Cannot Parse Card Database Error

[Draclvr]

Purchased Amnesia: Dark Descent from Steam in October 2010. Played the game with no issues at all. Played portions of the game again several months later - again with no issues. Tried to load the game this week and get the error, "Cannot Parse Card Database." Have run through Steam technical support with no luck. I cannot play from either the gameplay icon on my computer nor from my account at the Steam website. The initial splash screen comes up with the video card and the sound and video option tabs. If I click on Play or on the Justine DLC buttons, nothing happens except for the error message.

Playing on the same computer which I built 2 1/2 years ago.
Windows 7 Home Premium
GTX 260 video card (have not updated drivers)
4 GB RAM
Wolfdale E8400 processor @ 3.0 Ghtz
Creative sound card

I hate to take up so much space because the .hpl file is dated from last October, not from this week when I could no longer play the game. If I should post it, please let me know.

Thanks for any help!