[Solareon]

options button and click the box next to where is says "Don't Use DirectX 7" cause DirectX 8 has issues with 7 so it trys to make programs that use 7's functions use 8's functions which were changed in the new release. Disablign DirectX 7 usage in graal might cause a performance hit but it will be playable. Also if you have a TNT2 card or something with a similar chipset do the following (prevents crashes for agp style TNT2 cards and a few others)

go to Start-->run
type in dxdiag
hit enter
go to the display tab
look for AGP Texture Acceleration and click on Disable (If it says Enable leave it alone)
click on "Test DirectDraw"
and "Test Direct3d"
if either one crashes call your computer vendor or your local computer repair shop.
then hit the exit button in the bottom right corner.

also be sure to install the latest video card drivers and sound card drivers for your system. (Oh yes I build computers for a living!!!)