Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas

Developers
	Obsidian Entertainment
Publishers
	Bethesda Softworks
Engines
	Gamebryo (TES Engine)
Release dates
Windows	October 19, 2010
Reception
Metacritic	84
IGDB	82
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase, DLC, Expansion pack, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions	Time-limited, Unlock
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	First-person, Third-person
Controls	Direct control
Genres	ARPG, Open world, Shooter
Art styles	Realistic
Themes	North America, Post-apocalyptic, Sci-fi
Series	Fallout

Fallout
Fallout	1997
Fallout 2	1998
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel	2001
Fallout 3	2008
Fallout: New Vegas	2010
Fallout 4	2015
Fallout Shelter	2016
Fallout 4 VR	2017
Fallout 76	2018

Fallout: New Vegas is a singleplayer first-person open world RPG shooter developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. The game is not a direct sequel to its predecessor Fallout 3, but follows events referenced in Fallout and Fallout 2 and features the return of elements from Fallout 2. The game shares much of its engine and assets with Fallout 3.

The game was released on Steam and at retail (Steam key) on October 19, 2010. A DRM-free version of the game was later released on GOG.com on June 2, 2017, followed by a release on Bethesda.net on January 16, 2020. The Bethesda.net version features recompiled .exe files, consequently rendering them incompatible with virtually all mods.

The game's state on all platforms during its initial launch was widely considered "buggy", "broken" and "unplayable" by critics and players alike. However, various official patches were released until July 7, 2011 that alleviated many of these bugs and performance issues.

4 DLC expansion packs were released for the game (Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road). Initially. the game also featured pre-order bonuses and paid add-on packs that granted additional in-game items, such as new weapons, armor and ammo types; all of this content was later bundled together in a DLC pack titled Courier's Stash. On February 7, 2012, the game was released as Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition, bundling the base game with all story expansions and item packs.

Modding is well-supported using the officially-provided toolkit Garden of Eden Creation Kit on Steam (in the Steam Library under "Tools" section). Players have produced mods that fix many of the issues with the game post-official support. The largest collection of mods are available from Nexus Mods and there is an extensive modding forum.

As of 2020, bug-fix and stability mods are strongly recommended, even for a first playthrough. See Essential Improvements and Modifications sections for more information.

General information

GOG.com Community Discussions for game series

GOG.com Support Page

Steam Community Discussions

Viva New Vegas, a Vanilla+ modding guide providing a stable base for playing and modding.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Epic Games Store		DRM-free with the -EpicPortal command line argument. Ultimate Edition is also available.
		Ultimate Edition is also available.
GOG.com		Ultimate Edition only.
Green Man Gaming		Ultimate Edition is also available.
Humble Store		Ultimate Edition is also available.
Microsoft Store		Does not require Xbox Live log-in. Ultimate Edition. Included with Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Steam		Ultimate Edition is also available. If you bought the game in Poland, Russia or Czech Republic, you will get the RU version, which may not be compatible with some mods.
Amazon.com (unavailable)		Ultimate Edition is also available.
Amazon.co.uk (unavailable)		Ultimate Edition is also available.
Bethesda.net (unavailable)		Ultimate Edition (recompiled, incompatible with 4GB Patch and NVSE)
GamersGate (unavailable)		Ultimate Edition is also available.

Version differences

The Ultimate Edition is the complete edition with all DLC.

The Microsoft Store/PC Game Pass version uses ~45GB of disk space, due to each localization being included in the download package.. Not compatible with most mods due to no xNVSE support. Lacks Mod Organizer 2 support.

Monetization

Type	Notes
DLC	Additional singleplayer content.
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service	Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

DLC and expansion packs

DLC may need to be manually enabled in the launcher after purchase.

Name	Notes
Caravan Pack	Pre-order bonus, now sold in Courier's Stash bundle.
Classic Pack	Pre-order bonus, now sold in Courier's Stash bundle.
Mercenary Pack	Pre-order bonus, now sold in Courier's Stash bundle.
Tribal Pack	Pre-order bonus, now sold in Courier's Stash bundle.
Gun Runners' Arsenal
Courier's Stash	Contains Caravan Pack, Classic Pack, Mercenary Pack and Tribal Pack.
Lonesome Road
Old World Blues
Honest Hearts
Dead Money

Essential improvements

Improve performance and reduce crashing

Install DXVK.

