Fallout 1 Graphical Problems

E

Evarin

First time out of the vault
Hello all,

I've read the FAQ, and looked for posts asking similar problems to mine, though couldn't find any which provided an answer. If such a post does exist, a link would be greatly appreciated.

I purchased the Fallout Trilogy pack and am having some problems getting the game to run correctly. The game runs fine as far as I can tell, though I am getting pixilated distortions across 99% of the screens displayed. These look like odd white, or slightly colored pixels that are strewn across the screen.

SPECS:
My rig is a bit beyond the required specs, and that is likely the problem.

Windows 7
Lots and lots of DDR3 Ram
NVidia GTX 295
Mitsubishi 70'' DLP (2008ish new), using an HDMI hookup
If you need to know more just let me know.

What I have tried:

I tried running the game in different resolutions, as well as in 256 color mode. I have tried having Windows run in Windows 95 mode, and Windows 2k Mode. No changes that I can tell. I have NOT downloaded any patches or software updates (couldn't find any), nor any mods (Delicious..delicious mods)

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will try to respond as quickly as I can to any help offered.
 
Any suggestions, guys? I was hoping to get a start on this game over the weekend. My time is going to evaporate as the week goes on. The Trilogy pack is SUPPOSED to be compatable with Vista, but i'm not surprised i'm having issues. I freshly revisted the nightmare of trying to get Betrayal at Krondor to run on a vista machine. Dosbox to the rescue.

Can the new Trilogy pack be installed in DosBox, or is that a lost cause? How about Interplay's customer service? Worth trying to deal with them?
 
Err..Either I deleted my own post, someone did it for me, or I am high on shrooms. EITHER WAY, round two.

I tried to run Fallout 2. Didn't load. The graphics look like they would presumably have the same issues as the first game if it DID run. The screen said (I think) stand back, and had a glitchy graphical outline of some dude in Power Armor. Fun times.

So..we have Fallout 1, which runs (made it into the character creation menu in terms of testing), but graphics are eff'd up. Fallout 2 which seems to freeze upon loading. Didn't play around with it much, just came back here to piss and moan.

Solutions? How is the emulator front? Think I would have better luck there? How about an MS-DOS download of the game? I could give that a try using Dos Box? What about the TV? Anyone know if DLP's aren't capable of 256 color mode? How about Safe mode? I can't easily access it, but if people have had success there I can give it a whirl.
 
Ok.

I've written Interplay's help ..thingie, and (attempted) a post on their official boards. If I hear anything back, I guess I will put it up here in hopes of helping others with the same problem.
 
Doesn't look to be.

I renamed it to Ddraw1, ran game, didn't fix. Remove the file from the folder, ran game, didn't fix.

I do appreciate the help, though.

It is an odd problem, really. The game itself runs smoothly, including the videos in terms of speed and frame rate. Everything is just pixelated oddly.
 
Sure. I will give that a try tomorrow. Thanks again for the help, man.

I've other systems I can throw the game on and see if it works. What would people recommend for "optimal" results playing Fallout 1 & 2? Keep in mind I am meeting the Min required specs for the game, so obviously that is not it.
 
I think I figured out why Fallout 1 isn't working correctly. I never fully expanded the install tree, so I didn't install the patch or the High Resolution option. As I went to install the game on an older computer I noticed these options.

Anyone think this may be the cause of the problem?
 
This was indeed the problem. No one's fault but my own. I didn't think to expand the installation trees, so I missed the "high res" option, as well as the Fallout patch. After fiddling with it a bit (You still need to right click on the file, click on the compatability tab, and select the 256 color mode, Resolution mode, etc) it seems to run flawlessly. I haven't tried Fallout 2 yet. Just thrilled to have the first game up and running.

A big thanks to UnidentifiedFlyingTard for offering his help. Hopefully anyone else looking for aid as to this issue will stumble across my ineptitude and avoid the same errors.

Take it easy, guys. I will pop back in after I give the game some playtime.
 
Evarin,

I also just bought the Trilogy DVD pack and I had the exact same problem. I'm running it with Vista Home Premium. First I looked for patches but the only one I found was for Fallout Tactics. Then I found an article about setting compatibility modes in Vista and it worked on the first try. HOWEVER, the second time I booted the game it went right back to weird color artifacts. So I closed it, went back into the compatibility tab and hit Apply again (even though it was still clearly set to XP SP2), then it ran just fine. Since then I've had to go through this motion every time I want to play the game. Maybe I should try checking the 256 colors box as you've done???

On a more positive note....isn't this a great game?! You know you've got a good game when you can buy it 10+ years after it came out and it's still very enjoyable. I've always been the type to buy games when they come down in price to $20-$30, so I'm never on the cutting edge of games, but it was very tempting to get Fallout 3 right away. Instead I decided to play the first two and wait.

So what patch did you download for the Trilogy pack?
 
