Black screen on startup workaround

I have no idea which of the 10 or so mods caused it or if anyone else is experiencing this, but when I start a new game in SoA the screen starts black and stays black. I can access, through the use of shortcuts, inventory(along with all items from bgee), record and options so it is not a freezing issue. In fact it seems to be a pausing issue so when I go to the map using the schortcut "m" the game resumes as if nothing happened.