Problem running BF2 - Vista 64

[Darman89]

Hey guys, I'm new to the forums here but have played PR for a while now. I've been away for a few months and when I got back I decided to build a new computer and now I'm having trouble with getting BF2 to work.

Here's the lowdown: I installed BF2 vanilla from the BF2 Complete DVD. It automatically launched an update to v1.41 so I installed it. Then I found a 1.5 patch and installed it as well. All before running the game. Then, I installed the latest PR core and levels again, before running the game. So, I finally boot BF2 vanilla in order to access my profile. I get to the account creation/retrieval screen (cinematic ran just fine, no problems to this point) and I enter my account info to retrieve my old account. It starts loading something and then it crashes to the desktop with no error report.
I ran some vague Google searches for the problem, but wasn't really sure what to look for. I've set the .exe to be compatible with XP SP2, I'm running it as an administrator, and I even checked the "disable desktop composition" box to see if that would help. It was suggested in a forum I read because Vista Event Viewer was returning these errors;

"The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because composition was disabled by a running application"
"The Desktop Window Manager was unable to start because the desktop composition setting is disabled"
"A request to disable the Desktop Window Manager was made by process (BF2.exe)"

My system specs are:
OS: Windows Vista Home Premium x64 SP2
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA-MA790GP-UD4H
PSU: Seventeam 750W Modular Active PFC Power Supply
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz
RAM: G. SKill 4GB (2x2GB DDR2 800) Dual Channel
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB

Any help is greatly appreciated, I really wanna get back into PR.