The modding has gotten to me. I want. Where should I begin to learn about the game on PC and doing the mods, not making them, just using them? Links would be great.

I've gotten the PC version but I'll play on my PS3 until I learn. Thanks for any help.

Go to fallout nexus for new vegas. Look at their top 100 mods and pick from that. It really depends on you and how you want to play. (ie. your playstyle I mean.) Most mods can be removed easily so you can test them for awhile to see if you like them. My advice for mods that add or change gameplay is to get to 12 - 15th level, make a save, and use that for a test point to see if you like a mod or not.

http://newvegasnexus.com/index.php is the place to look for mods. As for what mods to use? Question is: what would you want to change or add to the game? There is a "Mod Detectives" thread in the modding section to look for specific ones, other good places to check are the Top 100 list as the previous poster said, and "updates recently" page.

To make mod use easier you should download Fallout Mod Manager, there is more powerful but complex tool Wrye Flash too. It takes some time more to understand than FOMM, but once you learn to use it you won't go back. Also FNVEdit is a useful tool to make your own modifications to the game or mods, and to spot mod conflicts. And BOSS is an extremely useful tool that automatically sorts your load order in a way that avoids conflicts (however when many mods change same things you need to make a patch to merge the changes with either FNVEdit or Wrye Flash).

When in doubt, ask in the mods section

I must admit that my PC skills are rusty since I've been using Apple at work. Are there links to tutorials on how to do this right at the beginning? Thanks again!

Start by getting the mod manager (FOMM), there will most likely be a readme file that will explain what to do.

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

To download click "Files (1)" then click on FOMM. You will also need winRAR or some other similar tool if you dont already have it as most mods are compressed.

Not really important. I have over 20 mods installed and don't have FOMM. They all work fine with zero conflicts.

To the OP: I`d suggest you start off by making things as simple as possible. Stay away from mods that require anything more than simply inserting the esp. file in your Data folder. Once you`ve got the hang of the process, you can graduate to installing meshes and textures and programs like FOMM.

The OP made it pretty clear that they are new to modding and such. The mod manager makes things a lot more simple.

Sure, once a person gets into installing the larger mods with meshes and textures and such, then FOMM becomes something that helps manage the process. But there are a ton of great mods that don`t require anything more complicated than unzipping and activating the .esp file.

Then there's that pesky load order thing that the default launcher won't do anything for. You know, the one that can crash your game?

Yeah, FOMM, Wrye Flash, or some other load sorter/mod manager is a good idea.

this might work if you have few mods, but the more you get and the more complex the mods you use, the default way will soon simply not be enough. besides, just because the game can load and play without problems doesnt mean the mods you have dont conflict. but starting small is very sound advice indeed.

also i recommend following the mod threads to get ideas of how the mod operates, special instructions and possible issues.


welcome back to the light

Here's a mod FAQ for Fallout 3. Pretty much applies the same for most of it.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/972878-fallout-3-mods-faq/

Yesterday I was looking at something in Bonnie Springs and I hear this shot ring out. A Deathclaw falls dead right next to me...right next to me! Thank you, Boone.

I've been thinking about learning about modding for a while (Oblivion) but like I said, my PC skills are rusty, not horribly rusty but as I was reading the FAQ, and the FOMM page on NewVegasNexus and about the mod I want, things started coming back to me. I really appreciate the advice, the links and the discussion of which way to go and how to do this. I have a bit of reading to do. I've learned there's something called a FOMOD from the FAQ and I'll get the FOMM because if there's something that can manage this for me, it's the way to go for now.

The mod I want to get is the Centred third person camera. I don't want to change the game as much as enjoy a few features I've seen in videos and with this one, I might have seen that Deathclaw. If you have a suggestion for another mod after the camera and unlimited companions, I'd love to hear it. I've been looking at the Top 100 and the Top 25 from PC Gamer. Thanks again for the help and if there's anything else, please share.

Here's a few things I personally recommend

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1143482-wipzbeta-darnified-ui-nv/ - on the high resolution displays that most PCs have these days, I find it extremely annoying to play without this.
http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35998 - Some weather effects that make for a more interesting if not always realistic environmental experience.
http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34888 - A lighting mod that I find pretty difficult to play without these days. Most notably cleans the air of the overly orange tint.

...and I recommend you search for mods that fix any large bugs you encounter. For instance, http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=36317 is absolutely necessary if you plan on using any cowboy type weapon, as otherwise you will constantly get stuck in the reloading animation. There's all sorts of small fixes that mod authors have made that can greatly improve your experience even while playing a near vanilla game. Maybe stay away from the "Community Bugfix Compilation" though as I have heard that it is not put together well and has a history of causing new and interesting problems, a few of which I have experienced myself.

