I tried every solution mentioned here, but still i got corrupted colors with Windows 7/64. I have a Nvidia 9800 GTX+, latest drivers.

Things i tried:
- changing compatibility modes for GOGs "Dark Reign - Original Game.exe" and the original "DKREIGN.exe"
- changing Nvidia driver setting from "application decides" to "my preference, quality to performance"
- making a batch file to kill the explorer process manually
- reverting back to older gpu driver versions

Nothing helps. Sometimes i manage to get to the main menu with correct colors, but when a mission starts, its LSD all over again.

Anybody any suggestions?

Are you using the GOG version of Dark Reign? Not sure if it makes any difference at all, but personally I never tried the GOG version of the game, but instead downloaded mine directly from HERE.

Perhaps the different game version might yield a different result for you. Or you might actually be able to find some help somewhere on the website (assuming that you're not familiar with it already).

I also run Windows 7 64-bit and remember encountering that problem of the corrupted colours and such. I think in the end what solved it for me was some kind of a batch file that kills explorer.exe (which I know you've tried); but I'm not sure if maybe there was something else I might have done prior to this that could have contributed to the solution.
(I have ATI, though...)

If you have the luxury of having a spare Graphics Card (or even using onboard), and are desparate enough, you can try and see if a change in GPU solves the problem.

I found a solution ... no, a workaround:

While searching for the installation music on the original disc, i thought i might give it try and started the GOG version WITH the old CD in the drive. And i found the culprit: It was the notice window that the original CD isnt found. This little program window somehow blocks the color palette change on my system and makes a mess of everything.

While the GOG version does not need the CD, the CD check entirely and therefore this notice are not removed, only circumvented. But inserting the original CD prevents the window from popping up and ... YAYYYY! ... no color corruption. Works with the physical CD and an image of this CD, mounted to a virtual drive.

Very peculiar. But good to hear that you got it working.

No. It doesnt matter if i alter the driver settings manually or let the application decide. Inserting the original CD (as physical object in the drive or as mounted image in an virtual drive) prevents the "No CD found" message and therefore the mixup with the color palette.

Have you tried the batch file with the manual termination of the explorer process? Even if the GOG modified DarkReign-exe alreday does that?

Well, I've tried every workaround posted on this forum.

It used to look fine on my Nvidia 9800(without any workarounds), but since moving to an ATI 6850 I've had no luck getting it to open with the correct colours.

For me, I have found that game has a 50% chance to load without LSD colours. So I just simply exit the game and reload it until it is gone.

sometimes watching intro movie again - you can skip quicly - correct the colors. I agree the
% 50 chance theory - this is the way whitout quiting the game.