The game crashes/disappears after 5 seconds everytime i log in. (char select screen is fine)
It shrinks the resolution of background programs as well.

windowed mode makes no difference.

Do you get any error message after this ? Also please describe what you see on your screen when problem occurs.
Are your graphic drivers up to date? DI'd you recently change the resolution of your game window?
There is a critical.log and error.log files in your My Documents/Electronic Arts. What is their content?

Error Loading Effect Template #64 (Effects/alb_soulbane_hit.nif)!
NDLLoadEffectTemplate() Error: [Not a NIF file]
Error Loading Effect Template #534 (Effects/sonicwaves_red.nif)!
NDLLoadEffectTemplate() Error: [Not a NIF file]
Error Loading Effect Template #839 (Effects/ADR_DSL_Hib_bow_short_sfx.nif)!
NDLLoadEffectTemplate() Error: [Not a NIF file]
Error Loading Effect Template #10053 (Effects/range_1000_mid.nif)!
NDLLoadEffectTemplate() Error: [Not a NIF file]
Error Loading Effect Template #10190 (Effects/Relic_Lightbeam_Blue.nif)!
NDLLoadEffectTemplate() Error: [Cannot open file.]
Error Loading Effect Template #10191 (Effects/Relic_Lightbeam_Green.nif)!
NDLLoadEffectTemplate() Error: [Cannot open file.]
Error Loading Effect Template #10196 (Effects/ward_siegeward.nif)!
NDLLoadEffectTemplate() Error: [Cannot open file.]
Failed on-demand load of figure #262 [Figures/horse01]

thats the critical file, i dont have an error.log

Suggest to update your graphic card driver. This fixed the issue for another user.

Still no luck - game disappears after 5 seconds of being in game.

i've updated my graphics drivers (Amd radeon 5)

i am gonna try and get my old comp out, that was previously able to play uthgard 1.0 fine.

Failed on-demand load of figure #262 [Figures/horse01]

Make sure your client is correctly patched?