Also if you're planning on playing in the third person a lot you might want to try the camera mod bundled in http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=34759. You don't need to use the actual realism mod, which I don't personally like, but the camera mod centers the camera much more than vanilla without completely ruining the third person aiming. Even though aiming in third person is not recommended either way, I found myself ditching the centered camera for this one after trying it.

Eh, if you're a beginner, FOMM is overcomplicated. Very few NV mods use FOMODs, and even then the majority don't need them. The extra features aren't exactly useful for beginners either, unless you want to pack al your mod files into BSAs or something.
Personally, I'd just suggest http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=35003 - it's easy to use, even without reading the gigantic manual it comes with, and you might even know how to use it anyway! Just drop it in, play with your mod load order (or use http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=10193, although it's likely missing a fair few mods right now), build a Bashed Patch if you have a lot of mods (you probably won't), and enjoy.

As for mods, I also recommend Nevada Skies. It really makes a difference!
However, in response to the poster above's recommendation of Arwen's camera, I can't help but indulge in a bit of http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37632.

What's the performance hit of Nevada Skies? Is there a way to adjust the darker nights (my monitor does not render blacks well so a wall of purplish-bluish-blacks is what I get with a similar Fallout 3 counterpart)? I'd love to have proper sandstorms but am not sure if my computer could handle it. The Oblivion weather mods were rather taxing.

The key thing about mods is that there are some important things:

1) You need to make sure that they are loaded in the right order. The normal Fallout New Vegas file has to be loaded first, and then lower in the list you should have your mods. Mods lower in the list will override mods that are above, so if two mods both change how a laser rifle works, then you'll find that your laser rifle behaves like the mod that is lower in the list. If you don't use any sort of mod manager, then the game will just run them in alphabetical order... and so any mod beginning with a letter before F will be loaded before the normal Fallout file and the game will crash. That's why a mod manager is recommended, even if you are only using one or two mods.

2) If you use any mods that have new textures or models or sound effects, there's a thing called "Archive Invalidation" - what the hell does that mean?! - which has to be disabled first. Normally if you just put some new weapons with new textures and sounds into the game folder and try to use them then you'll get a horrible multicoloured mess in the game or a big floating exclamation mark instead of a new gun. There are various ways of fixing Archive Invalidation, but mod managers like Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM) or NVMM (NVMM) or whatever can handle that for you, I think you just press one button "Archive Invalidation" and it fixes the problem forever. And if it doesn't, you just press that button again.



I never use any of FOMM's abilities except for changing load order, activating and deactivating mods, and the button that launches the game.

I just had a look at that Wrye Flash thing you linked to, and when I had a look at the description/changelog I had no idea what I was even looking at.

Actually, the Fallout NV launcher only displays the existing data files in alphabetical order; they are not loaded that way.

The game first loads all "master" files (*.esm) sorted by date from oldest to newest, then all "plugin" files (*.esp) also ordered by date. I believe that one official game patch accidentally set the date on the main "FalloutNV.esm" newer than the dates on the pre-order bonus files ("CaravanPack.esm", "ClassicPack.esm", etc.) which caused the game to crash upon starting. Mod managers help out by showing the real load order and allowing you to manipulate it by shuffling the datestamps on the files around.




Archive Invalidation, when turned on, means that loose files in the "Data" folder override files of the same name (and position) in the game archives (*.bsa) - e.g. a hi-res texture replacer or an altered model for an in-game object. For Fallout New Vegas it's turned on in the Ini-file by default - but there is a long-standing bug that's been around since Oblivion, which can cause the game to completely ignore this setting and the official override mechanism and always use the files in the archive, no matter what. Some people finally figured out that adding an empty dummy archive to the list of BSAs in the Ini-file before the official game archives would cause Archive Invalidation to work correctly as intended. There are automated ways to apply this fix and remove it, whithout having to manually edit the Ini-file.

My impression of the two main mod managers is that Wrye Flash has very powerful features for modders and serious heavy-duty mod users, while being a bit inaccessible for new users, and that the Fallout Mod Manager concentrates most heavily on convenience and ease of use (though not lacking in powerful technical features itself).

FOMM is a great mod manager.
Good to understand how to apply mods without it, but life is SO much BETTER with it.

Ah I didn't know that! I named my mod "Tag Skills Improved" to be sure it was much lower down in load order than "Fallout"!



