Hi all.

Just recently installed ToEE (Windows 7 64 bit). Have had all the usual trouble associated with playing the game and have done the following:
- installed the Circle of 8 MOd
- set the short cut to run as administrator
- checked the last three of the five check boxes on the compatibility tab on the shortcut (theme/desktop component/DPI)
- changed the maximum video width in the toee.cfg file to 1280
- made exclusion rules in my antivirus for toee.exe
- disabled intro videos
Each thing seems to have got me progressively closer to the game (i.e. crash to desktop happens later in the process) and now I have got to the screen where I can add charcters to the party. Unfortunate;y as soon as I click begin adventuring, I get the crash. Any ideas what else I can try?

Edit
Have uninstalled both game and mod and reinstalled both to C:/Temple (etc) but this makes no difference

As you've installed the Co8 Mod, try running the game through ToEE Front-End X (TFE-X.exe) and avoid launching the game directly using the game executable (toee.exe).
Always run it as Administrator and if that still doesn't work try Compatibility Mode for Windoes XP SP3 (right-click TFE-X.exe => Preferences => Compatibility)

To test if there's a problem with anti-virus or anti-spyware software deactivate it completely (go offline before, if you feel unsafe).

Make sure your system includes all older DirectX components, by installing DirectX9:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

Thanks for the advice.
- I have both TFE-E.exe and toee.exe in Windows XP SP3 compatability mode with run as administrator checked
- I launch through TFE-E.exe but it is toee.exe that crashes
- The crash happens after I create the party and on clicking Begin Adventuring
- I have made exceptions for the whole folder in my anti-virus software
I've just installed DirectX9 and unfortunately there's no change.

I have a feeling that it is somehow related to the videos - is there anyway to turn off the videos other than the Intro video (that can be disabled in the Co8 interface)?

You could rename all of the .bik video files in the game's /data/movies folder, so that the game doesn't find and skip them.

Before that, I'd try changing the graphics card's scaling settings. Turning off scaling helped some users with crashing issues. The two screenshots show where the option is for Nvidia and ATi/AMD cards. Turn it off.

Also make sure your anti-aliasing settings for your video card are set to 'application controlled'.

Thanks for the swift reply and advice
- Scaling was already turned off (I think that had been a problem for some other game I was playing)
- I unchecked the DVI checkboxes on the same properties page
- I renamed the movie files to bick
Unfortunately the game crashes at the same point.

.....SInce I've been expecting the crash, I've just added the pregenerated characters as a party. It's not as if I actually have to create a character from scratch for this game to work (like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights), is it?

I played the game the first time through with a party composed of the pre-generated characters. They work fine, even though their stats are sometimes probably not what you would have chosen had you rolled them yourself.

Hmm, so you can play, but character generation crashes. Maybe it's a problem with custom character portraits. Have you installed any portrait pack? If so, I'd try without it.

In my case, no, not any chance of seeing the game. I get as far as the party creation page. I can add the pregenerated characters to a party but when I click on Begin Adventuring, the screen goes black, and then the game crashes to desktop.

I'd start again from scratch, by completely un-installing everything (also delete all remaining folders) and reinstalling the vanilla version in a custom directory outside "Program Files". Then check if any of the suggested solutions get it running. Maybe it's a problem with the Co8 mod. If still nothing works, we know at least that it wasn't Co8.

Also update your graphic card drivers if they're outdated.

Thanks again for the advice.

- I had already reinstalled it to c:\Temple of Elemental Evil
- Steam says my drivers are up to date
After all that I reset the video settings in the cfg file to 1280/720 and clicked the "reactivate" button on the Co8 interface and.....
somehow it is working - videos and all.

Thanks for keeping me going - I hope the game is worth all the effort it took to get it started (although sometimes that is half the fun, I guess)

Incidentally, early game and the super-insane-difficulty of the early fights might resemble the install process more than a little.
Also, much like the install, if you manage to keep at it without losing the faith you'll be well rewarded.

LOL. Yes, the Moathouse is a pretty unforgiving "starter" dungeon. Make sure to save OFTEN.

That said, on my second runthrough (so I new what to expect) I ran an "Ironman" session to see how far I could go without save/reload. I made it all the way to the swamp mission where my entire party was eaten by a giant frog. If I had just refused to do that mission, I was doing ok with very cautious/defensive gameplay.

Thank you all for the encouragement - I'm a bit of a die-hard D&D fan anyway and tend to make sure I finish the games I start so I hope to get some bragging rights soon myself (although my first attempt had all of my party eaten by the giant toads as well).

(I know this is off-topic but I had started playing Planetscape: Torment and I found it so boring I had to stop. Other poeple are saying it's the best D&D game ever, though. Should I peresevere there, too?)

Yes. Sort of.
It takes off rather slowly and is real different from any other D&D games.
The combat is not particularly good IMO, so if that's the main drive then it won't get too good at all.
The plot is awesome, but in a way that won't appeal to everybody.

Closest resemblance from the top of my head is NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer.