I tried to return to New Vegas after my 87th save. I don't recall what the exact situation was, but I went to enter New vegas to go to the Lucky 38 when the screen would go to loading and then go black. It would freeze in a black screen and when I restarted, my auto save would be corrupted. I'm stuck with not being able to complete the game. I tried doing other missions and quests, leveling up, and then going back but with the same result. I put in my son's copy of the game and the same thing happened. I'm utterly disgusted with the fact that Bethesda allowed such a shoddy piece of work to be released.

If you did the quest "Debt Collector" and you killed Caleb while on the strip this will happen.

Just go to Crimson Caravan and buy the Old Cowboy Hat from a merchant named Blake. Wear the Old Cowboy Hat while entering the strip either from the gate or coming out of a casino and all should be well.

Lol. That really works?

Yes. it does!. That's totally random. thanks :intergalactic:

Also, if you don't want to mess around carrying that hat (and possibly destroying it while repairing something else) I suggest reverting to an earlier save before you killed Caleb. Get the quest then use the wait feature until you see Caleb in Freeside, kill him there and complete the quest. This is what I did and never had to wear the cowboy hat.

I dont really have much to add but felt this topic needed to be bumped to the top to help others. I also use the cowboy hat to get back in and back it up with the same guys over coat. since I have started this I have had minimal issues with getting back into the strip. I really hope this gets fixed soon because I hate having to carry them around. I guess I could store them at the motel and pick them up before going to vegas or better yet dumping the vegas pad all together. I am not even doing the main quest really any more.

In my first play through I had items spread between the Lucky 38 room and Novac. This time through I'm going to stick with novac and put nothing in my vegas room. I'll use it to sleep for the 10% xp boost before turning in a handful of quests. It's just annoying having to go through 3 load screens to get to the room then 3 more to get out. If they would have added a balcony so I could step outside and fast travel then I'd use Lucky 38.

My issue isn't having to carry that hat around, it only weighs 1lb. My issue is that I've seen 2 of these hats, one off a random enemy mob, the other at CC from Blake. I'm worried that with Jury Rigger I may accidentally destroy it to repair something else and not realize it until many hours later. I really wish they had put in some feature to make certain items so they can't be destroyed without a clear dialog box. Something like "This item has been marked essential, are you sure you want to destroy it to repair this other item?"

Can you put the hat in the dead body, and leave it there to solve the problem? Or perhaps pickpocket it onto someone there?

Edit: I tried putting the hat on the dead body, it doesn't work.