Unable to Load Game

I have really been enjoying this game but for one major problem. Without fail and without warning at some point in the game I will come back to find that I get a "Load Error" dialog box telling me that the game is "Unable to Load Game... c:\..." (whatever the save game file happens to be at the time).

I have been running v1.71 throughout the whole experience. I've tried with and without autosave. Saving multiple .gam files as different names. Exiting and backing up the .gam files. Running as Administrator or not. Vista x64 pre and post SP1 install. And whenever the game decides to do this it refuses to load any save files from the particular game I play whether it be the main save file, auto saves, backups, etc.

It acts like the file is getting corrupted but it is odd that it refuses to even open the backups that have been moved to a seperate location then later restored.

I was just wondering what the community may know of this as I wander off and try to submit a bug report with some of the save files (if possible). What little I have found on the forum doesn't seem to work (as far as starting a new game and then reloading an old from in game).

As far as I can relate it might have something to do with how Vista manages files but it does indeed become frustrating to not be able to continue many hours of vested time in a particular game.

Only mods I have installed are some of the B5 shipsets (which I have used with custom empires).

Any helpful comments would be appreciated.

Thanks.

- Tirpitz