Caseus, I have almost the same system as you.. AMD Athlon 1700+ (1.4ghz), nVidia Grorce2 MX/400, and the SB Live Value. (the game runs fine for me.)
The drivers I have are,..
VEDEO:
nVidia 45.23_win2kxp_international_whql.exe (19,339kb [ 19,802,673 bytes])
I added the _whql to let me know this Version is certified. Also, there is a v45.23 english driver that is 8mb or so in size. that one didn't work for me. One more note about nVidia, there is also a third party set of Drivers called the 'Omega Drivers' they might help too, if the video is the cause of the problem. (and I suspect it might be. I had the exact same problem with Morrowind before I installed the international drivers.)
SOUND:
LiveDrvPack.exe (25,305kb [25,911,874 bytes])
LiveDrvPack_Patch.exe (6,314kb [6,465,104 bytes])
The first is the full install, the second is the most recent patch. Check soundbLaster.com or do a search on the net for the filename.
FYI When I go to the control pannel system/hardware/Device Manager/Sound, video and game controllers/Creative SB Live! Value and look at the propities driver tab, these are the driver date and Version..
Driver Date: 7/24/2002
Driver Version: 5.12.2.252
I can give you more info if needed by going to the driver details and fetching all the individual driver file Versions. (ie: a3d.dll is Version 80.0.0.3)
I hope this helps.
Cheers!