This is whats happening to me, except there is no step 5, there is no error box. 8 boxes tick and then it vanishes, task manager shows the process hanging out there keeping to itself. Seeing as there is no explanation of what the boxes represent I don't even have a clue where to go.
My pc is Vista 64bit Ultimate, 4gb ram, 8800GT. I've tried all the fixes listed here and on the BI wiki site. No change, 8 ticks then vanish. It's the same now after all these fix attempts as it was when it first failed. 1-thru-8 then vanish.
I got my copy(G.E.) from Sprocket also.
Crysis, CoD4, Red alert 2, OFP: new and old games work totally fine. Yet this won't even attempt to load. Anyone got any ideas that aren't already mentioned in these forums? Or should I just twiddle my thumbs till they hopefully fix it one day? And try not to dwell on the wasted cash and disappointment.