Really thinking about playing New Vegas over again being as its been about a year or two since I really got a chance to play it - the thing is that I used to have it for console so I never got to use the mods! I recently bought the whole game chest with all the DLC on steam on sale for a rainy day and since October has been so shitty this year I figured I'd sit down this weekend and download some of your favorite *essential* NV mods before a fresh play through.

If anyone has any suggestions of mods or ENBs etc they find essential to NV please feel free to share - I'd love to try them out myself.

Thanks in advance

I'd personally go with the ENB "Lone Wanderer" which brings a very nice color scheme to the entire game. I also recommend you look up FCO(Fallout Character Overhaul) which will make the NPCs look more human and less like melted wax. It will also give you several new races to play with. Then I recommend you give New Vegas Redesigned 3 a try. Basically it works with FCO and adds a little more finer details like the game. If you find a rotting corpse it will look like one instead of just an NPC lying there. And if someone is beaten up they will look beaten up. Etc. And then finally I recommend you look into the New Vegas Bounties series which adds a new fully voiced story. And believe me...it's epic. :3 Check out the mod authors other quest mods too! I'm sure you'll like what he has to offer!

Anyway, enjoy!

Hello. Nice to see that you're planning to do your first PC walkthrough.

Before we go into mods I have to know if you have everything sorted to start modding the game? Meaning programs like NVSE, an appropriate mod manager, and stability mods like FNV 4gb, NVAC, and possibly New Vegas Stutter Remover. I once helped someone on this website with everything required, and I still have the entire PM collection saved, so feel free to ask.

Here are some recommended mods, and also my essentials:

1. Weather/Lighting mods
- Nevada Skies http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/35998/?

- Realistic Wasteland Lighting http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/52037/?

- Realistic Wasteland Lighting Enhancement http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/59591/?

You have many ENBs available, but if you plan on using any of the three weather mods above, you have to check if the specific ENB author has made a version compatible with the mod. Although there's a chance that any of these three weather mods already make the game look just the way you want it, without any enbs.

However, if you want a Weather mod + ENB combo from one author, you can first check Hitman's 47 ENB 2: The Sequel, which you can find here on GUN https://www.gunetwork.org/t2762-fnvrelease-47-enb-2-the-sequel

Or check my personal preference, URWLNV http://www.moddb.com/mods/urwlnv-ultimate-edition-v20
I like this one the most because I'm more into realistic and not too stylized enbs, it doesn't have certain lighting problems other enbs tend to have, it is compatible with various vanilla (night-vision scopes, Cateye) and modded image modifiers (Project Nevada's vision modes), and doesn't ruin the intended appearance of NPCs from mods like Fallout Character Overhaul or New Vegas Redesigned 3.


2. Since I mentioned them, let's go to NPCS
- Although I agree with ThompsonBoss that FCO is great, I must also say that it's not being updated anymore, and its current version is full of bugs.
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/54460/?

- New Vegas Redesigned 3 on the other hand is still being updated, with a major update on the way. It also uses resources from FCO.
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/56312/?

Both mods edit more than 2000 npcs, however, there's one important difference: ThompsonBoss said

Quote :

If you find a rotting corpse it will look like one instead of just an NPC lying there

- this applies to NVR3 as well, but on a much much larger scale. You can check the screenshots to see for yourself. At the end it is up to you.


3. Texture mods

Eight essential ones come to my mind:

ENVIRONMENT and OBJECTS

Ojo Bueno Texture pack http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/39755/?
or its less perfomance intensive variant Poco Bueno http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/42028/?

NMC's Texture Pack http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/43135/?

MG's Neat Clutter (for little things) http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/42551/?

UHQ Terrain http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/57479/?

