I'm having the same issue here as well.

However I'm not surprised that kalypso is brushing this off. I have tropico 4 Gold [Xbox 360] and it also has a game breaking bug. Every time the population reaches a certain number the save becomes corrupted and is unable to load.

When I asked kalypso about this issue (and this was before Tropico 5 was released) instead of offering to exchange the game or fix the code, they blamed the Xbox itself.

They just might be worse than EA games, and that's really saying something!

Same issue here.
I unistalled this game 'cause "Cat and Mouse" bug. I waited all this months for a patch. Finally an update arrives, and... surprise, now after the first mission the game ends with credits.
I read in this discussion the "solution"... I won't pay another dlc to solve another bug.
Patch used to solve bugs, not to create other bugs.
This situation is becoming very frustrating. I'd really want my money back.

Wow this is incredible. I just started playing the game, and was thoroughly confused when the credits started rolling after completing the tutorial mission, and all I could do was start a new game.

I read here that you have to buy the Japanese DLC in order to get it to work. What in the fucking hell is that about. Like I'm going to throw money at some additional DLC just to get the game to work. That'll be the fucking day.

What is this about, GOG? Are we just screwed?

There is a rumor where Kalypso does not want to seem the bad boy and there would be a patch for end of the year.
So I'll say for April 2015...

Check some of the "recent" threads. Some unofficial (but working) patches have been posted.

Just making your link clickable. =P Thanks for sharing!

Wow seriously?!!

I just started this game up on a fresh download after getting about half way through on a previous version about 9 months or so ago. Had the same problem- ending credits after the first mission. I thought it was a fluke so I replayed that first mission, same thing.

I'll try the fix, but I'm NOT impressed. Less than two years old is NOT long enough to just abandon a game with a huge bug in it. I won't be buying anything from Kalypso again, not if that is the kind of support they provide.

Just want to vouch for the above download. Ran it in a sandbox and no virus, worked perfectly for fixing the game.

I find it strange that GOG, who makes their own QA and everything, are still selling this game that seems to be completely broken. And even promotes it in the ongoing winter sale!

The winter sale contains the gold edition. The GE contains the Japanese Incentive DLC. The ending credits bug in Main Avenue (and all other rmaps) can be fixed by installing the JI DLC. The bug isn't present in the GE which contains the JI DLC. The bug is only present in the 4 DLC version.

Both GOG and Kalypso are aware of this bug. GOG can only do so much and might not be legally allowed to use a community fix to patch a bug. Kalypso is the problem here. If a community member can make an easy fix, so can Kalypso. Especially since the maker of this fix also posted it on Kalypso's Omerta forum.

There's 1 game breaking bug left, which is the Georgia Avenue bug. This bug is a 1.06 bug which should have been fixed in the 1.07 version. Unfortunately it didn't in the GOG version. Again both GOG and Kalypso are aware of this problem. On request I've send GOG some savefiles. Again GOG can only do so much. The problem is with Kalypso basically refusing to support an "old" game.

On top of that, there's another bug in 1.07 which causes the DLC maps to be empty. No people and cars.

Oh I see. I mixed up the different versions.

Anyway, the 4 DLC version is still for sale. One would think that GOG could pull the 4 DLC version from sale because it is broken. And they should, they promise all the games they sell work after all.

I do know the problem lies more with Kalypso, but anyway. Just to be clear I haven't even played this game yet, but I don't know if I should even bother with that bug (I have the 4 DLC version from back when GOG gave it for free).

Even with the ending credits bug fixed, you still can only advance till Georgia Avenue.
GOG should indeed remove the 4 DLC version from sale. There might be legal reasons why they're still selling it.
Best thing to do is to file a support case with GOG. Hopefully a high number of support cases put some pressure on Kalypso.

I just fired this game up tonight - am I to gather that there is really no way to advance beyond the FIRST FREAKING MISSION other than to download some shady zip from a dropbox?

Or is there a better, official fix anywhere?

I was not amused when the credits rolled after I played the game for about an hour.

There is an "official fix". Buy and install the Japanese Incentive DLC as it fixes this bug.