With that said, Fallout: New Vegas was released almost a decade ago, and it shows. The graphics were never considered cutting edge, even at the time of release, and a decade of texture mapping, lighting effects, and other graphical changes, has further aged the already dated graphics and game engine.

Even at its prime, New Vegas was host to countless bugs and broken quests. Luckily, if you plan to delve into the blasted wasteland of post-apocalyptic Nevada, there is a host of mods that can really bring out the lustre of the well-rusted Fallout frame.

Like my previous Mod list, I will be breaking this list into sub-categories. There are quite a few mods for Fallout: NV (though admittedly far less than Skyrim), and putting them into a giant list with no organization would just be chaos. The categories of these mods will be:

• Vital Mods.
• Complete Overhaul and Additional Content Mods.
• Visual Mods.
• Audio Mods.
• Gameplay Mods.

As a side note, like last time this article will not be focusing on Adult Content mods. While some complete overhaul mods may offer nudity settings, the focus of this article is not to provide a list of mods focused on nudity or sexual activity. If that is what you were hoping to find here, you will be disappointed. I am also not going to focus on rapid levelling mods, item spawning mods, or teleportation mods.

How To Install Mods

Fallout Mod Manager

Where to Download: Download Link

The first program you are going to need to install is the Fallout Mod Manager. What this program will do is help you install and uninstall the wide array of mods that I will be mentioning later in the video. While it is entirely possible for you to manually install each mod, the Mod Manager will make your life much more convenient. Seriously consider this program if you are planning on heavily modifying Fallout: New Vegas.

If you decide not to go this route, you will be downloading the files for each mod individually. They will usually come in a zip file. Simply use windows explorer to find your New Vegas “data” folder and make a backup. Then extract the mod file into your data folder and click yes when it prompts you to overwrite existing files. You will almost certainly run into mod compatibility issues. If you are installing more than a few mods, this route will only lead you to sadness.

Essential Mods

Overhaul and Additional Content Mods

These Mods range from adding a small area or a few quests to changing a significant amount of the fundamental world, and in some cases, are essentially an independent game in their own right. With that in mind, here are some mods that can add-to or completely change your experience in New Vegas.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

Before we get too into this mod, I am aware that some people have stability concerns regarding Project Nevada. It will not work perfectly for everyone, and some troubleshooting might be required to get it to work properly. It is worth it. Project Nevada adds a significant amount of content to the game including but not limited to: Core gameplay features, cyberware, gameplay rebalancing, and new and modified equipment. These changes generally make the game more challenging, although you can tweak the settings to your own specifications.

This mod is a little more intensive to install, but there is a handy guide in the description of its Nexus page. This mod could be considered to be an unofficial patch for the game. It adds quite a bit of new content and helps to fix up some of the broken things in the game. It can be used in concert with Project Nevada as well. If you aren’t planning on using any total conversion mods, you should grab this.

Image Source: Nexus

World of Pain is a challenge mod that adds 159 new areas to the game. There are new quests, vendors, and a lot of extremely powerful enemies. I would recommend going to these new locations if you already have decent equipment. In addition this mod adds Mark 2 weapons and armor to the game in order to help you cope with the difficulty spike.

Image Source: Nexus

This mod adds a new primary questline, as well as several sidequests to the game.

You are already well established as a courier, and it makes sense that others would contact you for that role.

To that end you are hired to deliver a mysterious package. What comes next is up to you to discover.

This questline will only start after level 10.

Image Source: Nexus

Formerly known as Project Brazil, Fallout: New California is an entire campaign, independent from anything going on in New Vegas. You take on the role of an entirely different protagonist from Vault 18 and your journeys will take you into the lands of the New California Republic. This is both a complete overhaul, and essentially an independent game. Follow the instructions for installation carefully so that it runs properly.

Image Source: Fallout The Frontier

This is a mod I have been following for a while. It is still in development but it looks extremely promising.

This independent campaign takes place in the northern frontier, far from the warm, blasted deserts of the Mojave or New California.

This mod adds cold weather to the game, requiring you to battle nature as well as the Legion forces that are after you. As the mod gets closer to release more details will follow.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

New Vegas Bounties adds a new questline for you to discover and a lot of murder for you to perform. Luckily most of the individuals you will be hunting are baddies with hefty bounties waiting for those who take them down. I wouldn’t expect them to go easily however. Make sure you grab the latest verisons of this mod, and you might need to pick up a special patch if you have other mods active, such as the inheritance.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This mod adds a ton of additional perks and traits to customize your character.