The installation order depends on your preference. I use all four of these, so they have to be installed in specific order. For example, I want OJO Bueno to be the main pack, with UHQ Terrain for rocks and roads, and everything else taken care by NMC and Neat Clutter.
For that I have to install NMC first, then overwrite everything with Ojo Bueno; next is the Ojo Bueno friendly version of the MG's Neat Clutter (available as an option on the mod's page), and finally overwriting everything with only rocks and roads from UHQ Terrain. This installation is a bit tricky because it requires copying only the specific files from UHQ Terrain. Let me know what's your preference after reviewing these mods, and we'll find the solution.


ARMORS, CLOTHING, CREATURES

- Wasteland clothing Hires retexture (just armors and clothing)
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/54478/?

- aMidianBorn NV Book Of Water (creatures, power and combat armors)
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/39873/?


WEAPONS and EFFECTS

- Weapon Retexture Project for ballistic weapons
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/38285/?

- Essential Visual Enhacements for energy weapons and its critical kills, blood decals, better explosions and effects
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/42666/?
Complement it with IMPACT, and you have a winner: http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/57113/?


That's all for now. I'm late for bed, so I wish you good luck with this

Wow haha, i did not expect such detailed responses but thanks a lot for your input! But about getting ready to mod NV, I currently haven't downloaded anything but the base game. I knew I needed the script extender, i just wonder about NVAC, FNV 4gb, and the stutter remover as well. I think this was a bigger task than I had assumed it would be - with F4 it's easy. If you wouldn't mind sending that PM collection my way so I could get this figured out whenever you have the chance that'd be awesome!

On the other hand, since you both recommended NVR3 I'll definitely be using that first and I've actually heard about the bounties mod being amazing. So I'll have to look into that aswell.
As for weapons and clothing I took a look at all 4 of those mods VW and I have to say I'm impressed by the ridiculous detail these guys have been able to get into a game thats like 7 years old! Honestly can't wait to get out in the Mojave now, I'll have to take some screen shots along the way

thanks you guys

VWgolfR1, pretty much covered it. Only other mods I would recommend are: http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/61592/?
Made by the lead developer of New Vegas, this is how the game was meant to be played.
https://github.com/Uncut/Uncut
Restores almost all cut content, improves the game so much.

Before I post more instructions, I have a couple of things to also recommend.

Inform yourself about the three main mod managers, and choose one to handle your mods. It's vital to handle your mod load order properly.
There are Nexus Mod Manager http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/modmanager/?
Fallout Mod Manager, which I use, and has never let me down so far http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/54991/?
And Mod Organizer http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?


One of the essential mods is also the bugfixing mod YUP http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/51664/?
Vanilla NV is still plagued with bugs, and this mod is the best when it comes to that

Now we're at the gameplay.
There are three major mods that I can think of at the moment.

Project Nevada: it uses four different modules, but you can choose which ones you want.
The first one, called Core, is pretty much compatible with everything because it allows you to turn its features On or Off. I don't use Equipment or Cyberware, so it's up to you if you want them.
The Rebalance is a different thing; here you'll have to decide if you want to use it, or rather give chance to the other two mods, because they are largely incompatible
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/40040/? http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/42363/? http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/47285/?

JSawyer Ultimate Edition, as rower97 recommended it. It's not actually made by the lead developer of New Vegas because it's a much expanded version of it from another skilled modder. The lead developer of NV stopped updating his version more than 2 years ago.
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/61592/?
Vicious Wastes
http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/56671/?

Read the descriptions of these mods and decide which one do you want to use.


I went to check the messages and discovered that like half of them are missing, for some damn reason I can't bloody remember. Here's a summary of that.

Anyway, if you want to benefit from the most mods, you need to have NVSE http://nvse.silverlock.org/; Lutana NVSE Plugin http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/55399/? ; and JIP NVSE Plugin http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/58277/?

In order to use large texture mods, 4GB Fallout New Vegas is absolutely essential, otherwise you'll crash... a lot http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/35262/?

And finally, to practically eliminate crashing which is not connected to mod incompatibilities, here's NVAC http://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/53635/?