Stuck at loading screen forever - game doesn't lock up and no error msgs

I just reformatted my computer and put a fresh copy of win 8.1 professional 64 bit (full release, not preview) and I can't seem to play FF14 now. I was running win 8 64 bit enterprise and it was working just fine.

The first time I loaded FF14 after formatting, I got to character selection screen just fine, hit play on the character I chose and it went to the black screen with the loading circle going on forever.. left it sitting there for 30 minutes before giving up.

After that, when I launch the client and press start to get to the character selection screen, it gives me the black loading screen and sits there forever.. waiting 1h + to see if I'd get any error messages.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling, tried installing it on my non SSD drive and still the same issue. I've installed c++ redists, dx 9, updated windows etc and still nothing. I've also made sure I installed and ran the game as administrator. I've also tried compatibility mode with no luck.

I don't want to roll back my OS. Any other possible solutions to try?

I'm having the exact same problem with Win 8.1 prof 64 bit hit start and it just stays at a black loading screen with the progress bar turning forever!

OK I found this in another thread and it worked for me: Open the config file FFXIV.cfg under documents/my games/FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn with notepad and change the value of CutsceneMovieOpening to 1, rather than 0. Save, restart the game and you should be good