I haven't read all the post, but will chip this in. I had a problem that popped up as a ntdll error. I found this and just replaced the win ntdll.
Lil work, but corrected it for me. I think you just have a registry error nothing to do with the game.
First go to
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?ntdll Link may show an easier way or lead you though it.
Scroll down and download the file
Extract the file from the zipped folder
Copy the ntdll.dll file
go to start>run> type in: C:
go to program files then go to the "Internet Explorer" folder.
paste the file in the folder and also paste it in the plugins folder which is located inside of the Internet Explorer Folder.