I'm not sure what's going on but the game just simply will not launch. I've tried admin running and compatibility mode, but when I click the icon, or launch from the launcher, nothing happens. It just loads and then nothing.

Have you tried to execute the game twice?

May seems strange, but there is a problem on windows 7, and maybe a similar one on 8, that can prevent many old games to run properly when launched, i explained the problem here:

http://www.gog.com/forum/jade_empire_special_edition/configuration_utility_freezes_while_collecting_system_information

You may try to execute the game twice directly from the .exe and NOT using the launcher. As twice i mean let it run and freeze once, then while the .exe is still active on the task manager run the executable again and see if it start

If it does work remember to stop the other process, the .exe, and watch out for rundll32, if this appear, terminate it immediately or it WILL eat up all your CPU cycles in half and hour or less


If it doesn't start anyway, try to unregister and move away the dll i mentioned in my link and see if it work


Also, remember to give more information about your system when asking for any kind of help, like what OS are you using, Graphic Cards name and drivers etc...