My file also matches those sizes before and after running the game. But i wonder if the problem is lying there.
1st you mentioned you dont have the patch. (i know dialup is painful, but a program like
Download Accelerator Can help you to get the download over a couple of connecting times.)
This patch from Microsoft also sorts out a lot of crashing problems...
If you are unsure if other programs have crawled onto your computer without you knowing it, check and remove them with
Spybot Hope some of these links help.
