Not the same problem as you, but I thought I'd share anyway in case it helps someone else. My game launched, but if I tried to start any battle or campaign, it would take ages (as in 5/10 minutes) to load and then just stop at about 90% complete - and refused to go any further. Tried everything - new drivers, old drivers, much faffing, and then (doh!) tried it on lowest graphics settings - worked straight away. My recommended settings were (to my surprise...) all ultra except texture detail, which was high. I had changed that to ultra too, and apparently that was enough to stop the game starting at all...