Running a win 7 x64 Laptop with plenty of specs, hoo ha's and digeridoos to do all kinds of things, latest gen games are not a problem and even this very one was fine.
Got a ATI mobility 4570 with latest drivers and ati control panel (setting's unchanged)
btw it's a Sony Vaio VGN - NW11Z/T
Spec Page: [url=]http://support.vaio.sony.eu/computing/vaio/specifications/index.aspx?l=en_GB&m=VGN-NW11Z_T[/url]
So I switched it off for the night after dl'ing and playing Outcast for a few hours, got it up the next afternoon, clicked away, went to load the game and nothing. No processes in task manager nothing. tried another save and still nothing. tried to start a new game and yet again nothing.
Have set all files to comp level: admin rights/win 98.me
Have tried the high-res patch.
Also launching from any other exe.
Also the def reset pc again and so on, was going to reinstall the game now. Any suggestions before I do?

Ok, I solved this.
The three OC exe's had somehow become corrupt.
I deleted them and reinstalled, which replaced the exe's only and now the game works fine.