Okay, yesterday I had an epiphany (as I so often do). But before I tell you what the epiphany is I believe it's history is necessary.
I have tried playing the game from it's original folder and also from my USB key, it failed both ways BUT the error wasn'T the same, so I thought "what if I change the entire place of the folder?" I tried and it seems to be working perfectly. Now why the heck didn't it work in the spot it worked in at first??
(thanks for all your help everyone really appreciated)