Driver update verified. In fact I dumped XP x32 in favor of Vista x64 and just let it do its thing. Same video card, 158.18 drivers. Also since I went to Vista x64 I also bought a new hard drive (a 10KRPM WD Raptor 150GB) to replace my old 80GB drive and thus redownloaded and installed the game, up to the current beta. The problem still persists.
Am searching for the debug.err file now, but I suppose I actually have to start a game for it to create one? I got the model corruption in the ship preview style screen in the civ creator, and stopped there.