Steam refused to update properly (kept getting "failed to update, reverting" message). So I put down the scalpel and got out the grenades. Uninstall, restart install, update, force a few issues and it got steam client updated. Now it launches and gets to the main menu. Thank you for the help, Best ...

Here you go mate.

Until now I have been launching through steam. I tried launching directly from factorio.exe with no change. I have restarted computer and steam several times including booting up fresh this am (for me in the states).

I ran again with 16.1 in case that would change anything. The exception batch ...

For the sake of clarity, version 16.1 does the same. Never see Factorio window

There were no dumps originally to answer that question.

Ran the dump on exception and it didnt do anything. Ran the dump on terminate and it created the attached dump file.

When launching 0.16 from steam game crashes without even showing the factorio window.

Tried the following:
Both betas of 0.16 and 0.16x
uninstall, restart, reinstall, restart.
delete crop-cache.dat as seen in other posts.

Switching back to 0.15x works and launches game just fine. Attached log ...