emailed support got back a reply to do a registry edit for windows 7, spent hours searching the registry for the mentioned string did not find it. obviously that didn't help, was told it was a corrupted user profile tried to delete it could not.
Would really like to be able to play a game that has worked wonderfully for months up until the last 12 hours. will have to think really hard about if I want to pay for the stand alone and not be able to play it after an update.
THANKS