I got a new computer recently and was (am currently) trying to run Fallout on it. Every time I run it, however, the screen goes completely black. I can still hear the sound of the opening cut scenes, and can click to skip, but can't see what I am doing. when I press control-alt-delete, the screen goes to the menu (or where ever it was in the cut scene) for a split second, and when I return to the game, the screen is black again. I have a windows 7 laptop not meant for gaming if that helps in any way.

There are several things you can try.

1. Install the mods recommended by GOG (see here), especially the community TeamX Patch and the High Resolution patch

2. Install the game with administrator rights and not in the default "\Program Files" folder, but in a custom one (like C:\Games\).

3. Try running the game with administrator rights and in Compatibility Mode (Windows XP SP3)

4. Make sure that DirectX9 is installed in addition to the default DirectX11 (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35)

5. It was reported that Firewalls (e.g. Commodo) and the 'ATI Tray Tool' conflict with the game. Try disabling these programs.