I install the Steam version, I boot the game up... and the game doesn't even start up! I get an error message saying it can't copy files!

Does the GOG version have enough patches and fixes to get it to run as soon as I install it? Thanks in advance!

Well, I went ahead and bought the GOG version of the game and... same damn error message

couldn't copy mssoft.m3d into directory

compatibility mode does nothing

GOG did a good job making Vampire Bloodlines actually playable, but looks like they didn't fix this one.

Or maybe the problem is on your end? I have Gothic and it works perfectly. You could say they didn't fix something if it's a common error that happens to many people. To make things work on every single configuration would be really nice, but also very hard to do.
And actually... that error of yours does really look like something is not right on your end, cause I never saw something like that.

I also have the GOG version running on Win10 with no problem. What's your OS?