How To Properly Mod Your Fallout: New Vegas

Welcome! Ever wonder how to properly, install, and run mods? This guide will teach you how to transform New Vegas into a game that looks and feels brand new, and make it better than ever. Everything from ENBs, to textures, to quests; we have it all.

Introduction

This guide is on-going, supported and updated on a regular basis by both creators. We are browsing and trying new mods quite often. If you have any suggestions, please let us know.

We are no longer supporting this guide or playing Fallout New Vegas. Some mods on this list have been discontinued or improved on by another mod. Please follow instructions from this guide at your own risk, be sure to read the mod's description, and use latest version. Thank you for your support of this guide over the years!

This is a complete and thorough guide on how to properly your mod your Fallout: New Vegas, including how to install an ENB. A modded Fallout: New Vegas is like a tower starting with the base, obviously. Then all your floors, or mods, are held up by duct tape and gorilla glue; much like Skyrim modding except a thousand times more finicky due to the age of the engine. A lack of patience and not carefully installing every mod can be costly. Fatal crashes may occur, missing textures, missing meshes, errors etc. If you take the time to be careful and install everything correctly it will seriously pay off.

Your preferences will vary from ours, so therefore we will list some of the most endorsed, downloaded and quality mods for each category. So without further ado, enjoy!

Mods recommended by the ourselves will be Bolded

But most importantly...

Don't forget to endorse the mods you enjoy!

Section 1 [Beginning]

Begin Again

This step is not needed if you already have done a fresh install.

The best way to start modding your Fallout: New Vegas is to start fresh. Uninstall the game and any mods currently left behind. This can be used by using steam's built in delete feature. First make sure that you know the location of your Fallout: New Vegas.
The default is C:>Program Files (x86)>Steam Library>SteamApps>Common>Fallout: New Vegas
Then, delete the folder. This makes your install nice and fresh. Making sure that you don't install mods in the wrong folder though, for obvious reasons.
Another way is to clear out and uninstall any added files, then use steam game cache validator. Do this by right clicking on the game, properties, local files and then press Verify Integrity Of Game Cache.
After you have a fresh copy of your game, make sure to open the launcher once before you begin modding.

Section 2 [Requirements & Tools]

WARNING: Do NOT EVER, under any circumstances run Fallout: New Vegas through the vanilla launcher on the steam client. This will reset your Fallout.ini and FalloutPrefs.ini to their default state, causing a lot of work for you. It also can mess up your mods. You'll want to launch the game via NVSE_loader.exe in your New Vegas folder.

If however, you need to lauch the game through the defult launcher, set Fallout.ini and FalloutPrefs.ini to read only

NVSE, FNV4GB, LOOT, FOMM, NMM, FNVEdit, MCM, and Vortex
All credit goes to developers of the many tools!

• NVSE[nvse.silverlock.org]
  New Vegas Script Extenderis also required by an insane amount of the greatest mods that change the game in a positive way. NVSE, unlike Skyrim's version, NVSE does not have an install wizard so you'll have to install it manually. Don't worry, it's quite easy. To do this, just open the zip file that NVSE comes in and open the folder inside. Then, drag and drop all the files contained into the Main Directory where FalloutNV.exe is located, not into the Data folder.
  
  
• FNV4GB[www.nexusmods.com]
  "FNV4GB is a tool to load Fallout New Vegas with the Large Address Aware executable flag set so the entire 4GB Virtual Memory Address Space can be used by the game. This is useful when using lots of mods [especially graphically intesive mods]."
  
  In other words, this means Fallout: New Vegas is allowed to allocate an extra 4GB of space on your hard drive. Those 4 gigabytes will serve like a reserve set of RAM. This is required if you want to run HD texture mods, an ENB or any mod that requires heavier RAM usage. Install in the same manner as you installed NVSE and run the now installed patcher to patch your game, and then run the game via NVSE_loader. (You have to have NVSE installed obviously.)
  So to clarify, install NVSE and then install FNV4GB on top of it, then launch Fallout: New Vegas through NVSE.
  
  
• LOOT[loot.github.io]
  LOOT is essential for any properly modded New Vegas. LOOT is the Load Order Optimization Tool which tests the integrity of game plugins and files and alerts you of the issue. (next part is directly taken from LOOT website) While sorting, LOOT checks for load order errors (such as incompatibilities and missing requirements) and notifies you of any issues that it detects. It also provides thousands of plugin-specific messages, such as usage notes and bug warnings, to help keep your game healthy. LOOT comes with an install wizard to save you time and the hassle.
  
  
• Vortex[www.nexusmods.com]
  Vortex is a brand new mod manager created by Nexus Mods, as a replacement for NMM, it includes an updated plugin feature which utilizes the LOOT API. All mods that previously used NMM are also compatible with Vortex. Compared to other mod managers, the interface is very minimalistic, and simple. If you are new to modding, it is very easy to pick up. However, because it is so new, there are a quite a few bugs that can be encountered. Experienced modders might want to consider FOMM for more advanced features.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Fallout Mod Manager[www.nexusmods.com]
  A playlist by Gopher explaining FOMM can be found here
  This tool is aimed towards experienced modders. If you are just starting modding it's not recommended to use this organizer, and for those of you that are experienced enough, you probably already have this installed. If not, follow the videos we linked to Gopher's playlist.
  
