Complete Fallout New Vegas Graphics & Content Mod Overhaul
Posted on July 6, 2014
The ability to mod games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim is one of the biggest advantages toward longevity when compared to other, less modifiable RPGs. Fallout: New Vegas -- Bethesda’s most recent post-apocalyptic RPG -- is not an exception to this. With a multitude of mods available on NexusMods, it’s certainly not difficult to find oneself with 60+ mods adding anything from high-resolution textures to overhauls for major factions to new weapons. Today, we’re going to be showing how to completely overhaul Fallout: New Vegas into a harsh, unforgiving, immersive wasteland by using a compilation of graphics mods, content / quest mods, mechanics overhaul, and more. Welcome to "Fallout: New Vegas - 2014."
Luckily, Fallout: New Vegas is fairly easy to mod, but due to the large number of mods, this article will be split into six different sections: required mods, graphics, quests/content & mechanics, other mods, how to install Fallout: New Vegas mods, and tips/conclusion.
Note: This mod overhaul requires all the DLC for Fallout: NV along with the most recent update from Bethesda.
Required Fallout: New Vegas Mods
Lighting FX, ENB, environment textures, weapon textures.
NVSE - NVSE expands the scripting of Fallout: NV and is needed by many of the best mods.
New Vegas Stutter Remover - Fallout: NV has a tendency to stutter, especially when mods are added. This mod aims to improve stuttering and stutter-related crashes.
4GB Fallout New Vegas Updated - Fallout: NV is a 32-bit game and can only address 2GB of RAM natively, but this mod allows for Fallout NV to use 4GB.
NVAC New Vegas Anti-Crash - New Vegas Anti-Crash is a mod that aims to reduce crashing & CTDs in Fallout NV.
Weapon Mods Expanded and Weapon Mod Expansion - Both of these mods add a large number of possible modifications to in-game weapons. These mods are required by some weapon mods and overhauls.
CaliberX - The mods in this overhaul add many weapons, and this mod adds a comprehensive ammo standard (a library of ammo) for the other mods to use.
The Weapon Mod Menu - The numerous mods that allow for the modding of weapons can become a problem with menus, but luckily this mod creates an easy menu for modding.
Continue to Page 2 for the Fallout: New Vegas 2014 graphics overhaul.
Fallout: New Vegas Graphics Mods Overhaul
MTUI - The UI in Fallout NV is, frankly, pretty bad. It doesn’t scale well (or look good) and is often cumbersome to use. This mod addresses its problems and greatly improves menus and other UI elements.
ElectroCity - ElectroCity aims to create a more eerie and immersive wasteland by adding much needed light. Combining this with other mods to make nights darker, like Fellout or Nevada Skies, can make for a very eerie and scary night.
Fallout New Vegas Redesigned 2 - In Fallout NV, the default faces aren’t really much to look at. This mod seeks to improve the look of people and various objects in-game.
Fallout Character Overhaul - If the previous mod didn’t have detailed enough faces, then this mod should quell your appetite. Fallout Character Overhaul adds extremely detailed faces, and although it can be a bit surreal, it is certainly preferable to the default faces in Fallout NV.
Weapons Retexture Project - Weapon textures in Fallout NV are fairly detailed, but this mod brings it onto a whole new level by drastically improving the textures of many weapons. This increases detail and resolution of textures, making the game feel more like a “2014” project.
Interior Lighting Overhaul - This mod greatly improves lighting inside of buildings/shelters in Fallout NV, and while not needed, it adds a more realistic, apocalyptic feel to Fallout NV.
Wasteland Clothing HiRes Addition - Despite a lot of Fallout NV textures being kinda “meh,” the clothing is actually fairly good. This mod takes what Bethesda did and improves it by adding new clothing textures for many common clothing articles.
Depth of Field + high-res textures.
NMC’s Texture Pack - NMC’s texture pack is practically a blessing from the modding gods, providing very high-quality, photography-based textures for terrain, objects, and building materials.
EVE Essential Visual Enhancements - Some of the most fun weapons in Fallout NV are energy weapons. The default energy weapon effects in Fallout NV are fairly bland, but this mod adds some spice by including new visual effects.
