I will give this a try also when I get my copy.

Updated the tutorial, I made a small error in the registry bit which is now fixed.

Also, could this be stickied as an unofficial workaround or something?

Please sticky, dear moderators. Pretty please?

They're on the site that the tutorial is hosted at (I placed 2 mirrors there) so I think that's obvious enough

It is flagged so you can not install with stardock central if it detects you have win2k. I bought the game and then got a refund because of this.

How to install Sins of a Solar Empire (SoaSE) on Windows 2000 (W2K) using Stardock Central (SDC)


In SDC, buy the game as usual but do not install (it demands XP)
Instead right click on the game and 'Download and Archive'
While waiting for that to finish go to the archives storage location (ie C:\Program Files\Stardock\SDCentral\BACKUP)
Once SDC says it is done rename the .sdc (ie Sins of a Solar Empire_1.02.018_02.08.2008.sdc, although exact name will likely change with versions) file to .zip
Optional step: make a backup copy of the .zip before editing it.
Open the .zip and extract data.ini
Open data.ini and change the OS= line from OS=5.1 to OS=4.10
Note: While 5.1 appears to be XP, 4.10 might not be W2K, but it does work.
Save changes to data.ini and replace the old version in the .zip
Rename the .zip back to .sdc
In SDC, restore archive (Ctrl+r) for SoaSE
Wait while it installs, crossing fingers/praying/etc as needed
Note: Sometimes the install will get stuck at a certain point. If you made a backup of the .sdc before editing data.ini you could try again, if not you have to download from the start.
Once install is done, copy the modified xinput1_3.dll and faultrep.dll into the game directory (ie C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\Sins of a Solar Empire)
Note: The version of xinput1_3.dll that is installed by the game can be modified following directions at http://www.techspot.com/blog/87/fix-for-running-bioshock-in-windows-2000/
faultrep.dll can be found at http://www.dlldump.com/download-dll-files_new.php/dllfiles/F/faultrep.dll/5.1.2600.2180/download.html
Or both can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/riderpe/Tutorials/W2Kpatch.zip or http://www.mediafire.com/?dyjvwmzs2nq or google for more information

And there you go, game should now be installable (and playable) on Windows 2000 (assuming all other system requirements are met of course). It would be nice if SDC would give you a message like 'game won't work on your system are you sure you want to install anyways' instead of just not installing. Having said that, good game Ironclad and Stardock.

Danny Basette, would you mind if I added your explanation to the tutorial on my own site? Naturally I'll give props.

It might be a good thing to have both explanations in one place

Allright, I decided to add the other method to the end of the existing tutorial. That way it'll be a "complete guide" in and on itself. I also agree that an additional copy elsewhere might be a good idea.

Anyone care to mirror this tutorial?

Also: apparently this isn't sticky-worthy just yet. Shame really...

OK archiving did not work as this archived my 1.02 copy heh I think I may have to remove from stardock and re download the whole game and change the flag just to get 1.03. If I do this for each patch am not just wasting your bandwidth?

https://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/update.aspx is much quicker and is not flaged thanks Stardock as ever you amasing off to play now!!!

Has anyone had the problem of the graphics in game not displaying the background or the ships? It's still functional except these things.