  FNVEdit
  This one is essential if you plan on doing heavy modding. New Vegas has a built in plugin limit of 139, but you can bypass this using FNVEdit and creating merge patches. It also has many other functions for advanced modders but its most commonly used one is for creating merge patches between .esp's.
  Watch Gopher's tutorial on how to use FNVEdit here.
  Alternatively, watch this quick tutorial by Roy Batty on how to make merge patches here.
  
  
• Mod Configuration Menu[www.nexusmods.com]
  The Mod Configuration Menu is a helpful (but not required) tool that allows users to tweak settings of selected mods in game while at the pause menu. This is required for a few mods, so it is highly recommended to install if you plan on heavier modding.
  
  

  These are just some quality of life mods to make your game experience less clunky than vanilla and make it more stable.

  • New Vegas Stutter Remover *[www.nexusmods.com]
    
  • NVAC - New Vegas Anti Crash[www.nexusmods.com]
  *Note: When using New Vegas Stutter Remover, you must edit the sr_New_Vegas_Stutter_Remover.ini to say as follows if you would like to have an uncapped frame limit, as the mod default is 30.
  

  }
  FPS_Management = {
  	_comment =Absent a good reason otherwise, bInject_iFPSClamp=1, fMaximumFPS= 30 to 85 (or 0), fMinimumFPS= 10 to 20, iFPS_Report_Period = 2000 to 60000, fExtraSleepPercent = 0.0 to 0.2
  	bInject_iFPSClamp = 1
  	fMaximumFPS =  0
  	fMinimumFPS = 15
  	iFPS_Report_Period = 15000
  	fExtraSleepPercent =0.05
  }
  

  
  WCP - Weapon Compatibility Project[www.nexusmods.com]
  

  Be sure to closely follow the installation guide on this one as it has a fairly complex installation!!

  We haven't gotten to the actual mods section yet, but if you plan on playing with a lot of weapon mods, namely the ones mentioned here, this will be a requirement. This is an amazing compatibility patch that helps lessen the conflicts between mods that change weapons. These include Project Nevada, EVE, IMPACT, Weapon Mods Expanded, Recipes for Weapon Mods, Weapon Retexture Project, GRA WRP Unofficial Patch V2, and Project Nevada Patches.
  
  For additional compatibility patches between mods, we'd advise reading the mod pages and looking at the downloads to ensure compatibility between them.

Section 3 [ENBs]

Make sure to go Section 3.5 for detailed installation instructions.

ENBs are not compatible with each other, pick one. Read their description please.

Dynamo ENB[www.nexusmods.com]
Warm, desert, and old western feeling ENB all in one.


ENHANCED SHADERS - ENB[www.nexusmods.com]This ENB has a very vanilla-like feel to it while still adding ENB's features.

Dust ENB[www.nexusmods.com]Made to go with the DUST mod. More on that later.

Oxide ENB[www.nexusmods.com]

Overgrowth ENB[www.nexusmods.com]
Made to go along with flora mods that give the game an overgrown feel, as the title suggests.



Blackout ENB[www.nexusmods.com]

Puretone ENB[www.nexusmods.com]

Nevada ENB 2017[www.nexusmods.com]

Rudy ENB[www.nexusmods.com]
Cool and blue cinematic feel to it. Almost the opposite of Dynamo ENB.


COBALT ENB - RUST ENB[www.nexusmods.com]

MillENB [www.nexusmods.com]

Dreary ENB[www.nexusmods.com]
A lighting mod inspired by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Metro.

Section 3.5 [Installing An ENB]

Properly installing and configuring an ENB

As of 2022, I would recommend following an updated guide for how to install ENB.

This is gonna be the longest part of the guide. We will be using Dynamo ENB.[www.nexusmods.com] ENBs are not compatible with SLI or Crossfire, in fact it runs worse and microstutters are everywhere; so do be careful. Multiple GPU configurations can also cause lots of glitches.

Foreword

If you do choose to install an ENB, please keep the following in mind:

• ENBs have personalized antialias alghorithms, although not as powerful as ingame defaults. (which must be disabled) However, you can improve it with simple GPU driver tweaks.
  
• Detailed shadows may disappear along the edge of your screen which is very distracting.
  
• Performance hit is extremely heavy for medium spec PC's; potential 50% reduction in FPS on average.

However despite this we still think an ENB is worth it; if your system can handle it and you can cope with those downsides. In the end, it's up to you decide how much to trade performance for visual enhancment.

What is an ENB?

An ENB is an extreme lighting overhaul that completely changes lighting, and it also adds some really awesome features like depth of field, different sun glares, detailed shadows, etc.
Chances are most mod screenshots or reviews are using an ENB. The ENB is probably the biggest factor that seperates a modded game apart from vanilla.

Step 1:

First off, you need 7zip, WinRAR or a similar compression and extraction tool. It will be important and required, not just for ENB but for basically all manual installations of any mod and just useful as a general tool. In fact, if you plan on doing any modding at all you should have one of these.

Step 2:

Open the default steam New Vegas or FOMM. Go to options, and enable HDR. Disable Anti-Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering. Go into Advanced>Water and disable Water displacement. As well as Water Refractions. If you are using FOMM, use that instead to edit the game settings, as you can edit options using it.

Step 3:

Go to your preferred ENB on the nexus, we will be using Dynamo ENB[www.nexusmods.com]for the purposes of this tutorial. Download the version the latest version.
Open it in 7zip or a similar program. it should be something like this:

First

Second

Step 4:

Drag and drop everything into the main directory EXCEPT for alternate sweetFX, alternate presets, alternate DoF and all the other alternate folders; if your ENB has them of course. Select all folders and files, drag them into your Fallout: New Vegas directory. (click library on top of steam taskbar, scroll to FNV, right click, properties, local files, browse game files. It should open your FNV directory.)

