this is the only 'patch' necessary:
http://www.lspn.net/downloads/Links2k3_107_Final.exeafter loading v1.03. i had a pc once upon a time with an nvidia mx4000 graphics card, that wouldn't display half the ani, the ball in flight, etc, with vista 32 aero glass graphics enabled. if i disabled aero glass, links displayed fine.
so my solution was, i bought an nvidia 6200 off ebay for $35, and was able to play links with aero glass turned on.
if you're running vista 64, and having problems, ya might try running links in xp compatibility mode. but i've read posts peeps are running vista 64/links together, and they work just fine.
your results may vary.