In Windows XP:
After running the game for the first time in Direct3D mode, it ran fine up to the point that the intro movie finished playing. The game then crashed with a "the program needs to close" dialog. I tried restarting the game, but all I got is a crash and the dialog message again (this time with an immediate crash upon opening the program). I've tried using the software renderer and with hardware zoom disabled. I've also tried restarting my computer. Nothing has worked so far :( I didn't even get a chance to try it!

I ended up solving my problems by renaming the folder as well. Originally, I tried renaming it to "AVI_OLD". but that didn't work, so I tried "bxj" instead, and that seems to do it. Perhaps it still picked up my first attempt since the directory name starts with the same letters. Give it a shot! (BTW bxj is just avi shifted 1 letter - kind of like IBM->HAL)

I tried naming it bxj but the intro wouldn't play, it would skip directly to the begining of the game.

I simply renamed the following files in the AVI folder by reversing the extension letters.
intro.asf
logo.asf
topware.asf
to
intro.fsa
logo.fsa
topware.fsa
This way it loads directly to the menu and if I want to change them back I just reverse the letters back to asf.

Well yeah, that's the point, since a lot of the crashes seem to be related to the video codec. Renaming the folder makes it so the game can't find the videos and doesn't try to play them.

I did as you said and everything worked out great. Thanks!

I am glad it worked for you. Plus it loads very fast now. Now I wish I could play it, but I can't with the graphics bug.

Well, GOG support suggested reinstalling Gorky17 and disabling other 3rd party software if possible. Gorky17 seems to work on my computer now. One thing that changed since the previous time that I tried running Gorky17 was that I removed CCCP from my computer and installed k-lite codec pack instead.

I just got the game and ran into the same issues reported here.
I've managed to solve this by:
1) Running my ffdshow video decoder configuration, checking the box named "don't use ffdshow in" and adding "gorky17.exe" to the list.
2) Using nVidia's control panel and creating a profile for the game. Switching anisotropic filtering to Application-Controlled.
I have 9600 GT, and after those actions the game plays 100%, software or 3D rendered.
Hope it helps.
Cheers,
Alex

For those, who don't really want to reinstall system/uninstall anything and got pretty decent hardware: use virtualization!
Download either MS Virtual PC (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en / http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=28C97D22-6EB8-4A09-A7F7-F6C7A1F000B5&displaylang=en) OR VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads)
And either install fresh windows xp there or (bit faster if you ask me ;-) ) download and use preinstalled disk image provided by MS itself: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en
Smallest one suffice (IE6-XPSP3.exe).
Warning: if you decide to use VirtualBox with preinstalled XP from MS you'll be asked to provide XP SP3 files AND Windows XP installation disc, since it will detect some "hardware" it can't recognize, so if you're not sure which software to choose then get MS Virtual PC.
Disclaimer: you do it on your own risk ;-) It worked for me with Gorky 17 PL i bought long time ago, dunno if it will with copy provided by GOG, but i guess it should, since i had same problems like those described here.

I gave the solution since first day
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/gorky_17/beware_of_ffdshow_video
Have fun with the game ;)

Well, yours couldn't possibly work for me since i don't have ffdshow nor any other codec pack installed.
Mine, on the other hand is way easier for me since i'm using virtual machines anyway, so it was matter of installing gorky on one instead of my host OS :-p
p.s. and it works for me ;-)
edit:
I forgot to mention that on clean XP Virtual Machine install from MS movies work perfectly fine.
It also eases things for people who preffer to have game 'windowed' instead of fullscreen with blackbox/resize.

Sorry eloyard, didn't saw you don't have codec packs of ffdshow.
But i still prefer to not play it in a virtual machine : takes too much space for a game like that.

Editing the video files worked for me. Thx.

Great, my very first purchase on GOG...
It ran for 2 minutes, on the first encounter it hanged. Power reset, but now can't even start up the game.
I don't have ffdshow/CCCP/Quicktime installed on my machine, renamed the AVI folder, but whenever i try to load the game (before any video or the main menu) it ends in a crash. It lists 51 dll-s.
Uninstall-reinstall didn't help.

Any ideas?

PS: good old days... when you had to struggle with hardware/IRQ/bios/dll/vga driver combinations, and when the stars were right it worked. for a while...
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UPDATE: I've 1) renamed the AVI folder 2) created a new win account so now it works. But with my normal user account it's still crashing.