Step 5:

Install ENB v0.322[enbdev.com] and open it up in 7zip. Now, open up the wrapper folder, NOT THE INJECTOR, and drag and drop d3d9.dll and enbhost.exe into your main directory.

Step 6:

Edit your ENBlocal.ini accordingly.
Warning: Do not copy paste, you have to do it manually as the settings are tailored to your system.

[MEMORY]
ExpandSystemMemoryX64=true <--- If you have 32 bit Windows, set it to "false".
ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true <--- enables the ENBoost features to dramatically reduce CTDs.
DisableDriverMemoryManager=false <--- true for AMD users experiencing CTDs even while ENBoost features are enabled.
DisablePreloadToVRAM=false <--- enabling could potentially help to load a save game which fails to load otherwise but may cause stuttering.
EnableUnsafeMemoryHacks=false <--- enabling this is generally not safe, but it's a workaround for users experiencing large amount of stuttering.
ReservedMemorySizeMb=XXX <--- start with 64, increase in increments of 128 ( 256, 384, 512, ..., 1024 ) until stuttering has ceased.
Only use >=512 with at least 2-3Gb VRAM.
VideoMemorySizeMb=XXXX <--- RAM + VRAM - 2048 (1Gb=1024) if your RAM < 8Gb. If you have RAM bigger or equal to 8Gb (8192Mb) use 
(Total Available Video/Graphics Memory - [170 (for win7) or 350 (for win8/10)]).
EnableCompression=false <--- deactivating compression can reduce stuttering, but at the cost of more RAM usage.
It's generally recommended to be disabled on systems with more than 2Gb VRAM.
AutodetectVideoMemorySize=false <-- Because it keeps guessing wrong.
[ENGINE]
ForceAnisotropicFiltering=true
MaxAnisotropy=16 <-- set to 8 for more FPS. optical difference is tolerable.
AddDisplaySuperSamplingResolutions=false
[LIMITER]
WaitBusyRenderer=false
EnableFPSLimit=false

• Now, head to fallout.ini which should be under Libraries>documents>My Games>Fallout:NV and it should be there, along with FalloutPrefs.ini, which we'll need later. Change the Fallout.ini to this by using CTRL + F to find these:

[Display]
ipresentinterval=0 <--- Fallout: New Vegas doesn't like vsync very much. Having it on can cause CTD's, stuttering, infinite load screens and physics issues.
bUseThreadedAI=1 <--- Reduces freezing and crash
*Add another line after bUseThreadedAI=1*
iNumHWThreads=2 <--- Same thing as bUseThreadedAI

Step 7:

Now, after the .ini is tweaked, time to boot up Fallout: New Vegas! Make sure you boot through NVSE_loader.exe though, not the default launcher. No launch menu will appear, but that is normal. When the boot screen actually launches, you should see text in the top-left hand corner displaying your graphics adapter, enb version, and some legal stuff. ENB settings can also be edited in game by pressing Shift+Enter which will display a menu on the top left corner with various editing and tweaking tools.

And you're finally done!

Section 3.75 [Fixing ENB Issues]

There are many advantages to having an ENB, however, there are often times issues involved. These problems are caused by the older engine that both Fallout: New Vegas, and Fallout 3 run on, the Gamebryo. This engine began its life in 2002, with The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The older engine is more difficult to work with than the updated Creation Engine, which first saw the light of day with the release of Skyrim.

Transparency Issue

If your ENB causes things to become transparent, like the ground, or faces, try disabling the steam in-game overlay. If that does not work, disable any anti-aliasing, except for the one provided by the ENB. This includes your GPU anti-aliasing. Furthermore, if that does not work, disable SLI or Crossfire if you have multiple GPUs. Enabling Fix Transparency Bugs in the enblocal.ini may also solve your solution. Finally, if none of that works, disable ambient occlusion in enbseries.ini or in the ingame menu.

Film Grain Effect

With certain ENBs, you may find a film grain effect on your screen, to remove this,you need to delete a couple of files. In your Fallout New Vegas directory, delete enbeffectprepass.fx. Then, go into your enbseries folder, and delete the file with the same name. This will remove all depth of field, so alternatively, you can replace it with enbeffectprepass.fx from another ENB with no film grain.

Disappearing Shadows

Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of this issue is to either disable detailed shadows entirely or to just live with the side effects. The tradeoff is up to you whether it's worth it or not, but we think detailed shadows are an integral part of the graphical experience and that it's worth dealing with the side effects for.

Water Seen Through Objects

If the water in the game can be seen through objects, like the terrain, or your character, open the default launcher for New Vegas and select "Options", then "Advanced", and under the "Water" tab, uncheck "Water Displacement", and "Depth Fog"

Flickering and/or Stuttering

You may be experiencing flickering (whether it be water or sky flickering) or stuttering with ENBs, even though you are getting a good framerate. To remedy this, disable multi-GPU configurations. You can do this by right clicking on your desktop, selecting either Nvidia control panel, or AMD Catalyst, and disabling SLI (Nvidia GPUs) or Crossfire (AMD GPUs).

Unknown error creating the Gamebryo Renderer

This issue is common on windows 10 systems. Locate dxgi.dll in System32, and copy and paste it into the main FNV directory. (steamapps\common\Fallout New Vegas). Do not place this file in the "Data" folder.

