Has anyone had any luck running Settlers 4 in Windows 8 and 8.1,
If so what architecture x32 or x64bit?
list hardware
and any other info worth mentioning
compatibility mode settings etc. etc.

All I am getting is a fatal error message and the more frequent message of software3d and hardware 3d initializing failure

again thanks, because after perousing the internet I find I am not the only one with the issue.
(have found no resolve.)

I think it may be related to GPU manufacturer.

On my Win8.1 where I have Radeon 7970 I cannot run S4 because of software3d/hardware 3d errors.

However, my friend with exactly the same setup except the fact he has GTX670 he can run S4 on Win 8.1 x64 without any issues.

i have to force the game to run on the intelHD gpu, but other than that its working fine.

Acer Aspire v5-573G
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-Bit
Core i5 4200U 1,6GHZ Dualcore
Nvidia Geforce GT 750M + 334.89 Driver
8GB RAM