[NO LONGER MANTAINED] Fallout: New Vegas - Sigourn's Recommended Mods

[Sigourn]

so... the only way to get these mods is to pay money? i'm not paying much attention...

What? No bro. Why would you say that?

 

[Scruffy]

as i said, i'm not paying much attention, if i click to register it's offering me different payment options... i guess i need to check if there's a free one

 

[Sigourn]

as i said, i'm not paying much attention, if i click to register it's offering me different payment options... i guess i need to check if there's a free one

You can make a free account, but I think I had the same problem at first, thinking I needed to pay to make an account.

 

[Vorark]

I feel jsawyer is the only mod you really need to play New Vegas. At least in the first half of the game it can provide an actual challenge. If you play Hardcore mode with jsawyer you might feel it's a bit too much though.

Yes, NV is one of the rare games in which the base is good enough to be played as is. It's like Morrowind, just a mod to fix something here and there and you're good to go.

Nonetheless, it's a good compilation, Sigourn. Have you tried quests mods, like New Vegas Bounties? I've always wondered if these are any good.

 

[Sigourn]

Have you tried quests mods, like New Vegas Bounties? I've always wondered if these are any good.

People kept sucking that modder's balls, so I caved in and installed a couple of them, especifically NV Bounties and The Inheritance.

Put bluntly, they sucked just as I expected them to. Those and A World of Pain. The average Fallout modder hasn't got a clue what a quality mod is. The first quest of NV Bounties is to kill someone in particular and bring his finger as proof. That's literally the extent of the quest's requirements, and if you think about it only for a second you will realize why it's such a fucking stupid quest.

Spoiler

What stops me from killing a random someone, retrieving their finger and claiming I got the quest done? Oh, that's right: game limitations, because given the lack of a "this guy's finger has this specific look" I should be able to murder an innocet or a raider for that matter. Not only that, if the quest giver realizes I'm bullshitting him, he shoudl kill me as well. But the game's quest is nothing like that: "here's the bounty, kill the baddy and bring me his finger." Glorified kill quest that isn't anywhere as engaging as the Fiends bounties.

The writing in The Inheritance was AWFUL, and the companion you get not only was OP, but it's clear that Someguy can't write dialogue without using edgy insults all the time. Honestly the voice acting is "quality" when it comes to the recording, but not the voice actors, so there's that as well.

 

[laclongquan]

Sigourn , Sigourn!

What kind of recommended mod list without some sort of Slower Leveling style mods?

What they give you: you take longer to level up, so you enjoy the experience of each level longer. Ie you play at lower level a lot more than the usual. You will find that taking time to do the lower level quest in and around the Strip is logical and worthwhile than before. And junk weapons like grenades suddenly have places to use. And encounter higher level enemies are now more deadly.

What it affect: each level threshold got stretched. A 3x, triple the threshold, is and should be the recommended setting. Still, newbie can enjoy the 2x.

What it does: It change your experience, not the game. You dont have to worry about OP items on generic characters or some such nonsense. It keep the design that game devs put down.

 

[Sigourn]

Sigourn , Sigourn!

What kind of recommended mod list without some sort of Slower Leveling style mods?

Hi.

JSawyer if I'm not mistaken already slows down levelling. If it doesn't, at least it brings down the level cap to keep the game more challenging. If that isn't enough, there's Vicious Wastes, which definitely does both to great effect. Project Nevada in addition lets you adjust experience gain for different tasks as you wish, but I'd rather stick with Vicious Wastes' default values.

I heavily recommend Vicious Wastes for the people who consider JSawyer New Vegas to be forgiving. Admittedly, I think it is: drinking water to heal HP is a big no-no in my book, and Vicious Wastes gets rid of that entirely, as well as FOOD healing. If you want HP, you need caps to pay for doctors and supplies (hard to get money with the mod), or find Stimpaks in the world (much, much harder than in the vanilla game). It pays significantly to invest in Medicine and Survivalism.

 

[laclongquan]

Eh, I dont say anything about extensive change to quest reward or such.

The beauty of Slower Leveling is that it change only one thing, which is your level threshold. Nothing else.

If a quest reward you 500XP, it still do.

From a point of controling which aspect to change, SL mods are helpful.

If you want to play a pure FNV game and change only one thing.

