So, my laptop has finally been fixed, and I started Fallout 2 over again (all my saves got wiped when the HD died). I reinstalled it exactly as I had it before (with the unofficial patch and the Restoration Project) but a couple things are weird.

1. I love robbing people, so I always tag steal as my one of my skills, and I run it up early. But now, where I can remember stealing people blind before, there's nothing. I first noticed it when I made a (harrowing early-level) trip to San Francisco; before, I used to steal thousands of cash from the two gun store owners, every time I came to the city. Now, they appear to be carrying nothing.

2. I'm currently in Modoc, trying to blow up the outhouse. I've got the dynamite. Every time I set it, however, I get "due to your indept handling, the explosive detonates prematurely." Every. Single. Time. I did it twelve times in a row (I counted), with the same result. I remember being frustrated with it before, but not like this.

Am I just going crazy or did something change?

As to the first point I can't really help I'm afraid as I never roll with thief characters. However, as for the Dynamite, I would suggest that your Traps skill is simply too low.

1. Did you steal from the table or from the merchant himself, can't remember maybe some of the patches you applied changed the inventory?

2. When i have low skills i always set the timer to max and run like hell.

The restoration project already have unofficial patch fixes, so installing both isn't necessary. If you want to steal from the sellers, you gonna have to uninstall RP. You wasn't supposed to be able to steal from them like that, is my guess (since killap only changes the game to make it like the original devs wanted). If you're playing in normal or hard difficulty, change to easy temporarily. This will raise your skills. Try to plant the explosive now.

Ahh, thank you! I don't like to exploit bugs if possibile. It'll make the game more challenging. ;)

I just wandered around until I leveled up, and boosted my traps skill...it worked!