Have you tried using the Developer.exe without the mod? If it doesn't crash obviously it is a problem with the mod. If it crashes with standard entrenchment, it probably means something is wrong with either the developer or your computer (and I bet the thing that is causing the crash is the autosave feature if it is always about 5 minutes). Another random thing you could try is to reduce your graphics settings (memory problems are another cause of random crashes).

If you really want to skip the developer.exe, you really have no choice but to mod the mod. Sadly there is no "Starting Research" in Sins, all you can do is manually edit all the research files so that they require 1 lab, are free and have no research time. That way you only need to put up one of each lab and hit all the research buttons.

You can allow a player to have certain research modifiers in effect at the start by adding them to the starting ship supply research, but anything else does indeed require rewriting a lot of research files.