Torn Stars

Below is a copy of a post originally posted by Bozobub, where he explained how to edit the registry to swap between EOC and Torn Stars executable files. Perhaps it will contain some hints on how to solve your problem.

Posted by Bozobub on the thread “Modifying default ship.ini’s”

By the by, usually if IWar 2 (and its variants) fail, after working previously, it’s due to a corrupted registry entry. You can often copy out those keys while it’s working, then simply reapply them if there’s an issue, and *pouf* it works!

You can also do something similar to switch between multiple installs of IWar 2 (say, Torn Stars and the Vanilla game), by making multiple .reg files, one for each install. I posted the following 11 years ago(!) on the old Torn Stars subforum (thank heaven it was still there to copy/paste, with a couple of changes):

First, you need one copy of EOC modded to Torn Stars (or w/e variant), and another copy in its original (fully patched! :D) form. I installed EOC to the path: “C:program FilesgamesIndependence War 2 -Edge of Chaos” and Torn Stars to the path “F:More GamesIWAR 2 – Torn Stars”. It doesn’t really matter which is which, so if you’ve already installed Torn Stars over your old EOC game, just reinstall EOC to a new folder with a new name/path of your choice.

OK, now whichever executable you run in either install, your system will actually execute the version you installed MOST RECENTLY. Bummer. There is, however, a reasonably easy solution. All it takes is a little registry hackin’ :). In fact, just copy each of the two text bits below (including “Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00”) and save with the extension “.reg” (not “.txt”!)to two separate files and you’re set! I used the filename “EOC.reg” for the first one and “Torn Stars.reg” for the second. Yeah, I know, imaginative – lol. 😉

OK, this 1st bit will be to set your game to run your original EOC. You’ll need to change all instances where I show ‘C:\PROGRA~1\GAMES\INDEPE~1’ to your actual install path for EOC. Yes, the backslashes are doubled! Keep in mind that these are old-school path names that are truncated to 8 characters; you MUST keep the tilde, as well:
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstallIndependence War 2 – Edge of Chaos]
“DisplayName”=”Independence War 2 – Edge of Chaos”
“UninstallString”=”C:\PROGRA~1\GAMES\INDEPE~1\UNWISE.EXE C:\PROGRA~1\GAMES\INDEPE~1\INSTALL.LOG”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREParticle SystemsEdge of ChaosSettings]
“Options”=dword:00000001
“InstallPath”=”C:\PROGRA~1\GAMES\INDEPE~1\”
“Version”=dword:0000000e

And now the version to set your system to run Torn Stars. Again, you’ll need to change all instances where I show ‘F:\MOREGA~1\IWAR2-~1’ to your actual install path for Torn Stars.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionUninstallIndependence War 2 – Edge of Chaos]
“DisplayName”=”Independence War 2 – Edge of Chaos”
“UninstallString”=”F:\MOREGA~1\IWAR2 ~1\UNWISE.EXE F:\MOREGA~1\IWAR2 ~1\INSTALL.LOG”

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREParticle SystemsEdge of ChaosSettings]
“Options”=dword:00000001
“InstallPath”=”F:\MOREGA~1\IWAR2 ~1”
“Version”=dword:0000000e
That’s it! I’ve tested it and it works dandy. Just double-click (or right-click and select “Open”) to activate the corresponding .reg file whenever you want to change the version that runs, then click “Yes” when it asks if you want to add the data to the registry. It’s probably advisable to use a separate shortcut to each version – I do – but AFAIK you actually only need ONE; it’ll run the version most recently switched to, whichever you choose. As a nice little bonus, as long as you switch to the correct version before you do so, uninstalling will also work correctly on that version…

Hope that helps.