The game does work if I launch from the folder directly. It does not from steam. I do have --mods as a launch option
The option is called --nomods I don't think there is a --mods option (that wouldn't make sense). So is the steam version even launching?
Can you try uninstalling or disabling D3DGear? According to the crash log, that program manages to insert itself into PA somehow and is the cause of an access violation. If PA still crashes after that, could you upload a new PA log?