Stopping by to report:
Kept getting a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death), saying either CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT, or WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR, and for the life of me couldn't figure it out. My comps kinda old, at first I thought it just overheated, but every time I launched the AG3 Maker 1-10 mins later it BSOD'd me. Quickly tracked down that it was the fact I had replaced my graphics card at the end of last year, but I couldn't figure out for sure if it was that I was on Windows 8.1, the Graphics card being a GeForce Nvidia card, or if I just needed a newer set of the translation patch and quality of life mods.
Was, In fact, fixed by using dgVoodoo 2 as stated by Hatemonger on page 4. Only, oddly enough, I too had to use the x86 dll instead of the x64, even though that's what my system is. Because I'm using an older set of mods and patcher than the one here, I didn't have to add '_alt' to the dll. I just de-capitilized the letters to be on the safe side. I also used the latest version available instead of WIP60 and it has completely fixed the problem. Maker has been running for some 4'ish hours now, not a single lag, crash, or BSOD.
Just wanted to give my thanks to find a place where there's still community left for this dusty old gem, surprised Illusion never made AG4 yet. Also, this thread came up several times during my googling, so I wanted to leave the specific keywords so it would help others out while they're googling their problem.
Mostly I'm just glad I didn't have to download an older driver version, because there wasn't any for me to download, oldest driver is from last year that I could find. Would have just been screwed at that point. I'ma put this thread in my pocket and check in occasionally, I too have been leery of Hong Fire after the shitstorm of problems it went through.