Origin in game is already disabled for all games, as I don't use it, so that's one possible problem ruled out.
I performed the clean boot, disabling all non-microsoft services through msconfig.exe and also disabling every startup item on the dedicated tab of task manager. After rebooting I tried the game again; regrettably that doesn't help either: the issue persists.
I discovered an odd thing while manually terminating the process: I had left task manager on the right hand side of my desktop while working on the clean boot, and when I eventually did Ctr+Alt+Del out of the game, the task manager window wasn't visible due to the lingering low resolution of the screen (as it happens with old games). While I tried to move the task manager window back into view to kill the process, the process became responsive again and the game managed to load and took back focus of its own initiative: I could hear the sound but all I saw was a black screen, which never went away no matter how long i waited or what I pressed, forcing me to terminate the process again.
I just thought i'd mention that, in case it might be useful.
same issue, did the same steps, nada.
