Sins Diplomacy v1.011 Game crash on start

Hello,

I recently purchased the Diplomacy expansion for Sins of a Solar Empire through Impulse (I already owned the base game and Entrenchment) and I have found that the game does not run properly. Indeed, upon launching the game, a black box covers the top-left 1024x768 of the screen, does nothing and eventually crashes out.

This occurs whether I attempt to run it on my 1280x800 laptop display or on my 1440x900 LCD monitor. The game does however, run fine when I change my screen resolution to 1024x768, crashing only when I them attempt to change the resolution ingame back to the screen's native resolution.

I have the minidump file if needed, although it is 4.09MB. Please advise as to how I can resolve this problem and play the game.

Sincerely,
Arrnea Stormbringer

Edit: My system stats are:
Windows XP Pro SP3, Intel Centrino Duo 1.80 GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 256MB GeForce 8400M GS.