Vagrant’s Essential New Vegas Mods

Overview

My small list of New Vegas mods that I can’t live without.

Intro & Disclaimer

This is a small guide in the same flavor as my Skyrim mod collection. Since New Vegas doesn’t use the Steam Workshop, I can’t make a Collection with directs links to the said mod below, so I’ll just provide links to each and every mods instead in a Guide.

I am writting this guide with the idea that most people know how to install mods either manually or automatically with the NMM or FOMM and that these people actually read the mod’s description (or ReadMe) before fully installing.

I will not do any kind of troubleshooting if you have any trouble installing mods or launching the game.

Utilities

• NVSE – The New Vegas Script Extender. Like Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim, the Script Extender will allow more complex mod features. Like the previously mentioned games, NVSE is used to run F:NV instead of the regular Steam launcher.

  So, once you’ve installed NVSE, make a desktop shortcut of nvse_loader.exe. Use it to to launch the game after everything’s done. Running the game with this NVSE shortcut will bypass the FNV Launcher.

  If you plan on using the 4GB adress aware patch(see below), you must launch the game using the 4GB launcher not NVSE.

  [link]
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• FOMM – The FallOut Mod Manager. This simple utility tool will allow you to enable/disable mods and set a manual load order if needed.

  If you use a lot of mods, you will need this because the FNV Launcher window for mods will look a bit messy.

  [link]
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• 4GB Fallout New Vegas – Do not use this mod if you have less than 4GB of RAM on your PC or if you’re using a 32bit OS like Windows XP.

  If you have 4GB of RAM or more, this mod will allow you to run New Vegas with a 4GB RAM limit instead of the default 2GB, which in turn, should allow mods to run more smoothly.

  If you use this mod, you must launch the game with the 4GB launcher instead of NVSE or the usual Steam launcher.

  One side effect of using the 4GB patch is that Steam might not recognize New Vegas, making the Overlay achievements/guides/community/discussion buttons useless. Here’s a simple fix for this:

  1 – Rename the original FalloutNVLauncher.exe to something else or move it elsewhere
  2 – Extract the 4GB patch files into steamappscommonFallout New Vegas
  3 – Rename fnv4gb.exe to FalloutNVLauncher.exe
  4 – Launch the game with Steam directly. The original Steam desktop shortcut should work too.

  This will fool Steam into thinking the 4GB patch is the original launcher, making the Overlay and all its functions usuable.

  [link]
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• BOSS – A simple tool that allows you to automatically re-sort your mod order so the game can read the ESM files more smoothly. After you’ve installed all your mods, just run BOSS once and voila, all your mods get sorted according to a community-made masterlist. This program is best used when you used with tons of mods, but I still like to have it around, just to be sure… [link]
• LOOT – A recent successor of BOSS created by the same team. Unlike BOSS, LOOT does not need to check in with a community Masterlist. The program instead checks for conflict by itself and sorts your mods accordingly. This is mostly to remedy newer mods not getting manually masterlist’d, marked as unrecongnized and left unsorted by BOSS.

  So, my advice here for New Vegas is this: If you use older mods, BOSS should work just fine. Every mods on this guide except Mysterious Broadcast Extended is recognized and sorted.

  If you have more recently published mods(2014/2015), I’d advise you to use LOOT.

  [link]
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• New Vegas Stutter Remover – More of a tweak than a mod. Doesn’t need to be activated in the launcher’s Data File. As the title implies, this mod removes stutters and tries to make the best of your FPS. As the modder states in his description, it can also help with some of the random crashes you may encounter along the way.

  This mod may or may not increase your performance and reduce crashing. You see, Fallout 3/New Vegas’ game engine is sensible to multicore processors and multithreading. Your PC might be a toaster and run this +60fps with no crash… or you could have a NASA computer and experience weird framerate loss and crashes. It’s all so random. Check the mod’s description on the Nexus for more details.

