When it comes to saving, have you hit F4, it works for me with Crash Bandicoot, Cool Boarders etc etc!!
Also have u tried the 'special games fixes' the only option that I could c that may or may not help was 'Frame buffer read', this 'fixes' some menu errors.
What driver u usin for sound, I recommend Iori's DirectSound Driver 1.4, it is the best one I have found.