provide some help.

Try this (if applicable to your hardware)