haarp, did you happen to install the game via the installer or through a Windows install? In the bug thread, James noted trying the demo for the game and I figured it was worth trying that as well just for heck's sake. Turns out that the demo will actually play for me (although really slow, but it doesn't lock up and I don't get the error). He also noted that the demo installer installs directx, so now I'm wondering if the actual game's installer might install something into Windows that I don't have because I used a Window's install?