Fallout 1 has always been a little wonky displaying on newer systems. Either the odd pixelated thing, or even more commonly the "black-wash" effect.

You can fiddle with compatibility settings which helps a bit, install Timeslip's engine tweaks, which seem to be of at least some (if not quite a lot of) help to most people, and also give the "F1 trick" a try.

Simply put, while running Fallout 1, the F1 key brings up the help screen / key reference page. In many cases, if the graphics start out looking ok but either go to an all-black screen or that odd-colored pixelated look, you tap F1 and then Escape (to open and close the help screen) and it will often fix it right up.

Others have fixed the pixel effect by alt-tabbing out and back into the game. Individual mileage tends to vary quite a bit, but hopefully some combination of those ideas will be some help and you'll be able to really enjoy one of the true classics of PC games. :)

-Wraith
 
Cool, I will try the F1 trick. That's much better than having to go through all the mouseclicks getting to the compatibility tab every single time I want to play.
 
Not sure if anyone's still following this thread, but I've been getting some mixed results with the suggestions.

Using F1 hasn't cleared up my weird colors. If the game loads with weird colors, hitting F1 brings up the help screen which in turn has the same weird colors displayed in it. Returning the game screen doesn't change it either.

Currently my .exe is set to XP SP2 compatibility mode and the box for 256 colors is checked. It's a 50/50 thing at this point. Half the time the game starts up looking right, the half of the time it starts up with weird colors.

Another problem that started recently -- sometimes the screen flickers to black for about two seconds, then when it comes back, only the map area viewport is visible. The lower portion of the screen containing the HUD is still blacked out. I have to drag my mouse over every single pixel of it to basically 'paint' it back in. Very odd.

I'm wondering if all of the above are due to Vista?
 
imhotep said:
I'm wondering if all of the above are due to Vista?
Click to expand...
Nah, it's not Vista but more likely your graphics drivers.
For the blackout problems you can get help here. It's a small util that runs in the background to refresh your screen.

For the weird colors, I believe running other things in the background have an effect. If I'm running an internet browser or notepad I get that glitch most of the time. If I have used one of those but just closed them down before I start the game, it also seems more likely to happen. Going back and forth to windows a few times clears that up.

If you are using sfall for Fallout 2, there is a setting in ddraw.ini to run the game in dx9 mode (mode 4). That fixes all my graphical problems with Fallout 2. I haven't tried it with Fallout 1 though, so I don't know if it works there too.
 
Not sure if anyone's still following this thread, but I've been getting some mixed results with the suggestions.

Using F1 hasn't cleared up my weird colors. If the game loads with weird colors, hitting F1 brings up the help screen which in turn has the same weird colors displayed in it. Returning the game screen doesn't change it either.

Currently my .exe is set to XP SP2 compatibility mode and the box for 256 colors is checked. It's a 50/50 thing at this point. Half the time the game starts up looking right, the half of the time it starts up with weird colors.

Another problem that started recently -- sometimes the screen flickers to black for about two seconds, then when it comes back, only the map area viewport is visible. The lower portion of the screen containing the HUD is still blacked out. I have to drag my mouse over every single pixel of it to basically 'paint' it back in. Very odd.

I'm wondering if all of the above are due to Vista?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the delayed response.

1. Are you running the .exe, Fallout 1 -High Resolution? If so, bully. If not, then you are going to run into graphical issues. If you are NOT, you likely didn't install it properly because of it being tucked away in the installation tree. You need to EXPAND the tree when you are installing the three games from the CD, and put a check for the HIGH RESOLUTION mode, as well as the UNOFFICIAL PATCH. They most definitely exist for Fallout 1. There were some options for Fallout 2 as well. (if this doesn't make sense, IM me at VinMac3L6 and I will try to walk you through it)

2. Are you running the game in the right compatability modes? You need to right-click on the High Res Fallout 1 Exe file, go to the compatability tab, and check all of those options for the game. 256 mode, the 640 resolution, and the ones below it. Doing this SHOULD get the game to run properly. If there are problems, I would suggest fiddling with your own resolution settings.

Also, I needed to close everything, including those widgets in the background to get the game to run properly. Make sure you do that.

P.S.
If you're STILL having problems, you can always try to get Windows 7 going. Couldn't hurt, and I like 7. My games seem to run better, and my GPU most certainly does.
 
Evarin,

To answer #1, no I didn't expand the installation tree, so I didn't know about the high-res version. I'm glad it exists though. The game is so much fun but my eyeballs have been jaded by current graphical capabilities, so sometimes I wish this old game looked a littler better.

So, do I need to reinstall from scratch (Backing up my saves first of course), or can I just insert the disc and install the high-res version and the patch after the fact?

To asnwer #2, I'm running in XP SP2 compatibility mode, and I've got it set for 256 colors. The latter has helped some. Before checking the box for 256 colors I got screwy displays no matter what. Now it's like hit or miss.

If you can answer my #1 above I'll be good to go....I hope!

Curt
 
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