 

[Sigourn]

Eh, I dont say anything about extensive change to quest reward or such.

The beauty of Slower Leveling is that it change only one thing, which is your level threshold. Nothing else.

If a quest reward you 500XP, it still do.

From a point of controling which aspect to change, SL mods are helpful.

If you want to play a pure FNV game and change only one thing.

Well, that makes sense. Is there any in particular you recommend? I found this one.

 

[laclongquan]

Yeah, Slower Level Rates is what i used back when.

 

[Vorark]

People kept sucking that modder's balls, so I caved in and installed a couple of them, especifically NV Bounties and The Inheritance.

Put bluntly, they sucked just as I expected them to. Those and A World of Pain. The average Fallout modder hasn't got a clue what a quality mod is. The first quest of NV Bounties is to kill someone in particular and bring his finger as proof. That's literally the extent of the quest's requirements, and if you think about it only for a second you will realize why it's such a fucking stupid quest.

As I thought then. That's why I'm always wary of quest mods, no matter the game.

 

[buru5]

This is a great list of mods. Really fits my ethos for modding as well, try to maintain the core gameplay and experience that the studio wanted but improving on it in subtle ways. A load order would be nice but it's whatever, if someone is serious enough they'll figure that out on their own or use something like boss.

 

[Mozg]

I installed and played Tales from the Burning Sands at some point and it felt like it was written and designed by a decent strip mall hobby shop teenage nerd vs. New Vegas Bounties and stuff like Beyond Boulder Dome being by utter subhumans. Autumn Leaves gets all the way up to college aged nerd that's read some non-franchised novels. If there were any other decent "quest mods" I never heard of 'em.

 

[Sigourn]

I installed and played Tales from the Burning Sands at some point and it felt like it was written and designed by a decent strip mall hobby shop teenage nerd vs. New Vegas Bounties and stuff like Beyond Boulder Dome being by utter subhumans. Autumn Leaves gets all the way up to college aged nerd that's read some non-franchised novels. If there were any other decent "quest mods" I never heard of 'em.

Autumn Leaves is literally the only one I hate hopes for... but even then I know it could be probably be much better.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

I started it now (first playthrough really, though I tried a couple of time before) with Sawyer and hardcore, but I found hardcore to be just tedious and a waste of time, so I turned it off. With just Sawyer on, though, I find it very easy. Meh. Absolutely shit gameplay, one of the worst I've ever encountered. I'm no stranger to playing games with shit gameplay because of other reasons, but this is really pushing my patience, there's really only barely enough there to make me trudge through it, but I don't know for how long.

 

[Sykar]

Community patch, some restored content, updated textures and more difficult hardcore mode with lower HP and more damage across the board to minimze HP bloated endless fights which are boring as hell. Also removing tags from sneaking, skill checks in dialogues and containers are essential imho.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

but what about the tittie mods hmm

dont tell you skipped on that

thats everyones guilty pleasure when playing bethesda games

 

[Sigourn]

but what about the tittie mods hmm

dont tell you skipped on that

thats everyones guilty pleasure when playing bethesda games

I don't really like titty mods, mostly because they are a pain to install, though I already use nudity mods for the immersive "raiders don't wear underwear" experience.

 

[Drog Black Tooth]

Sigourn, whats the current best body mesh replacer that has the most natural look?

 

[Sigourn]

Sigourn, whats the current best body mesh replacer that has the most natural look?

I'm not a bodytype expert, but I prefer the Type 6 body. It's got great tits, nice curves, and gets rid of the noodle shoulders/arms and floating heels of Type 3. The body is perfect, it's the armor replacers that suck balls as they make a lot of clothing much more revealing for no real reason other than "muh boner".

And for males, I prefer Robert's Bodies. It's also the one that looks the most "normal", as Breeze's looks like someone literally painted a penis and balls texture on top of the vanilla underwear texture.

 

[Sykar]

but what about the tittie mods hmm

dont tell you skipped on that

thats everyones guilty pleasure when playing bethesda games

I skipped out on that. If I want a boner, I slip into my wife's side of the bed.

