Hanging at "loading main menu"
First time modding 7 Days. Installed 7D2D Launcher, located StarvationMod16, copied game from an existing copy and performed the Pre-Sync Mod. It kept failing to download files from Github saying "error downloading cleaning corrupted data". I saw a fix posted about the new TLS standard which I applied since I am using Windows 7, rebooted and still having problems. So I checked the "Direct Download" which downloads the .zip, extracts and then when I click Play Mod is copies over the content and loads the game. But it hangs at "loading main menu" and never goes any further. Only items that are checked at "refresh mods automatically", "update registry" and I have "direct download" checked only when I need to directly download the entire .zip for updates but I have that unchecked after the initial download. I've tried toggling EAC and UNET and nothing seems to help me get past the hang. I've verified my 7 Day game via steam, uninstalled an reinstalled. I made sure I have Alpha 16.4. My friend did everything the same and he was able to download the mod without direct download just fine and it loads fine. However, he is using Windows 10. I have disabled Avast during all this.
Any suggestions?