FALLOUT:
NEW VEGAS
Mods to remaster the Mojave in 2021. By Lauren Morton
You might actually want to hug the
trees in the Wasteland Flora Overhaul.EXTRA LIFE
NOW PLAYING I UPDATE I MOD SPOTLIGHT (^) I DIARY I HOW TO I WHY I LOVE I REINSTALL I M U S T P L A Y
New Vegas intact as much as possible
while making it crash less, look
better, and take advantage of the
modern tech we’re running it on.
FOUNDATION FIRST
As other Creation Engine games do,
New Vegas has a reputation for being
somewhat less than stable. Crashing
is a common occurrence even in an
un-modded playthrough. Fortunately,
there are some foundational mods
that help reduce crashes rather than
exacerbate them.
The first thing you’ll need is a
mod whose equivalent you’ve likely
used if you’ve ever dipped into
modding Fallout or Elder Scrolls
games previously. New Vegas Script
Extender is the foundation that many
other mods build on. You can find it
at nvse.silverlock.org where you’ll
download the latest stable version
which supports both the Steam and
GOG releases. Your second manual
installation is going to be the FNV
4GB Patcher, a utility that patches
and replaces your FalloutNV.exe with
a version that’s capable of using 4GB
of RAM. In 2021, you almost certainly
have at least double that. You’re
looking for the 4GB patcher version
on Nexus mods created by Roy Batty
and LuthienAnarion. Follow the
installation instructions and voila, a
new FalloutNV.exe. Not to worry, the
original is preserved as FalloutNV_
backup.exe should you ever need to
manually revert.
That’s it for manual installation, so
feel free to boot up your mod
E
ver since Microsoft
announced its
Bethesda acquisition,
Fallout: New Vegas has
been on my mind.
With Obsidian and Bethesda now
sharing the Microsoft umbrella,
speculation about a sequel or
remaster to the western apocalypse
are both rampant. I highly doubt
we’ll see either of those two things
happen. Not soon, in any case.
Although an official remaster would
be nice, Fallout: New Vegas has
recently passed its tenth anniversary,
meaning it has a decade of mods
accumulated for making your own
remastered version. Ten years of
mods is quite a pile to sift through
though. Some have been abandoned
and others are redundant. Some are
shiny and new but less developed
than other old faithful options.
In honour of its big birthday, I’m
setting out to find the most faithful
and reliable collection of mods for
a homebrew Fallout: New Vegas
remaster. Although there are a ton
of great quest mods and gameplay
changes out there, I’ve stuck to mods
that keep the original experience of
MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE The resumes for your mod managers
VORTEX
Nexus Mod Manager has been
replaced with Vortex. It does a lot
to hold your hand and warn you of
conflicts between mods that you
may have overlooked.
MOD ORGANIZER 2
MO2 is a no-frills approach and
doesn’t have as difficult a learning
curve that it’s sometimes alleged
to. It also gives more precise
control over mod load order.
FALLOUT MOD MANAGER
FOMM is getting long in the tooth.
You’ll see its name mentioned in
install instructions for older mods
but you’re better off choosing
between MO2 or Vortex in 2021.
I’VE STUCK TO
MODS THAT
KEEP THE ORIGINAL
EXPERIENCE OF NEW
VEGAS INTACT