Mojave Nights - A simple sky replacer using real photography for stars and the moon, along with multiple optional moon textures. This is not a ground-breaking mod, but a good moon and better stars certainly adds more realism to the wasteland at night.
Some lighting FX for the air (shotgun) guitarist.
Wasteland Flora Overhaul - This mod adds higher resolution textures, more plants, and more types of plants. There are also two options: a fertile wasteland and a dead wasteland. Pick based upon the overall feel you want your newly-revamped FO universe to exude.
Brighter Larger Radius Pip-Boy Light - You’d expect that by the year 2281, there’d be somewhat decent flashlights available... but in Fallout NV, the default Pip-Boy light is feeble and boring. The Brighter / Larger Radius Pip-Boy Light mod addresses this by creating multiple new brightness levels to cater to what each user needs.
Enhanced Camera - “Wait, where are my legs?” When a player looks down in Fallout, there’s nothing to be seen but ground. A shame that all characters suffer from being legless, really. This mod adds the ability for players to see the character’s body and shadow in first-person view.
Enhanced Blood Textures - I’ve always been disappointed by the ketchup-like blood textures in Fallout: New Vegas. This mod provides very high-quality blood textures to the game, making it feel a little more immersive in (and post-) combat.
The ENB of the Apocalypse - This ENB adds a desolate, wild west feeling to the wasteland by adding HDR, SMAA, ambient occlusion, sun rays, bloom, and some depth of field. This is my personal ENB and I highly suggest it, primarily due to the DOF not being too intense, but there are many other popular ENBs like Enhanced Shaders and Blackout ENB.
Continue to Page 3 for the Fallout: New Vegas quests, mechanics, & realism overhaul.
Fallout: New Vegas - Quests, Content, and Mechanics Mods Overhaul
Yukichigai Unofficial Patch - Fallout NV, like many other Bethesda RPGs, is not without its fair share of bugs. And crashes. And failures to launch. Despite Bethesda fixing a large number of these in post-launch patches, many minor issues still remain. This mod aims to fix those bugs.
Mission Mojave - As with the previous mod, Mission Mojave attempts to resolve several other outlying issues and bugs in the native game. There are 27,000 records fixed in the core plug-in, just to give a sense of how much it changes.
Project Nevada - Project Nevada is a complete overhaul that makes Fallout NV more realistic, challenging, and engaging, since the vanilla game is often quite easy. One of the most notable changes is combat -- instead of being invulnerable, guns and weapons now do appropriate damage to the player character. This mod also emphasizes specialization of characters through the importance of armor, sneak skill, speech skill, and other characteristics in game.
Project Ultimatum - NPCs are fairly boring in Fallout: NV, often only reacting if shot at or spoken to. This mod changes them to react much more naturally, and even allows players to enslave enemies who have surrendered.
A World Of Pain - A World Of Pain is another mod that aims to challenge and engage players. This mod adds 114 new, intensive locations, notes, and modifies ammo drops.
NVInteriors Project - NVInteriors adds several buildings for exploration out in the Mojave desert. This simple mod makes for a much more interesting playthrough.
For the Enclave - President John Henry Eden needs you to fight for the Enclave! This mod allows you to join the glorious Enclave and adds multiple quests related to the Enclave.
Classic Fallout Weapons - Fans of Fallout 1, 2, and Tactics will appreciate the revival of weapons from those games, but for the rest of us, Classic Fallout Weapons just adds more weapons for experimentation.
New Vegas Uncut - New Vegas -- Freeside in particular -- has sectors disabled due to incompletion in the game’s development. Modders took what Bethesda started and finished it, allowing for New Vegas to be what Bethesda planned for it to be.
Caesars new Regime - It’s quite hard to believe that The Legion, a major NV faction, could be seen as a real threat to the NCR (which is a trained, organized military group). This mod attempts to correct this disconnect by completely overhauling The Legion to be much stronger and more intimidating.
