New Vegas isthe best Fallout game ever made. It’s also a complete technical mess, made worse by the lack of any updating on Bethesda’s part. As time has gone on, modding New Vegas has become more and more difficult. As a rule of thumb, use Mod Organizer for New Vegas. Only install recently made mods, ones that will definitely work with the modern xNVSE.
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Avoid ENB, as well as New Vegas Stutter Remover. Do some research and know what you’re doing at all times. For those unfamiliar with modding, follow a guide step by step, and don’t install anything new. We highly recommend the Viva New Vegas mod list. The game is old and very finicky, but with care and caution, these mods can all work together just fine!
10New Vegas Script Extender (xNVSE)
Players will want to start their modding journey here. NVSE enhances the game’s scripting capabilities, which is vital for writing new functionality into the game. Most mods require it. However, the old version of NVSE ceased functioning years ago after many users transitioned to Windows 10. Since then, a new team has developed xNVSE to keep the New Vegas modding scene alive.
It’s not just a tool for modders, either. xNVSE improves the overall stability of the game, making it run smoother and crash less often. Keep in mind, however, that it will require you to launch the game using a new executable.
9LStewieAl’s Tweaks And Engine Fixes
Normally, players will install lots of little mods to tweak things they don’t like about a game. Unfortunately, that’s no longer really possible with New Vegas. Every mod installed pushes the game further and further toward its inevitable demise. The community needs a single, stable mod to provide a multitude of tweaks. This is that mod.
The list of features here is seemingly endless. In fact, one of the biggest struggles here is finding the right tweak among a list of hundreds. Want more (or less) XP? Want to perform a text search in your inventory, cook grenades, or even double-jump? This easy-to-use mod has all those features, and many more.
8Just Assorted Mods (JAM)
There’s a popular New Vegas mod called Project Nevada that adds a bunch of new features, including sprinting. Project Nevada is no longer reliable, but thankfully, much of its functionality can be replaced by actually working mods. One of those mods is JAM, which adds some very nice quality-of-life features to the game.
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The most notable new feature here is sprinting, which can be an absolute godsend, especially when wandering to and fro on the Strip. It’s difficult to go back to normal New Vegas after playing with a sprint feature. JAM also adds various convenient HUD markers and other features which can all be toggled on and off.
7Hitman’s Anniversary Anim Pack
One of the key aspects of gun-slinging is looking cool. Why bother being a post-apocalyptic cowboy if you can’t spin your gun a little? Hitman’s animations aren’t just for spinning pistols and revolvers. The mod includes reworked animations for tons of different weapons, including rifles and shotguns.
The animations are weighty and satisfying, with actual recoil. When paired with a simple sound overhaul mod for guns, this mod turns New Vegas gunplay into a treat for the eyes and ears. Anyone who’s played hundreds of hours of Fallout 3 or New Vegas will tell you the gun animations aren’t great. This replacer makes them flashy, realistic, and fun to watch again.
6Simple Interior Lighting Overhaul (SILO)
For anyone who agrees that the vanilla lighting in Fallout 3 & New Vegas is murky, this mod goes a long way toward fixing that. SILO uses scripting to change the coloration and realism of all interior lights in the game.
SILO does darken things a bit, but not too much. Interiors feel much prettier, and more interesting, all with a very minimal hit to performance. It’s also fully compatible with new environments added by mods since it doesn’t actually change the lights themselves, only the lighting. It’s a vast improvement over the vanilla game, and there’s virtually no reason not to install it.
5Desert Natural Weathers
Desert Natural Weathers is a more recent and functional mod than some of the more renowned weather mods for New Vegas—namely Nevada Skies. It adds beautiful new skyboxes and removes the harsh yellow filter from the game, making it look and feel more natural and inviting. It’s also fully compatible and even recommended for use with the Simple Interior Lighting Overhaul mod.
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One of the few things we don’t like about Desert Natural Weathers is the rain. It looks and sounds nice, but comes too often. Why does it rain every other day in the Mojave Desert? Thankfully, each weather can be toggled on or off in an INI file, or even while the game is running with a simple key combination.
4New Vegas Bounties 1 LE
One of the most well-known modders in the New Vegas scene is Someguy, who wrote and developed a ton of awesome quest mods. These mostly revolve around bounty hunting, which feels appropriate for the western setting of New Vegas. His body of work for the game is called “The Someguy Series”.
Unfortunately, while most of the Someguy Series is still functional, it requires tweaking in order to function properly without affecting the integrity of the game’s engine. That’s where New Vegas Bounties LE comes in. It’s a modern recreation of Someguy’s first New Vegas mod, fully updated and playable, but still true to the original content.
3Functional Post-Game Ending (FPGE)
In New Vegas, the player has an incredible degree of control over the fate of the Mojave Wasteland. They can position it under the thumb of the bureaucratic NCR, or the insidious Legion, or they can keep it for themselves. We’ve always thought it would be amazing to see exactly how the Wasteland is affected by the courier’s actions. FPGE makes that happen.
The mod adds tons of new post-game features. Certain factions can be completely removed from the game—effectively wiped out. If the Legion wins, they’ll crucify New Vegas' residents and burn casinos. If House wins, he’ll start to rebuild the city, etc. Then there are little details. Lots of them, making the game world feel even more reactive and alive.
2The Living Desert
Fallout 3 & New Vegas have an unmistakably empty feel. We get that lots of people died after the bombs fell, but seriously, where is everyone? We’re supposed to be on the outskirts of two of the most populated nations in the known world. There should be lots of activity.
The Living Desert remedies this by, quite simply, adding more people. Many of these people are faction patrols or traders, who start moving between towns after the courier makes it safe enough for them to do so. The mod also adds some more simple consequences for actions taken by the player, such as armed thugs chasing them down for people they’ve wronged. It’s also fully compatible with FPGE, adding an unprecedented level of depth and reactivity to the game’s world.
1JSawyer Ultimate Edition
JSawyer is one of the best-known mods in the New Vegas community. Created by Josh Sawyer, New Vegas' project director, and lead designer, it contains his personal gameplay tweaks. Most of these make the game harder, while some of them are as simple as changing an NPC’s karma from neutral to a more appropriate evil alignment.
JSawyer can be a great challenge for returning New Vegas players. Bullets will hit harder, deaths will come more often. The player’s carry weight is lowered. The level cap is lower, as are XP gain rates. JSawyer Ultimate rebuilds the original mod with modern methods, making it perfectly functional without compromising Sawyer’s original intent.
