Game wont run

I recently re-installed the game, but it wont run at all - whenever I try to start the game the pc "works" for a few seconds, and then nothing more happens. Quite strange, as I've played it plenty of times before, without any problems, on the same computer. Im running Win XP, and it doesnt help to get any of the patches - same result.

Does anybody have a clue about what to do? :/

 

1) Do you have the "Play" disk in the drive?
2) Are you trying to start from a shortcut or double-clicking the Arcanum.exe? A recent XP patch caused me trouble with the shortcut until I made a new one.
3) Is the "Play" disk smudged or scratched? Clean or buff the disk.

This is all I can think of at the moment. Sorry...

 

The CD is a bit scrathed, but I dont think that is the problem. Thanks anyway.

Anybody else?

 

Are all the .dat files in the correct spots? try that.

 

have you tried kicking it?

 

I am also having this problem but I am trying to install it for the first time. I have tried to install on both windows vista home premium and windows XP SP2. I have gone down the list of compatibility settings for both OS's and I still get the same result. I also downloaded the patch to see if that would do anything and it didn't. If anyone has an answer Please tell me.