After buying the game today and having to research the Internet for how to get the game up and running (including some great posts here!), I had made some notes on how to resolve these issues should I need to re-install the game.

After reading through them I realised there was enough here to (hopefully) be useful to others and, after a bit of polish, have posted them up below.

With a renewed interest in space sims with realistic physics and large universes (Elite:Dangerous just around the corner and Star Citizen further off) then hopefully there will be some wanting to play this gem of a game.

I had originally included links in this writeup to sources, but that post wasn't accepted. I'll update once I get those permissions...

Hope its useful to all.

Cheers,
Ian.

------------------------------
I-War2:EOC quick install guide
------------------------------
V1 Ian Jefferies 30/11/2013

Game downloaded from GOG.COM as DRM free.

This quick guide covers installing this old game onto a modern Windows 7 64-bit. Information sourced from various posts on the Internet, and this is what worked for me when researching how to get the game up and running.

Many thanks to all those who made it possible by sharing their knowledge/experience on the Internet.

Hope the install goes smoothly!

- Basic - get it working
- Other tweaks
- Updating FOV for widescreen monitors
- DirectX 8 - not present, won't work

----------------------
Basic - get it working
----------------------

Try running the game after each step to see if it starts, your machine settings might be slightly different and allow a step to be skipped over.

1) Install into a folder outside of the system protected "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)"
- This allows the game to modify its own configuration files. Modern Windows security prevents this in "Program Files" folders
- The root folder for the game is assumed to be ".\Independence War 2 - Edge of Chaos" relative to where you installed the game for the rest of this document.

2) Set the Independence War 2 desktop link to compatibility mode for Windows XP (SP3) and disable desktop visual themes.
- Desktop link points to .\Independence War 2 - Edge of Chaos\bin\release\loader.exe relative to where you installed it (don't update the link!)
- Right click on the desktop icon and choose compatibility tab
- Set Windows XP (SP3)
- Disable visual themes
- Disable desktop composition
- Disable scaling on high DPI settings

3) Disable Data Execution Prevention (DEP) for the GOG loader.exe program
- Old games were not built with DEP in mind and would lock up/stop working if this high level of security protection fails
- SYMPTOM: Starting the game gives a blank screen and a yellow cursor
- SYMPTOM: The flux.log file in the root folder contains the message "FLUX: [unknown] LINKER: The package "ifrontendgui" is dependent on package "igame", which failed to load or link" on the last line
- Open Control Panel, select "System Security" then "System" followed by "Advanced System Settings". Choose the Advanced tab, then "Settings..." in the Performance section.
- Choose the "Data Execution Prevention" tab and add loader.exe as an exception (found in .\Independence War 2 - Edge of Chaos\bin\release)

4) Make a backup copy of flux.ini in .\Independence War 2 - Edge of Chaos

5) Add your desktop resolution settings into flux.ini, change the numbers only
- section [FcGame]
- width = 1920
- height = 1080

------------
Other tweaks
------------

Disable texture compression (in-game graphics menu) for an improvement in graphics quality.

Push all other settings to max, as a modern graphics card should have no problems running this game.

------------------------------------
Updating FOV for widescreen monitors
------------------------------------

Info found offsite.

You can select your resolution ingame, but you must adjust the FOV manually for every camera mode. To do this, open the file "flux.ini."

In this file, you will find nine instances of the string "field_of_view," followed by a default value. Here is each instance, the default value, and recommended settings for 16:10 and 16:9 resolutions (rounded to the nearest percentage of a radian):

[icArcadeCamera]
Default = 1.2
16:10 = 1.37
16:9 = 1.48

[icChaseCamera]
Default = 1.2
16:10 = 1.37
16:9 = 1.48

[icConversationCamera]
Default = 1.1
16:10 = 1.27
16:9 = 1.37

[icDollyCamera]
Default = 1.2
16:10 = 1.37
16:9 = 1.48

[icDropCamera]
Default = 1.1
16:10 = 1.27
16:9 = 1.37

[icExternalCamera]
Default = 1.25
16:10 = 1.43
16:9 = 1.54

[icInternalCamera]
Default = 1.1
16:10 = 1.27
16:9 = 1.37

[icTacticalCamera]
Default = 1.2
16:10 = 1.37
16:9 = 1.48

[icTwoShotCamera]
Default = 1.1
16:10 = 1.27
16:9 = 1.37

-----------------------------------
DirectX 8 - not present, won't work
-----------------------------------

Only partially implemented: a patch was created but never fully tested or issued for download (info from Ravenger on the GOG forum, one of the original game designers).

The DX8 option requires dx8graph.dll (and possibly other files) in your .\Independence War 2 - Edge of Chaos\bin\release

There is an in-game option for DirectX 8 but it does not appear to have any effect.

Wow thanks Ian.

Bought this game a few weeks ago and all I got was a black screen and a cursor.

Now It works fine.

Cheers - glad to hear it was useful.

I followed these instructions, but I still have the yellow cursor problem. Do you have any other ideas?

Take a look here if you still have problems:

https://www.i-war2.com/documents/help/faq/faq-technical