First of all, try running it as Administrator, just to make sure, it's no access rights problem.

As posted in other threads, there are rumors, that the game doesn't start, when Logitech keyboard, mouse or gamepad software or any other mouse tool software is running. If you use one of these shut the configuration software down and unplug the gamepad before starting the game.

I'm running it as an admin, and I disabled my synaptic touchpad processes. Still nothing.

After the game hasn't started, open the TaskManager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) and check if the program is running. If so, force it (or all instances of it, if there are more than one) to shut down (right-click within the TaskManager gives you the option) and try starting it again.

I've done that repeatedly. Whenever I start the program, it always goes up to about 6000 kb, then ceases to load any further. Stopping all processes and restarting it does nothing. :/

Try if the demo from the developers site works on your system, maybe we can pin the problem down to the GOG version.
http://a-sharp.com/files/KoDP-Tour.exe

Tried running the both the demo's regular EXE and opening it with MTPlay. Still nothing. I'm seriously at a loss here. :( I really, really don't want this to be a waste.

Looks like we're in a bit of a deadlock here. Lets try something else, involving 3rd party software from Microsoft.
Microsoft offers a tool, that enables you to provide a Windows XP environment for your applications. That's what I would do now. If the prophet won't go to the mountain, the mountain must go to the prophet ;-)

Check this for details:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/install-and-use-windows-xp-mode-in-windows-7

Downside: It requires Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, or Ultimate, but there are tricks to use it with Home Premium edition too. The kid in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Snm_NNUpidk shows how to (haven't watched it all). There are several similar videos there in case you don't like this one.

I have tested the game in Windows XP Mode (just last night!) and can confirm that it works. There are a few drawbacks - first, the game will run a little slower, and the machine has to start up first. I don't know if anything can be done about that. Second, if you want to run it full screen, you'll have to set your monitor resolution manually to 640x480, then run the virtual machine in fullscreen (not tested). Otherwise, the game will run windowed and/or boxed at 640x480.

However, as long as that's a playable size on your monitor (only you will know), it's actually better for switching back and forth from the manual or an online guide than the default game.

I have found that turning off logitek mouse and keyboard settings tends to fix it....

I don't really mind, since I have simply tuned that to have as little effect on my system as possible.

No good. I downloaded the tool, but it wouldn't give me the option to pick the version I needed. None of the other workarounds seem to matter anymore either; the files I need to access for them don't seem to exist. It seems that Microsoft has learned and adapted to this.

Guess I won't be playing KoDP after all. What a waste of time and money.

here's how i fixed my system... i'm running win7 64bit, with a logitech mouse and a razer nostromo keypad... i set the game for compatibility mode with winxp sp3, and exited the logitech software and razer synapse (this game does not like any 3rd party controller software it seems). any 3rd party software for keyboards, mice, and controllers should be closed. any other software seems to be ok. hope thats helpful to someone else

This happened to me yesterday, after I'd been playing the day before fine. Fortunately, I was able to work out what had caused the issue: some changes to my 'homegroup' (network allowing filesharing natively to windows 7) had occurred. In my case I needed to right click on it in windows explorer, click homegroup settings, and disable sharing of printers. Anyone else with something like that may find it worthwhile to have a look around at what can be disabled, and see if anything helps.

...Okay, why would any of these things even have an *effect* on this game in the first place??
Bleh...too bad I bought this over 30 days ago, or I might consider asking for my money back.

I downloaded the DEMO version of this game some while ago and for some reason, it just didn't seem to work on my computer no matter what I tried doing on my own. I came here and tried the suggestions. No dice. I recently started messing around with the game again and when I went into the task manager, I realized something--the game loads in a mTropolis 32-bit window. I suppose therefore that KODP is for a 32 bit Windows system, not 64 (which my computer is).

I am going to try this game on a 32 bit computer and if I get results, then I will share them here.

EDIT: KODP loaded right away with no problems whatsoever. Looks like I'll be needing to configure and run Oracle VB...dang.