It's a one liner fix, so maybe you won't have to worry for long

i have the same error message, so than i create the folder manualy... but actually game freeze at the battle field screen

i have french version of windows Xp family pack

Sorry for the late reply but I wasn't having internet access over the week-end.

I've created the folder hierarchy manually (BTW, you can't create C:\Users when you already have C:\Utilisateurs as Vista recognizes it's the same). That allowed me to start the game.

But as for Kazcroot, the game freezes at the battle screen : it shows the map, you see teh animated water, then the water animation stops and nothing happens. You have then to get the task manager to kill the game.

Yes, I have an accented letter in my name. I've tried with a pure ASCII username, and I've been able to play the beta. (I've even managed to win, although I had no strategy whatsoever.)