Greetings, all. :)

I love the Disciples series, but I'm having a bit of a problem, and it's one I've sort of had before. Regular D2 (no expansions) has always worked great for me anywhere I've installed it. However, the second Rise of the Elves comes into the mix, I start getting bugs in the system and the game says "Can't initialize Disciples II" when I click on it, whether from a shortcut or directly from the .exe file in the root folder.

That said, I'm using the GOG version now on an Acer netbook with Windows XP 64-bit home edition, Service Pack 3. And I can play the game fine, except for one problem: It works normally when I activate it on the original Admin account (the primary account for the computer), but I get the "can't initialize" error message when I try to access the program from a different user account. That means, people I share the computer with can't play it unless logged in on my account.

I've tried changing the permissions level for other accounts, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Ideas? Knowledge on this? I gather from Google that some version of this is a common and frustrating problem, and Strategy First has never been great with tech support. Can anyone help me out?

Thanks! That totally fixed it. It was actually set to open in 800 x 600 by default, but changing it to 1040 x 780 made it work in other user profiles.

Also discovered why RotE hung up on launch--ZoneAlarm! My ZoneAlarm program was blocking Disciples from making Internet connection until I caught the message behind the program and allowed it. Don't know why it needs to make a connection when playing offline--maybe GOG verification?

Anyway, it works now. For the first time, I might be able to enjoy RotE all the way through to the end of the saga! Thanks.