100 Best Fallout New Vegas Mods (2026): Must-Have New Vegas Gameplay Mods

The best Fallout New Vegas mods start with the script extender xNVSE and the 4GB Patcher (the Epic Games Patcher on the Epic version), then JIP LN NVSE, JohnnyGuitar NVSE, New Vegas Tick Fix, lStewieAl’s Tweaks and the Yukichigai Unofficial Patch (YUP), which together fix the crashes, stutter and bugs the game is known for. With those in place, the 100 mods below add DLC-sized quests like Autumn Leaves and Beyond Boulder Dome, all of Fallout 3 through Tale of Two Wastelands, new weather and lighting, sharper textures, new weapons and animations, smarter companions and modern movement, all free for the PC release of Fallout: New Vegas on Steam, GOG or the Epic Games Store. If you are new to the series, our rundown of how many Fallout games there are shows where New Vegas fits.

Two setup facts matter more than anything else. First, almost every modern mod needs xNVSE plus a patcher that makes the game load it, and the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass versions are not supported by either. Second, the community standard setup is the free Viva New Vegas guide from ModdingLinked, which installs through Mod Organizer 2 and covers most of the essentials below in the right order. If you follow one set of instructions, follow that one. Our install order, install steps and compatibility notes come after the list.

Essentials and Stability

1. xNVSE (New Vegas Script Extender)

xNVSE is the community-maintained continuation of the original script extender, and the foundation for nearly everything else on this list. It expands what mods can do with scripts without permanently changing any game files, per its page. Version 6.4.9, released September 16, 2026, is current, and it has close to five million downloads. Its page lists the Steam and GOG versions as supported and rules out the German No Gore, Game Pass, Epic and Bethesda.net versions, pointing Epic owners to the Epic Games Patcher instead. Install it into the game’s root folder by hand, not through a mod manager. Creator: xNVSE Team. Needs: the latest x86 Visual C++ redistributable. Download: xNVSE on Nexus Mods.

2. FNV 4GB Patcher

New Vegas was built to use only 2GB of memory, and heavily modded games run out of it fast. This small patcher makes the executable 4GB aware and loads xNVSE automatically, so you launch the game normally through Steam, GOG, the launcher or your mod manager. Its page lists support for all known Steam and GOG versions, and its files include a separate Linux version. Epic Games Store owners need lStewieAl’s Epic Games Patcher instead, which does the same jobs after downgrading the Epic executable to the Steam build. With over 170,000 endorsements, the 4GB Patcher is one of the most endorsed New Vegas files on Nexus Mods. Creator: Roy Batty and LuthienAnarion. Needs: the Visual C++ 2013 x86 runtime. Download: FNV 4GB Patcher on Nexus Mods.

3. JIP LN NVSE Plugin

JIP LN adds more than 1,000 new script functions for modders, plus a long list of engine bug fixes and tweaks you benefit from even with no other mods installed. So many popular mods list it as a requirement that it is effectively part of the base setup. It has nearly ten million downloads, and its last update, version 57.30, landed in May 2024. Creator: jazzisparis and LuthienAnarion. Needs: xNVSE 6.3.4 or newer. Download: JIP LN NVSE Plugin on Nexus Mods.

4. JohnnyGuitar NVSE

JohnnyGuitar is another xNVSE extension in the same spirit as JIP LN, with over 300 new script functions and a long list of engine bug fixes that a growing number of modern mods depend on. Version 5.28 (May 2026) is the current main file, and its authors also post automatic test builds, the latest on October 15, 2026, that are meant for testing only. Its page summary is simply a quote of the song it is named after. Installing it early saves you from chasing missing requirements later. Creator: c6, carxt, lStewieAl and WallSoGB. Needs: xNVSE 6.4.7 or newer and the latest Visual C++ 2017 to 2026 redistributable (its page warns the game will not launch without it), plus JIP LN if you turn on its bJIPFixes option. Download: JohnnyGuitar NVSE on Nexus Mods.

5. NVTF (New Vegas Tick Fix)

NVTF targets the micro stutter that New Vegas is notorious for on modern Windows, and fixes the physics bugs that appear at high frame rates. Viva New Vegas describes it as allowing play up to a safe maximum of around 120 fps. It replaces the old New Vegas Stutter Remover, which the guide says causes periodic crashes, and NVTF’s own page says the two must not be installed together. Creator: Carxt, Tgspy, lStewieAl and WallSoGB. Needs: xNVSE, the DirectX End User Runtime and the latest Visual C++ redistributable. Download: NVTF on Nexus Mods.

