Mission loading probs and crashes partially alleviated
 

I'm playing on a low-end system and have been having intermittent probs with freezing during loading and crashes ("Launcher.exe has encountered a problem") issues during play.

After an hour or two experimenting with options I've concluded that the "visual effects" setting is highly dangerous to me. I can raise most other settings but if I move VE off 'low' crashes are inevitable.

Thought this might be useful to others in a similar boat.

Further testing reveals 'Shadows' are another trigger for crashes and load probs. I can activate everything including grass and forests but as soon as I move Visual Effects from 'low' or turn on shadows, the game freezes, crashes, or refuses to load.

My system: Dual-core E6300, 4850 1GB 3D card, 4GB ram.