i have the same problem as your having, except mine start last night. So i back tracked to a save that i had awhile ago started to play fine. Then my dropship had got shot down... So i started new game and my first mission im getting invisible aliens i think because its a night mission cant really see, But when they fire i cannot see them and it CTD.
As for the load issue i think they know about that what you did is the work around for it.