Cannot create new random galaxy

I decided to get back to galciv 3 after playing the beta of galciv 4 - and being impatient for its full release.  I hadn't played galciv3 in well over a year, but bought the DLCs anyway, intending to get to it 'at some stage'.  But when trying to play now, I get instant CTD when trying to play, which is more than frustrating.  (Steam version, by the way.)

I face the following glaring issue: Crashing to desktop when starting a new random map.

I choose the races, map, victory conditions, etc and select start.  It spirals the galaxy map a bit then glitches and crashes to desktop.

It doesn't matter what type of map; how large it is or what races are involved.  I tried numerous scenarios, and referred to examples in the FAQ as well as perused through these stardock forums, but have found nothing that exactly matches the criteria.  Some similar, but none exact.

Note.  Loading into an old save worked fine. Starting a campaign scenario worked fine (inasmuch as the few scenarios I tried).

I tried fiddling with admin rights.  I tried updating all drivers; software versions and credentials (firewall, antivirus, etc, including disabling).  Heck, I even uninstalled, cleared the galciv footprint with the manual deletion of all directories involved (as per faq) including using iobit uninstaller for good measure.  Re-downloaded the thing, and tried again with completely fresh settings - even tried making a second administrator windows account and loading through there.  Nothing worked.  Every time a lemon: crash.  (I have all DLC and use no mods).

I DID find a workaround, though, which sucks, but enables play.

I made a random map in the map editor, saved it and then loaded the new play (exactly as I had been selecting before) into the map instead of letting it make its own random map before play.  Voila, it worked.  But it's still a point of concern that the error exists, so I am bringing this to attention.    Maybe some kind Dev can work their magic wand.   

Incidentally, the crash file has the following (all the way from WER1, with different signatures on the P# addresses)

+++ WER9 +++:
Fault bucket 1604153834911431605, type 1
Event Name: APPCRASH
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: SDUpdate.exe
P2: 2.8.67.99
P3: 5e5f8393
P4: SDUpdate.exe
P5: 2.8.67.99
P6: 5e5f8393
P7: c0000005
P8: 00005cc2
P9:
P10:

PS.  I'd attach the crash file, but there seems to be no option for that here, nor do I want to paste the whole file's contents here, either.  Ah well.  Also, the stardock service desk doesn't cater for games at all - it's focused on the business model.  Not very helpful here.  I'm especially unimpressed that they call the gaming section 'stardock entertainment', which relegates it to a secondary function instead of giving it its due.  Just an opinion, though.