Some of them are overpowered, some are flavour perks, and some are terrible, but all of them will impact the way you play the game.

I recommend picking this up to maximize your ability to customize and role-play your character.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This Mod adds an absolute ton of customization to your favorite weapons. It grants you the ability to add three applicable weapon mods to each weapon in the game, allowing you a nearly unprecedented ability to modify your loadout.

Visual Mods

Image Source: Nexus Mods

One HUD, also known as oHUD, adds a more immersive and informative HUD to the game. There isn’t much to say about it really. It offers a highly customizable, clean, and well-organized UI for your trek across the desert.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

MTUI fixes up some of the user interface concerns present in older games. It adds smaller fonts, larger item selection areas, better menus… think of it as Fallout: New Vegas’s verison of SkyrimUI.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

NMC Texture Pack changes most of the game’s graphics and textures. It changes roads, landscapes, trees, vehicles, buildings, interiors, and a lot of in-game objects. While it does not retexture the sky, NPCs, Clothing, etc. It is still a pretty vital facelift to the aged graphics of New Vegas.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

From Sandstorms to RADstorms, Nevada Skies modifies the types, significance, and aesthetics of weather effects in the game.

It also changes environmental lighting to enhance the atmosphere of storms.

It makes nights darker, sunrises more glamorous, and sunsets more beautiful.

If you want a mod to help you get immersed into a living and changing world, pick this one up.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

I don’t think anyone can deny that the lighting system in Nevada needed a little bit of work. Electro-City adds a ton of new light sources to the game. This mod works well in concert with other weather mods (like Nevada Skies) which darken the night.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This mod focuses on improving the aesthetics of bullets, blood, explosions, etc. Basically, all of the visceral parts of combat in the game are overhauled, making them more realistic, violent, and spectacular.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

The plant life in vanilla New Vegas, is a little lackluster. This mod adds 101 new trees and plants to the wasteland, giving it a more realistic and immersive experience. You can customize how fertile the desert is, but in all honesty more plants are always better in my mind.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

The character models in New Vegas, like Fallout 3, are pretty old. Even at the time of release they were not great.

This mod attempts to fix the facial structure, hair, and other features of NPCs throughout the wasteland.

In addition it adds significant wound graphics, and changes the aesthetic of corpses so that they no longer look like normal NPCs taking a nap.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This mod is pretty simple, it removes the orange filter from the game. This creates a realistic environment for your trek through the desert.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This mod changes the lighting effects throughout the Mojave Desert.

It is less intensive than Nevada Skies and doesn’t add as many storm effects, however, it does help improve the game’s lighting system to be more realistic and immersive.

The mod should be used in concert with ENB of the Apocalypse, which is coming up next on this list.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This mod requires the FNV Realistic Wasteland Lighting mod to function properly. It changes the graphics of the world to be both bleak and yet more beautiful.

Like all Enhanced Natural Beauty Mods, this tries to bring a touch of photorealism into Fallout New Vegas and I feel it breathes some life into this aging game.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This ENB mod changes a lot of the game’s contrast and color scheme. The outcome, much like ENB of the Apocalypse, is a bleak, but beautiful landscape. I do find that this particular ENB can look a little washed out at times, but it still improves the game significantly.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

A problem plaguing a lot of shooters, is that guns sound and feel far less impressive than their real-life counterparts. For anyone who has been to a gun range, firearms are loud and most have some serious kick when shooting. Impact seeks to improve the look and feel of firearms in New Vegas, adding better damage decals and shooting effects.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This mod really helps with immersion, as your player now has a body presence when in first-person mode.

In addition it changes the camera angle from forced third person, during events where you are knocked down, etc. to first person, making it appear like it is actually happening to you.

Audio Mods

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This mod lets you create your own radio station with up to a 500 song capacity. In addition it is required in order to use other custom radio stations that you can find on nexus.

Image Source: Nexus Mods

This audio pack is chalk full of creepy broadcasts if you want to really immerse yourself in the horrors of both the real world, and the world of New Vegas. It adds a pretty spooky atmosphere to the game, when listened to intermittently.

This concludes the list of our favorite Fallout: New Vegas mods. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t make it clear that there are hundreds of other mods out there. If you are looking to further mod your game swing over to Nexus Mods where you can find the most popular and downloaded mods for Fallout: New Vegas. Also make sure you backup your game files before modding and check for any compatibility concerns for the mods you choose. Good hunting.