NCR Rearmament - Despite the NCR being an organized military group, they still look fairly boring. NCR Rearmament addresses this by making them look more militarized, but also changes armor stats to better suit the armor’s new appearance.
rePopulated Wasteland - This mod adds people (AKA targets) to the wasteland and its settlements. After all, there would surely be more than 200 people in the entire Mojave wasteland. The mod brings a bit more life to travel and makes the game feel more populated as a whole, reducing some of the loneliness and boredom that stems from traveling completely barren wastes.
Monster Mod - The wasteland is a harsh, radioactive place that creates a wide range of terrifying and deadly creatures. Monster Mod expands upon this with high-quality, unique, and deadly creatures, although the names can be a little unoriginal.
Other Mods
Some notable mods that we won’t be including in our mod install guide, but still recommend, include:
- Project Brazil
- Gore Dismember and Explore Edits
- Weapon Animation Replacers
- Official Pipboy Readius
- Fellout NV
- Conelrad Civil Defense Radio
- NVEC
- FOOK
- The Someguy Series
- Poco Bueno Texture Pack
- Warzones
- XRE Cars & Vertibird
- Project Reality (may cause issues with ENBs)
- Wasteland Defense.
Continue to the fourth and final page for mod install order and troubleshooting tips.
How to Install Mods - Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout NV isn’t the easiest game to mod, but we have troubleshot and done our best to provide a bug-free mod list. Follow these instructions and Fallout NV should work (mostly) fine:
- Install Fallout NV (including DLC).
- Install Nexus Mod Manager and direct it to your Fallout NV folder if it does not detect it automatically.
- Download the mods and patches listed below, links will link to the mod pages.
- Install the mods. When installing updates to mods (or multi-part mods) and NMM asks if you would like upgrade to the new mod, select “no” and then select “yes to all” to have the update overwrite the original mod files, if there are any conflicting files.
- Follow this mod install order. If asked to overwrite something, say “yes to all.”
NVSE (Just extract it and place the files in the game directory)
4GBFNV-1-9 (Place in game directory if it pops up with an error)
WME - Weapon Mod Expansion - Weapon Modification Expansion 1101
Mission Mojave - Ultimate Edition - Electro-City - Compatibility Patch
Mission Mojave - Ultimate Edition - Project Nevada - All DLC Patch
Mission Mojave - Ultimate Edition - Project Nevada - Core - Equipment - Rebalance
Project Ultimatum (This is the 9.7 update)
Fallout Character Overhaul - v2.1 (Some options may cause crashing, it is suggested to only check eye and hair texture boxes, along with a teeth texture. Be sure that bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=1 in FalloutPrefs.ini.)
Weapon Retexture Project - WRP - weapon_retexture_project_1dot95
New Vegas Uncut - Freeside Open - A World Of Pain Freeside Open Compatibility Patch
Weapon Mods Expanded - WMX - Weapon Retexture Project compatibility patch
Interior Lighting Overhaul - Interior Lighting OVerhaul 6-7 (It is suggested to only check the A World of Pain box)
Interior Lighting Overhaul - Interior Lighting OVerhaul 6-7-4
Caesars New Regime - Legion Overhaul - Main File - All you need
Caesars New Regime - Legion Overhaul - Mission Mojave Compatibility Patch
Wasteland Flora Overhaul - Wasteland Flora Overhaul v2dot8a - Dead Version
Wasteland clothing Hires retexture - Wasteland Clothing HD V1-3 FULL PACK
Wasteland clothing Hires retexture - Wasteland Clothing HD V1-3 POWDERGANG FIX -IMPORTANT-
NMCs_Texture_Pack_For_New_Vegas - NMCs Textures NV Large Pack Part 1 of 3 FOR NMM
NMCs_Texture_Pack_For_New_Vegas - NMCs Textures NV Large Pack Part 2 of 3 FOR NMM
NMCs_Texture_Pack_For_New_Vegas - NMCs Textures NV Large Pack Part 3 of 3 FOR NMM
Enhanced Blood Textures for NV v2_22c - Enhanced Blood Textures
Mission Mojave - Ultimate Edition - WMX - Compatibility Patch
NVInteriors Project - NMC_NVInteriors Compatibility patch Large
ENB (These cannot be installed by NMM and must be done manually, there are instruction on the ENB’s pages. There are multiple ENBs we recommend, 1, 2, 3)
Note: Nexus Mod Manager integrates a load order program called BOSS and will automatically sort your Fallout NV mods. To launch Fallout NV, use the 4GB Enabler .exe file. The new .exe can be configured to be launched via NMM.
