Win98SE w/ no updates, PIII 933 Slot 1, 256mb Toshiba PC133 SDRAM, Voodoo 3 1000G 8MB AGP OEM w/ 3dfx 1.04 drivers, SB Live! 5.1 w/ VXD 4.12.01.0905 + WDM drivers, DX7.0A

Any time I run Descent 3 using Glide or D3D, the game will crash while on the main menu. Sometimes it's after less than a second, sometimes it's after several minutes. Also, on occasion, the glowing sun background will develop blocky glitches, but this problem isn't consistent, and it can crash without the visible glitches. If you can blaze through all the options of the menu and start a game, the game runs fine and stable; it's only an issue with the main menu. The crash won't occur if you use OpenGL, but notably, the glowing sun is no longer animated. Can be recreated on all versions, from 1.0 to 1.5 beta. All other games / software are stable on the system. EDIT: Not true; see second post.

When the crash occurs, you hear the Windows Default Sound go off, the screen animation freezes but stays on screen, and sometimes the standard Windows cursor will appear overlayed atop the D3 splash screen. After pressing escape three times, you can get back to the desktop. The crash is specifically with main.exe, and dumps two separate critical error logs with different contents.

So, what gives? I've tried patching Win98SE and using some different Voodoo and Sound Blaster drivers, but nothing seems to resolve or tweak the issue. I have the game installed from the same set of discs on a different system with a PII 350 and Rage Pro LT using Direct3D, and it has no issues.