The game requires old Phsyx files that are no longer present in newer installs of Physx that come bundled with Nvidia drivers and standalone installers of newer games. There are fixes around that say to install specific versions of Physx and run the game in Win95 or Win98 compatibility mode, however these are usually dirty fixes because in order to install older Physx versions you have to uninstall the current version and you may need the newest version in another game so you're just asking for problems.

Instead there's a much easier way that won't involve uninstalling anything. Just simply install the "legacy driver' Physx package from Nvidia linked below, and it will place the required Phsyx dll's on your PC for use in older games. This won't affect any newer games, so it's safe to install and keep the current and up-to-date version of Physx installed along with it!

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/physx/physx-9-13-0604-legacy-driver/