Am I the only one but aren't the consumables different in NV then FO3? I thought I remembered eating something and it just raised my health, in nv it only does it for a few seconds? What's with that?
Also where is the best place to learn about building things and cases? New elements I can't seem to put a finger on how to use them. Can anyone comment?

That's how it works in hardcoe mode. In Casual mode, you get the Fallout 3 "instant health regen." Same applies to stimpacks.

Injured limbs in hardcoe have to be healed with Hydra, Doctor's Bag, or having a doctor fix them. In Casual mode, the old Fallout 3 stimpack method works.

As for crafting, cases, and other things... http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Fallout:_New_Vegas

Food in New Vegas heals over time in hardcoe. i.e +5hp(20s). In core it just gives you a certain amount of health ( dont hold me on the last one i haven't played core in forever and some).

Food in Fallout 3 healed a certain amount at a time. As for building stuff it's rather easy.
For food you just need the right survival skill and the right ingredients.
For ammo you'll need powder, lead and some cases. You can also break down ammunition to get that if you can't buy it.
Making stuff like bottlecap mines is also easy. You just need the right science/repair skill and the right stuff to put it together.

I got ninja'd :sadvaultboy:

Food heals over time in NV in hardcoe and normal.

Thanks for the reply. Ok food heals over time, how much time? I had an Iguana Stick 2 Rads and 1 HP 7s. I clicked on it, lost one and it didn't do anythng and then 7 sec later It says it is over? what's over healing, lol nothing healed. Where is the documentation about this? It is also much harder, the normal for nv is like the normal for the southern addon for FO3.

Depends on the food item. Your Iguana on a Stick gave you one health point over seven seconds, so you got a total of seven health points from it. It may not have been enough to move your health bar on the HUD, but if you look at your health in the Pip Boy it should have added those seven points.

Your medicine skill must be very low for it to have had such a small effect.

survival*

Thanks Gator that is the explanation I was looking for, now it makes sense. I actually just started the game a while ago I think I am on level 2. Just wanting to figure things out before I get to high on the levels and then realize I should have done x three levels ago, oh the woes of gaming. :rolleyes:

Oops! My bad.

Most of the pre-packaged foods will not grant much in the way of HP, but with a high survival the crafted stuff can outperform Super Stimpacks with a comparable Medicine skill. In hardcoe mode, one's Survival skill level also affects the rate at which consumables replenish water/food/sleep. Some of the recipes require a fairly high skill, notably Hydra (75) and Brahmin Wellington (85).