Did you check that the filesystem on the startup drive is HFS+?
I believe that if the main drive is an SSD, HS will automatically convert it to APFS, and I think that's part of what's breaking stuff (most older software is probably hardcoded for HFS+, and breaks when the filesystem is something else).
Also, I don't know if it's starting yet, but I think Apple is going to start deprecating 32-bit programs, either in 10.14, or in some update for 10.13.
Nevertheless, since Sierra has updates for ~1.5 years more, and this software apparently works okay on it, you can fall back to that and probably still be relatively safe if HS doesn't work out.
c