Battle for Middle Earth 2 not launching correctly.

Hi, I've perused the entire internet searching for an answer to my question and have come to no conclusion as to why the game keeps crashing. The crash is similar to the options.ini crash that happens to many users, but I have already had the game installed for a while and it ran perfectly well until recently. I tried reinstalling the game several times (and putting in options.ini) but nothing has worked. Has anyone seen anything like this? I know this game is old but hopefully there is still a fanbase out there that can help me with my problem.

You could try running it as admin and in XP SP3 compatibility mode (try SP2 as well). Also update DirectX 9.0c to the latest. Install/re-install Visual C++ Redistributable 2005 and 2008 x86 versions.

I reinstalled both Visual C++ Redistributable 2005 and 2008 x86 and also Directx. Whenever I try to run in admin mode i get the same error screen, but when i try to run in the compatibility modes, I get a Please insert the cd error instead. Anything else you might recommend?

Are you using a CD/DVD to install the game? Is it a legal copy?

It is an actual cd/dvd copy of the game.

Try a clean startup - Troubleshoot Application Conflicts by Performing a Clean Startup

Also try resetting compatibility mode with a clean startup.

So try:
1- clean startup with compat
2- clean startup without compat

Another thing to consider, are there any updates to the game?
What kind of DRM does it use? Maybe the DRM have had updates.

The Clean startup didn't seem to do anything and I can't seem to find anything on the DRM. I also couldn't find a thing about clean startup to reset compatibility mode.

What I tried to say is in clean startup remove compatibility settings from the exe (don't run in compatibility).

nope, no luck with that.

I will post if I come up with any more ideas.

Meanwhile some threads - I have no idea if any would help:
LOTR Battle For Middle Earth 2
Battle for Middle Earth 2 startup problems
LOTR Battle for Middle Earth II "Cannot Locate CD-ROM" error