Hi all! I've encountered an odd problem:

After completing Fallout 1 I installed Fallout 2, which ran fine with the unofficial patch the first time round.

After exiting the game, however, it won't reload. It will simply freeze the screen or else bring everything down to a crawl.
Restarting the computer and disabling all the usual background processes won't help.

I reinstalled the game a few times now and it's always the same problem: the first time round the game runs fine but it will instantly hang on subsequent startups.

I think it may have something to do with initializing the graphics. Has anyone else encountered this before?

Graphics? Then try "Fallout2 Hi-Res Patch v4.0.2":
http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/dload.php?action=file&file_id=1427

Don't forget about disabling "compatibility mode":
http://www.gog.com/forum/fallout_series/fallout_2_appears_to_be_running_in_compatability_mode/post15

Aha! The Hi res patch did the trick!

Running the game in windowed mode I could spot the error message 'MovieDx surface creation failed'. Changing it to Direct Draw 7 fixed everything for me.

Much obliged for your help! =D