Noob in search of a little help...

[alotef]

Hey all,
I'm a total noob to CLoD and I'm ecited to see that patches are being released by 1c. The game runs alright on my machine on medium settings, though much more graphically demanding games such as Silent Hunter 5 and Crysis run much better, even on ultra-high settings.

I turned to the patches to try and get my install of CLoD to work. Therefore, I patched the sim and now on the start menu it reads "Version: 1.00.13954."
Then In downloaded and installed the new BETA patch, 1.07, but whenever I launch the game, the golden reticule icon flashes on my screen and then disappears. Perhaps I've done something wrong in my install order? I really have no idea. I tried a search of the forums, though information pertaining to my problem was wishy-washy at best. My questions are; have I done something wrong in the patch install order? and If so, what is the correct order?
Thanks in advance, and sorry for the noobie questions which no doubt you've all seen 1,000 times.
Regards,
Mike.

[SQB]

You'll get better answers than this in a bit, but I just want to ask, are you using steam?

[alotef]

I am, however only in offline mode as a recent accident rendered my gaming machine's online capabilities useless; i use another PC with lesser power to connect to and use internet services.
Regards,
Mike.