Section 4 [UI & HUD]

Now with a beautiful ENB, it's time to upgrade the game with some Stylish User Interfaces™.

Darnified UI v4[forums.bethsoft.com]
This mod makes the UI less clunky, more neat and more optimized for PC. It requires a manual installation though.
DarnifedUI requires Fallout.ini edits.
Go into Documents, Fallout.ini, find the [Fonts] section and replace it with this:

[Fonts]
;sFontFile_1=Textures\Fonts\Glow_Monofonto_Large.fnt
sFontFile_1=Textures\Fonts\DarN_FranKleinBold_14.fnt
;sFontFile_2=Textures\Fonts\Monofonto_Large.fnt
sFontFile_2=Textures\Fonts\DarN_FranKleinBold_16.fnt
sFontFile_3=Textures\Fonts\Glow_Monofonto_Medium.fnt
;sFontFile_4=Textures\Fonts\Monofonto_VeryLarge02_Dialogs2.fnt
sFontFile_4=Textures\Fonts\DarN_Sui_Generis_Otl_10.fnt
sFontFile_5=Textures\Fonts\Fixedsys_Comp_uniform_width.fnt
;sFontFile_6=Textures\Fonts\Glow_Monofonto_VL_dialogs.fnt
sFontFile_6=Textures\Fonts\DarN_Sui_Generis_Otl_13.fnt
;sFontFile_7=Textures\Fonts\Baked-in_Monofonto_Large.fnt
sFontFile_7=Textures\Fonts\DarN_Libel_Suit_Otl_24.fnt
sFontFile_8=Textures\Fonts\Glow_Futura_Caps_Large.fnt
sFontFile_9=Textures\Fonts\NVFont_Test.fnt

After that, take the files included in the download, open them in 7zip, and then drag and drop them all into the Data folder. Then, with your mod manager of choice, enable the ESP.

Before & After (Click for Higher Resolution)

UIO - User Interface Organizer[www.nexusmods.com]
User Interface Organizer, or UIO, is an NVSE-powered plugin that is designed to manage and maintain all UI/HUD extensions added to the game by various mods.

Mod Configuration Menu[www.nexusmods.com]
Allows you to configure your mods ingame. Required by some mods.

Loading Screen Replacer[www.nexusmods.com]
Spice up your loading screens with professionally done screenshots in fresh 1080p.

One HUD - oHud[www.nexusmods.com]
Combines Gopher's legendary Immersive HUD, Adjustable HUD and Extra HUD mods all in one.

Loot Menu for FNV[www.nexusmods.com]
Finally makes every container worth looting, since you no longer have to spend the extra three seconds opening every container individually.

Misc Item Icons[www.nexusmods.com]
Gives items that use the generic scrap icon a unique icon. A must have for anyone who crafts.

FOV Slider[www.nexusmods.com]
Allows you to change FOV without using console commands or going into the .ini's. Also allows you to change dialogue zoom in and out time, terminal FOV, Pip-Boy FOV, dialogue FOV, and more. Makes your game a lot less claustrophobic and narrow feeling.

Solid Project[www.nexusmods.com]
This mod is a combination of the Animation Project and the Lazarus Project. This can be sorted into multiple categories; one of them being UI & HUD. This adds a weapon wheel menu, realtime companion menu, dynamic crosshair, hitmarker, realtime equipment menu, and that's just the HUD aspect. Almost every feature in the mod is configurable, so if you don't like a feature it can be disabled.

KeyBoy - Hotkeys UI[www.nexusmods.com]
Adds configurable hotkeys to each section of the Pip-Boy. (e.g. M for map, 1-9 for choosing dialogue responses, L for local map, J for quests, etc.) Extremely handy mod for anyone accustomed to more modern day RPG's.

Pip-Boy:

(Only choose one, obviously.)

A Familiar Friend - Pip-Boy 2500 - Handheld Pipboy[www.nexusmods.com]
A fantastic mod that removes that old and bulky Pip-Boy 3000 from your wrist. Suited towards classic Fallout fans or just those who don't like the not lore friendly futuristic look of the Readius.

Pip-Boy 2500A - The Arm Mounted Pipboy 2500[www.nexusmods.com]
Don't like the Pip-Boy 2500's handheld model? Install this as an alternative!

HoloPipBoy 4000[www.nexusmods.com]
Exactly what it sounds like. Holographic Pip-Boy with different colors.

Pip-Boy 3000 Mk.2[www.nexusmods.com]
Somewhere between the Fallout 3/NV Pip-Boy and the Fallout 4 variant. A nice touch for those who don't like handheld PIp-Boys but want something lore friendly and improved too.

Official Pipboy Readius - New Vegas Edition[www.nexusmods.com]
It replaces the regular ingame Pipboy with a handheld Readius-like device. Like the Pip-Boy 2500, it also removes the default Pipboy from the player's arm, as well as the accompanying glove. Extremely modern and futuristic Pip-Boy with it's own futuristic sounds.
(Has a constant slight angle to it which may bother some people.)

Section 5 [Textures]

Improve those low-res textures to give the Mojave a much needed facelift.

NMC's Texture Pack For New Vegas[www.nexusmods.com]
This mod changes roads, landscape, trees, vehicles, buildings interiors, medium to large sized objects but does NOT change sky, water, clutter objects, clothing, NPC's, bodies/ faces, weapons, posters, bill-boards, decals, effects, foliage- grass, leaves, bushes etc.



