I'm already having a PM conversation with Huor about this issue, but I figured I'd make a thread incase anyone else has any advice, and to make the solution public to anyone else who might have this problem in the future.
So, here's the details: On the first start of Freelancer.exe (from inside EXE folder of course), the launcher starts up and does it's thing, updates itself with no problem. The problem starts when I click the "Single Player" button, and it asks me if I'd like to download the update for Single Player before launching the game. On clicking "yes" I get a blue bar at the bottom of the launcher, with the words "Starting Update..." and it never goes away. I have a program to monitor the data packets my computer is sending and receiving, and while the launcher is in this state, there is almost 0 activity, so it is not trying to connect to anywhere, or download anything. The log says nothing other than "Starting Update..." as well.
This is the 3rd time I've reinstalled, the 1st time I installed it I actually managed to get it to work on like the 10th try of restarting the launcher, but then I needed to change a few settings I couldn't change through the launcher, so reinstall. and after that I haven't been able to get it to magically work like it did the 1st time.
My firewall is off, I don't have AV. Huor thinks my ISP might be blocking the update server, which is not out of the question because I have to change my MAC address to milk the free wifi trial provided by xfinity (comcast). However, I don't think that is the case for a few reasons: It has already worked for me once on this connection, seemingly out of nowhere. I've already heard a few people say they need to restart the launcher several times before it does anything. If the launcher can update itself just fine, why not the game? Does it not get the game update files from the same place as the launcher update files? That being said, just to make sure, I will take my laptop to my friend's house tomorrow, and try to do this over his internet. Still, any ideas are welcome.
I am aware there is already a thread with this topic, however there is no conformed answer to the problem there, (or any I can confirm myself, I don't have access to the router I'm using, so I can't change the MTU settings. I could possibly break into the router, but that'd be illegal, now wouldn't it? Don't want the party van outside my house...).