There I´ve been playing MTW for almost a year and I didn´t know how to quicksave

I also have that ESC-CTD problem, though I´ve never, ever updated my video drivers, so they should be 2003 standard - if new versions of directX aren´t to blame. For the error log says something about a failed directX call.

I also know the bug with ransomed units (only those for me) being stuck. Not much one can do about it, except either not losing battles, not ransoming back captives or reloading after a ransom.