F1 was a dos native game with a Windows 95 executable. F2 is a win xp native game; Restoration Project adds win98 compatibility, hence that’s why its mandatory. It’s a big mod/patch made by the community that issues lots of things and bugs.
Ive just read that you installed the game on your pc and transferred the files… I think that should NOT work. You should get your fallout 2 installation files into a .img, mount int in win98 and install the humongous installation from inside the dosbox/win98. In the same image add the restoration Project and install it too ( Its a dos executable if I remember well ).
That’s what I did and it worked fine for me.
pd: he* :p Im not that keen on dosbox but Ive been using computers since the win 3.11 era so I battled my way through most games in that era :p