6. lStewieAl’s Tweaks and Engine Fixes

Stewie’s Tweaks bundles a long list of engine fixes and optional tweaks into one plugin, all configurable from an in-game menu or INI file. Its page highlights inventory searching, cookable grenades, manual reload, smooth aiming and WASD menu support. Several other entries on this list are simply switches inside it. Its page says it is safe to install, configure, update or remove mid-playthrough, and its author recommends it for Tale of Two Wastelands too. Version 10.05 arrived on October 19, 2026. Creator: lStewieAl. Needs: xNVSE 6.3.0 or newer, plus JIP LN NVSE Plugin and UIO for the in-game settings menu. Download: lStewieAl’s Tweaks on Nexus Mods.

7. Yukichigai Unofficial Patch (YUP)

YUP is the go-to bug fix compilation for the base game and all DLC, merged into a single file. Its page stresses that it contains fixes only: no new features, no balance changes and no restored content. That makes it safe to pair with almost anything, and its page says that as long as it loads directly below the game’s own files, it should not cause conflicts. It works with any combination of DLC (pick the all-DLC file or the individual ESM version), and it still gets updates, most recently version 13.9.1 in May 2026. Tale of Two Wastelands players use TTW’s own build of YUP instead. Creator: Yukichigai, maintained by sandbox. Download: YUP on Nexus Mods.

8. Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus

This picks up where YUP stops, fixing bugs that can only be solved with script extender functions. Think of it as the second half of the unofficial patch, and install it alongside YUP rather than instead of it. Version 1.7.3 arrived in May 2026. It is for a standard New Vegas setup only: The Best of Times guide lists it as incompatible with Tale of Two Wastelands. Creator: The UPNVSE Pals. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN NVSE Plugin, JohnnyGuitar NVSE, ShowOff xNVSE Plugin, and every official DLC except Courier’s Stash. Download: Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus on Nexus Mods.

9. Ultimate Edition ESM Fixes Remastered

The DLC files that ship with the Ultimate Edition carry thousands of messy records. This installer optimizes and fixes them across the base game and DLC, which its page credits with better stability and performance. It is a one-time step during setup: you run its installer and point it at an empty mod folder, and it only works on unmodified English ESMs. Its author says YUP is mandatory alongside it, and not to use it with Tale of Two Wastelands, because the same fixes are already built into TTW 3.4. Version 1.03 arrived in June 2026. Creator: Kazopert and RoyBatty. Needs: YUP and every official DLC except Courier’s Stash. Download: Ultimate Edition ESM Fixes Remastered on Nexus Mods.

10. FNV Mod Limit Fix

The vanilla game quietly misbehaves once you pass a surprisingly low number of plugins, because it runs out of file handles before it reaches the 255 plugin cap. This fix hands that job to Windows so all 255 plugins can load, and its page says it can also improve frame rate, reduce stutter and speed up loading even with a small mod list. Version 7, uploaded September 4, 2026, lists support for the latest Steam and GOG versions and the patched Epic version. Creator: iranrmrf. Needs: xNVSE and the latest Visual C++ redistributable. Download: FNV Mod Limit Fix on Nexus Mods.

11. Yvile’s Crash Logger

When a heavily modded game crashes, this writes a readable log of what the game was doing at the time. It is a fork of Cobb’s Crash Logger that names far more of the game’s internal classes, which its author says makes logs usable without reverse engineering skills, and it keeps older logs in a Crash Logs folder so a restart does not wipe the one you need. Version 5.17a arrived in March 2026. Creator: yvileapsis. Needs: xNVSE. Download: Yvile’s Crash Logger on Nexus Mods.

12. New Vegas Heap Replacer

The New Vegas Heap Replacer swaps the game’s own memory heap for a faster, more optimized one, and its page says that should cut load times, remove some stutter and slightly improve frame rate. It only loads on a 4GB-aware copy of the game, so run the 4GB Patcher (entry 2) or the Epic Games Patcher first, then extract it into the game’s root folder. A black console window at launch is how you know it is working, and its page explains how to hide it. Its author recommends pairing it with NVTF (entry 5) set to bModifyDirectXBehavior=1, which the page calls imperative with large texture packs, and warns that it conflicts with other heap replacers such as the old Stutter Remover. Version 4.3 arrived on January 18, 2026. Creator: iranrmrf. Needs: a 4GB-aware game executable. Download: New Vegas Heap Replacer on Nexus Mods.