Download DXVK (The 2.3 version has been tested, if the latest version doesn't work use DXVK 2.3) Place d3d9.dll from the x32 folder into the same folder as the game's exe. Notes This helps improve performance significantly, and makes the game more stable and less likely to crash. THIS WORKS WITH LAPTOP GPUS. One may come across misinformation online claiming that DXVK doesn't work with laptop GPUs. This is false, at least when it comes to version 2.3 and above. DXVK has been tested with Fallout New Vegas on laptops that utilize Optimus (which are the ones that supposedly don't work with DXVK) and DXVK functions as intended.

Install 4GB PATCHER, NVSE, NVTF (New Vegas Tick Fix), NVAC (New Vegas Anti Crash), Aqua Performa etc.
There are a lot of modifications that fix issues and improve performance. Too many to list. Different sources will recommend different mods but this youtube video is good for getting started. The mods mentioned here are good too. (There is some overlap).

Skip intro videos

Instructions
Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\FalloutNV\ Open Fallout.ini. Find SMainMenuMovieIntro= and SIntroSequence= lines and set them to 0

Game data

Configuration file location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\FalloutNV\*.ini
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/22380/pfx/

Default settings are stored in <path-to-game>\Fallout_default.ini.

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\FalloutNV\Saves
Epic Games Launcher	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\FalloutNV_Epic\Saves
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/22380/pfx/

Autosaves and quicksaves automatically create a backup (*.bak) of the previous save when overwritten.

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
GOG Galaxy
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud		Stores up to 200 MB of game saves online (maximum 1000 files).
Xbox Cloud

Video

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			See Multi-monitor.
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)		See Field of view (FOV).
Windowed		See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed		Use OneTweak or Borderless Gaming (add to favorites by process binary name) or Special K (need to activate in in-game menu, which is opened by Ctrl+⇧ Shift+← Backspace).
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		Set in launcher. Up to 15 samples.
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Set in launcher. Up to 8x MSAA. HSAA, OGSSAA, SGSSAA, and TrSSAA can be utilized through the anti-aliasing compatibility bits 0x0000F0C1 (or 0x0000F0C5 if you experience Pip-Boy issues) using NVIDIA Inspector for NVIDIA graphics cards.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		Always enabled even when disabled in the launcher; see Vertical sync (Vsync).
60 FPS
120+ FPS		Use New Vegas Tick Fix.
High dynamic range display (HDR)		Rendered image uses SDR color space. In-game HDR option refers only to HDR Rendering.

Most graphics options are accessible on the main launcher screen.

Multi-monitor

Add support for multi-monitor set-ups[citation needed]
Go to the installation folder. Open Fallout.ini. Find the following lines: iSafeZoneXWide=15 iSafeZoneYWide=15 iSafeZoneX=15 Notes Many fonts become blurry and terminals may become unusable. HUD is shown on the middle/main monitor.

Relevant multi-monitor resolutions:

3840x1024	5040x1050
iSafeZoneXWide=610	iSafeZoneXWide=770
iSafeZoneYWide=15	iSafeZoneYWide=15
iSafeZoneX=610	iSafeZoneX=770

Field of view (FOV)

FOV Slider (Mod)
Required Mods: New Vegas Script Extender. JIP LN NVSE Plugin. The Mod Configuration Menu. Allows changing indiviudal Camera, Hands, and Pip-Boy FOV on the fly, in game, along with a multitude of other related settings.

Edit Field of view (FOV)

Edit %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\FalloutNV\Fallout.ini Change fDefaultFOV=75.0000 to the desired FOV. Below it, add fDefaultWorldFOV=75.0000 set to the desired value. Example: fDefaultFOV=80.0000 fDefaultWorldFOV=80.0000 Notes High FOV values can cause scopes to not cover the entire screen when aiming down sights. If you use the console command fov #, achievements will be disabled for the current session of the game; edit the file mentioned above for a permanent fix.

Suggested FOV values (with the assumption of default being good for 5:4):

Aspect Ratio	FOV Value
4:3	79.9000
16:9	105.3000
15:9	99.0000
16:10	95.2000
21:9	80.0000

Windowed

By default, windowed mode only supports a limited number of resolutions.

