Continuous Lockup at start video

[GZ_Big_Daddy]

Need some help from my fellow gamers.

I have not been able to start up the game even after installing the patch, and updating my audio and video drivers to their latest versions. As soon as I click the link to start the game, it becomes "non responding", with the initial video frozen. If I attempt to get control back of the system, after a few minutes the entire machine freezes up, mouse and all.

If it helps, I had a similar type of behavior with real and windows media player when my ATI hardware acceleration was put at the higher settings. Basically, unless I want my machine to lock, I have to turn down the acceleration on my Radeon 9700 Pro.

I've tried the video settings at different levels, but these only make the game unstart-able instead of locking.

Any advice?