SOLUTION - By lowering all my video settings to the lowest possible I was able to complete the loading of Chapter 1. After Chapter 1 loaded i then put my video settings back to where they were before.
The above was taken from this link here:
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...4?r=6651065694
By looking at search results here
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=s...ope=8821027804
and here
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=s...ope=3921096804
apparently it's a very common error.
Check also this thread here
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/t...4/m/6091051694
which seems to offer possible solutions.
Apparently the whole thing is related to graphics card, so if the above solution doesn't work try updating your video card drivers.