Install and run SmartException it's in the Free Stuff tab of Stardock Central. This will produce a polmachine.exe.cra file which you can send to support@stardock.com. It'll really help us analyze the problem.

- Mudflap

Sorry, in the meantime I was for other reasons unable top play PM.

Now I tried it again with version 1.01.017. After some hours of play a CTD happened again.

Unfortunately I forgot to run SmartException before that

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Hardware

Athlon XP 2000 (identified as x86 Family 6 Model 6 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~1666 Mhz)
256 MB RAM
NVidia GeForce 3 Ti 200
MoBo with VIA KT266 Chipset
Sound on board with VIA 97 codec
SCSI: HD and CD-ROM
IDE: HD and CD-RW
USB with Bluetooth + Scanner

Do you need more details? If so, which?

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By the way:

in my "debug.err" file I found:

Debug Message: Failed to Validate Move for BillRichardson. Stamina: 1, Money: 15838
ASSERT ERROR in file Game.cpp at line 3087.
Debug Message: No endorsements available.
Debug Message: No endorsements available.
Debug Message: No endorsements available.

I have this problem as well, every few turns or if I try to do a radio or tv ad, it crashes. heres the debug:
Debug Message: ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message: Could not open reg key.
Debug Message: Could not find a Drengin.net Serial No.
Debug Message: Could not open reg key.
Debug Message: Could not find political machine serial in registry subdirectory PM1.
Debug Message: Could not open reg key.
Debug Message: Can't find political machine serial in registry subdirectory PM.
Debug Message: Can't find any serial numbers.
Debug Message: No anti-aliasing option selected.
Debug Message: Windowed mode selected.
Debug Message: Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONE
Debug Message: HAL (hw vp): NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS
Debug Message: D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_IMMEDIATE
Debug Message: Refresh rate: 0
Debug Message: *********Checking D3DDevice Caps***********************
Debug Message: A full-color cursor is supported in hardware at high resolution modes.
Debug Message: Border size reported as 6 by 32
Debug Message: Now windowed.
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message: Timer Frequency is 0 369e99
Debug Message: Added fonts: font2 font1 Arial13B Arial16B2 Arial10
Debug Message: Added fonts: Arial12 Arial12B Arial14 Arial14B Arial16
Debug Message: Added fonts: Arial16B Arial18 Arial18B
Debug Message: Initializing sound card.
Debug Message: Issues Loaded
Debug Message: Issues Tweaked
Debug Message: Loading 15 questions from Data\60SecQuestions.questions.
Debug Message: Loading 14 questions from Data\HardHitterQuestions.questions.
Debug Message: Loading 15 questions from Data\JoeUserQuestions.questions.
Debug Message: Loading 9 questions from Data\KingQuestions.questions.
Debug Message: Loading 22 questions from Data\NightTimeQuestions.questions.
Debug Message: Loading 19 questions from Data\OMaleyQuestions.questions.
Debug Message: Loading 15 questions from Data\SawyerQuestions.questions.
Debug Message: Question Files Loaded
Debug Message: Special Interest Loaded
Debug Message: Create setup screens.
Debug Message: Set mouse.
Debug Message: Unhide opening menu.
Debug Message: Set update timer.
Debug Message: ******* GameStarted *******
ASSERT ERROR in file .\Source\Animation.cpp at line 32.
Debug Message: Trying to add animation that already exists. Disaster avoided

I have an AMD dual core 2.8, 4 gigs ram, nvidia geforce 7600, and direct X 9.0c