Hi guys, When I play FO2 I get a really obnoxious shading/off colouring glitch. Im aware its common place but none of the suggestions have helped me, Im pretty nooby with computers so I would need some in depth help
At this point the game for me is unplayable.....
*Fixed* thanks petrell

Well you could at least specify what exactly you've tried so far so we could suggest things you've not yet tried.
First things that come to mind are installing either or [url=http://www.nma-fallout.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=42386]high resolution patch and playing with graphics settings. If you're experiencing screen going black from time to time you need to shut down all other programs before playing as it's caused by other programs requesting screen redraw (at least browsers will cause this but probably other 'active' programs like instant messangers etc. may cause it as well).

Things Ive tried so far:
Setting to 16 bit
All compatibility options
Downloaded killads unofficial patch
(No idea what Sfall or any of that stuff is)
Downloaded high res mos, unpacked in main FO2 file (did something wrong their?)
Its just the shading is white and off coloured, no black screens. I have a brand new laptop so I have no idea whats up... I also spent my money on a game that doesnt work correctly :/

Sorry, I fixed the sfall link above. Sfall is "a set of engine modifications for the classic game Fallout 2 by Interplay. Includes fixes for bugs in the original engine, allows fallout to run correctly on modern operating systems, and adds additional features for modders".
The Killap's unofficial patch might have come with it so you should check your fallout 2 folder if there's ddraw.dll and ddraw.ini. If not go download it and extract it to your fallout 2 folder. Open ddraw.ini with text editor and change Mode to 4 under graphics settings
"[Graphics]
;Set to 0 for 8 bit fullscreen
;Set to 4 for dx9 fullscreen
;Set to 5 for dx9 windowed
;A dx9 mode is required for any graphics related script extender functions to work (i.e. fullscreen shaders)
;Modes 1, 2 and 3 are no longer supported
Mode=0" <- change this. You could try the other settings as well if that does not work.
As for high resolution patch, you did not specify if you actually installed it (ran the exe that extracted to FO2 folder). It's rather weird that you have the problem as it's usually only problem with Vista and Win7 and/or 64-bit OS.

My computer says I cant save the file because im not the admin..... but I am.

That's weird as that sounds like Vista/Win7 problem. You said that it's brand new laptop, are you absolutely sure it has Windows XP SP3 and not Windows 7? Unless you had your old OS installed on it, it's usually difficult to aquire new computer with XP (some netbooks still offer it however). What computer laptop model is it exactly?
If it were Vista/Win7 I'd advice you to install outside program files folder (c:\games or something) as Vista/Win7 "feature" called UAC (User Account Control) tends to interfere with anything that tries to make changes to program files folder, more so with pre Vista/Win7 programs,

Oh sorry my confusion, its win7

As I was suspecting. Reinstalling game outside program files folder (as I pointed above) should fix the file saving/modifying problems but as it's new laptop I would strongly recommend you disable UAC entirely. You will save yourself from tons of grief later if you continue to play pre Win7 games or use pre Win7 programs. Just google "windows 7 disable UAC" and you'll find plenty of instructions how to do it.
Just fair warning if you opt to disable UAC: If you have other games installed and you have saved games for them, games may not be able to find the savegames you've made before disabling UAC. This is due to UAC directing all software files saves to hidden folder outside program files and without UAC programs can no longer find them as they are able to access their default file save location. This only applies to games that try to save files into same directory they are installed (usually game directory/saves/).

*Fixed* thanks a lot. I used Sfall and set graphics to 4 after taking FO2 into my account's file thanks!

Glad to be of help. Just remember to install games outside program files in future to avoid most problems caused by UAC.

In the future, this tool should help you with any any graphics or display issues you might have with old games, also in case you have trouble getting the high resolution patch to work for either FO1 or FO2. Many older games seem to have the same problems with display issues and this tool helps solve the issues without having to change a bunch of settings that can be a pain in the butt to do.
http://blog.macuyiko.com/2009/07/solving-color-problem-red-grass-purple.html