Heh, yeah I did actually know what it was, I was speaking from the perspective of "things you should know if you are completely new to Fallout modding". All you need to know is that Archive Invalidation is an oddly named annoying thing that spoils your fun but there are easy ways to fix it.

I don't know about that. Even though I've used Wrye Bash since Oblivion (that's 4 years ago) I know how to install it and figure out any problems, but he mentioned being rusty with PC's so Wrye Flash, IMO, would be over-complicated. It can still be rather challenging for a new user.
FOMM is far easier to use. Install it, adjust your load order and play. But, then there's the game launcher. Pesky thing - (see next quote)


I do agree, but there is another way to sort your load order without FOMM. I didn't want to use FOMM until it was somewhere near being stable so just manually edited the text file located at [Drive]:\Documents and Settings\[User]\Local Settings\Application Data\FalloutNV\Plugins.txt
Sure, it says "please do not alter this file" but you can. Make a shortcut to it on the desktop and each time you add another mod to your Data folder (an esp) just write the esp name in that file. A manual load order. But, each time I'd use the launcher (before I had the batch file to bypass it) then check that file Fallout.esm would be halfway down the list so I'd have to re-order it all again.
I loathe the launcher and bypass it at every opportunity. I have a batch file to do just that as FOMM's "Launch Game" button uses it, too, unfortunately.

Thanks for that Nevada Skies link, my favourite FO3 weather mod is not here yet, so that looks like a suitable substitute for now

Personally, I reckon something that you can just drop in and start adjusting stuff is easier to use than something you open up and see a heap of menus and buttons that will likely be nonsense to a beginner.

When Wrye Flash opens up, you see the modlist. On the side is the mod information. At the top are tabs.
When FOMM opens up, you have to go through a setup process - Wrye Flash requires you to install Python, so that's even. Once that's done, you get a window with a useful looking menu up top. Below that is the modlist and mod information on one side, and a sidebar devoted to five buttons on the other.

If they've read a bit into modding, they can probably guess that they should re-order their mods. Either one allows you to drag them around. Naturally, they need to be set correctly to do so - Flash set to order mods by their load order, FOMM set to order them by their mod index. Either way, it's the same.

The only reason Wrye Flash seems complicated to use is because it does a bunch of complicated stuff - but that can all be safely ignored unless you're told to make a Bashed Patch. Another reason is because of its signature "Wall o' Text" that is either linked to or quoted with it. It seems to look daunting, but considering how even I know how to use it (ha ha), I'd say it's not too hard! Just ignore what you don't need, and look closely when you can't find what you're looking for.

The launcher and the plugins.txt file that it generates have nothing to do with the load order - they only govern the plugin activation, i.e. whether an esm/esp is loaded at all. You can switch things around in plugins.txt manually, but all the active files will still load in the exact same order as before: first the master files, sorted by date, then the plugins, also sorted by date. The only way to change the load order manually is by changing the date stamps of the esm/esp files - which Windows does not let you do, without a third-party extension (I use http://tools.tortoisesvn.net/SKTimeStamp.html).




FOMM only starts the game via the launcher, if you have NVSE installed. The NVSE team have stated explicitly that this is needed in order for NVSE to hook correctly into the game's executable. Without it, NVSE will still load, but some of its functions will not work, or work incorrectly. This may not be true for pira- err... unencrypted versions of the exe.

Well, it worked like that for me, with the text file. If the Fallout.esm was halfway down my game would not load as an esp was above it.
I don't use NVSE (for that reason) but was warned about the launch game button in FOMM, before NVSE was released, by a trusted forumer. I just go by what he tells me as he knows more about FOMM, NVSE, FNVEdit than I do. If you think he's wrong I don't really care as everything he has suggested has worked for me.

I don't find FOMM hard to use at all... even since i started

Well, you did it.

I just wanted to let you know how it went. Your suggestions were great and I got the two mods I wanted (Centred Third Person Camera and Unlimited Companions) to work. UC is a great mod and I have Boone, Arcade, ED-E and Veronica following me around for a bit. She kicks butt too. I'll definitely keep it simple and go slow as I learn. I did get FOMM but ended up just unzipping and copying the esp file into the data folder. FOMM sets the load order and I load the game from the desktop icon. Lots more to learn but I'm on my way. I don't know how or where to do the console commands/fixes I keep seeing or understand the G.E.C.K. so that'll be the next things to learn.

Thanks again to everyone who helped on this thread...you're all responsible for creating a new modder and you made it pretty easy too.

Too fun! - Fawkes