Just create a REG file and batch file that launches the reg first and then the game.
That may help with the 'having to do it each time' problem, but it doesn't avoid the problem with the research, unlike the Solon Expansion, the text doesn't scale with higher resolution, so anything higher then 800x600 causes some techs to disappear...like the cruiser on the mission you get told to research it, you just can't, you got to go to 800x600 to research it.