So, basically, I've gotten into New Vegas again, and after playing Skyrim with the Interesting NPC's mod it really striked me how empty the Mojave Wasteland seems population-wise.

So this thread is dedicated to the best mods that add more life into the wastes of New Vegas. Core thing is that the NPC's are somewhat interesting, though it's always fun to have hundreds of Fiends around to shoot, but I'd really prefer to have NPC's who you can talk to, maybe do side-quests for, all that.

Populating the towns for instance is really needed. Just look at Primm, the total population is, what, seven to ten people and a robot? Really? Goodsprings is like the smallest town in the game and it's the most densely populated. How come?

All in all, would you folks know of any mod that adds actually interesting NPCs to the game? I would greatly appreciate it, because as of now I have more guns in the game than I have people

A world of pain comes to mind. It adds some "interesting" NPCs and some uninteresting ones, A few quests, Quite a few new places, and Tougher enemies that'll destroy you. The "interesting" NPCs aren't voice acted unfortunately. Idk if that helps or not

I would definitely recommend A word of Pain. It not only adds hundreds of new NPCs and quests but it also adds dozens of new interiors and exteriors and several factions. It utilizes all vanilla resources, so the download is very quick and installation is a breeze. Other than that, Increased Wasteland spawns adds more enemies but I don't think that is what you are looking for. Populated casinos is also a good option because it makes the casinos more like actual casinos by adding dozens of Npc's to the Strips casinos. Those are my favorite mods to use and if you are feeling like adding some fun, I would suggest using war zones for truly epic battles between factions.

A mod came out recently on the nexus that populates specifically Hidden Valley. I haven't looked at it quite yet, so I can't speak for it, but it seems like a step towards your goal

definitely try populated casinos on the nexus. Its slightly performance demanding but not by much. If you have a good PC it wont make a difference but it sure makes the casinos seem more lifelike.

Here are a few...Just search the Nexus for 'NPC', or 'Populated', and you'll yield a lot of results. Then just use what seems fit for your tastes.

MODS:

Its been said already, but A World of Pain is definitely worth trying. It can be a little tricky to get installed properly, but it adds alot of content.

repopulated wasteland/casinos also add some more generic npcs to make the mojave feel a little bit more alive.