I got the same problem.
Game crashes right after sucessful CD Check.
My PC: P4 2400 MHz, 1024 MB DDR(333) (2x512 MB Kingston), nVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X (128MB), WinXP SP1 2600, DX 9.0b.
I Downloaded all files from Windows update, i downloaded all last drivers for my Video and Sound cards. I tried to run with both CDs also.
Please, someone help me out...
Tried downloading and installing Dx90c??? Dx 9.0b is old.