What's your computer setup? Win 10? 32 or 64? Linux? Mac? If you use linux or mac, do you use Wine to get the included QSP player to work?Yeah. I tested it and first two attempts at starting any beginning (be it custom or not), the player crashed. Third time, was able to get the Sasha start working, saved it, then tried for a custom start and got it working then.
If one person runs into an issue, you can kinda brush it off. But if multiple people complain (like I can see in the thread), then it's a confirmation that there is a problem. It may be too much resources loading into memory at once. I'll (or you) have a look into the .qsp file later.
I use a standard win 10 64bit laptop with the QSP player that comes with the game, and I was able to get a custom male setup going without a problem - I selected boxing twice as background - if your starting choices differed, let me know and I'll test that out.
If you use mac or linux, there is an alternative player that might work better, and can be found at in this thread.