Using PC/DVD version of the game with the following equipment:
Intel Core 2 Quad processor Q6700
Vista 64-bit (Game has to be run in 32-bit, of course)
6 GB Ram
NVIDIA GeForce 9500GS vid card/256 MB
Screen resolution changed to match game
Latest drivers for vid card, latest updates to Vista. Card temperature monitor shows normal temp range at all times.
First install with default/auto settings had X2 anti-aliasing and all graphics on HIGH. Crashed (by that I mean the whole machine locked up, had to unplug it) about 3 minutes into the first tutorial, 3 times in a row. Reset anti-aliasing to none. Tried again, crash happened almost 4 minutes this time.
Uninstalled game, reinstalled game. Same results. Changed all graphic settings to LOW and made it through all but the last tutorial before crashing again. Restarted, finished last tutorial, crashed about 3 minutes into game.
No matter what I try, even with the lowest settings this game won't play longer then 4 or 5 minutes without totally locking up my machine. NO OTHER game does this, and there are no others I cannot use HIGH or HIGHEST levels of graphics and all the anti-aliasing they have to offer and they play just fine, don't even come close to resource limits.
So what's the problem that's causing this?