Game crashes at start up

[Zonk]

I just bought my copy of Space Empire IV. I have installed the game and downloaded the latest patch.

As soon as I start the game it crashes. The first error is Range Check Error followed by
ExceptionEAccessViolation in module SE4.EXE at 0017AFF7. Access violation at address 005AFF in module 'SE4.EXE'. Read address FFFFFFFF.

I have the original Version of Space Empire IV not the gold. My system specs are
OS- windows ME
AMD Athlon 1.133ghz
512mb ram
Nvidia Geforce2 MX/MX 400 video card drivers-4.13.01.2832
SBLive sound card drivers-4.12.01.0906

I have installed and unistalled the game a couple of times and I keep getting the same errors at the start.

Any help would be appreciated as I am ready to conquer the galaxy.