I'm having trouble getting Darkseed to run. It freezes up whenever someone talks to me. I assume it's trying to make sound, but the mouse freezes and I have to close the game and restart it. I'm using Windows XP, on my Inspiron 4000 (ancient, I know) that has all factory parts still. I didn't use DOSBox because it seemed to run fine at first. What should I do?

Try VDMSound. If the program freeze when it try to make out some kind of speech, then it's obvious the problem is around the sound and music.

DOSBox would also probably solve your problem.

When using DOSBox or VDMSound, make sure you setup the game to use Soundblaster or Compatible.