Brumba_12 Have you had any luck getting past the setting up players. I've got the same problem and have tried everything in the book. The only method I found to get the game working was back date the load, but did not let me use most of the DLC's
I have gone back through the game and done all the things that everyone has suggested. All files were deleted that I could fine, Then restarted computer. Still locking up at building players. I have no idea were to look in the files to find the problem. My programming skills are about 30 years out of date. So, if anyone has an idea of were to start looking and what to look for it would be great.
I have deleted and reloaded the game, I've ran the validation multiple times, Have checked memory and all system items. nothing seems to work. I've changed the game settings to see if that was the cause to no avail. It was working fine up until about a week ago.