If a Save of the game, then exiting, restarting the game, and reloading the Save "fixes" it, then quit "shelling out" to Windows from the game. Even an accidental shelling out to the desktop will cause graphic & sound anomalies. Windows "multi-tasks" and will re-assign resources that the "single-task" game expects to be in a certain location. You shell out to Windows, and the game will "move" the games resources. When the game can't find where Windows put them, it will sometimes even roll over and die...
