i am having the same problem that many people experience. When i run emperor a black screen appears as if the game is starting, then i go back to desktop, i've tried all the stuff suggested except for the NAV one, i beleive my problem is a graphical one, nothing to do with NAV but jus to let u know i am using NAV2004, Spybot, Adaware and spywareblaster. i tried using the directX method and tried running it using directX 8.1 but the same thing happens. i also tried the emperor fix and the same thing also happens, compatibility mode also to no avail. tried installing omega drivers, no avail, couldn't find older versions of nvidia drivers so hvnt tried that. i am using Inno3d geforce2 MX 400. i tried installing emperor on my sis's laptop and it runs fine but slow as hell, plus, i wanna plae it on my PC not my sis's crappy laptop. >:(. i hav been trying to get emperor to run for about 2 freakin daes. i hav plaed emperor on my older rig and my older rig was also using the same graphics card, so i figured it must be something wrong with the drivers or directX. I NEED SOME HELP!!...