Mods are not initializing correctly!

I'm following all the correct installation steps by unzipping the relevant files into the mods folder. I then start the game and restart with a mod. The game boots up without any problems and I am able to set up a new game. When I press play the screen goes over to the progress bar indicating a new game is being prepared. At this point, the progress bar never gets beyong "initializing" before the whole thing crashes and shuts down.
The same problem occurs with all mods.

My comp runs Vista.

Ok, I'm probably overlooking some simple detail , but please bear with me and many thanks for any help.

 

are you doing it in
C:\Users\Voltage\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV Colonization\MODS
or something like that

 

I would guess that he has not updated his Colonization to the new patch. Then the mods he is using have been updated thus causing a crash.

PS The first post is a few months old already. Hey, better late than never