Credit: NMC's Texturepack Mod page

Ojo Bueno Texture Pack[www.nexusmods.com]
A rustic, western style texture pack that replaces a lot of what NMC's doesn't. If you plan on using them both, install Ojo Bueno after NMC.

HQ Dust Storm FX[www.nexusmods.com]
Upgrades the unrealistic glowing dust storms into realistic, non-glowing, and high quality textured ones.

Blue Waters[www.nexusmods.com]
Lore friendly? Maybe not. Aesthetically pleasing? Definitely.

4k Pair of Gloves[www.nexusmods.com]
New 4096x4096 texture for gloves that can be worn with any armor. Also includes optional high res wristguards.

Essential Visual Enhancements (EVE)[www.nexusmods.com]
Fixes many visual effects found in vanillla New Vegas. It vastly improves the effects from energy weapons, explosions, and particle effects. It also adds iron sights to energy weapons, and changes the vanilla particle effects (ie. Fire, dust, smoke, mist.)

Vurt's Wasteland Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com] Since the beginning of time, Vurt has been making flora overhauls, bringing life (or death) into the wasteland. The mod adds a vast array of trees, bushes, and other plants. It adds hundreds of different vegetation models, and the mod allows the player to choose multiple versions, which either feature living vegetation, or dead plants for the better wasteland feel.

Enhanced Blood Textures[www.nexusmods.com]
Pretty self explanitory, raises blood texture resolution from 256px to 1024px and increases its quality.

Wasteland Clothing High Resolution Retexture[www.nexusmods.com]
This mod retextures over a hundred of the vanilla clothing. Each piece of clothing can be either 2048px, or 1024px. Either way, they will both drastically increase the visual quality of clothing found in the game, however, if you are running a lower end PC, or just an older computer with lower VRAM, the smaller resolution would be the best for you.

ADAM Reborn[www.nexusmods.com]
A continuation of its predecessor, now including a new installer, new meshes, modular patches and a lot of bug fixes. Great armour mod that retextures what the other armour mods don't, all in glorious high resolution.

Authentic Burned Man[www.nexusmods.com]
Vastly improves Joshua Graham, the former legate burnt alive by Caesar and thrown down the grand canyon, one of the characters found in the Honest Hearts DLC. Don't download this mod if you do not have the add-on.

Ranger Armor Retexture V3[www.nexusmods.com]
A new texture for the iconic armour that appears on the cover of the game. The new textures are 2048x2048px. The mod aims to bring the Ranger armour itself closer to those found in the concept art for the game.

aMidianborn Book of Water[www.nexusmods.com]
Combines all 3 parts of CaBaL's "aMidianBorn" series of texture mods. Retextures Armor, creatures, and containers.

Securitron Hi-Res Retexture [www.nexusmods.com]
A retexture for all securitons, increasing the resolution to 4096x4096, which is 4x larger than vanilla.

Spoon Redone [www.nexusmods.com]
Unnecessary? Probably. Immersive? Definitely. Also, who doesn't want a spoon with 8k textures?

NCR Rearmament[www.nexusmods.com]
Redesigns the NCR armour from the ground up with the idea that the New California Republic is well equipped, and provides their soldiers with armour that you would expect a major, and wealthy faction to equip their soldiers with.

Section 6 [Quests]

Need more content to do? Enjoy these wonderful new experiences made by the community.

Autumn Leaves[www.nexusmods.com]
A DLC sized quest mod with over 2000 professionally voiced lines, 8 completely new quests with several routes and resolutions, 7 to 10 hours of gameplay, custom made soundtrack by Pablo Coma, 29 new perks and multiple endings with slideshows for each one, just like in the vanilla DLC. You can find Hypatia east of Novac. For those who will get bored with an entirely narrative driven mod, and no combat, this isn't for you.

New Vegas Bounties I[www.nexusmods.com], New Vegas Bounties II[www.nexusmods.com], and New Vegas Bounties III[www.nexusmods.com]. These mods add quests that begin as you becoming a ruthless bounty hunter, but later it turns into a tale that takes the courier to places outside the Mojave Wasteland. Professionally voice acted and an extremely well done series. Requires SomeguySeries.esm to work.

The Inheritance[www.nexusmods.com] Created by the same people behind New Vegas Bounties. The courier is contacted by a dying man to deliever a package. However, they soon find themselves wrapped up in a fight for the package they all claim is theirs.

Dust Survival Simulator[www.nexusmods.com]
Hardcore too easy for you? The Mojave wasteland too forgiving? This mod takes place 20 years after the events of Fallout: New Vegas, and it aims to provide the player a challenging survival-horror experience in the wasteland. Your only goal? To escape the Mojave. Extremely recommended to play with gameplay mods that increase difficulty.

Beyond Boulder Dome[www.nexusmods.com]
Before the bombs fell, the elite groups in society were transported to the dome. A bunker in the Boulder, Colorado area. They were cyrogenically frozen until 200 years after the war, and when they awoke, they found that they were riddled with mysterious diseases.

The Rockwell Descent[www.nexusmods.com] When the courier stumbles upon the Rockwell facilities, they are plunged deep in to a conflict between the locals, and the tantrum.

The Rockwell Pursuit[www.nexusmods.com] The sequel to The Rockwell Descent, The Rockwell Pursuit picks up where the courier left off in the Rockwell Descent. The mod includes 4 new world spaces across the wasteland for the Courier to explore, and over 1200 lines of voice acting.

Blackrow[www.nexusmods.com] The Blackrow Gang settle down in the Mojave. The courier can join the ruthless crime organization, or instead, take them down, But, nothing pays like crime.

