What release do you have? Retail (CD or DVD?) or download (GoG or Impulse?)?

The latest disk version of the game is 1.0034A, as shown in the bottom right corner of the main menu (commonly just called 1.34), though that is hard to check if you are not getting into the game. The download version was released at version 1.4 IIRC, and the patch brought it up to 1.5 (1.005A); current downloads should already be updated.

The original English CD release was 1.0029A, though most re-release CD versions should already be updated (if not there is a patch). The DVD release is updated, so no patch is required (and the CD version patch should not be installed).


Instead of trying to start the game right away after a reboot, try the configuration tool first (should be a shortcut link in the DD start menu folder).

Did you install the game from an administrator account, and are you trying to play it from one? I don't know if limited access rights would give this kind of problem, but that is something you can easily check.

Under Vista/7, depending on how the user accounts are set up, if you install the game to the default Program Files path, Windows can create separate savegame folders for each user (as well as a 'dynamic' folder, used as a cache), and then map that folder to the game's savegame folder (so it will just see the saves for the relevant user). If access to the user folder is a problem, then uninstalling it from the default folder (if that is where you put it) and installing it to a different path might help.