 

[Lexx]

Why the fuck did you add the New Vegas Uncut mods, but not my Betsy? Also while we're at it, I tried to fix the every-brahmin-is-riddled-with-cancer-thing a while ago and I think it ended up ok and well enough to fit into the game. This one should be essential for Honest Hearts, though I think some of the patch mods are already including it by default... don't remember. I think it's one of the best mods I've ever worked on, even though it's extremely tiny. I think it never really got the attention it deserves because people see "a mod with writing? Must be crap, because all mods with more writing are crap (as seen in most quest mods)".

Also, yes, the someguy stuff is... questionable. I really do appreciate the creativity of this guy and how much he did, but many of his quest are very barebone and I have no idea why they are getting praised so much. Same with that Boulder Dome mod... it's completely failing the Fallout lore and is an all around mediocre experience, yet it gets praised a lot.

If you want a quest mod with actual good writing, then try this Autumn Falls thing. I enjoyed it quite a lot for a FNV quest mod. It doesn't have a lot choice&consequences (well, I haven't really noticed much at all), but the writing certainly is above mod standard.

 

[Sigourn]

Why the fuck did you add the New Vegas Uncut mods, but not my Betsy? Also while we're at it, I tried to fix the every-brahmin-is-riddled-with-cancer-thing a while ago and I think it ended up ok and well enough to fit into the game. This one should be essential for Honest Hearts, though I think some of the patch mods are already including it by default... don't remember.

Both mods are included in Yukichigai Gameplay Tweaks, which is on my list already. It's a very thorough mod that contains many really good mods in one simple package, so I'd rather recommend that than list every individual mod.

Didn't know about Betsy, though. I'll get around to adding it later, though I will upload a new version of the list that has more specific "nomenclatures" for different playstyles:

Basic:

- Mods that correct bugs and oversights from the vanilla game.
- Meant for a vanilla experience.

Complete New Vegas:

- Mods that restore cut content.
- Meant for a "still true to the game" experience.

Director's Cut:

- JSawyer mod by the Lead Designer of New Vegas.
- Meant for a "still true to the game" experience.
- Suggested to play Basic + Director's Cut to experience the game as intended by its Lead Designer.

Classic:

- Mods that game look and play closer to the original Fallouts.
- Meant for a nostalgic experience.

Enhancements:

- Mods that improve on the existing gameplay mechanics and aspects of the game without making drastic changes.
- Meant for an improved New Vegas experience with better quality of life mods.

Game-changers:

- Mods that completely revamp the existing gameplay mechanics, or add new ones entirely.
- Meant for a "what New Vegas could have been" experience.
- You will have to rethink how you play the game entirely.

I've also just found your Classic Dialogue Options mod. I had heard of another, but that used scripts with fucked around with some dialogue notes. Is yours edited by hand? If so, I'll add it to my "Classic" section.

 

[Lexx]

Cool, that Yukichigai Gameplay Tweaks mod has quite a few of my mods. Either I didn't know or I just forgot about it.

That other Classic Dialogue Options mod that uses some scripts to get around the tags has a few problems, though - it does not only remove [Speech x/y], but possibly [Lie] etc. as well. I don't know how much of an impact it makes, but it was enough for me not to consider using it. If this (very tiny) issue would be fixed, I'd consider switching... the idea itself is the better one, as it works with all mods and doesn't touch the dialog entries in itself... so it's 100% compatible with any mod that does dialog stuff.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

Sigourn , Sigourn!

What kind of recommended mod list without some sort of Slower Leveling style mods?

Hi.

JSawyer if I'm not mistaken already slows down levelling. If it doesn't, at least it brings down the level cap to keep the game more challenging. If that isn't enough, there's Vicious Wastes, which definitely does both to great effect. Project Nevada in addition lets you adjust experience gain for different tasks as you wish, but I'd rather stick with Vicious Wastes' default values.

I heavily recommend Vicious Wastes for the people who consider JSawyer New Vegas to be forgiving. Admittedly, I think it is: drinking water to heal HP is a big no-no in my book, and Vicious Wastes gets rid of that entirely, as well as FOOD healing. If you want HP, you need caps to pay for doctors and supplies (hard to get money with the mod), or find Stimpaks in the world (much, much harder than in the vanilla game). It pays significantly to invest in Medicine and Survivalism.

Or to take the cannibal perk, which I actually did for the first time ever. By the way, there's a patch for JSawyer ultimate edition which basically tunes project nevada to the Jsawyer ultimate modder specs, that wasn't on your list.