I can't for the life of me run it. Running the .exe brings up a black screen and then the audio can be heard stuttering, but it becomes unresponsive. From there, it's alt+tab and nuke the program.

I've tried multiple compatibility modes (XP, 98, admin, non-admin, DEP, video driver updates) but it doesn't change anything.

Any ideas welcome.

Your issue sound similar, but not identical, to the one described in this thread:
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/ground_control_series/gc2_wont_even_start

Maybe try the same fix as described there (read the entire thread first though as I think some links are now broken so you'll need to search).

Yeah, I did try all that but nothing helped. Oh well.

Sounds kind of like the issue I had. I start up the game, and the opening logos keep stuttering and becomes very difficult to go through, but after about a half-minute I can just press ESC and jump straight to the menu - since then, I haven't had the problem again.

Have you tried updating the game to patch 1.0.0.8 and then running it in compatibility mode and as an administrator? I think that was the latest patch

sorry for necroing an old post, but I am pretty much encountering the same problem, just black screen, even when using Run with Administrator and Running in Compatibility.

Unplug usb devices. Close or maybe even unistall trash apps come from hardware (or input devices) vendors\drivers (but not part of them). Or pre-installed apps or AV. Usually they are not needed at all, and of course they are extremely outdated not matter when exactly your PC\notebook was build.

First go to Task Manager - process\details - gc2.exe - analyze wait chain. Looks what app interfer with game.

when all USB devices are unplugged, and the only AV I have is Windows Defender, I dont know what you mean by preinstalled apps.

Now all I get are instead of a black screen I get:

Access violation reading from 0x00000000 at 0x77a9dcca

0x77a9dcca
0x77a9d222
0x77a9c21e
0x770eadf0
0x6bc3239c
0x6bbe693c
0x6bbe708e
0x6bc0e69b
0x004f509e

Asus\Acer\etc apps, Alhimic, Nvidia Experience (or tweak it to disable affecting games automatically), Logi Options (or A4Tech\SteelSeries\Razer\etc apps).
Any apps that come from vendors, but not part of native drivers.

Pre-installed with PC apps if there is pre-installed OS when you buy it (mostly for notebooks).

Next, use Windows control to set sound: which one are default devices, maximum quality (for each device separately), disable 'exclusive mode for apps'.

Verify game files if you install it from GOG Galaxy (better at least twice in a row, cause currently Galaxy wont report results).
Or reinstall if you use GOG (offline) version.
Galaxy(\any clients) and games should be in D:\Games\Game-name-2\
and maybe first run as admin.

Go to video driver control panel(s) and set default dvice to discrete video, disable power saving (max performance pwer mode)(same for Windows Control Panel).

Maybe some more possible solutions here:
http://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/213516109-Ground-Control-Anthology?product=gog
[url=http://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Series:Ground_Control]http://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Series:Ground_Control[/url]
http://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Troubleshooting_guide

Sometimes Windows updates can broke DirectX and games. There is one 'Platform update' for Win7 do that, but that shouldn't affect this game (if no mention on PCGW, where i get that info for other games)?

Ofc PCGW as a Wiki not 100% accurate. Eg
[url=http://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Ground_Control_II:_Operation_Exodus#Extreme_mouse_latency]http://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Ground_Control_II:_Operation_Exodus#Extreme_mouse_latency[/url]
this wrongly copy info from GOG thread and did miss that this i issue with Logitech app which one exactly not part of driver and cause issues - better remove it), not the Windows settings.

game doesn't work anymore, no support