User:Qolore7

Viva New Vegas - A Fallout New Vegas Modding Guide

"If you want to see the fate of democracies, just look out the window"

So, it has come to this. I've been debating doing a guide like this for a while now, and I guess im just gonna take it on. Fallout New Vegas is a wonderful game limited by a garbage engine and consoles. Luckily, we have these things called mods that can fix all of our problems, while causing many, many more. This guide aims to fix vanilla bugs, enhance the vanilla game, and add content that fits right in with the base game. This is a rather advanced guide, so do not use this if it is your first time modding a Bethesda game.

Any questions/problems with the guide can be directed to my Nexus page here.

Pre-installation Checklist

1. A fresh installed, legal copy of Fallout New Vegas, with all of the DLC. I suggest you install it on an SSD if you can
2. Launch the 'Fallout New Vegas Launcher' and have it pick a preset for you. This is just to set your .ini files, the actual settings will be tweaked later
3. Disable the Steam Overlay for Fallout New Vegas. You can do this by right clicking on the game in the steam library, click properties, and under the 'general' tab, uncheck 'Enable Steam overlay in game'

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My Sysyem Specs

i5 7500

8GB 2400 DDR4

Rx 470 4GB

250GB Samsung EVO SSD (Where my FNV is installed)

Windows 7 Pro (Really suggest 7 over 10, especially for modding Fallout New Vegas. Windows 10 seems to make FNV crash frequently and broke the ENB .dll file, not to mention the adware/spyware that cannot be uninstalled. If you are on 10, I may not be able to help you with windows related problems)

Prerequisites

1. Mod Organizer 2 - By far the best mod manager for Fallout New Vegas, 3, 4, Skyrim, and SSE. For an explanation of its advantages and a basic tutorial, watch Gopher's video here. Install it to your New Vegas main directory.
2. FNVEdit - Will be used to create merged patches, clean plugins, and add bash tags to mods later in the guide.
3. Wrye Flash NV - Creates a bash patch to help increase compatibility between mods and merge compatible plugins to reduce load order. Download the standalone executible file and extract the 'Data' and 'Mopy' folder to the New Vegas main directory.
4. LOOT - Helps sort load order and detect which mods need cleaning.
5. Merge Plugins - Merges plugins to reduce load order. We'll go into detailed install instructions towards the end of the guide.

Configuring Mod Organizer

1. Launch MO2, and on the pop-up box the says 'Choose Instance,' pick 'Portable.' On the next pop-up, select your New Vegas game directory
2. Click 'no' on the Start Tutorial pop-up
3. Click 'yes' on the pop-up that asks Mod Organizer to handle nxm links
4. In the right pane, right click and hit 'enable all'
5. In the left pane, allign the files in the same order that they are in the right pane
6. Launch the game, and then immediately exit. This is just to set the .ini's in MO2.
7. Click the 'Configure Profile' button on the top bar that looks like an ID card
8. Click on the Default profile, and click copy.
9. Name the new profile 'Viva New Vegas.' Make sure 'Default Game Settings' is un-checked.
10. Select the profile and check 'Automatic Archive Invalidation'
11. Close out of that box
12. Select the new profile in the drop down menu right above the left pane.
13. Click the 'Configure Settings' button on the top bar that looks like a screwdriver and wrench.
14. If you are using an SSD, click the 'Paths' tab, and set the 'Downlaods' directory to a location outside of the SSD
15. Click on the 'Nexus' tab and check 'Automatically Log-In to Nexus,' type in your username and password, and click 'Associate with "Download with manager" links'
16. Click Ok
17. Click on the 'modify executables' button on the tool bar that looks like two gears
18. In the 'Title' box, type 'LOOT'
19. In the 'Binary; box, click the three dots on the right and find where you installed LOOT and double click LOOT.exe
20. Click 'add'

Repeat the previous three steps for: FNVEdit, Merge Plugins, and Wrye Flash

Close out of MO2 for now

INI Tweaks

There are a few INI tweaks that will be needed for mods later in the guide, and also some QOL changes. To help us do this we will use a program called BethINI.

1. Download and extract BethINI anywhere.
2. Launch the app (Not through MO2)

Setup tab

Verify that the Game, Game Path, and INI Path are all correct. Ignore the Mod Organizer 'ERROR' if you have it

Basic tab

Make sure the 'Display Adapter' and 'Resoloution' are correct
From 'Presets,' select 'High' if your rig can handle it, and 'Medium' if it can't
Set 'Antialiasing' to '8x'
Select 'Reccomended Tweaks'

Go back to the 'Basic' tab and select Save and Exit

1. Navigate to "C:\Users\Username\Documents\My Games\FalloutNV"
2. Open up 'Fallout.ini'
3. Select all and copy all
4. Open MO2
5. Click the puzzle pieces on the tool bar, and select 'INI Editor' from the dropdown
6. Select all in the 'fallout.ini' tab and paste what you copied earlier
7. Repeat the process for 'Falloutprefs.ini'
8. Click 'save' in MO2 and close out

Manual Tweaks

To find these options, use ctrl+f

1. Open the INI Editor in MO2 and in the 'Fallout.ini' tab:

Change 'bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=0' to 'bSelectivePurgeUnusedOnFastTravel=1'
Change 'bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=0' tp 'bLoadFaceGenHeadEGTFiles=1' 
Change 'bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=0' to 'bPreemptivelyUnloadCells=1'
Change 'bUseThreadedAI=0' to 'bUseThreadedAI=1'
Add 'iNumHWThreads=2' below 'bUseThreadedAI=1'

Utilities

NVSE

• Extract the 4 .dll files and the .exe to the New Vegas main directory
• Open MO2, click the screwdriver and wrench button directly to the right of the profile drop down menu, click 'install mod,' navigate to where NVSE downloaded, double click the .7z file, and right click on 'Data' and click 'Set data directory'
• Right click on your desktop and create a new folder called 'NVSE.' In that folder, create a new text document called 'nvse_config.ini' (Make sure you have application extensions visable and replace the .txt with .ini) In that .ini, add

[Memory]
DefaultHeapInitialAllocMB=420

• Save the .ini and exit
• Right click on the 'NVSE' folder, add it to a 7zip or WinRAR archive and install it through MO2

- NVSE extends the scripting capabilities of NV and is essential for most mods

JIP LN NVSE Plugin

• Install normally through MO2

-NVSE extension

OneTweak

• Install noramlly through MO2

Special Install Instrucions: Don't Install the following Files/Folders:

Docs
fomod

• Click the "puzzle" button on the toolbar, click 'configurator,' select the 'display' tab, and set 'bFull Screen' to false

-Fake fullscreen and alt+tabbing without crashing

NVAC - New Vegas Anti Crash

• Install the main file only through MO2

-Helps prevent crashes

New Vegas Stutter Remover

• Install normally through MO2

Special Install Instrucions: Don't Install the following Files/Folders:

nvse/plugins/sr_New_Vegas_Stutter_Remover.txt

1. Download an updated .ini file here.
2. Open of the .ini from the .zip file
3. Select all and copy all
4. Double click the 'New Vegas Stutter Remover' in the left pane of MO2
5. Select the .ini file
6. Select all and paste what you copied earlier

IMPORTANT NOTE: Note: That if you use Windows 10 Fall Creators update, you need to set iDefaultMode = 1 under critical sections or you will experience crashing.