Don't remember who posted it or in what forum, but I have followed all suggestions for crashing problems on windows 8.1, 64 bit and for whatever reason I have to start playing immediately after startup otherwise I crash. If I've opened programs or games I know I'm going to crash so I just restart, as was the suggestion, and it works for me. Rarely, I have to restart twice, but it works for me. Hope this helps solve your problem!