Tried running it with all the different compatibility modes, no dice. I get through the launcher fine, but once I get past that, it pops up with a thing asking if I want to use ffdshow for the videos. No matter what I choose, Overseer.exe immediately has a generic "has stopped functioning" error and closes.

Interestingly I've never actually installed ffdshow, I assume it comes with the install? I've read about how it doesn't play nice with codec packs, but I've never installed any codec packs to begin with, sooo.... yeah. Really getting frustrated here.

install the new ffdshow version - sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow-tryout/

Okay, after a bunch of effort that finally worked, and by following another post on the board I got music working, but I'm having a problem with the graphics. Basically, lots of objects are transparent. It seems to maybe be related to a certain colour not being displayed right, as the back of the chair, the filing cabinets, parts of his Vidphone, and even the name "Tex Murphy PI" on his door are all transparent textures, and I'd assume they'd all be the same blackish/grey colour... I've tried switching to 640x480, different combinations of the filtering options, running it with software instead of hardware 3D, no dice.

its your graphic card driver, I corrected it with using on board graphics & not video card

Alright, how would I go about doing that then? Not really sure...

Sorry about taking so long to respond

Only thing listed is "Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000"

this is on board graphics & I use that adaptor in my laptop works fine. Maybe you should try the game on an other pc. Not all 8.1 pc will run this game. try win 7