Just thought I would share this really quick in case it helps anyone.
In most cases, when you go to run DS under windows, your computer will tell you to switch to 16-bit color if you haven't. This can be pretty frustrating, especially if you prefer to stay in 32-bit color. I recently went searching for a way to fix this, and this is what I came across. Of course, try this at your own risk; everyone's computer setup is different and I only know what works for me, so don't hold me responsible if you screw up your computer.
There's a little command-line application called QRes that makes switching color-depth from the command line possible. Download it, put the exe somewhere (I just put it under C:\ for sake of ease), and create a batch file (that is, a plain text file with the extension changed to .bat, see this guide for more info if you've never created batch files before) with the following simple text:
C:\qres.exe /C:16
engine.exe
C:\qres.exe /C:32
Obviously, if you don't put qres.exe in C:\, you'll have to change those paths to match. Save the batch file in your DS folder, and create a shortcut to that batch file on your desktop, start menu, wherever you want it, and run DS from that shortcut whenever you want to play.
If all goes well, your screen will flicker a bit as it changes to 16bit color, and then DS will start. After you exit DS, you'll get more lovely screen flickers as your screen changes back to 32bit. Then you can carry on as normal.
This works great for me under Windows 7, and I imagine it would work fine for older versions too, but I haven't tested it outside of my specific situation.
If you have any problems feel free to mention them here-- I might not be able to answer them but I'm sure there are people in the CC that know more about this stuff than me. Maybe this will spark people to come up with an even nicer solution.