Where is the Private Backers Forum? I am unable to play the new demo. See attached.
You need to contact the forum administrator to get flagged for the backer's section.
To try and solve the issue with this particular error message, go to the game folder and run winsetup.exe (or from the "Himalaya Studios/Mages Initiation Combat Demo" program group in Windows, choose "Settings Menu").
This will open the game settings menu and allows you to change between graphics options. First try running the game in windowed mode. If that doesn't work, try setting the "Graphics Driver" to "DirectDraw5. And if that doesn't work, change the "Graphics Filter" to "None". One of those settings should work.
And yes, to get access to the Private Backer forum, please send NavyNuke04 a Private Message to request access. You should be able do so via his profile here:
http://www.himalayastudios.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=242