  [link]
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• NVAC – New Vegas Anti Crash – Like the mod above,it may or may not help you reduce crashes. Never hurts to try.

  [link]
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• Dynamic Quantity Prompt Beta NVSE – This mod is mostly for Mouse and Keyboard users but can also work for controller users. With this mod, you can hold Shift and click to sell/buy/transfer stacks of items in barter/container menus. You can also hold Ctrl to sell/buy/transfer only 1 item of a stack to another.

  This mod is like Oblivion’s Toggleable Quantity Prompt. It tries to bypass the annoying Quantity Prompt popup in menus by using NVSE’s advanced scripts extensions. This mod should make inventory management less of a chore with keyboard/mouse.

  Note that this mod can also work with a controller which means even controller users can bypass the Quantity Prompt if they keep their keyboard close when managing inventory.

  [link]
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• MTUI – A simple UI mod that reduces font size in conversations. It also enlarges barter and container transfer menus. There’s nothing flashy or gimmicky, just a simple UI mod that, in my opinion, should have been made like this by New Vegas’ dev themselves. Check the pictures on the Nexus link below and see the difference.

  [link]
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• DarNified UI – An advanced UI mod that uses smaller fonts and does what MTUI does. Better than MTUI if you use a high screen size.

  [link]
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• Mission Mojave – Ultimate Edition – Fallout New Vegas’ Unofficial patch made by a team of dedicated modders. Just like Oblivion, Fallout 3 and Skyrim (yeah here we go again), the unofficial patches all have the same purpose: to fix a myriad of bugs that weren’t fix by the devs.

  This mod requires you to have all 4 main DLC installed (Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Lonesome Road and Old World Blues).

  If you use this mod with Project Nevada, make sure to get all compatibility patches so MMUE and PN don’t conflict with each other! Look for them in each mod’s optional downloads.

  [link]
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• Item Prefix for FNV with DLCs – Adds prefix for all items for better item sorting. This mod was made by me.

  [link]

Content

• Sack of Holding – Just like Oblvion/Skyrim’s “Bag of Holding”, this is a bag that you carry in your inventory. This bag has infinite carrying capacity like a container. Just hotkey the bag and the next time you’re over-encumbered, open the bag, put the trash loot in and keep adventuring!

  [link]
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• Perk Every Level – Very straightforward mod. You gain a perk every level instead of 3.

  Note: If you use Project Nevada’s Rebalance module, this mod is useless, as the option to adjust the number of perk per level can be adjusted in the PN Mod Configuration options. I use this mod because I do not use the Reblance module for PN.

  [link]
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• New Vegas – Enhanced Camera – A simple NVSE plugin that will allow you to see your own body and shadow while in 1st Person View.

  [link]
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• Project Nevada – This is a mod compilation project made by many people and makes many cool changes to the game without screwing it beyond recongnition.This mod comes with 4 different modules, each affecting gameplay in its own way.

  First is the Core module, which add a bunch of stuff like Sprinting, Bullet Time, Grenade hotkey, Item Sorter with prefix and other nice stuff.

  Second module is Cyberware. It reworks how body implants works. You can now swap implants with different, new implants that give neat bonuses, like EMP grenades, bio-Stealth field, etc…

  Third module is Equipement. Adds dozens of new weapons and armor, all made by the modding community.

  And last but not least is the Rebalance module. This one aims to make FNV harder by reconfiguring damage and HP.

  Please check the Nexus page for more details.

  [link]
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• Project Nevada Patches – These patches will make it so all 4 main DLCs are supported for Project Nevada. Nothing too complex, install only if you got the DLCs and want to use Project Nevada.

  [link]
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• Mojave Music Radio – Extended & Mysterious Broadcast – Extended – Adds a bunch of new songs for the 2 main radio stations that fit the retro-jazz atmosphere of the game. It’s good to take the Mysterious Broadcast Extended if you own the DLCs, since every DLC areas are cut off from the Mojave Radio Station. I highly recommend it if you plan to play a long time.

