also, as a side note, for anyone getting a NX bit exception (or DEP, however it is called precisely) with HW on any post WinXP OS, get
this, unzip it somewhere on your HDD and open CFF Explorer.exe
First, back up your HW2 executable or rename it to something else than Homeworld2.exe
then, locate the HW2 executable in CFF Explorer and open it.
navigate to the "Optional Header" part, you can find it under Nt Headers tree. scroll till you locate DllCharacteristics and on the meaning tab, there should be listed "Click here". Click it.
You should see a window open, called "DllCharacteristics".
Make sure that the "Image is NX compatible" option is NOT ticked.
After that, save the file by clicking on the big old save button. Or File -> Save/Save As, to your preference.
Now, not everyone will need this. For example i know that matththegeek never had to fiddle with it as it always worked properly for him. for me, for example, with both an AMD 7750BE and an i7-860 was required. For you it might not be needed if the game works out of the box.
For example, for me, the error manifested as a "BEX exception" when trying to start the game. For you it might be something else, but if your game wont run at all, this might be worth trying. If you however do get ingame, then you DO NOT NEED THIS FIX.