So every time I hit "play" I get a box that it's detecting my hardware, then another saying it's set to High. Then I hit play again, same thing. And again. I have tried different video settings and launching it directly from the folder. Same thing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. My laptop meets all specs (higher on all actually)

Wayne "Kila" Watts

oh...Win 7, 64 bit, geforce 360M, intel quad core I7, Toshiba Qosmio 550 laptop, 8 GB ram, etc.

If you installed steam in the default location, c:\program files(x86)\steam\steamapps\common\new vegas.....
You are up against a permissions problem within windows itself.

The program files directory is protected by the UAC (User Account Control).
The NV launcher is attempting to write to your ini file(s) and windows is not allowing it to do so.

There are two simple ways to fix this issue. and a bunch of more complicated ways.
1. Reinstall steam and new vegas outside of the program files directory... i.e. C:\games\steam..etc etc.
2. Turn of UAC.

The complicated methods involve setting permissions to the directories for the installer program, and other windows processes. Not recommended due to the mess that is windows security permissions system.

Loucifer, thank you very much. I actually installed Steam in E:/Steam/..... however, I will check the permissions and see if that works. I should have thought of that. I'll let you know but may not get to it for a bit......

A less simple but more targeted solution that does not require disabling UAC (which there are a few software suites and features out there that can require) is to set the launcher and the falloutnv.exe files to run as administrator. You may have to move you save files from the appdata directory though.

You can do this by going to the fallout new vegas directory and right clicking on each of those executables (one at a time) and clicking properties. Go to compatabilitiy and check "run as administrator." Repeat this with the second executable so you've done it to both the launcher and the game executable. These programs now have full write access to their own files. Unfortunately your existing settings (including any manual ini file customizations) as well as your saves are in the appdata directory from when they were being run at a lower permissions level. You can copy those files over and merge them yourself or you can use the fallout mod manager which will offer to do this for you.

http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=36901

If you install FOMM (it's a nice tool in general anyways) be sure to set it to run as administrator. You can set this on the program shortcuts in the start menu too - I just wanted you to be sure to get both the launcher and the game exe rather than just the launcher.