Earlier this month, Hi-Rez studios released the greatest mech game of all time, Earthsiege 2, as freeware. However, the download link is just to the CD iso. The installer doesn't run on my Windows 7 machine.
Is there some way to play this game without digging out an old Windows 95 machine?
EDIT: I found recently that you can download the game from the website The Collection Chamber. Once installed, It runs a DOS Box build with Windows 95 and the game, everything already installed and ready to run. It can't get easier than that, check it out!
I know it's been more than 3 years now, but if you still did not manage to get it to work, there may be a way:
Go to this SierraHelp page, and download the 'Metaltech: Earthsiege II 32-bit Installer' (direct link) - it will work on 64-bit Windows too.
Mount the ISO you got from https://www.tribesuniverse.com/. Do not install from ISO, but use the installer above.
Make sure you do not install in Program Files, try something like C:\Dynamix\EarthSiege2.
It is very important that you check that there is no blank space in the path, change it from C:\Dynamix\EarthSiege 2 to C:\Dynamix\EarthSiege2, for example.
Use the MP3 option when asked, so it will download the music for you.
Launch the game from ES.EXE in the installation folder. It should now work.
Do not try to go fullscreen, change your desktop resolution to 800 x 600 to get a bigger screen. If it doesn't work, you may have to try using dgVoodoo 2 or DXwnd.
Some people got it to work on fullscreen using DXwnd, but it didn't for me.
For dgVoodoo 2, just extract the dgVoodoo.exe and the DDraw.dll files to the ES2 installation folder.
If you use DXwnd, it already has the profiles for Earthsiege 2 in the export folder.
Open DXwnd, click on File, Import, and point it to the export folder where you extracted DXwnd. For example, mine was in C:\Games\DXwnd\exports. You will have to import both the main and the simulation profiles. Then you just have to right click on the profiles, and modify. Change the paths to the ones of your ES2 installation. Run the main profile from DXwnd.
If all that does not work, I don't know any other solution. Try googling about the programs I just told you, if you find my explanation complicated. I hope I can still help you or anyone else that reads this.
I also recommend using JoyToKey or Xpadder to make your joystick work as keyboard inputs. My ES2 did not recognize my joystick at all. Search for the ES2 manual or reference card to find the keyboard controls for the game.
