I used a program called "Palette Stealer Suspender" to fix the colour issue but I can't remember where I downloaded it from.

It fixed my colour problems for Fallout 2 and KKND Xtreme

Ironwoman provided the easiest way to fix the problem and y'all want to ban her?
Her solution worked perfectly for me since I had the same problem and I wanted to play the game in all it's low resolution glory.

Which is accomplish able with the patch. since you don't need to change the resolution. Her fix meant she already DID something we suggested.

Nah, read her edit. She went to the interplay forums and got the simplest solution and shared it with us. The "solutions" in this thread were more trouble and didn't fix anything, lol.

That solution would have required a certain something to be done first.

i tried this and it gave me the message that i needed directX but i don't essentially want to get that, any suggestions?

There are 2 ways that can possibly help, which that don't require installing anything new.

1) Alt+Tab out of game and then return.
2) Have opened screen resolution window before you start the game. In windows 7 you right click on desktop and choose "Screen resolution"

Maybe they sound a bit strange, but I can confirm that they work in some cases.
Didn't help me for Fallout 2, but by using these tricks I solved the same problem that occured in another game - Sanitarium.

I'm using Windows 7 and the non-.ini fixes worked for me. Though I'm using The Restoration Project and not just the unofficial patch.

thanks it looks like it worked

You'll run into other issues if you don't fully patch it though.

do you mean the patch that comes with the game