Mass Effect Problem(s)

[Athaniar]

And that problem is that I can't even start the game. I purchased the "Value Games" edition of the game (the original, not the sequel) two days ago and installed it yesterday for the first time on my Vista laptop. But when I try to start the game (from the "initial menu", which does appear), it crashes. My computer then suggests I download patch 1.02. I do that, and install it, but the game still crashes, this time with no suggested action. The "support" link on the menu leads nowhere, either. I have uninstalled and re-installed the game once, but it still crashes at the same point. Help me, Playground, you're my only hope!

EDIT: I got the game to run, but it barely does so. Gah!

[The_JJ]

Possibly and issue with authorization. Old Bioware problem, unfortunately.

Try logging on as your computer's admin account.

[Erloas]

Actually your best bet is probably a quick search on your search engine of choice, or just visiting the Bioware support area.

I vaguely remember something like this when I got it, but seeing as that was probably a year ago I don't remember what the problem was. It may have been as simple running it as an admin, or it was some setting that needed to be changed in a file or something. It was a fairly common problem which should lead to a well documented fix.

[Athaniar]

I am an admin, so that's probably not it. Will use Google to see if I can find anything.

EDIT: Apparently, "Run as Admin" solves the problem, despite me being an administrator. Odd. The game runs now, but excruciatingly slow. And by "excruciatingly slow", I mean "barely at all".