I purchased the game recently and followed the modding guide on this site to the letter.

After clicking the icon for the game, I'm given a black screen for several minutes before the intro movie plays and I am able to reach the main menu.

When loading a save from the main menu, I'm stuck at the menu for several minutes before the loading bar appears, which conversely, goes very quickly.

When loading a save in-game, I'm given the unloading screen for roughly the same amount of time before the loading bar appears.

Playing the game, everything runs fine except for when I try to access the menu. After hitting ESC, there's a 5-10 second delay.

Here are the specs to my computer, which was made in 2006:

OS: Windows Vista Home Basic 32-bit
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 3.00 GHz
RAM: 2 GB
Video Card: Radeon X1650 Series

Have you tried running from a fresh, unmodded install?

Are you running any anti-virus software?

Running it without the mods didn't fix the load times.

I'm currently using Kaspersky Internet Security but shutting it off didn't help either.

So much for the "greatest game of all time."

Is it possibly a graphics issue?

It doesn't sound like a graphics issue.

Maybe run the game as administrator? Or use the compatibility settings in Windows to run the game in Win98 mode.

There have been problems when people install the game to "Program Files", because Windows protects that directory by default.

I've already disabled UAC and running the game in Windows 98 mode causes it to crash the moment I try to run it.

I also have the game installed in a "Games" folder that's separate from Program Files.