POP:Sands of time: a lot of problems please help me!

[PeloRancido]

I bought this game about a week ago to try out a speedrun. From the moment I downloaded it I had problems with the game not launching. I set everything in order to start it correctly (windows xp service pack 2 compatibility, administrator permissions, etc.) The game didn't start anyway, signaling me another error: "No valid video mode". To solve the problem I simply modified the HARDWARE file present in the game files, writing an existing video card at the time of game launch and magically the game started. Now my questions are two:

1) Because Steam sells a non-functional product or in any case not completely compatible with the new hardware available, and above all, it does not create patches for these types of games.

2) I would like to ask how I can do to solve all the problems with this game which I will list below together with my hardware components.
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CPU:AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core Processor
GPU:NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090
RAM: 32 GB
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Now I'm going to list all the game issues that won't let me play.

1)Compulsorily I have to start the game in safety mode otherwise it won't start.

2)I can't alt+F4, alt+TAB freezes the game.

3) Sometimes trying to restart the game, it doesn't start, and an error pops up (Game stopped unexpectedly) not letting me start it. So I'm forced to start it in window forcibly using an external program called: dxwnd.

4) I have problems with commands. The controller immediately after any cutscene does not respond to the first input I give it, being forced to have to press another key or the stick again (xbox one controller). Also I was unable to configure the right keys due to the non-detection of some buttons in the controller menu.

5) I can't do anything but play when pop is open. I can't click anything on the desktop, the keyboard doesn't respond to commands because it's obviously locked by the game.

end

Now I hope there is someone who can help me, I am available for any form of communication (email, steam chat, etc.) to solve these problems.

[Ubi-Thrupney]

Heya Pelo - thanks for your post! I appreciate you being so thorough with listing the issues you're having with Sands of Time.

I don't have specific solutions for any of these issues, but I wanted to start off with our general purpose advice for running old games. Start with the compatibility mode guide[ubi.li], and set it to Windows XP.

You'd mentioned running it in safety mode - just to be clear, are you referring to Safe Mode, as described here[support.microsoft.com]?

Please also make sure to run through the troubleshooting guide[ubi.li]. In particular from the guide, please make sure you are running the game with administrator rights, you've verified the game files, you've got your graphics drivers and Windows install fully updated, and you've (at least temporarily, for testing) deactivated all background programs.

Let me know if any of those steps improves the situation at all. If not, I'll see what tlse we can recommend.

- Ubisoft Support