Have you recently picked up Fallout New Vegas and want to try modding it? Well, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we list down some of the most essential Fallout New Vegas mods every player should have.
What Is Fallout New Vegas?
Fallout: New Vegas is a post-apocalyptic open-world game released in 2010 published by Bethesda Softworks and developed by Obsidian Games. Although it was full of bugs on its release, it made a huge comeback and is now one of the most beloved games of all time.
The game is critically acclaimed by just about everyone, winning the game of the year award in 2010 and having 97% positive reviews on Steam. It combined the theme of the Wild West with a post-apocalyptic world full of enemies and oddball characters.
Fallout: New Vegas brought a lot to the table back then, such as a multitude of dialogue options and numerous possible endings. It brought unique side quests as well as fun weapons, quickly becoming a staple of the open-world genre. New Vegas set a new standard for open-world fans.
And as if fans didn’t love the game enough already, the ability to mod the game made players love it even more. Both mod creators and players were astounded at the compatibility of Fallout New Vegas and mods, and it became one of the best games to mod.
Play New Vegas on your PC today!
What Are Fallout New Vegas Mods?
If you didn’t know already, a mod is something that alters your game to make it different. Some mods add new aspects to your gameplay, and others just make the game look different but play the same way. Mods don’t exist only for Fallout New Vegas, though. There are many other games like Skyrim, The Witcher 3, and Grand Theft Auto V that have mods.
Fallout New Vegas mods are better for players who have already finished the main story and want to spice it up. Is Fallout New Vegas better with mods? Well, you should try out the base game first without mods to make up your mind. Some people like New Vegas without the mods and maybe finish the main story first.
How many Fallout New Vegas mods are there? Honestly, there are too many to count. That’s precisely why we’ve come up with a list of some of the best mods for Fallout New Vegas for you to download.
18 Best Fallout New Vegas Mods
Fallout New Vegas mods are generally divided into three categories based on what they do. These categories are game stability, graphical, and content mods.
The Essential Mods
There is a generally agreed-upon set of mods that you need to download. These mods are required for other mods to function. The essential mods support game stability. This means that they prevent your game from crashing and help you run the game better.
1. Fallout New Vegas 4 GB Patch
Fallout New Vegas was created to only use up to 2 GB of virtual memory (VRAM). This is so that it wouldn’t use up much of your computer’s memory since computers during its release were quite limited in VRAM.
The 4 GB patch allows Fallout New Vegas to use 4 GB of VRAM, giving it room to breathe. Allowing Fallout New Vegas to use 4 GB VRAM has allowed modders much more freedom to create bigger, more ambitious mods.
2. Mod Configuration Menu
While the mod configuration menu isn’t necessarily required for you to play with mods properly, it’s still good to have. It saves you a lot of trouble by putting all the settings for selected mods on one screen. Instead of going to your file directory and changing stuff manually, you just need to click a few buttons.
What this mod does is create a page in your in-game settings where you can change the settings of some mods without having to restart your game. And although not all mods are compatible with the menu, it’s still a huge time-saver.
3. New Vegas Script Extender
The New Vegas Script Extender (NVSE) is a mod that boosts the capabilities of your New Vegas game. It allows you to add over a hundred mods to work simultaneously with minimal problems.
NVSE is a required mod for a lot of popular mods. If you try running modded Fallout New Vegas without it, you’re probably going to crash. Many mods require NVSE to run, so you should download it.
4. New Vegas Anti-Crash
Even a decade after its initial release, Fallout New Vegas still has no shortage of bugs. Despite the developers patching most of New Vegas up, it still has a bunch of bugs left over. New Vegas Anti-Crash (NVAC) was designed with these bugs in mind so that crashing is much less probable.
Before NVAC came out, Fallout New Vegas mods were a nightmare to use. Every time someone tried booting their game up with mods, it would just instantly crash. That’s why NVAC is so important to have.
5. Yukichigai Unofficial Patch (YUP)
This mod attempts to fix bugs and glitches present within New Vegas. Currently, it has over 27,000 bugs and glitches fixed. YUP saves you lots of time and stress, and chances are if you don’t have it you’re going to have some trouble playing the game with mods. It’s such a good mod that members of the development team behind it are being called the saviors of New Vegas.