Edit windowed resolution[citation needed]
Go to %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\FalloutNV\ Open FalloutPrefs.ini. Change the values of iSize W= and iSize H= to the desired resolution. Change the value of bFull Screen= to "0"

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Vsync is enabled at all times, even if the Vertical Sync box is unticked. This setting can be forced in the Fallout.ini file.

Force Disable VSync
Go to the installation folder. Open Fallout.ini Change iPresentInterval=1 to iPresentInterval=0 Notes Causes the game to run at the wrong speeds if the FPS is higher than 60. Consider using NVTF to solve this problem.

Enabling HBAO+ for Nvidia graphics cards

Note: Using Nvidia HBAO+ can break compatibility with ENB Series.

Use the Ambient Occlusion flag 0x00000005 with Quality or High Quality.

Using Ambient Occlusion flag 0x00000005

Download and run Nvidia Profile Inspector. Under Profiles select Fallout - New Vegas. Under Ambient Occlusion compatibility insert the flag 0x00000005. Under Ambient Occlusion usage select Enabled. Under Ambient Occlusion setting select your quality of preference, but in order to use HBAO+ you must use Quality or High Quality. Click Apply changes. If you get an error saying access denied when applying the Ambient Occlusion setting, navigate to C:\ProgramData\NVIDIA Corporation and delete the folder named Drs. If there is no Drs folder then create it, this will fix the error.

Input

Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping		Some menu keys are hardcoded.
Mouse acceleration		Menus only; Enabled by default; see Mouse acceleration.
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support		Native XInput controller support. Only recognizes gamepad assigned to "Player 1".
Full controller support		Player name must be entered with keyboard at the beginning but default name can be chosen with controller.
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers

PlayStation controllers

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Button prompts		For DualShock use the Playstation 4 Controller mod.
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback		If disabled, it may re-enable itself after loading a save, even though it still says vibration is disabled.
Digital movement supported
Simultaneous controller+KB/M		Use the Better Steam Controller Support mod or lStewieAl's Tweaks and Engine Fixes with "Use Keyboard/Mouse In Gamemode While A Controller Is Connected" turned on (excludes menus).

It is possible to bind functions to mouse buttons by clicking on Devices in the bottom right corner when rebinding keys.

Mouse acceleration

Disable mouse acceleration in menus
Edit %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\FalloutNV\Fallout.ini Find the section: [Controls] Add these lines: fForegroundMouseAccelBase=0 fForegroundMouseAccelTop=0 fForegroundMouseBase=0 fForegroundMouseMult=0

Audio

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Music, footsteps, voice, effects and radio.
Surround sound		Up to 7.1 output
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
EAX support		Use this mod to enable true binaural sound. Does not require a sound card.
Royalty free audio		In-game radio, including the player's PIP-Boy, in-game physical radios, and in-game speaker systems, uses licensed music; furthermore, the DLC Dead Money includes an unavoidable instance of licensed music. Otherwise, music is royalty free.

May require DirectSound3D restoration software to restore proper audio functionality on Windows Vista and later (Included in HRTF mod).

Creative ALchemy may cause the game to freeze and stop responding during the introduction with Doc Mitchell.

Localizations

Some versions of the game (such as Polish and Russian) have their translations in *_lang.esp files, which causes worse performance and incompatibilities with mods.

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese				Fan translation, Fine translation version by «BN13»&«tianmiao(天邈) team» download here（only base game, DLC is still in translation). Machine translation version by «3DM»&«tieba fans» download here.
Czech
French
German
Hungarian				Fan translation.
Italian
Japanese				Unknown if taken from the PS3 version or retranslated from English into Japanese, download
Polish				Not in every version, patch here.
Brazilian Portuguese				Fan translation, Nexus Mods. Audio and voice: AI dubbed, Nexus Mods.
Russian				1) Not in every version, patch here. 2) Fan voice-over by «Cool-Games», download
Spanish
Spanish				There is a enhanced fan translation that corrects many errors: Base game and DLC mods.
Turkish				A Turkish fan patch is available here.

