Well... since I can't figure out what's keeping me from being able to play (it works perfectly on my brothers laptop which is nearly identical) I guess I'll have to just throw in the towel. Thankyou all for the tech support, especially Wany and DBum. I might try again once you have the new patcher up and running (or might just beat my brother senseless and use his computer from time to time) but this just isn't worth the time fighting with it when I could be doing other things. Yet again thankyou and I'm sorry to have taken up your precious time.