So it worked fine after applying 2.32c? If so, the beta didn't apply correctly, most likely it ended up in the wrong folder - the beta needs to overwrite the 2.32 files. You'll pretty much have to do a full clean reinstall.
Uninstall the game, and then manually delete the game directory - this is important. Reinstall Rome:Gold - choose a new directory like c:\games\rome instead of the suggested path. Download the 2.32c patch, and run it to install it; make 100% sure you point it to that same new directory above so that for instance the new rome.exe overwites the old one, the new romegame.exe overwrites the old one, and so on. Once done right-click on the game's desktop icon and set it to run as administrator, and to disable desktop composition.
Then copy the whole Rome folder to some new place like c:\games\rome-beta\ and expand the beta file onto that installation; that way if it all goes wrong you won't have to reinstall the game.