Make multi-language versions compatible with mods

merge translation plugins with master files

Download FMV Plugin utility. Make sure to download version 1.7. Run FMVPlugin.jar. Set the path to your data folder. Open the file you want to translate (e.g. FalloutNV.esm). An error might show up, but you can ignore it. Merge it with the corresponding translation plugin (e.g. FalloutNV_lang.esp). Once you're done, open the launcher and make sure the *_lang.esp files are disabled. This process requires more than 4 GB of RAM. Pre-made version is available for Russian. Incompatible with the Polish version, the Lucky 38 Penthouse disappears.

VR support

3D modes	State	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision			Use Helix Mod: Fallout New Vegas.
TriDef 3D
iZ3D
vorpX		G3D, DirectVR Officially supported game, see official vorpx game list.

Devices
3RD Space Gaming Vest
Novint Falcon

Issues fixed

Rotating Heads/Floating, non-animated NPCs

Set "Actor Fade" to the maximum value in the launcher settings.

Greyed out options in the launcher/Can't launch game from Launcher

This happens if the registry isn't correctly edited by the game's installer, or you moved the game to another directory or PC.

Use Beth Registry (Easiest Fix but windows only)
Download the beth_registry.zip archive. Copy the beth_registry.cmd file from inside the archive to the game's directory. Right-click the beth_registry.cmd, select "Run as administrator" and choose to update the registry.

Manually Add/Fix path in Registry (Alternative fix)
Open regedit. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Bethesda Softworks\FalloutNV. Create the key if it does not exist. Create a new string value named Installed Path, if it doesn't exist already. Set its contents to <path-to-game> with a trailing backslash (e.g. C:\GOG Games\Fallout New Vegas\).

Reinstall the game

If none of the above fixes work, just reinstall the game. If your game is modified and you don't want to lose your files/modifications: Make a backup of the modified files (copy and paste them in a temporary place or make a rar file) Install the game from scratch [IMPORTANT: In the case of the GOG installer it's very important to choose the directory you will be running the game from as the install directory. Otherwise, the issue will not be fixed] overwrite the files that the installer installs with the backed up modded files.

Linux users will need to tinker with the registry of their compatibility layer of choice (proton, wine, lutris, etc.) if they want to regedit. You will have to follow the same steps as the manual fix but in your compatibility layer's registry instead but it's best to just reinstall the game using the 3rd fix since editing the registry may prove to be problematic on Linux.

Random unlit geometry when using Pip-Boy light

The "Improved Lighting Shaders" xNVSE plugin may help remedy this, without needing to sacrifice distant light quality.

Alternatively lowering the "Light Fade" option can help reduce instances of this happening, at the cost of distant lighting being reduced.

Unable To Level

Caused by using the advlevel console command.

rewardxp console command
Can be fixed by adding enough XP to level once again. Use the console command rewardxp (e.g. rewardxp 5000 to award 5000xp) and add enough XP to level once again.

Game Crashes on Startup (NVSE installed properly)

This happens when you start the game and have mods that utilize NVSE (New Vegas Script Extender)

Crashes on Startup (NVSE installed properly)[citation needed]
Rightclick nvse_loader in the Fallout New Vegas installation folder and select properties. Select the tab "Compatibility" and click "Run this program as administrator" and apply. This could also be the result of mods attempting to change the same object.

Data Files get auto loaded on Startup

Affected data files are enabled at all times, even if their boxes in the "Data Files" menu are unticked.

Disable data file autoloading[citation needed]
Go to the <path-to-game>\Data\ Search for a file you want disabled with a .nam extension. Delete or rename the selected file. Repeat for any file you want disabled.

If you chose to delete the .nam files, you can recover them by verifying the game data files integrity in Steam.

Unable to trade/loot in the German game Version

Use the .exe from the international version
Exchange the game's .exe-files with ones from the international version, available HERE. Notes This method also reenables the gib/gore features of the game.

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9.0c
Shader Model support	3.0

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Physics	Havok
Audio	DirectSound
Cutscenes	Bink Video

Modifications

Viva New Vegas is a comprehensive Fallout New Vegas modding guide website which gets updated constantly and provides links to essential, stable and lore-friendly mods and how to install them.

Mod managers

Mod managers simplify mod installation, among various additional features.

• Mod Organizer - powerful mod manager with mod virtualization, keeping the game installation folder vanilla. Features a configuration editor.

