So I just bought this game after it went on sale, but every time I start it up, the intro cinematic plays, and just as it ends, a window pops up with the standard "Program has stopped working" message, and the game crashes to desktop.

Specs:
Running Windows 7 (64-bit)
8 GB RAM
AMD Phenom II X4 970 Processor 3.5 GHz
NVidia GeForce 450 GTS (Gigabyte)

I searched for a solution to this, but only found threads for the Steam version, and have tried the ones applicable to the version I have, to no avail. My drivers are up to date.

Same here.

Win 8.1, gtx 770, i5 4670k

Same problem.

Fixed it by downloading the update under the installer and installing it.

Oh, didn't realize patches don't install automatically.

Yup, patch fixed it! Thanks a lot!