As I said, only latin characters in my username.
And yes, I did several saves during my first session that I couldn't load again. The same if I started a 2nd session and made a save stright away - couldn't load it. The same with the autosaves.
I did get a 2nd wind for testing, and I managed to get a workaround that works 1/3rd of the time.
1) Revert the game to "default" graphical options.
2) Leave the resolution, but change the setting to "single-core optimised".
3) Try loading.
If the game crahses:
4) Start it again
5) Make sure it still has the graphical options from step 1 & 2.
6) Start a new game (don't bother with the character, just choose to play).
7) skip through the 1st dialog.
8) Load a saved game.
9) Now you're free to change the graphical settings again to what works for you. (If I do that before loading - the game refuses to load again).
There's still something clearly wrong, but at least I can move past it, with some excercise in patience.
And after seeing the entering logos and the intro movie for oh so many times... I beg you.... a skip key??? Pretty please with cherry on top?
