This bug happens because the game uses some chinese fonts that are not available by default on a non-east asian Windows.

I haven't tried this on Windows XP but it should work (im using Win98 atm )


For Windows XP
Open the Control Panel, go to "regional and language options", and in the "languages" tab chek the box "Install files for East Asian Languages"
This will probably ask you for the WinXP installation cd and/or reboot.

And that's it! The text should appear now!


Let me know if it works or not!

-edit-

For Windows 98
In case anyone is still using Windows 98 (like me) and you most probably have this bug then the solution is a bit different, you have to manually install a font called Simsun.
If you Google it im sure you can find it! (I tried installing the one in ToP's folder but it fives an error msg, might be Win98 specific)

Like I said earlier I didnt try this on XP but its running almost perfect in 98 with the solution I posted, the only bug I have is with the Quest titles that appear in bold and the Red colored quest messages which show squares instead of text, I suspect yet another font is missing which I dont know the name,this bug might be Windows 98 specific as well