possible solution to game not starting and freezing at start up load screen
 

i was having the issue where the game stopped working and started freezing at the starting loading screen. when disconnecting my internet magically THE GAME WORKS!

this is by no means a fix, but atleast you can play the game now til 1c gets around to fixing it.

Oh my god, thank you so much.

This actually works. However, I just blocked the game .exe with my firewall. Finally I'll be able to play the game! :D
Unfortunately only Singleplayer for now, but waiting for a patch to fix won't be so bad if singleplayer works ;D

This worked for me. Thank you. Ran steam in offline mode and it worked and windows firewall popped up asking me to allow it and I did. Also went in there and made sure it had access, and now with internet it works MOST of the time. Other times same thing but I guess its better then not.

AWESOME.

This fixed it, I haven't tried to log on multiplayer but during the start up i disconnected then alt tabbed and reconnected my internet. At least it's not a black screen.

guys, does it make sense to you that you need to disable your internet to get the game going? NO! It's absurd and I hope they release a patch ASAP.