Running the configuration program and switching to software mode can help with crashes in the council hall.
The
hotfix will not destroy saved games. You shouldn't need to back them up first, but it couldn't hurt to be over cautious.
The type of optical drive doesn't matter. I have a DVD and CD-RW drive, and can run the game from either (except for once as a test, I use the DVD drive). Can you reliably read other disks in the drive? Maybe the drive is dying. Maybe it just has problems reading that disk or the copy protection used. Check Pioneer's web site and see if they have a firmware update available for the drive.
