With dgVoodoo which otherwise a great, accurate work (thanks to DÉGÉ from here Hungary 😉 lines appears on the cars and the track where poligon edges should be meet (but I don't play with the VSynch settings). Later missing textures and full slowdown (don't remember VDMSound runs this time or not). I usig dgVoodoo with the central files (Windows directory) in no server mode.
VDMSound works OK for me (no slowdown with SB16 ST) it seems don't have any influence on the game exits, but after time I test the game without it.
The setup COM problem surprisingly not appears for me and runs perfectly on XP, but on another Windows 2000 machine where I try exactly the same that you describe. There I will try out your solution.
Under Windows 98's DOS (without CD-Audio and sound - VIA VT8233A and/or Realtek ALC201A don't have a DOS driver) as I found the game durable stable, no exits, but I very intrested in trying the Egypt track the mode you wrote.
My to do list:
- dgVoodoo without VDMSound and playing with dgVoodoo settings (missing textures and slowdown, poligon alignment errors disappears?)
- heavy test with the Egypt track under DOS (stable?)
- setup COM problem solving on the Windows 2000 machine