Ok, I've been away from Fallout New Vegas for quite some time. Just did a clean install via Steam, and playing with no mods currently installed.

No mods installed (fresh install), windows 7 x64, 4gb ram, 3.9ghz quadcore, gtx460 1gb, 270 series drivers.

Everything is as normal, until I enter the Prospecter Saloon. Sunny talks to me as normal, but when I move to the bar, Trudy isn't there. In fact, Trudy is nowhere, nor is Cobb. The only person in the Bar is the Goodsprings Settler sitting at the end. I've tried leaving, moving far away, waiting several days and returning, but Trudy never appears.

I've been experimenting with the console, trying to repair the issue.

Via console, using player.moveto 104c6d teleports me to where trudy *should* be standing, but she's not there. Likewise, player.moveto 104c68 will teleport me to where Cobb should be standing, but he's not there either.

If I use prid 104c6d, disable and enable trudy will spawn where she should be, and acts as if I've witnessed her argument with Cobb. Likewise, doing the same with 104c68 (Cobb) causes him to spawn where he'd be immediately after the argument, then he runs off. Talking to him while he runs away behaves as if they've had their argument.

So, attempting to continue along the quest chain (my quest log tells me to go see Ringo) greets me with a locked gas station door, so it's impossible to talk to him. I haven't tried teleporting in to Ringo yet, because I really want to figure out what's wrong here and get it going properly.

I've started multiple characters, and had the same results every time. Can anyone offer any advice?

Aha! Well, I feel foolish. Problem solved.

Trudy doesn't spawn until you've fully finished Sunny's tutorial, or chosen "[End Tutorial]". My first game, I started it, but didn't bother finishing it off; my second and subsequent games I didn't even start it. Finishing the tutorial, or ending it, spawns Trudy 'n Cobb.

~sighs~

Well, here's a problem and solution for the record