I prefer to deal damage than turn the Gladiator into a tank, so I normally arm my gladiator with a sword and a spear, Gungnir for the spear, and Jorhgamesh for the sword, together with Kraftig Bage for the ranged weapon. However, this is no more than personal preference, and if you prefer "tank" mode, it's perfectly playable.

Most importantly, the sloooooooow movement between screens (Inventory, Main, etc.) is a thing of the past.

Bad news: My screen still goes black after Resting. . Luckily, the software only cost me a grand total of $4.28 U.S.
So, if it doesn't work out, I'm not exactly broke, lol.

And, as I said before, IF they're actually using your 1,3 patch, I don't know where it's loaded at. There's also a text file that says Welcome to Might and Magic IX, version 1.2.

I don't have easy access to the modified archive files right now, so I can't tell you the file sizes. I modified the SCRIPTS, DATA, RUDE and ART archives (at least). ART.REZ has that splash screen with 1.3 on it, so it looks like GOG used at least that one.

ART.REZ= 74,973 KB
DATA.REZ= 581 KB
RUDE.REZ= 729 KB
SCROIPTS.REZ= 2,179 KB

First, check for newer drivers. The problem (if there is one) might have been fixed.

Second, change your screen's resolution to 800x600 or some other 4:3 aspect ratio -- at least while you're playing the game.

Third (my favorite), plug in an old CRT as a second monitor.

"Unfortunately, your operating system (Windows10) is not supported for this game. We weren't able to make the game work reliably on our test computers, running that system. Do you, by chance, have an older computer with an older operating system? If not, we'll credit your account."

So I guess that's it.

Well, you at least know two things now you didn't know before. GoG DID use your 1.3 patch for their version, AND Windows10 won't support MM9.

I guess it's on to "Witcher." I've played MM6 & MM7 (both on WIN10) to death.

If you read my above post, you saw GOG.com's response. They basically threw up their hands and gave up on having this run on Windows 10.

I tried ONE MORE THING.

I got a friend to loan me his 2 CDs from the original MMIX. I installed them, installed Mok's Final CSHELL, then installed and launched TELP's 1.3a from the "Patches" section of this site.

Good news and bad new:

The good news is that my party can now come out of Rest Mode without a black screen.

The bad news is that I have little or no control over my mouse. The indicator arrow reacts 15-30 seconds after I move my mouse pad, then it over-reacts. Navigating the Inventory Screen takes a quarter hour this way.

I'm rather hoping this is more easily solve-able than the prior problems. I tried adjusting "Mouse Sensitivity" and "Turn Speed" in "Game Controls." No help.

Please tell me this is much ado about nothing.

It's also good to know that the different versions of the game are behaving differently. Frustrating, certainly, but it gives us clues and something to work with.

I'm I correct in presuming that you didn't try an old monitor with the GOG install?

The problem you're having now is due to bad code in the 2D engine. That could be either mm9.exe or cshell.dll.
It might be that someone with the right skills needs to modify cshell for Win10. Do you have mm9.exe (and lithtech.exe) set for WinXP SP3 compatibility mode?

settings applied to mm9
Windows compatibility mode: Windows XP (Service Pack3)

Did the same for lithtech.exe. After the 2nd file, I was prompted to launch the game, which I did. I was taken from the "3DO" opening advertisement (which I hit escape) then to The Main Menu.

My mouse cursor moved better within The Main Menu. (Good news)

I clicked on "Load Game" and waited nearly 2 minutes (Bad news)

Two minutes really IS a long time if you're doing nothing else.

I was FINALLY brought to the "Load Game" screen. But there were NO save games listed. Not even "Autosave"

And I DO have a couple save games (More bad news).

Have I just lost the old saves and need to "Start Game" again for a new start? Or is this a sign of a different problem?