When I start the game, I'm told that my soundcard isn't certified for Direct Sound. What gives?

Don't worry. In most cases, you can play anyway. Just ignore the message, and the game should still work fine, although you may experience some skipping sound. If the game still refuses to run, however, there are a few things you should check: Did you install the latest version of DirectX (currently 8.0)? If not, do so now, and then download and install the latest drivers for your soundcard. Some cards require the drivers to be (re)installed after installing DirectX. If you're still having trouble, try contacting the manufacturer of your soundcard - there may be incompatibility issues that we're not aware of. Last but not least, are you certain your soundcard is DirectX certified? If you have an old soundcard, it may not be, and you may have to upgrade to a newer soundcard.

Windows may be using the wrong sound driver, and/or the hardware accleration level may need adjusting. Go to Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices (or Multimedia) and click on the Audio tab. Under the Sound Playback section, set the Default Device to the correct sound driver; if you're not sure which one this is, just experiment. While on the Audio click on the Advanced button under Sound Playback, then click on the Performance tab. Set the Hardware Acceleration level to Full, or try other settings. It may also help to experiment with the Sample Rate Conversion Quality.

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