Deimos[www.nexusmods.com]
You stumble upon an old military bunker in the Mojave Wasteland. Inside the entrance, a mid-aged man resides. He mysteriously knows how to get inside, and invites you to take a look, being too scared to do it himself. You enter the bunker, and are immediately pulled into a deep story that spans over 200 years. Made by the creator of Falskaar for Skyrim, this mod is a real treat.

Fallout - New California[www.nexusmods.com]
You are the kid from Vault 18, in the heart of the california wasteland, the player soon finds themselves tangles up between the Enclave, The New California Republic, and a super mutant army. Formerly called: Project Brazil.

The New Bison Steve Hotel and Lucky Casino[www.nexusmods.com]
Allows you rejuvinate the Steve Bison hotel and the Lucky Casino to be just as operational as the Vegas casinos; if not more so. Now, Primm finally lives up to its title "The Other New Vegas", complete with full voice acting and a new story.

Section 7 [Faces, Models & NPC]

Uproot those lame potato faces and plant the seeds of better NPC's.

Fallout Character Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com]
*Requires Old World Blue DLC*
This mod is practically essential. It changes the disgusting vanilla potato faces in to a high resolution face model with hundreds of added meshes and a large amount of new animations. The author has remade almost every NPC face in the game, and the result is stunning, from teeth to eyelashes and even eyebrows.
Fallout Character Overhaul

Vanilla Hairs no shine[www.nexusmods.com]
A large, yet subtle change that makes the hair look and feel less plasticy and fake than it was before and transforms it into looking more like actual hair.

Feral ghouls High Resolution Retexture[www.nexusmods.com]
When that horde of ghouls come charging at you, you can brag to your friends about how much nicer your ghouls look compared to theirs.

Populated Casinos[www.nexusmods.com]
Didn't the Tops, and the Ultra-Luxe seem sparsly populated? Sometimes, it didn't seem like there was a soul throwing money at a few chips on a counter. This mod fixes that.

Military Expansion Program[www.nexusmods.com]
How are you gonna fight the legion with a couple dozen guys? This adds more soldiers at Camp McCarran, the NCR headquarters in the Mojave.

Fallout New Vegas Redesigned 3[www.nexusmods.com]
If you didn't like the look of Fallout Character Overhaul, or you just prefer the look of the vanilla characters more than FCO's, this is the mod for you. This mod redesigns the vanilla characters to be significantly less unnatural looking while still retaining the style of the characters. Also includes redesigns of other things ingame that didn't fit or weren't accurate to their descriptions.

As it's meant to be an alternative for FCO, you can't use them both. Use one or the other.

New Vegas Redesigned 3

Section 8 [Gameplay & Mechanics]

Fix the ancient and formulaic gameplay of vanilla New Vegas with these great mods.

Project Nevada[www.nexusmods.com] and Project Nevada Patches[www.nexusmods.com]
Adds a ton of gameplay changes to New Vegas, such as sprint, variable zoom for scopes, a hotkey for grenades, as well as adding customizable rebalancing features that make the easier or harder, depending on your choice. Project Nevada also adds additional perks avaliable to the player.

Continue After the Game Ends[www.nexusmods.com]
Removes the annoying game wall that activates after the final quest so you can continue playing afterwards.

Vicious Wastes - Difficulty and Re-balance[www.nexusmods.com]
Rebalances combat to make it far more fast and intense by changing and adding many things in the game such as a bleed mechanic, enemies now use cover, medium/heavy armor has more DR/DT, S.P.E.C.I.A.L has effect in combat, chems have weight, etc. Everything being configurable with the mod menu and compatible with most mods makes this great for a challenge seeking player.

Warning! Vicious Wastes requires a New Game!

Realistic Weapon Damages[www.nexusmods.com]
Headshot damage is lethal, legs and arms can be crippled more easily, the player can now be knocked down by explosions just like NPC's can. Makes the game more intense and less bulletspongey than it was before. Does not require a new game, but it doesn't have MCM options.

Not recommend if using Vicious Wastes as it overwrites the mechanics of that mod.
Use one or the other.

Monsters Mod[www.nexusmods.com]
This mod brings 130 new unique creatures, each with different textures, models, and stats. These new creatures can be found all across the Mojave wasteland.

Project Ultimatum[www.nexusmods.com]
This mod adds plenty of new ways to approach the gameplay of Fallout: New Vegas that allows you to approach the game in a tactical and strategic way. It adds reactive people, surrendering, diversions, injecting your foes with narcotics and enslaving them with an explosive collar. What fun! Project Ultimatum goes well with the next mod, STUN.

STUN - Stun and Tie Up NPCs[www.nexusmods.com]
Ever want to do a nonlethal playthrough of New Vegas where you don't massacre everyone, and instead you want to opt for the slightly less lethal approach? This mod is for you! Like the name implies, you can now stun NPC's and tie them up with rope to prevent them from attacking you. It also adds other features like knocking out, tranquilizers, and dragging bodies away, and it allows your companions to do the same too.

More Perks[www.nexusmods.com]
Adds over a ton of new perks, both for players, as well as companions; all with custom icons and new features.

[https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/45652]CASM with MCM[/url]
Amazing mod that implements a configurable automatic saving system so you don't have to rely on one quicksave, nor do you have to go into the menu every five minutes and manually save. A must for any unstable open world game - now with mod menu configuration.