13. Combat Lag Fix

Vanilla New Vegas loses frame rate while you attack an enemy whose health bar is on screen. According to this plugin’s page, an oversight in the health bar code added an extra 1 to 10 milliseconds to every frame, with another wait each time the target’s health changed, and this fixes it. Its page says the drop is most noticeable with an uncapped frame rate. It was released in April 2021, has not needed an update since, and has more than two million downloads. Creator: lStewieAl. Needs: xNVSE. Download: Combat Lag Fix on Nexus Mods.

14. ActorCause Save Bloat Fix

Long playthroughs make New Vegas save files swell, and this plugin fixes the cause its page identifies: the game tracks every actor detecting the source of each projectile and explosion, gets that list wrong for the player, and saves it anyway, so it can grow to thousands of entries. Its page says the fix speeds up saving and loading and shrinks saves by 10 to 30 percent depending on playthrough length, and that it is safe with both vanilla and modded saves. To clean the bloat out of an existing save, the page points to its companion tool, the ActorCause Save Debloater. It was released in April 2023. Creator: lStewieAl. Needs: xNVSE. Download: ActorCause Save Bloat Fix on Nexus Mods.

15. lStewieAl’s Engine Optimizations

According to this mod’s page, New Vegas was compiled without compiler optimizations, so its author profiled the game, found the slowest code and rewrote more than 1,000 functions with modern compilers and better algorithms. The page promises better general performance and significantly shorter load and save times. It installs like any other plugin, and its page asks you to install lStewieAl’s Tweaks (entry 6) and the ActorCause Save Bloat Fix (entry 14) alongside it. Version 1.0 arrived in August 2023. Creator: lStewieAl. Needs: xNVSE, lStewieAl’s Tweaks and ActorCause Save Bloat Fix. Download: Engine Optimizations on Nexus Mods.

16. Weapon Mesh Improvement Mod (WMIM)

WMIM fixes the vanilla weapon models: geometry and UV errors, missing normal and environment maps, broken iron sights, projectile and case ejection nodes, collision, sounds and the weapon records behind them, all while keeping the vanilla look, per its page. Its author did the work for Tale of Two Wastelands first and then brought the New Vegas weapons to Nexus Mods. The page says it is meant for a vanilla setup or for use alongside YUP, and that the Weapon Retexture Project (entry 73) now requires it. Version 1.3 arrived in July 2022. Creator: Roy Batty. Needs: all five major DLCs (the pre-order packs are supported). Download: WMIM on Nexus Mods.

17. FNVEdit

FNVEdit is the New Vegas edition of xEdit, the standard tool for viewing plugin files and spotting conflicts between them. You will not play with it, but it is how you check whether two mods edit the same records before they break each other, and the Viva New Vegas guide’s advice for adding mods beyond its own list is to check each new plugin for conflicts in FNVEdit. WME’s page (entry 75) is one of several that tell you to use it. Version 4.1.5f arrived in April 2024. Creator: ElminsterAU and the xEdit Team. Download: FNVEdit on Nexus Mods.

18. FNV BSA Decompressor

This one-click tool repacks the game’s BSA archives without zlib compression. Per its page, it also converts the .ogg sound effects to .wav so they work in the game, and extracts the .mp3 files as loose files, because those will not play from inside an archive. The page is honest about the payoff: it is not really a performance mod, and in the testing it shows, average load time dropped by about half a second, with SSDs gaining the most. You point it at your game folder and press Decompress, and to undo it you verify your game files in Steam or GOG Galaxy. Version 1.3 arrived in July 2024. Creator: zilav. Download: FNV BSA Decompressor on Nexus Mods.

User Interface

19. The Mod Configuration Menu

MCM gives every compatible mod a settings page inside one shared menu, so you tweak options in game instead of editing files. It is one of the most endorsed mods in the New Vegas library, with more than ten million downloads, and it was updated in December 2025. Many mods on this list assume you have it. Creator: Pelinor. Needs: xNVSE. Download: The Mod Configuration Menu on Nexus Mods.

20. UIO (User Interface Organizer)

UIO sits quietly in the background and makes sure every HUD and menu extension from different mods installs and uninstalls cleanly, without overwriting each other. Viva New Vegas notes it also fixes UI bugs and improves performance. Its last update was in 2021, and it remains a standard requirement across the modern mod scene. Creator: jazzisparis. Needs: xNVSE. Download: UIO on Nexus Mods.