Troubleshooting Fallout NV Bugs, Crashes, & Fixes
Luckily, Fallout: New Vegas is fairly stable compared to Fallout 3, though it does still have problems. The major ones are covered here.
Freezing or crashing randomly - This is usually due to Fallout only being able to properly use two threads at most. Follow these steps:
Open the folder My documents / My Games / FalloutNV
Edit the file FALLOUT.ini.
Inside FALLOUT.ini look for a group called [general].
Inside the general group, after all the configuration parameters, change bUseThreadedAI=0 to 1 and after it add iNUMHWThreads=2
- Now save and close the .ini file and try playing.
Crashing at start of game -
Run Fallout NV in different compatibility modes.
Or
Try running without mods or DLC. If it crashes reinstall/verify game files via Steam, if not, continue.
Disable all mods and run Fallout 3 with the DLC. If it still crashes, try enabling DLC one-by-one to see if one of them is causing the problem. If not, continue.
If disabling mods fixed the crashing, enable half of the mods and see if the crashes persist.
Keep halving the mods activated until you learn which mod is causing the problem.
Reinstall that mod.
If that does not solve the crashes, either ensure you have installed compatibility mods needed for that mod or uninstall the suspect mod completely.
Random Crashes - This can be due to a number of root causes. While I haven’t had any issues, it is possible others will experience instability. Try installing CASM or try these steps:
Open the folder My documents / My Games / FalloutNV
Open the file FALLOUT.ini to edit it.
Use ctrl-F and search “bUseThreadedAI”.
Change that line to say bUseThreadedAI=1 instead, and then add iNumHWThreads=2 on the line below it.
- Now save and close the .ini file and try playing.
(This limits the number of threads Fallout NV can use, since natively it will use too many threads and crash).
Or
Try the same steps as for crashing at start of game.
There are big red boxes with explanation marks - this is due to missing textures. Follow these steps to solve:
Disable all mods and run Fallout 3 with the DLC, if there are still red boxes reinstall Fallout NV/verify game files via Steam.
If disabling mods fixed the boxes. Enable half of the mods and see if the boxes persist.
Keep halving the mods activated until you learn which mod is causing the problem.
Reinstall that mod.
If that does not solve the boxes issue, either ensure you have installed compatibility mods needed for that mod or uninstall the suspect mod.
There are borders around Fallout: New Vegas even though it is full screen - Alt-Tab or alt-enter. It will expand Fallout NV to fullscreen but not actually bring you to another window.
If you have any further issues, please put them in the comments and we will help you solve them.
Tips & Conclusion
- Press the ` key and type in “TCL” if you get stuck somewhere. That will disable collision and allow you to walk through anything. Type “TCL” again to enable collision.
- For AMD GPUs, you can use RadeonPro to force HBAO, SSAA, SweetFX, and more by linking it to the 4GB launcher. NVidia users can use GeForce Experience and the nVidia Control Panel to do this.
- If a type of AA, tessellation, or anisotropic filtering is being forced through either of the programs above, turn it off in game.
- If using an ENB, do not force AA, tessellation, or anything through drivers or other software.
Our collection of mods is certainly not all-encompassing -- in fact, it’s far from it. We didn't want to have too many files in the install list unless needed, so some mods were cut out. If you know of any good mods we didn’t mention, feel free to post them in the comments below! This mod overhaul takes a somewhat old game and renovates it to be a good-looking, fun, and challenging new experience. The post-apocalyptic, desert wasteland in Fallout: New Vegas is an incredibly unique experience to play through, and with mods, it’s worth exploring all over again.
- Michael “The Bear” Kerns.