Game Crashes In the Same Area Every Time

I am playing in the scenario where I have to win a bunch of national contests, and every time I play the Rome contest, the game freezes up crashes whatever you call it. I cannot exit the game, I just end up having to do a hard shutdown with my computer. Never mind I figured out how to update drivers. Could my firewall suddenly be interfering? I have had it on all through the many levels I have played. Could it just suddenly be interfering??