I finally got this [censored] working 17 days thinking and trying everything...but this worked

1)Go to START-Run-cmd (open cmd as AMIN)
2)bcdedit.exe/set nx AlwaysOff
3)Enter
4)Reboot
5) PLAY!!!!!!
You will need to enable this again...but it looks like you can't until you finish the game. If you enable it the game will crash again... Please try and report back...

GOODLUCK!!!!

Congrats, hope it really works.I'm playing the game on a virtual system. lol.

Going to give it a try now Ill report back if I can actually get in a hour without a crash

Not sure if this will help people who can play. This is more for the people that had a crash after 2 screens or crash as soon as they clicked the start.exe

Was hoping that would solve my problem.. but unfortunately it did not change a thing. Still crashing after 2nd screen. I'm gonna go install a VM as XP now and see what that does..

Tari....did you follow the instructions exactly? This line should be typed like this bcdedit.exe/set nx AlwaysOff You need the spaces and the capitals on "A" and "O" click enter then reboot...then launch the game.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff542202%28VS.85%29.aspx
Also for those who do not know, that command disables DEP - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_execution_prevention.

I however have no doubt that doing this will fix most problems you may encounter in Vista and W7. Everything from printing issues to programs and games crashing. Same goes for UAC.

It also is disabling one of the thing protecting most vista/7 users from 0-day vulnerabilities. Needing to turn it off is the sign of piss-poor programing.

UAC is not a factor is STEAM games as it adjust the permissions to avoid issues.