Range Check Error in demo?

[b00tch]

I'm going through the tutorial for the 1.60 Gold DEMO of Space Empires 4, and I can create a Range Check Error everytime I try to send my Explorer ship through a warp. I followed the tutorial exactly, and regardless of how many times I restart the demo, or re-step through the instructions after starting a new tutorial or reloading the save game I made just before the RCE occurs (specifically, before I selected the Warp command and clicked on the blue warp swirl).

After the RCE, the demo does not crash, just the ship's Detail tab is blank, and the System Window no longer updates to where the mouse pointer is, and I can no longer click on anything within it to make the game respond to it.

Also, the buttons on the left hand side all highlight their names like normal when the mouse moves over them, and upon getting clicked make the appropriate sounds, but nothing happens. To close the demo i alt-tab out of the game and right click its icon in the taskbar and choose Close and that prompts a box asking if I'm sure I want to quit the demo and I choose yes and it exits fine.

I'm interested in the game, however this problem has stopped me from enjoying the demo's tutorial and of course the full game.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

System configuration is as follows:

Windows 2000 w/SP2
2x1Ghz Intel Pentium 3
Asus CUV4X-D motherboard
256 megs of ram
Leadtek Geforce2 GTS PRO w/64 megs of ram
w/NVIDIA reference drivers Version 21.81

Any other information needed, I'll be happy to provide.

- b00tch