ok, same here. however i think the reasons being, if unpatched, the copyprotection of the CD (never could make it start at all while unpatched), and if patched, the sound! (strange as it may seem). with my standard SB Live 1024 i loose all sounds after 30min to 1,5 hours, after that i can play another hour or so before it crashes. this happens every game i play. Also, i seem to be able to play while having set time to 1min=4 or 8 months without crashes at all. my conifig:
Celeron 500 on ASUS P3B-F
128MB
TNT2 ultra card
SB Live! 1024
IBM Deskstar harddrive.
latest swedish patch.