. . . .. . . from the Giant Grey Space Ants that it causing it to crash...
You know, it would have been nice if you mentioned the GSA (Grey Space Ants) right at the outset. GGSA interference is right there in the Lua docs. You can shield against GSA, but after they move thru the power lines outside town, and quadruple in size becoming GGSA . . . no good . . they gotta go. Call the ARMY. Tell them to send at least two jeeps, one bazooka and a Walkie Talkie. Couple extra grunts for Ant Fodder is helpful. Oh yeah and they should all be in Black and White.
Moving on to Win8. I tried that guy when the trial version was released. Took it back off pretty quick and purchased another Win7pro. I'd be inclined to blame Win8 for everything and anything including global warming . . . . except that others are having similar problems with Win7 and earlier. Actually, Win8 did have one redeeming characteristic; the remote log-in is Uber fast and smooth. WAY better than Win7. You can run AutoCAD on a remote computer with Win8 and the response is equivalent to it being local. Very choppy with Win7.
Anyway, WIn8, couple of things come to mind that you might try;
I don't recall if Win8 has the 'compatibility mode' like Win7 pro. If it does, you might try setting the MACH4 compatibility to Win7 or earlier.
With Win7 pro, Aero causes trouble with some apps, but it can be turned off. I do not recall of the WIN8 GUI can be turned off also, but if it can, you might try that. I do seem to remember Win8 having some sort of 'classic' look that can be turned on. Lua might like that better.
Of course, you'll need to address that Ant problem first.