Graphical Mods
A popular type of mod within the Fallout New Vegas modding community is graphical mods. These mods change the visuals of the game and sometimes add in new animations. If you’re sick of playing the vanilla New Vegas, you should consider picking up some of these.
1. Essential Visual Enhancements (EVE)
Fallout New Vegas is quite an old game. It’s been a decade since it came out. That’s why some modders decided to remake all the animations and visuals in the game. It adds in high-quality blood and fire effects, new bullet traces, and new projectile impacts.
EVE is one of the best Fallout New Vegas mods in terms of looks. It changes the outdated textures and livens up the game. EVE makes the game look a lot more pleasing than it already does.
2. Fallout Character Overhaul
This character overhaul mod changes all of the characters you see in the original New Vegas. From NCR rangers to Caesar’s Legion members, and even your character. It updates at the same time adds new textures to improve the look of every character within the game.
Not only does this mod make faces look more like human beings, but it makes them more detailed too. There are visible dust marks on people’s faces as well as clear wounds for soldiers who are wounded. Even the enemies in the game have been overhauled to look better.
3. FNV Realistic Wasteland Lighting
Like we’ve said before, Fallout New Vegas is quite outdated. This means that its graphics aren’t quite realistic. The FNV Realistic Wasteland Lighting mod changes that. Similar to the character overhaul and EVE, it makes the world more lively and real.
The aim of the developers in creating this mod was to make a mod that looked not only realistic but also photographic. They wanted to make it so that anywhere you go in the world, you would be tempted to take a photo. The best part about this mod is that even though it changes a lot to make the game prettier, it doesn’t tax your PC too much.
4. NMCs Texture Pack
Fallout New Vegas has quite a huge world. So, there’s a lot of objects scattered throughout the world. NMCs Texture Pack has a whole load of meshes that replace the original models in the game. The mod was made specifically to replace the textures in the open world.
Unlike Fallout New Vegas mods that change the animations, NMCs Texture Pack changes textures on just about everything. From buildings to cars, roads, and everything in between, this mod just makes everything look and feel better.
5. Wasteland Flora and Terrain Overhaul
While other mods focus on retexturing, the Wasteland Flora Overhaul focuses entirely on remaking. It takes inspiration from the original game’s terrain and builds upon it. Instead of looking at the usual dead wasteland, this mod enriches it by making it livelier.
This mod makes the land of Fallout New Vegas more fertile, giving it more grass and trees. The grass is greener, the trees are bigger, and there is an actual variety of plants. The plants are so varied that there are over 101 different trees and plants across the wasteland.
Content Mods
People are creative in more ways than one. Aside from graphical mods that make the game look better, people have also made content mods. These mods come with all new quests, areas, and weapons.
Sometimes, these mods even rival the size of the original game itself. Some mods were made as passion projects, and others were created with a team the size of a small game studio. These mods took a lot of dedication, effort, and creativity to execute.
1. A World of Pain (AWOP)
If you have the Fallout New Vegas Ultimate Edition and you’re looking for Fallout New Vegas mods, download AWOP. It adds nearly two hundred new locations to the world, with some new enemies and good loot.
Locations in AWOP can range from gas stations to sewers and vast fields. It adds not only new places but new quests as well. These quests all come with their cast of characters and dialogue options. AWOP makes the game a lot bigger, but also a lot harder.
2. Weapons of the New Millennia
Among Fallout New Vegas weapon mods, this is one of the best. As the name suggests, Weapons of the New Millennia adds in weapons that weren’t originally in New Vegas. It adds in various weapons that we see in the modern era and adapts them into Fallout.
This mod adds 45 new weapons to the game with HD meshes and textures. If you’re an avid player of games like Call of Duty, you’re going to love this mod. Not only does it add new guns, but it also comes with a new vendor as well as some side quests.
3. Tale of Two Wastelands
If you own Fallout 3 along with New Vegas, consider getting Tale of Two Wastelands. Although it doesn’t add any additional content, it allows you to play both games with one launcher. If you want to play Fallout 3 but you have New Vegas open, you can access it from your New Vegas save file.
