Beginning the single-player campaign freezes at ~80% loaded

Your grey background and pink link text is unforgivable.

Loading the campaign freezes at 80% or so.  I ended up doing an `alt-f4`.

* On first try, I was prompted by Windows regarding networking.  I pressed cancel.
* I tried more than once and it begins loading quickly but always freezes.
* I tried validating via Steam.
* I tried manually un-setting my options changes.
* I do not have a virus scanner running.
  **  I do have Windows Defender, of course.
* I do not have a firewall running.

I saw "Got a Bug or Issue? Report it via the Bug Tracker!":
  https://steamcommunity.com/app/230190/discussions/0/351660338716897555/

I read "How to: Submit a Bug Ticket":
  http://brightrockgames.userecho.com/topics/118-/

I am using the Bug Tracker to post:
  http://brightrockgames.userecho.com/forums/1-/

OS: Windows 10 (64 bit)
RAM: 6 GB
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) II X4 635
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650
Version:  1.6.3

output_log.txt is attached

Save file is not attached (this is not a multiplayer issue)

The closest I've seen is "Game starts, but won't load":
  http://brightrockgames.userecho.com/topics/301-/

That post advises to follow "How to reset Winsock in Windows 10/8/7":
  http://forum.thewindowsclub.com/windows-tips-tutorials-articles/35087-__-print.html

What I did:

1. Open cmd as admin

2.

netsh winsock reset
netsh int ipv4 reset

3. Restart

Possibly-related:  Immediately after "netsh winsock reset", windows prompted me re. rebooting to install updates.  When I completed the above cmd steps (#2), the update was extremely slow.

At any rate, this issue persists.

output_log.txt

War for the Overworld Launcher Log.txt