I took the opportunity to do some experimenting. First I loaded DirectX 8.1. I made sure that 3-D audio acceleration was disabled. The game ran perfectly (on my system) with hardware accelerated graphics.

Then I installed Service Pack 1. Again, no problems.

Then I loaded DirectX 9.0c, and that's when the problems began. Loading DirectX 9 must have changed the registry values because the MM8 setup program ran again. (Starting MM8 from either of the Desktop or Start menu icons passes control to the setup program, MM8Setup.exe. The first time the setup program is run an entry is made in the registry so that on subsequent launchings control is passed directly to MM8.exe.) I made sure my settings in the setup program were safe and then launched the game, but the game crashed before it got to the '3DO' video.

I only spent a little bit of time fiddling with compatibility modes and shortcuts before I downloaded Gamma's SDB file from http://telp.org/files/mm8/MM8comXpProSP2.sdb. I didn't have a chance to install it in the way he recommended; I double-clicked on it by mistake and it installed itself in a flash. I changed the compatibility mode of MM8.exe to Windows 98. Now the game will start either directly or from the icons or from the CD start window. However...

I'm not getting any music from the CD. Is this what everyone experiences or this is because Gamma developed this file for XP with Service Pack 2? Or is it because I didn't follow Gamma's instructions when I installed it?

BTW, the error message that I got when the game wouldn't launch cited MM8.ICD. I did a little investigating into this. It appears as though NWC originally developed MM8.EXE as one large file and then split it into MM8.EXE and MM8.ICD -- presumably when copy protection was added. It could be that Gamma's compatibility fix works by preventing CD access which eliminates CD music as a side effect.