Far Cry 2 won't even load the splash screen

[WhiteShadows93]

Every time I attempt to load up Far Cry 2, the Ubisoft autopatch pops up and says it's downloading a file, size of 21 bytes. This takes no more than a second or two, and then it disappears, leaving me with just my desktop.

If I try to run it in safe mode, it says that the application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. I have reinstalled several times, to no avail.

If I attempt to load up the map editor, it says that it has encountered a problem and needs to close.

Can any of you brave forumites help me?

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ @ 2.21GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
2GB RAM
XP

[Tony_Soprano196]

Try the latest beta drivers from Nvidia, 180.43

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_180.43_beta.html

Good luck

[WhiteShadows93]

Sorry, forgot to mention I had already installed those. Didn't work with the previous drivers either.

EDIT: There's been an update in this fascinating saga! After yet another reinstallation, I now get this message, rather than the CTD after the autopatch starts up.

"Trying to get update information to C:\DOCUME~1\User\LOCALS~1\Temp\ubi14E.tmp.
Failed to download the update information.
Fatal download error: 22
Update service cannot continue."

If I click start game, it closes and nothing happens.