I tried tackling this 5 years ago but at the time, it seems the crack didn't work for me so I just gave up after my initial response in this thread. This time I decided to try again after I got the ping from your post.
Turns out... I managed to get it to work this time.
"So what's the secret?!", I can hear curious folks asking already. Welp, you will be dissapointed I'm sure, but the concept hasn't changed at all:
Step1: Mount Game
Step2: Install Game
Step3: Fight with your anti-virus to release
start.exe file from Quarantine
Step4: Copy and Paste the
start.exe in the game directory
Step5: Play the game by running
start.exe
This is on Windows 10, 64 bit edition so OS is definitely a non factor here. Now the biggest difference between what I tried years ago and what I tried just now is that I grabbed the game from another source. But considering that the game files are near identical to what NewDragon shared here, I've my doubts that it has any major bearings on success or failure outcome. So for now, I'll go ahead and share my crack here since that is easier to upload and manage.
BE ADVISED: THE CRACK WILL BE PICKED BY YOUR AV AS VIRUS. IF YOU ARE WEAK OF HEART OR TECH AVERSE, FEEL FREE TO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS.
CRACK
If you're gutsy, know that this is a false positive. Rest is upto you to decide if it's worth playing with the crack or not. If you do decide in favor of using the crack, make sure to put your game directory under exemptions in your AntiVirus setting and then paste the start.7z file in that directory before you uncompress it.
Good luck!
PS: If this crack doesn't work, I'll make an effort to share my own game when I'm available. But hopefully, this crack and my mini guide does the trick.