I would like to know this as well.

Ok, I found a fix for this issue. If you copy the original DEADLOCK.EXE file from the DVD then it will work fine in Windows 8.1 64bit (and I assume other versions of Windows also). The DEADLOCK.EXE file can be found under the INSTALL folder on the CD. Simply copy this file over the top of the existing DEADLOCK.EXE file and you are good to go.

I also posted the file online in case you don't have the original CD:
http://www.novicemail.com/deadlock.zip

The problem is that the update patch breaks Windows 8 (and Linux+Wine, for that matter). What you're doing is downgrading from the patched version to v1.0.

That also removes the scenario editor because it wasn't ready in time for v1.0 to be pressed onto the CDs.

I too would like this fixed for Windows 8.

[REDACTED]

yeah just bought it on the sale, only to find out its unplayable. due to the screen going black, On Windows 8.1

Same problem here. I Just assumed it would work on Win 8 :(

Game is unplayable on Windows 8.1. Gonna look around for a day or two and return it if i don't find a solution.

I'd contact Support about this, they can probably help find a solution.

If we change deadlock.exe version 1.00 or 1.01E, Deadlock 2 works fine on windows 8. But in 1.2 version when i move my cursor the screen goes black. That would be great if i could run the 1.2 version beacuse it fixes lots of bugs.

I have another problem with multiplayer. If three person play on a map and we save the game we cant load it. The player who connected to the game after the host he cant synchronize and the game doesnt start. We only see the synchronizing screen and nothing happens. On the other hand if there are only two player when we try to load the game it works fine.

Running the game in windowed (with the switch -w) resolves the black screen problem, but a different problem happens when in windowed mode- the cursor leaves a trail of pink boxes and makes the game basically unplayable, because anywhere you drag the cursor will be replaced with the pink color (a transparency issue?) until the screen refreshes (next page, selecting province, button use, etc.) over those pixels.

I get the blank screen problem now too. I didn't use to get it ,and I'm not even running Windows 8. (windows 7)

EDIT-
I solved my blank screen problem for the short term (hopefully short). The latest driver updates for my video card was causing the blank screen. Once I rolled the driver back a bit, game worked fine again.

For me it was the opposite - nothing at all made any difference, then I downloaded the latest driver, and presto! Works fine :)
This can probably behave very differently for different graphic cards; I have GeForce 450. In any case, it seems this is mostly a driver issue, so if anyone runs into it, try updating or rolling back, whatever works.

I was able to get Deadlock 2 working on Windows 10 using DxWnd. The same thing should allow it to work on Windows 8.1 also. Check out this thread:

http://sourceforge.net/p/dxwnd/discussion/general/thread/b25ff4aa