  [link]
  [link]
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• A World Of Pain – Adds 114 new locations to explore, full of loot and things to shoot at. If the normal game doesn’t have enough shooting and exploring for you, this mod is for you.

  Adds new World Map locations, new sidequests, new “Mk II” weapon/armor serie, new NPCs… It also adds a giant underground city called “The Underground”, which, at the time of writing this guide, wasn’t even fully explored.

  You will run out of ammo. You’ll get 1-shotted by harder enemies. You will be zerg rushed. You will get lost. >:D My kind of fun ride.

  In fact, it’s so hardcore, I’d advise new players to install this mod on their 2nd playthrough since the mod content is so nicely blended in, you’ll have a hard time discerning what’s the base game and what’s modded.

  [link]
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• Mysterious Suit – Makes the Trenchcoat and Fedora used by the Mysterious Stranger playable. Also, Miss Fortune. This mod was made by me.

  [link]
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• Vagrant’s Shack – My own self-made player house in Goodsprings. DON’T LOOK INSIDE THE CHIMNEY!

  [link]

INI Tweaks

C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonFallout New Vegas

In this folder, there should be an INI file called “fallout_default”. You need to make a few tweaks in order for certain mods to work right.

You can use CTRL+F to Search the INI files.

• bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles – By default, this should be set to 0. However, the Project Nevada and A World of Pain mod ask you to modify this line’s value to 1 so the mod can work correctly.

  Look for this command at the bottom of the [General] section.
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• Optimize Multicore and Multithreading handling – This tweak is aimed at multi-core CPU users. If you have a Single Core CPU, ignore this tweak, as it won’t do anything for you.

  Applying this INI tweak might or might not help you with recurring crashing caused by entering or exiting small interior cells (Small tents, small rooms, etc)

  In the [General] section, the should be a line called bUseThreadedAI. This line should be set to 0 by default. Modify this to 1 and also add the command iNumHWThreads=2 below this very command. It should look like this when you’re done.

  bDisplayMissingContentDialogue=1
  SSaveGameSafeCellID=2AEEA
  bUseThreadedAI=1
  iNumHWThreads=2
  bChangeTimeMultSlowly=1
  bCheckPurgedTextureList=0
  bAnimateDoorPhysics=0
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• Optimize Game Caching – Required by the “A World of Pain” mod. You must open all 3 INI files (fallout_default.ini , FALLOUT.ini and FalloutPrefs.ini) and make changes to these 2 commands by setting them both to 1.

  bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=0
  bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=0

  The other 2 INI files are located in your My Document save files for FNV.
  C:UsersYOURNAMEHEREDocumentsMy GamesFalloutNV
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• Disable Mouse Acceleration – By default, New Vegas comes with mouse acceleration, something that I hate very very much. Adding these commands made it less painfull.

  Search for the [Control] section and add the following lines below bBackground Mouse=0:
  fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0
  fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0
  fForegroundMouseBase=0
  fForegroundMouseMult=0

tl:dr Checklist

1 – Install mods.
2 – Make the INI tweaks if needed.
3 – Run the default FNV Launcher. Set up graphics and make sure all installed mods are checked in Data Files. Exit launcher. You can also use FOMM to activate mods.
4 – Run BOSS or LOOT. Mods auto-sorted.
5 – Run nvse_loader.exe OR fnv4gb.exe
6 – Play.

Final word

That’s it. Not too big of a mod list I admit. However, Project Nevada just adds a bunch of stuff I would have wanted anyways and it would have made the list bigger.

I’ve only been using the Core and Cyberware modules, leaving Rebalance and Equipment out and it’s all very well done. I really dig the Cyberware tweaks.

So there you have it. I’ll stop rambling and let you enjoy the hot Mojave wastelands. Peace. [vaultboyhappyface]