I want to solve all the 'Fallout - can't get it to run' PC issues once and for all.

My dream is to have a central place where all Fallout technical guides, recommended patches, issues and fixes are all located in a central place for people to return to. These articles which I've written up on PCGamingWiki will hopefully be a good start. They're user-editable, no account required, and have the potential to always be kept up to date.

Fallout
Fallout 2
Fallout: Tactics
Fallout 3
Fallout: New Vegas

Hopefully it means we can point people in the right place instead of random NMA forum threads or Nexus comment fields for up to date information on how to get the best of these PC gems.

"This patch is not required if Unofficial 1.3.5 Patch is installed." under F1ChildPatch should be "This patch is not required if Semi-Official 1.2 Patch is installed." as it's the one that contains the children patch, not the UO 1.3.5 patch.

Thanks! I have updated this now.

Thx!. It's one helluva site you've built up :)

Thanks, appreciate the support :).

Well done and thanks!

Was having problems trying to follow and install from the FO2 sticky but your guide was spot-on. Thank you.

I will give it a try when I finish my exams, but it seems pretty nice indeed. Thank you!

Do you think we could get this post stickied?

I'm pretty sure that, even with the 1.2 Semi-official patch, you still need the Children Patch. The 1.2 Semi-official patch was created for the U.S. version to have the bigfixed that were in the European releases. Yet, GOG uses the UK version that, while having the bugfixes, have no children in the game. The archive called PATCHENG within the 1.2 patch say this:

"UK release owners will also have
children support reenabled in the engine, but NOT the children graphics. Please
use animations from 'F1 children patch' for that purpose."

You should use Fallout v.1.2.1 universal patch (eng) (or fallup121rc3.7z if you're downloading from my site) instead as it contains children graphics and is the one designed to be used with 1.3.5 patch (1.2 was for 1.3.4 and earlier).

OR use FIXT 5. Just be aware that FIXT also contains (optional) restored/fan content.

Wiki should be updated to clarify the above difference between 1.2 and 1.2.1 actually.

What is the significant difference between 1.2 and 1.2.1?

Depends what version (US, UK or EU) it's applied to but most signifficant change is removal of censorship. The main point is to allow unofficial patch to be applied on any version (well US, UK and EU versions anyway) of the game and avoid incompatibilities between versions.

From readme:

List of changes:

US users only
-------------
* Older release of the game dated 19th September 1997 is supported by patch
now. (~440 .int, ~36 .map, ~40 .msg, few .pro & .frm)
* Official US patch v1.1 is completely included. No additional installation
required. (24 .int & 4 .msg)
* Better gender difference support due to updated engine.
(falloutw.exe, combat.msg)
* There is a wooden box, not a freezing chamber :) near Patrick The Celt
(rndmtn.int)
* Message "you get 1000 XP" will be displayed now when player finishes
repair of the generator in Glow (glowgen.int)
* Player have introduced him/herself to Razor as "I'm NAME." There'll be
displayed actual charater name now. (razor.int, razor.msg)
* Fixed "Error's" when player tries to chat with Blades after Adytum
invasion. Script refers to blade.msg (279) instead of inexistent
inblade.msg (926) now. (inblade.int)

US and UK users
---------------
* Better internationalization support due to updated engine. Different
languages can have different interface pictures in the same installation
and such. (falloutw.exe)
* Some female monsters like Mother Deathclaw had their gender set to male.
It's fixed. (critters\*.pro)
* One "out of the plot" dialog option has been removed from the Gabrial's
script. Namely: {124}{}{People who would fix all of your problems with
Adytum.} (gabriel.int)
* Rough fix for Kyle's empty dialogue issue. (kyle.int)
* Fixed two minor glitches in Tolya's dialog. Some of his replyes on
conversaion ending were constantly or randomly unseen. (tolya.int)
* Diana won't show sequentially two brunches of her dialog during the
conversation. If you are a Garl's freind already you'll see friend's part
only. Stranger's part will be hidden. (diana.int)
* Young Initiate Jerry won't pick up text option from the "scribe" brunch
instead of "I haven't decided" brunch anymore. (rd1init.int)
* Fixed rare seen bug in the Nicole's script. Available reply options some
times had been mismatched for the one of the nodes in Glow dialogue brunch.
(nicole.int)

UK users only
-------------
* None

UK and EU users
---------------
* Children animation is bundled with the patch and enabled in the game engine.
No additional installation of children patch required.
(falloutw.exe, nachl???.fr?)
* Strange Razor's offensive exclamation "You (male)Bastard! (female)Bitch!"
changed to "You ass!". Just like in the US patch. (razor.msg)
* Removed due to censorship "Drug resistant" and "Drug reliant" traits'
pictures are back now. (addict.frm, drugrest.frm)
* Replaced due to censorship occurencies of words "drug", "addiction", etc.
are back now. (25 .msg)

EU users only
-------------
* It's no longer possible to ask Lars to go and take down Gizmo before
getting the evidence. (killian.int)
* Removed due to unknown reason option to leave Militray Base security system
dialog without attempts to hack the codes or enter them blindly is back.
(vconcomp.int)

Actually, you probably ment between the universal patches, not between official 1.2 version and universal patch. I believe (it's quite while since I used 1.2 universal/semi official patch) they added the children graphics to package in 1.2.1. You could always dig up the old version from somehwhere and compare.

Edit: downloaded Fallout 1 v1.2 Patch by TeamX (Semi-Official) from NMA and size difference is huge in 1.2 the data folder is around 200kb unpacked whereas in 1.2.1 it's 17 MB. Children patch accounts only 3 MB of that. They've also added FAQ and readme files.

Im having problems with the mac version of fallout 2. Frame rate drop, slow mouse, ect.