Fallout 2 refuses to start for me. That's it. All I get is the following image when I try to start the game. Fallout and Fallout Tactics run perfectly fine, it's only 2 that doesn't run. Any help would be appreciated. I am running these on Windows 8

Try starting the game directly with FALLOUT2.EXE in the game's installation folder (..\Fallout 2\).
If it doesn't run, run it explicitly as Administrator by right-clicking it and select Run as Administrator.

You could also set compatibility mode for Win 7 or Win XP to FALLOUT2.EXE
Right-click it, select Properties and go to the Compatibility tab. Select the right mode and check the option to run it as Administrator. Apply the settings and run FALLOUT2.EXE.

If nothing helps, you could also try applying Killap's Unofficial Fallout 2 Patch (or the Restoration Project which contains additional content, but don't install both).
http://www.killap.net/fallout2/web/Downloads.html

You can go to the directory and run the .exe there, or you can edit the direct access and change:

"installpath\GOG Games\Fallout 2\GOGLauncher.exe" GOGFALLOUT2
by
"installpath\GOG Games\Fallout 2\fallout2.exe"

I took this from this thread: http://www.gog.com/forum/fallout_series/fallout_2_on_windows_8_1

Credit to DalekSec for the solution.

I'd like to say that I was having the exact same problem but this solved it.

Curiously, the usual Pipboy icon becomes some dude's face when I move it to the desktop so I had to manually change it.

You might recognize him from this lecture.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa5IzHhAdi4

:)

This could be UAC (User Account Control) problem. It occasionally won't allow the process to start if you don't run it as an Administrator. Try disabling it in your Windows Control Panel.