Recommended mods

• FNV 4GB Patcher - required for many mods so they can function correctly on the Steam and GOG versions of the game. It makes the game 4 GB aware to optimise RAM usage and automatically loads NVSE when using FalloutNV.exe.
• Epic Games Patcher - required for many mods so they can function correctly on the Epic Games Store version of the game. It makes the game 4 GB aware to optimise RAM usage and automatically loads NVSE when using FalloutNV.exe, but playtime tracking and achievements are disabled.
• New Vegas Script Extender (xNVSE) - community-maintained fork of the original New Vegas Script Extender (NVSE). It expands the scripting capabilities of the game. It is required by many mods for them to function correctly.
• JIP LN NVSE Plugin - script extender plugin that expands on modding capabilities for mod makers, and includes numerous engine bug fixes/tweaks.
• lStewieAl's Tweaks and Engine Fixes - script extender plugin that fixes further engine bugs, with some optional gameplay tweaks you can enable though an in-game menu.
• The Mod Configuration Menu (MCM) - allows mods to be configured from an in-game menu.
• FNV BSA Decompressor - decompressed BSA files and repacks them without zlib compression for improved performance, transcodes .ogg sounds effects to .wav to ensure they play as intended, extracts .mp3 files to loose files as they will not play when in a BSA, updates Ogg Vorbis libraries (fixing an audio memory leak), sound-related stuttering as well as boosting performance while reducing CPU strain.
• Yukichigai Unofficial Patch - YUP - unofficial patch that fixes various bugs in the vanilla game and DLCs.

Overhauls

• JSawyer - requires all official DLC to be installed in order to function. It is a general difficulty tweak and bug-fix mod by Fallout: New Vegas' Project Director and Lead Designer, Joshua Sawyer. However, it contains crude editing and bugs. JSawyer Ultimate is a reconstructed version with tweaks and fixes, but strays heavily from the original mod and introduces its own bugs.
• Tale of Two Wastelands - total conversion of Fallout 3 and its DLC to the Fallout: New Vegas engine, allowing both games to be played on a single save file. along with the improvements New Vegas' engine brings in regards to stability and modding. Said to include "more than 40,000" bug fixes to both games. Requires Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition and Fallout: New Vegas - Ultimate Edition. TTW Setup Guide.

User interface

• Vanilla UI Plus
• Consistent Pip-Boy Icons - remasters around 3,600 of the vanilla icons for higher resolutions, fixes consistency issues of the original icons in regards to transparency, sizes, etc. Requires a UI mod that supports scaling, such as Vanilla UI Plus.
• Vanilla HUD Cleaned - remasters text and other vanilla HUD elements. Requires Vanilla UI Plus.
• Vanilla HUD Remastered (4K) - remasters the vanilla HUD for up to 4K resolution.
• Clean Companion Wheel - remasters Companion Wheel for higher resolutions.
• User Interface Organizer - a plugin that manages and maintains all UI/HUD extensions added to the game by various mods. Requires New Vegas Script Extender.

Graphics

• Improved Lighting Shaders - fixes an exterior lighting bug with the vanilla game's shaders, and allows for up to 4x the number of active lights.
• Weapon Mesh Improvement - fixes for mesh errors, UV errors, incorrect flags, missing extra data, form lists, projectiles, and other weapon-related bugs/errors.
• New Vegas Mesh Improvement Mod - improves the game's meshes.
• Improved LOD Noise Texture - improves the LOD noise texture used on all distant land. Uses minimal video memory and greatly improves quality.
• Aqua Performa - Strip Performance Fix - frastically improves performance on The Strip by getting rid of water LOD.
• High Resolution Water Fog - Water Aliasing Fix - increases resolution of water depth render target, thus significantly reducing aliasing and improving image quality.
• High Resolution Bloom - edits the resolution of the bloom render target, allowing it to use higher screen resolutions instead of the hardcoded quarter size. This increases bloom precision, reducing its flicker.
• Pip-Boy Shading Fix - fixes Pip-Boy's shading by taking into account lights around it.
• MoonlightNVSE - fixes moonlight by making the moon the light caster instead of the sun.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP	Vista, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz	2.0 GHz Dual Core
System memory (RAM)	1 GB	2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	ATI Radeon X1300 XT series Nvidia GeForce 6 series 512 MB of VRAM