(Warlord Battlecry 3)

Greetings

My game crashes on startup (start the game, a windows blinks and nothing), and I assume this is due to my lack of soundcard, which died on me recently.
This is the end of the startup.log that gave me this hint:

"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Initializing the graphics system
Selected graphics mode 800x600x32
Opening up in windowed mode
Main Window has been created
Initializing sound system
Opening channels
Failed!
"

I tried:
- put the game on win xp pack 2 compatibility
- 800x600 resolution
- tried with/without the widescreen mod
- deleted the music / soundfx / video folder
- window / fullscreen start
- put to 0 or false anything related to sound in the Options.json

It always crashes on startup with the blink window (goes to fast to see what's in it).

Does anyone know how to stop the game from initializing the sound system?

Or any idea on how I could make this work?