axelord1942: I've found a workaround to getting the game to install and play on Windows 10. A full ISO of the game is available on archive.org for download and I'm currently putting a video together on how to install and play this and many more games that were released from 1995-1998 WITHOUT using a virtual environment. I'll add a link when it's done (if anyone ever sees this and is interested).
tinyE: is that site legal?
The issue to installing/running Wages of War is that the InstallShield program it comes with has a 16-bit installer stub, which Windows dropped support for after 2000 or so. The problem lies with converting the 16-bit installer stub to a 32-bit one.
Which I have done. This allows the game to run and install, but with many caveats:
-I have not found a way to get it to play without having the ISO mounted. I remember installing this a kid onto my HD completely without needing the disc. Having the ISO mounted causes some weird read errors after about half an hour or so of playing.
-The errors in question are usually mundane and make no sense; I suspect they stem from having the ISO mounted. For example, during the first mission the game loops a midi file for the entirety of the mission. After about 20-30 minutes the game will crash, saying it cannot find the midi file it has been playing the whole time. Disabling the music seems to have resolved that issue. This, in turn, shed light on another frequent error (frequent being every time I run it) which is the same result; the game crashing upon loading the image file for the loading screen (in this case while looting an enemy/friendly corpse mid-mission).
I'm trying to see if bypassing the ISO will help with these errors. I know the game was buggy/crashy even back then, but I don't recall them being over simple read errors like this. :/ Still putting the video together with a step-by-step walkthrough for this and other games in 16-bit limbo, so please don't rip off any off this info without asking me first.