TDIRECT3DXFILE.START Access Violation

Description

This is reproducible on my machine 5 out of 5 times whether in Window mode or full screen and whether I play the game like I mean to kill or just go from one turn to another doing nothing.

Start the game with single player setup. For galaxy type select 'Ancient', else everything is default. Galaxy size is set to 'medium' automatically.

[This same error occurs with everything set to max - computer players, number of units and ships, Large quadrant.]

Within 11 to 18 turns this error crashes the game to desktop:

Tdirect3Dxfile.start -can't find xfile
Access violation at address 00479E13 in module 'se5.exe'.
Read of address 00000000

'Some say' that nebulae can cause the game to become unstable and the 'Ancient' setting has a lot of them.

My machine: (Gotta luv Belarc Advisor)

2.00 gigahertz AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
2 Gig Ram
256MB ATI Radeon X1300PRO
Dell Inc Dimension E521 motherboard