Does anybody know if there is a way to get the first MDK game to run on Windows 8?

There is a way to get MDK working on Windows 8, and that is playing the DOS version through DOSBox. However, GOG are selling the Win95 version, so this won't work with the one available here. No idea if it's possible to get the GOG version running with Win 8. I'd recommend contacting GOG support and asking them about it. Maybe they can get hold of the DOS version?

That's very helpful, thanks :)
I'd prefer to get it through GOG...so if the alternative involves me having to use my brain, I think I'll give it a miss. Brain's on holiday after the stress of trying to find the GRP file for eDuke because DOSBox-Duke was glitchy:)

I was going to buy it in the recent Interplay sale, but at the last minute (almost literally), realised it didn't mention Win 8 compatibility. Did some quick digging, and saw a lot of conflicting opinions regarding it's compatibility.
I had to quickly scramble to delete it from my basket and bought MDK2 instead, with 4 seconds or something remaining in the sale. It was like an episode of 24. Well, there's my life story :D

It is odd that the sequel is compatible, and not the first game. Think I'll do as you suggest and contact GOG so hopefully they can get it working in future.

Good info, and thanks again for clearing that up.

Not that odd really, as the original is a Win95 game whilst the sequel was a little later, coming out three years after the first. Win95 games can be very difficult to get running on modern Windows OSes.

What you could do is search for the DOS version of the game and download it, then buy it on GOG to put your mind at ease, having paid for it. It is going into the grey area of legality, but if you have paid for the game then I wouldn't see any problems with you 'obtaining' the DOS executables so that you can play it in DOSBox.

I'd still recommend raising a support request to GOG to see if they can get the DOS version. Most of the files are in fact the same, it is just down to the main executables if I remember rightly.

I've contacted GOG support and they said they tried all ways to get it to run on Windows 8, but it kept failing their compatibility tests. They more or less said that if Windows 8 users were to download it, there's no guarantee that it would run without issues.

They really need to get the DOS version so that it can be run through DOSBox. :(

I am running it on windows 8 just fine.
Go to the folder, where the game is instaled and you should see a software launcher (I forgot it's name) and start the game by double clicking it.
It worked for me without problems.

Interesting, thanks. Can I ask, is this definitely the DOSBox version from GOG?

i don't think so, but I may be wrong.

Just bought MDK from GOG and it works fine on W8 for me, with a couple caveats.

1. If you load the standard exec, there's a lot of screen flickering any time you take damage. Also the framerate seems stuck at a janky 23 FPS.
2. If you run the 3DFX exec you don't run into either of these problems, but anytime you want to load a save, the game seems to hang - so you need to exit game, restart, then load save. Minor gripe overall.

Machine: Asus ROG 750 laptop with Nvida 880M.

I find that the game "runs" on Win8, but none of the DirectX 3D graphics appear. The environments are just empty spaces surrounded by flat graphics.

I can't tell if this is Win8 related or something to do with my graphics card (NVidia).

UPDATE: My D3D issue seems to have been addressed here:

http://www.gog.com/forum/mdk_series/mdk1_problem_with_d3d

Well, nobody wanna play this one though Direct3D anyways or am I wrong?
I mean nGlide gives you stable FPS and perfect antialiasing-compatibility, so there is really no reason why to go for the D3D-Version!