Vista - LotR BfME 1,2

Need help for Lord of the rings, battle for middle earth, anthology.
I ran it on my old computer, I know it works. I also paid for it.
I am not even able to get it to work on 32bit vista home premium. The game doesn't recognize vista as an OS. I have tried a lot of sites, and I've tried:
-all patches to v6
-options.ini/map folder
-gamecopyworld nocd/dvd fixed .exe
-compatability mode to XP- both normally and w/ the fixed .exe
-downgrading my directx to 9.0
-I exceed all specs easily. No problem there.
EA games offers nothing due to cracks. When are they going to learn? Everything gets cracked.
This game is so fun and I never finished it before I got a new computer w/ vista Please help! b4 I open a partition for my beloved xp ... but I need to move on, right?

It looks like you already did the research mate, I'm afraid unless someone in here has magically encountered the same problem and fixed it there isn't much you can do except for (as you said it) create an XP partition.

For the record: when running compatibility mode, don't just try XP, try the older ones too.
I know this might sound silly but you'd be surprised.