I installed Chaos theory today after a few years of not having played it. And my new machine seems to be unable to run it. I get an error saying the game is not authorized to run on my system. Now if it just ran buggy, I could understand that, but simply not allowing it to run on an OS is just insane. Is there a fix? and if not can I get some sort of key for the Steam version which will most likely work?

Not sure I've heard the "not authorized to run" error before, maybe something similar.

There was a patch on XP, and limitations on Vista that keeps programs from making changes to local files under the "Program Files" directory. One of the fixes was to try and install it to a different root directory such as "C:\games" so that it will have enough 'permissions' to be able to run.

Other than that and compatibility mode settings, I'm clueless...

It's the .exe that tells me that the game is only authorized to run in 2000, xp and server 2003. So its the game itself that just won't run. It seems like just editing some check file to allow Vista.

I have Vista Home in 32 bit and it works fine. Are you using 64 bit?

You may also try this:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/...ns-in-windows-vista/

Yea, I'm running 64 bit. Not even compatibility mode works. And it seems to be something with the disk check.

That could be the problem- 64 bit compatability. A couple of things to maybe check into- the game uses an antipiracy software called Starforce. I had to update mine from their website to get CT to work on Vista. Do they have an update to work on Vista 64 bit? I do not know. Try here: http://www.star-force.com/support/users/group3.php Second be sure you have Directx 9 installed- it does not come with Vista.