Light Up and Smoke Those Cigarettes[www.nexusmods.com]
Wanna be a real cowboy? Download this mod and become the cool bounty hunter you were always meant to be. Bang.

Section 9 [Immersion]

Get yourself immersed in the immersive world of the immersive Mojave wasteland. Immersion.

Nevada Skies[www.nexusmods.com]
Nevada Skies offers a revamped weather system, adding over 320 different weather variants to the base game. Thunderstorms are added, as well as duststorms, radiationstorms, and more dangerous weather. And of course, it adds new skies.

The Strip Open[www.nexusmods.com]
Removes loading gates in The Strip. Warning, for people with older systems it may tank your performance.

Flashlight NVSE[www.nexusmods.com]
Obviously, it adds flashlights and headlamps to the game so you can see during the night. Extremely helpful for mods that darken nights.

1st Person Weapon Animation Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com]
A fantastic first person animation overhaul created by one of the best animators out there. Almost every gun (and grenade) has a sleek, new, and smooth animation added by this stellar mod. Does not affect third person animations, as stated by the title.

Weapon Animation Replacer[www.nexusmods.com]
Another great animation mod; this time it redoes first AND third person animations. (Although the animations aren't quite as smooth as the previously mentioned mod.) However, it has a fairly complex install.
Watch Gopher's tutorial on it if you would like to install it.
If you would like to use this mod in conjuction with the 1st Person Weapon Animation Overhaul, install it after installing Weapon Animation Replacer.

No dismemberment for guns[www.nexusmods.com]
Unrealistic dismemberments from 9mm pistols got you down? This mod disables guns from dismembering limbs, but high powered weapons like shotguns can still explode limbs.

New Vegas - Enhanced Camera[www.nexusmods.com]
Become more than just a floating gun in the air and see yourself.

Solid Project[www.nexusmods.com]
This mod is a combination of the Animation Project and the Lazarus Project. This can be sorted into many categories; one of them being immersion. It adds an animated sprint, animated ingestibles, object interactions, ladder climbing, animated landing, and that's just some of the many features. Almost every feature in the mod is configurable, so if you don't like a feature it can be disabled.

Invisible Wall Remover[www.nexusmods.com]
Tired of having your exploration cut short because of a pointless invisible wall? This mod does as it says in the name, it removes those irritating invisible walls from areas that don't make sense to have them in. As New Vegas is in no short supply of these, this is a highly recommended mod.

Real Recoil[www.nexusmods.com]
Many mods have tried to create recoil in New Vegas. Some by jolting your camera upwards, some by moving the gun upwards. Few have ever been real feeling recoil. That's where this mod comes in.

More Realistic Aiming[www.nexusmods.com]
Adds a slight tremble to both 3rd and 1st person aiming. On hardcore, the effect worsens if you're malnourished. A subtle yet great addition to the game.

Totally Fixed Pip-Boy Lights[www.nexusmods.com]
Fixes the colour of your Pip-Boy light so that it matches the set screen colour.

Distributed Necklaces and Chains (Concealers)[www.nexusmods.com]
Gives every NPC in the game a randomized necklace or chain to hide the ugly neckseams in the vanilla game.

Section 10 [Followers]

That road doesn't always have to be so lonesome.

Willow - A Better Companion Experience [www.nexusmods.com]
Willow is a girl companion added to the NV gameworld. She has over 1200 lines of voiced dialogue. There are other characters involved in the quests in the mod, and they are fully voiced as well, although primarily by game assets.

The Storyteller Companion - Official Mod of The ShoddyCast[www.nexusmods.com]
This mod adds the Storyteller and ED-NA as companions that are featured in the Fallout lore series produced by the ShoddyCast channel on YouTube.

Russell[www.nexusmods.com]
Russell features an in-depth, fully-voiced, lore-friendly, male companion designed to enrich the player's experiences in the Mojave Wasteland. He is a former Desert Ranger who has turned to bounty hunting, and can be recruited at the 188 Trading Post. He's also by the same guy who made the New Vegas Bounties mod, and he will comment on events in that mod series as well.
*Requires Someguyseries.esm*

Niner[www.nexusmods.com]
"Niner is just a regular guy looking for a good time. He likes dogs, alcohol, sightseeing, meeting new people, smashing things, the work of Dean Martin, sunsets and hard drugs."

Unlimited Followers Everywhere[www.nexusmods.com]
Does what it says on the tin; removes the companion limit allowing you to amass your own personal army of followers if you so desire.

Delilah- Mojave MD[www.nexusmods.com]
Delilah is a fully scripted, synced and voiced, lore-friendly female medical companion for New Vegas. She has a fully functional companion wheel. Her textures, meshes, and hair are completely self-contained requiring no additional mods. She also includes her own quest like almost all of the companions here.

Vanessa [www.nexusmods.com]
"Vanessa is a woman living in a harsh world, she's free: she loves food, booze, sex and can be quite vulgar at times, she loves literature & quotes some books without warning."

Section 11 [Overhauls]

Give the lacking parts of the game an much needed overhaul.

Caesar's New Regime[www.nexusmods.com]
When you enter the Mojave, you probably found that everbody on the west side of the Colorado river fears Caesar's Legion and how the crucify, enslave and torture anyone who stands in their path. However, if you're like us, you realized the Caesar's Legion kinda sucks and is underdeveloped. This mod changes that, making Legion more fleshed out. It also improves their equipment, and adds some high ranking Legion bosses to the game.

