So I can install Shadows Of The Empire on my Win8.1 64bit machine using this guide: http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Star_W...pire#Installing_on_modern_versions_of_Windows I then update the Registry to point to the correct places (if not using a full install, the path to CD drive needs updating so the videos will still play), and use Borderless Gaming to get rid of the fullscreen borders (https://github.com/Codeusa/Borderless-Gaming/releases). I don't get any partially see-through graphics (as I've seen in some places), as I believe that might be limited to ATI cards, I'm on Nvidia 980. However, the one thing no one can seemingly do is get the CD audio to work. If you leave it ticked in the options, when the CD plays you can see the read light pulsing but no audio is heard, however the gameplay becomes very jerky (disable CD audio and everything's lovely and smooth). I tried ripping the soundtrack then using _inmm.dll (http://www.play-old-pc-games.com/compatibility-tools/_inmm-dll-tutorial/) to mount the CD tracks as MP3s. This stopped the jerkiness that occurs when using CD audio from the disc, but still nothing is heard! According to the first link above "The background music will not play on Windows XP or newer systems. The game reads the audio from the CD in audio-CD format in some fashion that is incompatible with more recent versions of Windows." but on my old WinXP machine the CD audio plays perfectly. A few more notes: - My new Soundblaster Zx will only run in Digital mode (you can set/check this under Windows Media Player > Tools > Options > Devices > CD/DVD drive > Properties), so I thought maybe the game demands analogue with an internal cable, but my old PC's Soundblaster Audigy 2ZS is set to run in Digital mode, yet it works... it's possible it still has the analogue cable attached as well though (I may check that), but I don't think the Zx has analogue in any shape or form, as it's greyed out in Windows (maybe this is a Win7/Win8.1 thing). - Someone said in one forum to install the game in C: drive then ensure the CD-ROM is in the next letter up (e.g. D: drive), but I can't test this as most of my Windows (temp folder, etc) I mapped to use my second hard disk D: drive in my new PC (CD drive is drive E). On my old XP machine, the game is installed in C: and the CD-ROM drive is E:, so I'm not sure this is the solution either. So I'm not sure what else to try. It's frustrating as the classic Star Wars soundtrack adds a lot to the game. I could run it in VMware Player under XP, but I like getting old things to work on new PCs!
After a quick Google I found this potential fix, will investigate later: http://punkrockhacker.blogspot.co.uk/2014_06_01_archive.html
I can confirm that for this kind of CD audio you need a separate cable from the drive to the audio card. The 'digital' bit on your card's settings refers to, I believe, the output only, so if the card has a CDA input that it then (re-)digitizes before mixing it in with the rest, it might still work. Nice find on that ogg-winm, I'll definitely keep that bookmarked. Sounds like a decent workaround if you can't solve your problem with a cable.
I'm not sure if my card/Asus Z97-A mobo support the analogue cable. And the fact the analogue option is greyed out in Win7 (work PC) and Win8.1 at home leads me to think it might have been deprecated. Anyway will try the ogg fix later and see what happens.
As the file seems to have gone from his site (maybe Google deleted it through too many downloads), I've uploaded it here: https://www.sendspace.com/file/s2876t And it's also attached!
Moved to the PC gaming section. You are better off keeping an older PC for old games - you get far less headaches! I would have said the game is expecting the CD audio cable present.
