FFXI + Window 8 + Help Please!! :(

Recently bought this laptop yesterday at best buy installed with windows 8..Laptop Installed PoL from their website opens fine - then installed FFXI via steam ultimate abyssea collection (haven't installed adoulin yet). Updated PoL/FFXI fine installed windower 4 - but when it tries to load up on FFXI it crashes. I've read a lot on these forums and people's past problems and how to fix with issues regarding FFXI and windows 8: I've tried the running as administrator, troubleshoot compatibility, disabling UAC, changing compatibility but i'm now at a dead end. Maybe it has something to do with the drivers but i'm not sure (noob at this stuff). Any help would be greatly appreciated - mahalo friends~

run a bath, connect your toaster to your laptops usb port, hop in, pol loads automatically

Gonna try disabling secure boot see if that works.

you loaded POL from their website and again+XI via steam?

I've never tried getting windower to work with steamxi, I know others got it to work, but I'd just download it from tehkrizz.net and install it that way.

Loaded PoL from their website > installed/updated then installed everything but adoulin via steam. Just disabled secure boot. FFXI runs on normal PoL but not windower 4. Tried disabling all plugins and addons but still crashes. Runs fine on normal gimp PoL...hmmm any ideas?

its normal. last i talked to arcon and byrth, its an issue with windows 8 and they can't isolate the issue to fix it. some ppl get it to work just fin, others can't at all.

Fixed, thanks all =D. Runs on windower w/ plugins

I reinstalled the EXACT same version of windows 8 my laptop had (Loaded from the partision?) due to a critical error, since then my FFXI and laptop worked properly, it suggests something isn't installed correctly on windows 8 from the start tbh.