I am running the 30.82 nVIDIA drivers, which is what the readme for the game said to use instead of the 40.41 drivers (or some version like that).

I also have 4.43v 4-in-1 drivers (which is the latest version)

I just patched the game itself, and it seems to last a bit longer now (and the game seems to run MUCH faster now), but it still locks up and goes to a black screen (if I didn't mention this before, my monitor seems to go to suspend mode as if no signal is being sent to it). I am going to try out all audio options in the game before I post again, but feel free to give me any suggestions in the meantime...I really appreciate all the help.

I WANT TO PLAY THE GAME!

BTW, I have check all power options, and none are on, so I don't think that should be an issue.