simple: DON'T RUN THE WINDOWS VERSION

If only error messages gave people clues! If only!

The Windoes version is the only one I have - or am aware of.

The DOS version comes on the same disc. Check your disc and run the DOS-based installer on it.

TY for your help but unfortunatelyo Win 7 won't allow it to start.

DON'T USE WINDOWS 7 TO RUN THE DOS INSTALLER!

Use DOSBox to install the game.

OK TY - I'll have to do some research on the DOSBox site as how to do that.

Please forgive my ignorance, but although I can see how to mount the D: drive cd rom where my FO CD is - "Install" brings up the install screen ok but then how do I direct it back to drive C: as otherwise the install screen can't find a drive big enough to install to. How do I make C:\Oldgames available?

Phulax wrote:

the install screen can't find a drive big enough to install to.

See the freesize option in the readme file.

Actually, if you run the Windows version with Windows95 compatibility on, there should not be any graphics glitches. That may be simplest for you.

If not, it should work in DOSBOX but there is a learning curve. Read the DOSBOX instructions or maybe the new Frontend tool.

read the 60 seconds guide... 60 seconds guide to getting your game to run in DOSBox

Thanx for all your replies. It does run as you say under the Win 95 compatibility & I will just have to put up with the distorted video. 😀

If by distorted you mean it displays the wrong colours, there's a registry fix you can do.

bloodbat wrote:

If by distorted you mean it displays the wrong colours, there's a registry fix you can do.

I'm curious as to what the registry fix is, as the only thing I know that works is to kill Windows explorer and/or dwm (don't remember which).

think there was a post on vogons about it.

Well, you could kill explorer, or, for a more elegant solution, suspend it with pssuspend from Sysinternals, but to get the registry fix going you need to run Fallout 1, exit, then, before running anything else that hooks on directdraw, look at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Directdraw\MostRecentApplication and note the ID and Name values; then make a new key under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Directdraw\Compatibility, name it with you want, but fallout1 would be appropiate 😜
Inside that key, create 3 new values:
A Binary Value called "Flags" (without the quotes) and fill that with this: 00 08 00 00, then you create another binary key called "ID" and fill it with the ID value you noted from the MostRecentApp. I mentioned above, and finally, a String value called Name, to be filled with the name you noted from above.
This works for a number of games incluiding Starcraft, Take No Prisoners and MageSlayer.
Keep in mind that, if you're running a 64 bit version of Windows Vista/7, the values will be found under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectDraw and so on

Qbix wrote:

think there was a post on vogons about it.

Thanks: mudlord's Windows 7 DDraw Compatability Fix (Fixes Garbled Colors)

I opened up the DOS version of FO1 in my XP laptop, installed it to a flashdrive, then copied into my "Oldgames" file in my Windows 7 puter for DOSBox to open up but it told me it could not "find" the master datafile, which is ridiculous because the file is "hiding" there in plain sight. Also it told me to "make sure the Fallout CD is in the drive..."{???}

Should I have installed the DOS version of fallout on my XP puter via DOSBox & then copied to the flashdrive, etc? Would that have made a difference?

I have a real love-hate relationship going with my Windows 7 puter!

Edit the config file to point master.dat to its current location.

Should I have installed the DOS version of fallout on my XP puter via DOSBox & then copied to the flashdrive, etc? Would that have made a difference?

I see this is where the other thread stems from... You should have installed the DOS version in DOSBox on your Windows 7 PC. The guide I mentioned twice now tells you how (and to not only mount the CD rom drive but also a c:\ drive in Dosbox...)