Tale of Two Wastelands also adds in content to Fallout 3 that was previously not there. Things from New Vegas such as iron sights and hardcore mode can be integrated into Fallout 3. Essentially, what it does is add New Vegas mechanics to Fallout 3.
4. Weapon Mods Expanded
The developer of this mod wanted to expand upon the already existing weapon modding system present in New Vegas. With this mod, your weapons will all have a maximum of three weapon mods available. It adds multiple weapon mod types as well.
This mod gives you increased ammo capacity and the damage output on some weapons is higher. It doesn’t only expand upon weapon mods, but it fixes some glitches as well. For instance, some gun meshes that are buggy in the base game are better in this mod.
5. Fallout New California
You can think of New California as a DLC for New Vegas. It adds in a whole new story with tons of hours of content. Like the base game, it has hundreds of dialogue options allowing you to explore different endings.
New California is so big that it’s practically its own game. The mod keeps all of the existing New Vegas gameplay aspects and adapts them into a Fallout-style California. There are new enemies, and of course, new NPCs.
6. Fallout: The Frontier
As opposed to the desolate desert wasteland of New Vegas, The Frontier offers a snowy landscape. Similar to New California, it’s so big that it’s a triple-A open-world game. The Frontier enriches the base game by adding so much content to make the game lively.
Perhaps the most unique thing about this mod is that the weather plays a huge part in your survival. In The Frontier, your character can die of hypothermia. Wearing clothing appropriate for the weather is essential in surviving in this mod. Out of all the mods we’ve shown so far, The Frontier is easily one of the most hardcore.
7. Project Nevada
If you’ve grown tired of the combat system of New Vegas and need something new, download Project Nevada. This mod overhauls all the systems of the game, making it more challenging and varied.
Project Nevada is arguably one of the most unique mods in the game. Aside from overhauling the game, it even lets you implant cybernetics onto your character. Not only that, but it also adds in various weapons so you don’t keep using the same one.
8. The Inheritance
Unlike mods such as New California or The Frontier that add huge new areas, this mod isn’t that big. It adds in a whole new questline with some added side quests, along with some cool new areas.
The Inheritance doesn’t add much in the way of exploration, but it does give you a promising story. With this story comes interesting characters that are all grounded in Fallout lore. Choices matter in this mod more so than others, because your actions may affect who lives and who dies.
How to Install Fallout New Vegas Mods
Now that you know the best mods available, let’s talk about how to install Fallout New Vegas mods onto your computer. This can be a complicated process, so if you’re a beginner at modding, we’ll walk you through it.
Mods are generally downloaded from Nexus Mods, a website specifically dedicated to the mods of various games. Is Nexus Mods safe, though? Well, you don’t have to worry about that, because Nexus Mods is used by millions of players worldwide.
To download Fallout New Vegas mods, you’ll have to go to the Nexus Mods Fallout New Vegas section. From there, you can either install mods using Vortex or install them manually. Although installing mods using Vortex is fairly simple, installing mods manually has a bit of a learning curve. Here’s a step-by-step guide on installing mods from Nexus Mods:
- Go to Nexusmods.com and head to Nexus Mods Fallout New Vegas
- Select the mod you want to download. This will redirect you to the mod’s page.
- On the right side of the page, you should see something that says “Download.” Next to this will be buttons that say “Vortex” and “Manual.”
- Installing with Vortex
- If you have Vortex, simply click on the Vortex button and you will be redirected.
- There will be a “Slow Download” button and a “Fast Download” button. Click on the Slow Download button. Vortex will download the mod for you.
- After the mod has been installed, a notification to install the mod will pop up. Click on install.
Installing Manually
- After installing manually, the mod should show up as a compressed zip folder in your downloads.
- View the contents of the compressed zip folder and view the readme file.
- Instructions will be provided by the readme file.
Essential Programs You’ll Need When Modding
Modding Fallout New Vegas can get pretty complicated. If you’re just modding manually, you might have a hard time. And although some mods can only be downloaded manually, it’s best to have a mod manager. With that being said, here are some essential programs to make your modding easier.
