How to prevent Civ 5 crash when clicking Load?

If you have up to date video drivers, then the most likely cause is a bad civ 5 install or bad Steam data on Civ5. I've had this sort of issue with Steam before, just not on Civ5 specifically.

• First order: make sure you have latest drivers.
• Second order: Verify integrity of Civ 5 installation via "Verify Integriy of Game Cache".
• Third order: delete Civ 5 off the box, reinstall from Steam.
• Fourth order: copy SteamApps data to temp space, delete steam, reinstall steam, copy SteamApps data back.

That's all the steps I've had to take in the past to get a broken steam game working. If none of this works for you, sorry, but this list has been all I've ever had to perform. Although I have had to do the first and second options repeatedly to fix a game.

Short solution:

1. Open Steam Settings (View > Settings)
2. Go to Cloud tab
3. If not ticked, tick Enable Steam Cloud...

Long explanation:

I had this problem as well, with Civilization V. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Civilization V, but that didn't solve it. I really didn't want to have to reinstall Steam, so I looked for other options. Looking at the properties for the game, I noticed that the "Enable Steam Cloud syncronization for Sid Meier's Civilization V" tickbox was greyed out, but also ticked. I thought this seemed strange, and noticed that there was a reference to other setting, to enable cloud sync again. It took me to the wrong tab in the general Steam settings, but in the "Cloud" tab (of the general Steam settings) the "Enable Steam Cloud synchronization for applications which support it" was unticked. I ticked it, noticed that the game did a quick sync, started the game again and it worked.

(I originally turned off syncing, because it was broken in Magic: The Gathering, where it would occasionally delete your save files)