How to run System Shock 2 on XP?

I need some helping running my copy of System shock 2 on windows XP. at first the game just wouldnt load and I got a "Illagel operation" error and the game shut down. I've tried many ways to make it work:

patching the game (did nothing), windows 98 compability (the main menu now works, but game freezes after opening scene), unsafedisc unwrapper (same as windows 98 ).

I dont know what else to do... can someone plz help?

Download the kolya tool. Reinstall SS2. Run the tool and check the following boxes : Patching up, video resolution (select which one you want) and bug fixes. After that launch the game WITHOUT any compatibility modes. If it still doesnt work, try every older driver you canf ind (if you have nvidia, 163.44 worked for me). Good luck, i know how much of a PIA it can be, but once youll get it working, you will really enjoy the game.

Link to the kolya tool : http://www.strangebedfellows.de/index.php?topic=392.0

Thanks for the help, but I still got nothing. the game still freezes after the opening scene (black screen). I delt eith the duel core issue, and tried to run 163.44 drivers. nothing...dark_being

I know you said you delt with the dual-core issue, but I had very similar problems caused by a dual-core setup. Here's what I did to fix it: Run the game, alt-tab out of it while still at the main screen, go to task manager, find the system shock 2 process (I think there's actually two of them, and one ends in .ICD or something) and click "set affinity". This tells the OS how many and which processors to use to run the game. Deselect all but one cpu and switch back, and you shouldn't get any more crashes - at least, I didn't.

as I already said, i delt with the durl core core. did just that. still nothing.

I guess I'll try installing it on a different computer, maybe ther it will work proparly

I've installed the game on a different computer, and applyed all of your tips (no duel core no the other computer) and the game works prefectly.

thank you all very much! I can finally play this awesome game for the first time