unique problem for Dungeon Keeper II on Vista?

Hallo. I'm trying to run said title on Vista and there is an unusual problem that I come across once the game begins. Once the level has loaded the whole map is obscured as if by the 'fog of war' except for a little bit by the bottom of the screen. The problem is not solved by using the cheat removing the fog of war, as everything still remains dark, even though the map is revealed.
I haven't come across this problem after searching through various forums, so I thought I'd suggest it myself. I should mention I've tried downloading an illegal version to cheque there was nothing wrong with my copy and the same problem occured.
My imps are in the dark, and they will greatly appreciate your help.
cheers,
Ewan

Had the same problem,
couldn't find this anywhere else on the internet, so I thought I'd post my fix:
Goto the options and disable hardware acceleration.
That's it!
You may have already worked this out, but I'm surprised it hasn't happened to more people... maybe its a certain graphics card...

Thankyou very much! I shall give it a go. ^_^

thanks for the post, it worked like a champ for me!

how do you turn off the hardware accelerator? i can get the game to load an play but its black spots all over messing the graphics, any idea?

you can turn off the hardware accelerator in the game options, under graphic options. it worked for me as far as fixing the black screen issue, but i still get random crashes that i can't figure out. anyway, hope it helps!

Anyone know how to turn off the hardware acceleration without starting the game? I can't even get the game to run long enough to click through the menus and turn off the option.

the problem is related to z buffer. the problem have been reported to electronic arts.

I had a problem wih the graphics not drawing correctly under Vista, and also under Windows 7. I have fixed it by editing the registry settings in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Bullfrog Productions Ltd\Dungeon Keeper II\Configuration\Video to set Engine ID to 4. File here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8129635/dkii.reg

This also answers the question about how to turn off hardware acceleration outside of the game, as the setting "Screen Hardware3D" is there and can be set to 0. And you can turn off High Walls as well!

i already have engine ID set to 4. the z buffer issue remains though. is there anybody that have a solution for that.