You can play just fine with shadows on in either Software mode or OpenGL mode. The GLide problem only seems to be during a spawn. So you can also start a game in either software or OGL mode and then switch to GLide after you have spawned. Of course, you need to revert back to either software or OGL between matches and after you have died. Obviously not the most elegant work around, but it does get the job done.
Some people can only play for a couple seconds before crashing.
You need to go to your Windows display properties and click on the tab that is called 'Settings'. Swith it to 16-bit color and you will be fine. Unfortunately, we were not informed this was going to happen. It's caught us by surprise and is causing some problems. We are changing the DNS entries to correct the problem, but it may take until tomorrow evening before it all settles down.