The goal of this mod is to make Fallout New Vegas signifcantly more challenging, without fundamentally altering the game balance of the game. This will maintain compatability with future DLC and mods that don't change the same records.

Download here: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=37466

Highlights:
* New weapons and ammo
* More mobs spawning
* Less loot, less caps for barter, less ammo
* More negative effects for stims
* Everything has weight
* Many other small changes to improve gameplay.

Install:
Copy to your \Data folder, and enable with the launcher of your choice or FOMM.

I won't break this up into pieces. Don't ask.

Compatability:
I use a variety of mods with them. My mod list, and load order, looks like this:
* Distant Gunfire Sound
* Realistic Death and Dismemberment
* Psychoelf Lev stripping
* Emperical Weather
* Darn UI
* Compiled Patch
* Timescale Adjuster (set to 12 for 2 hour days)
* Project 13 Populated Wasteland
* New Vegas Bounties
* Sagercore

Known issues:
* The colt M1911 re-uses the model for the Brown Hi-Power (9mm pistol). Costmetic only.
* The models and pip-boy images of some of the mods don't always exactly match what they should. Cosmetic only.
* Not much love for pew-pew energy weapons.

Credits:
If you want to use anything here, just credit me.

+++DETAILS+++

Global setting changes:
* Auto-aim has a much more minimal effect, and is now almost complete gone.
* Player hitpoints are now calculated as (END - 2) * 10 + (2 * Level); NPCs are same.
* Player carrying capacity is now significantly reduced to 50 + STR * 15
* Player action points are now calculated as 40 + AGL * 3
* Skill points now 3 + Int * 2 per level.
* Tag skill now +5, and x2 for each point put in per level
* Sneaking is much harder
* Grenades lose more energy when bouncing.
* Items now sell for more, are bought for less; barter has a slightly greater effect.
* Respawns now happen a little faster.
* NPC HP calculations are now identical to the player.
* Player run speed is unchanged, but running with a drawn weapon is slower.
* Armor has a greater effect on sneaking.
* Weapon condition now has a moresignificant effect on accuracy and reliability, but less on damage.
* Skill level now as a less effect on damage.
* STR a bit more important for melee damage, to offset minor increases in DT for heavy armors.
* Crippled legs and arms now have a greater effect.
* All merchants now require at least 1 day to respond (no more loading to refresh gun-runner store).
* Running accuracy penalty is higher.
* Crouching accuracy bonus is a littler higher.

Creatures and NPCs
* Creatures will search much further, and see further -- sneaky sniping from a distance is harder (though still too easy).
* Feral ghouls are now tougher and faster.
* Giant ants now move faster.
* Mutants a bit tougher.

NPC Companions
* All NPCs companions now cause a 30% reduction in experience points gained by the PC.
* All NPC companions have had their stats moderately reduced. Note that their scripted, hidden bonuses have not been reduced.

Spawns
* Certain types of creatures and NPCs will now spawn in greater numbers.

Loot
* The loot lists are now somewhat flater than they were.
* You will find far less ammunition and medical suppies.
* All new weapons and ammunitions will be found (and used) by bad guys.

Magazines Meds, Drugs and Food
* Food and water no longer heals.
* Food and water now reduce starvation and thirst much less.
* Stimpacks and super-stim packs now heal less, take longer to do it, and come with a significant hit certain stats.
* All drugs and magazines now have some weight.
* Water and cigs renamed for better sorting.

Armor
* The heavy armor types now weigh more, but are also somewhat heavier (and occasionally have the cost adjust to compensate). This accentuates the differences between certain weapon and ammunition types.
* Recon armor came with a small (+5) bonus to Sneak that doesn't even begin to offset the large penalty that medium armor gives while sneak. Recon armor has now been changed to "light" armor.

Weapons and Ammo
* Many weapons have been renamed to the re-life counterpart indicated by the model. For example, the 9mm pistol is now the Brown Hi-power or Service Rifle to AR-15. In some cases, a model was clearly inspired by a real weapon, even though there were very significant different (i.e. the Light Machinegun, renamed as M249).
* New wapons:
- M1 Garand chambered for 7.62mmx51, an 8-shot semi-automatic rifle that hits very, very hard, but uses the more common .308 ammunition.
- M1 Garand .30-06, the original 8-shot semi-automatic used by the American serviceman to kill Nazis in WW2, commies in WW3, and mutants in WW4. Hit hard, though a bit less effective against armored targets than the more modern, and higher velocity 7.62mm ammunition.
- AR10, a rare and hard-hitting NCR Service Rifle chambered for 7.62mm. Its high clip capacity and rate of fire is balanced by its less than sterling reliability.
- Springfield M1903, a highly-accurate .30-06 chambered bolt-action rifle.
- M3A1 .45, a .45 ACP chambered version of the M3A1 9mm
- Colt M1911, a 7 round, .45 ACP chambered hand-gun with excellent reliability and accuracy off-setting the small magazine size.

* New or rebalanced ammunition:
- .308 Hollow Point has been replaced by the 7.62mmx51 NATO round. This round functions similar to a higher pressure (+P) round.
- .45 ACP, .45 ACP HP, and .45 ACP +P now added. In general .45 ACP comes with a signficant pentalty to penetration (1.3x Damage Threshold), which offsets the extra damage of the .45 chamberered weapons. It will be more effective than 10mm against lightly-armored targets.
- 30-06 added. This, like .45 ACP, comes with a DT penalty. It will be more effective than .308 against lightly-armored targets.
- A number of higher velocity, or heavier, ammunition types, such as .44, 5.56mm and .308 include small armor penetration bonues.

* All new weapons have appropriate mods, and are fixable by the appropriate weapon.
* The only rifle with a silencer available is now the .223 Bolt-Action. First, this is because silencing a .308 rifle is going to be nigh-impossible, and second, there were game balance issues -- picking bad guys off from an extreme distance was much too easy.
* The .223 and .308 Bolt-action rifles now are both single shot by default, but they both have mods that will add box magazines.
* Many small tweaks to existing weapons for balance reasons.
* Most ammunition is now more expensive.