I happened to notice new a installer version for one of my recently purchased GOG games, so I decided to check all of my games for updated installers. It turns out that both Fallout 1 and 2 had updated installers. I decided to download the new installers for all of my games, and then I got sucked into playing around with Fallout again.

Fallout 1's content didn't change, but Fallout 2 now includes sfall. The shortcut's it installs now runs GOGLauncher.exe, but when I try to run the game with the shortcut it just gives an error saying "fallou2.exe cannot be started." If I run the fallout2.exe directly it now triggers a UAC prompt. The game runs, but the movies and game graphics are messed up.

I plan to run with sfall, the unofficial patch and high res patch any way, and once all of those were installed the game runs fine. Even though I'm going to use sfall, I don't like that GOG decided to force it on us. I'd rather see them put the old installer back with just the original game and let us decide what (if any) mods to install. And if they're going to use some sort of launcher program, at least make sure it works.

I have the same problem : The game lauches fine from the installer (when I have the "install complete" screen with a play button) just after the install, but afterward the shortcut gives an error, the launcher doesn't launch and the fallout2.exe gives messed up graphics.
I managed to avoid the problem by running the installer again each time I want to launch the game. It's not too big of a hassle since the game is small and the install is quick, but it's annoying.
I'll try to get your support some screenshots.

I don't recall them being changed since I bought and downloaded them. Both were using just the official Interplay patches.

Installing the high-resolution patch will fix the graphics, even if you still run it in 640x480.

This is the order I did things:

1. Fallout 2 GOG installer
2. Killap's Unofficial Patch
3. Fallout 2 High Resolution Patch
4. Update sfall to latest version (2.20)
5. Create a shortcut to the Fallou2.exe because the GOGLauncher doesn't work.

Also, don't install the game to the Program Files directory. The Program Files directory has special permissions on it so programs and users can only read from it, and older programs and games that store settings and save files in the install directory don't work properly unless you run them as admin. I'm guessing this is why GOG changed the default options on the Fallou2.exe to require admin privileges.

I still have the old GOG installer, and the game works fine "out of the box" using it. If I install just sfall and nothing else I still get the messed up graphics. This is the first time installing and playing Fallout 1 or 2 on this computer. The last time I played Fallout 2 was a couple of years ago on my old computer, and I didn't have a problem with sfall. I'm guessing sfall doesn't get along with the newest generation of graphics cards, but the high-res patch takes care of that. When did you buy them? I bought Fallout 1 and 2 in 2008. I still have the original installer I downloaded back then. It has a version number 1.0.1.1 and installs just Fallout 2. I downloaded the new installer this past weekend, which is version 2.0.0.12, and it has sfall included with it.

Same exact thing happened to me. I have a brand new computer and it was completely jacking it up. Had to do all sorts of changes to get it running since it was saying .exe error. Then when i would exit my game my pc would freeze. i uninstalled everything off this website. Im requesting my money back but who knows whats gonna happen with that. Total shame bc i play on steam and have no problems. I wanted all the police quest series on this site but after this horrible experience im gonna have to hold off.

BruinZill

that is an extremely abnormal experience from them. i've never had any problems with anything i've bought or DLed from here, so you hit during an aberration. let them get the installer/launcher fixed, and then give it another try. can't hurt to wait a few days can it?

I'm sorry to hear that you had problems running Fallout 2. While GOG isn't perfect, it's a little extreme to assume that a problem with an update on one game applies to the entire website. Considering they rolled back IL-2 when their customers requested it, I don't see why GOG wouldn't do the same for Fallout 2.

I don't recall Steam allowing you to roll back patches, never mind the DRM.

You've seen an official GOG reply in this thread - I would suggest you contact support and request assistance with the issue.

Fallout 2 is also not working properly for me. Same problem as described above - it works upon installation when launched from the Downloader, but then any subsequent launches from the .exe either throw an error or the graphics are totally messed. In addition to that, if you try to alt+tab out of the game during play, it borks the whole machine and you have to restart. I'll try the patches, but I think this needs a fix a.s.a.p :(

I was having the same problem, so I changed the shortcut compatibility settings to run in 256 colors and run as administrator and it works fine. You will get the UAC prompt but at least it works. I'm running Windows 7

I would also like to chime in and say that I'd appreciate it very much if GOG would roll back to the unmodded version of the installer (which worked flawlessly).

I am having the same problem, can't run Fallout 2.

Something is screwed up.

(running Windows 8, AMD FX8350)

I too am having this identicle problem. Thanks JudasIscariot for getting on this. I have sent a message with my DXDiag information. Please let us know what the status of this issue is and what is causing it.

Thanks for the update, it's been a couple weeks, what is going on with this? I purchased the game a week or so ago and am just now trying to play and am running into the same issues.