IMPACT[www.nexusmods.com]
Overhauls the vfx of ballistic weaponry to make them feel more dangerous and powerful using decals and new, custom made effects. Adds new particle effects for most surfaces, new casings for each gun and new bullet holes.

Factions Reloaded - Merge[www.nexusmods.com]
This mod is a merge of the Factions Reloaded series which adds tons of much needed depth and expansion to the factions of the vanilla game and even some new lore friendly ones. The mod contains a redesign of the Legion, Raiders, Followers of the Apocalypse and numerous other small, but needed changes.

AWOP - A World of Pain[www.nexusmods.com]
Adds 114 brand new locations to the wasteland filled with new enemies and new loot. They can be anything from small gas stations to huge maze-like sewers and prewar factories. Contains several days of new gameplay possibilities including quests, voiced NPC's, vendors and even bosses.

Electro-City[www.nexusmods.com]
Adds over 100 new lights across the Mojave, custom lamps, and other light fixtures. Works very well with ENBs

Interior Lighting Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com]
The author of this mod has worked hard changing every light cell in the interior of every building in the Mojave.

Interior Lighting Overhaul, with Dynamo ENB

Section 12 [Weapons]

New Vegas undoubtedly has the largest collection of base weapons seen in a modern Fallout game. It introduced a weapon modification system, which was not the greatest, but it was a start. However, with a better, more versatile arsenal of weapons, ammo, and a superior and expanded weapon modding system, New Vegas' gameplay can become much more fun.

Weapon Mods Expanded[www.nexusmods.com]
Expanding upon New Vegas' vanilla weapon modding system. Weapons can now have 3 individual mods. It adds an array of weapon mods, and allows you to modify the unique items, which previously could not be modded in the vanilla game.

The Weapon Mod Menu[www.nexusmods.com]
The Weapon Mod Menu adds a few great additions to the game including the removal of weapon mods, stats on each weapon mod and what they do, information about all existing weapon mods, and the number of mods you have for that weapon in your inventory. Pretty handy if you installed WMX.

Weapons of the New Millenia[www.nexusmods.com]
Adding 45 of high resolution, modern weapons. Each with unique sound, animations, and models. This is smoothly integrated into the Mojave via levelled lists and traders. The weapons can be found on merchants, enemies, and containers. Each weapon has individual modifications, to customize to your heart's content.











Weapons of the New Millenia

Weapon Retexture Project - WRP[www.nexusmods.com]
Retextures almost all of the weapons in Fallout: New Vegas. It's also done by Millenia. If you installed Weapon Mods Expanded, be sure to install the respective compatiblity patches on each modpage.

Classic Fallout Weapons [www.nexusmods.com]
This mod pays tribute to the original Fallouts. Adds 63 of weapons that would be found by the Vault Dweller, or the Chosen One. These weapons are fully integrated in the game; you may even find them in the claws of Super Mutants.

Selective Fire [www.nexusmods.com]
This mod adds a selective fire system to most projectile weapons allowing you to switch between automatic, burst, and semi-automatic. Good if you want to get a little more precision out of those fully auto weapons.

CaliberX [www.nexusmods.com]
Adding more than 30 new calibers along with several different ammo types for almost every one (e.g. full metal jacket, hollow point). It also adds HD replacement textures for all vanilla shells and slugs.

All Weapon Sounds Overhaul[www.nexusmods.com]
Makes all the guns in the game sound more like real guns that shoot lead and less like dinky little airsoft pistols.

Credits & Contact Info

Director: cof
Mod Selectors: HydrocookiE, cof
Writers: HydrocookiE, cof
Graphic Design: HydrocookiE

Thanks for reading this big ol' guide! Of course there are many great mods we've missed, and we encourage you to find mods that are tailored to your own personal experience.
Lots of work went into this guide, but we're only human. Any grammar corrections or mod suggestions? Contact us! Feedback is always appreciated.
Feel free to add any of us on steam if you need any further assistance!
We're happy to help!

Don't forget to endorse the mods you enjoy!

[[VOLVO] F10]

Also, if youre on a newer pc build do not install New Vegas Stutter Remover

[[VOLVO] F10]

please update Darnified UI v4 link to this link
and also to everyone: if you encounter errors with mods use mod organizer 2 you can download it in Nexus's Skyrim modding section [www.nexusmods.com]

[binvis]

i just finished installing Dynamo ENB and the game immediately crashes after launch. i dont know what the problem is

[Huozni]

Does modding in general require a legitimate PURCHASED version of FNV or can i use mods while using a cracked version?

[PathlessBullet]

This guide is heavily outdated. I would recommend the "Viva New Vegas" guide over this one.

Link: https://vivanewvegas.github.io/

[AdamFiveNumbers]

Here's a good mod to go with ENVRG. It has 15 lore-friendly song packs to pick from.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/35966?tab=description

[AdamFiveNumbers]

I've noticed you don't have any mods for the Pipboy's radio, so allow me to suggest one: Extended New Vegas Radio Generator. ENVRG allows you to add your own songs to the New Vegas Radio station, change how many songs play until Mr. New Vegas gives a news update, move songs from other stations to New Vegas Radio, add cut songs back into the game and even port songs from Fallout 3 into New Vegas. I've been trying to find a good mod for the radio for a while now and this is one I highly recommend.

Link to Nexus page here: https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/36835

[awooga]

does anyone know how to get the NVSE loader?

[Dragonking]

is that true? if so, was NMM hacked, or all of Nexus/Vortex?

[Jim]

DO NOT use Nexus Mod Manager, the website was hacked and the hacker put a Trojan into the download