Vortex Mod Manager
If you want an easier time managing your mods, you should think about getting a mod manager. In this case, Vortex is the app for you. It’s an all-in-one mod manager that can manage not only Fallout but games such as Monster Hunter World and Skyrim as well.
With Vortex, you can download mods just by clicking one button. Vortex also keeps a directory of all the mods you’ve downloaded, as well as what mods are active. You can also choose which mods to enable and disable.
In the event one mod is incompatible with another, Vortex will recognize this and inform you. It even tells you which mods conflict with each other. On top of that, Vortex will tell you how to make it so that conflicting mods can be used together.
The interface of Vortex is quite simple and easy to use. It is the go-to mod manager of lots of players, and for good reason. Vortex doubles as a game launcher as well, allowing you to launch Fallout New Vegas with activated mods.
Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM)
Similar to Vortex, FOMM helps you with managing your mods with the click of a button. But unlike Vortex, this mod manager is strictly for Fallout. This means that it can’t manage the mods of your other games. However, it is tailored for Fallout 3 and New Vegas.
You may find that setting up FOMM is harder than doing so with Vortex. FOMM, however, is more straightforward than Vortex because it was designed with Fallout mods in mind. People argue that FOMM is better for Fallout because of its specifications.
Pros and Cons of Modding
Pros of Modding
Enhanced Gameplay and Graphics
Fallout New Vegas is a pretty old game, which means its graphics aren’t great. Adding in mods will make the game look livelier and more in touch with today’s standards. Fallout New Vegas mods can also make tweaks to your gameplay. Some mods change the gunplay of the game to make it feel more like an FPS game.
Infinite Replayability
Fallout New Vegas mods will make it so that your game can be the ultimate game. You can change things up to ensure that New Vegas is the best game in your library. With tons of mods each with their different changes to the game, you can bet that you’ll never get bored.
Because mods make Fallout New Vegas infinitely replayable, some people have over 2000 hours in the game. You might think that number is a bit much, but it’s a testament to just how much content mods can give.
New Stories
Although the story of New Vegas is already excellent on its own, modding makes it so that players can tell their own stories. By using Fallout New Vegas mods, you can experience the stories told by other modders. Mods like New California, The Frontier, and The Inheritance all make the world more interesting and diverse.
Cons of Modding
Learning Curve
One of the major cons of modding is that it has a learning curve. Depending on what mod you’re trying to download, this learning curve can range from small to incredibly steep. Installing manually can be an absolute pain in your back. And sometimes, even with a mod manager, your mods might not work, and you won’t know why.
Time Consuming
Downloading individual mods can eat away a lot of your time. You might even spend more time installing and setting up mods than actually playing the game. As we’ve said before, some mods can conflict with each other, and that happens a lot. Fixing your mods can be infuriating since it can take up a lot of your time.
Crashes
Another cause for irritation is crashing. Even if you download NVAC and the 4 GB patch, you might still be prone to crashes. These crashes will happen often if your mod manager doesn’t recognize that some of your mods conflict with each other.
Crashes can be as mild as freezing your game to as wild as crashing your computer. You’ll need a lot of patience if you want to use a lot of mods.
Install Fallout New Vegas Mods Today!
Fallout New Vegas mods give you the ability to change your game up the way you want to. If you want to make your game more realistic, you can download mods that do that. You can even give your character a makeover and give them a better look with mods.
The thing is though, modding can be quite difficult to learn. You’re going to need to watch a lot of tutorials and read a lot to make your mods work. It’s time-consuming and can be fairly frustrating if your game crashes a lot. Patience is required if you want to get into modding your game.
Despite the cons of modding, it’s still worth it. It allows you to infinitely replay New Vegas and tailor it as you see fit. On top of that, modding gives you the ability to play stories and use weapons created by other players.
If you can get your mods to work, you’ll be playing Fallout New Vegas for hundreds of hours on end. There’s a countless amount of content for you to play. And now that we’ve given you the tools and some of the best Fallout New Vegas mods, it’s time to go have some fun.
