So... I got it working, finally. All it took was a wipe of Windows 8 and a clean install of Windows 10. While I doubt these made a difference, here are some other notes about my install:
- I did not update the BIOS of the motherboard, which is still from 2013. I did not want to take the chance that it would mess up my 3.5 to 4.0ghz overclock.
- I did not install any unnecessary drivers, to include the Logitech drivers for my G35 headset. The only drivers I installed were the latest AMD drivers for my R9 280X.
- I did not install any Visual C++ redistributables. Only the Origin client, then SWBF from inside the client.
- I did not install any other games or clients (eg: Steam), in case it installed any other Visual C++ stuff.
- I used Destroy Windows Spyware (DWS) to uninstall all metro apps, block MS telemetry/tracking, disable useless MS junk, etc.
- I have not installed any antivirus software yet.
- Fully updated Windows
- Selected "high performance" under power options
- Probably other stuff I'm forgetting...
I will update the thread if anything I haven't done/installed yet breaks the game. Fingers crossed it won't...