21. UI Improvements

A newer entry from the author of Enhanced Movement, UI Improvements adds quality of life features to the game’s menus along with a handful of bug fixes: newly available perks are highlighted, a Perk Browser in the Status menu previews every perk, and the level up screen shows where your skill points went. It already appears in the Viva New Vegas interface section, it can be installed mid-game, and it was updated in February 2026. Two of its features need Vanilla UI Plus. Creator: Wombat. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar, ShowOff, Stewie’s Tweaks, UIO. Download: UI Improvements on Nexus Mods.

22. Clean Vanilla HUD

A subtle one: this cleans the noisy, blotchy textures on HUD elements like compass ticks and arrows that most players never noticed were dirty. The result looks like the original HUD, just crisp, and it is part of the Viva New Vegas interface section. Despite its small size it is not standalone: its page and file notes say it requires Vanilla UI Plus version 9.48 or newer, or a similar interface mod such as DarNified UI. Creator: ItsMeJesusHChrist (also known as LOC or The Icon Guy). Needs: Vanilla UI Plus 9.48 or newer. Download: Clean Vanilla HUD on Nexus Mods.

23. One HUD (oHUD)

oHUD gives you total control of the HUD: move elements, hide them when they are not needed, and add new ones. It merges three of Gopher’s earlier HUD mods (Immersive HUD, Adjustable HUD and Extra HUD) into one install and remains a long-time favorite, with more than 43,000 endorsements. Version 1.3.1 arrived in late 2025. Creator: Gopher. Needs: xNVSE and UIO, plus MCM to change its settings and JIP LN to save them to an INI file. Download: One HUD on Nexus Mods.

24. Menu Search

Press Ctrl-F and search your Pip-Boy, containers, barter screens, recipes, perk selection and save list. Once you have used it on a 200-item inventory, the vanilla scroll feels unbearable. It works through Stewie’s Tweaks: after installing, switch on bMenuSearch in the game’s Pause, Settings, Tweaks menu. Creator: lStewieAl. Needs: lStewieAl’s Tweaks. Download: Menu Search on Nexus Mods.

25. High Res Local Maps

The local map in vanilla New Vegas is a smeary 128 pixel image. This raises it to 512 by default, with options for 256 or 1024, so interiors are actually readable when you are hunting for an exit. It is tiny, simple and part of the Viva New Vegas setup. Creator: Ungeziefi and WallSoGB. Needs: xNVSE. Download: High Res Local Maps on Nexus Mods.

26. The Weapon Mod Menu

The vanilla weapon modding screen only lets you attach mods. The Weapon Mod Menu replaces it when you choose Mod Weapon in the Pip-Boy: you can remove attached mods, see exactly how much each one improves the gun, view every mod a weapon accepts even if you own none of them, and see how many you are carrying. Weapons of the New Millenia’s page (entry 74) says it is known to fix crashes when applying weapon mods to those guns. The page says installing through its FOMM installer is the only supported method, and it was last updated in 2013. Creator: Pelinor. Needs: NVSE (xNVSE, entry 1), with MCM optional. Download: The Weapon Mod Menu on Nexus Mods.

27. MTUI

MTUI is one of the oldest interface mods for the game and still one of the most endorsed: smaller fonts, larger item selection areas and improved conversation menus, designed for screen resolutions of 1024×768 and higher, per its page. It has not changed since its October 2010 release, and you install it by extracting the archive into the game folder. Because it replaces the game’s own menu layouts, treat it as an alternative to a modern interface setup such as the Vanilla UI Plus base that Clean Vanilla HUD (entry 22) and UI Improvements (entry 21) build on, not something to stack on top of one. Creator: Max Tael. Download: MTUI on Nexus Mods.

28. FOV Slider

FOV Slider adds an MCM menu for the world, player arms, Pip-Boy and terminal fields of view, along with weapon FOV scaling, iron sights zoom time and dialogue zoom timing, and saves everything to an INI file so the settings persist between saves. Its page points out that changing these values in MCM avoids opening the console, which disables achievements. The Asurah Reanimation Pack (entry 76) recommends it, with player FOV set to 60. Version 2.9 arrived in April 2020. Creator: Roy Batty. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN NVSE and MCM. Download: FOV Slider on Nexus Mods.

29. Consistent Pip-Boy Icons

This is a near-total overhaul of the game’s icons: its page counts more than 3,600, mostly hand-drawn and lore-friendly, made consistent in coloring and transparency, resized, realigned and cleaned of noise and stray backgrounds. It covers New Vegas and its DLC, Fallout 3 and its DLC for Tale of Two Wastelands players, and icons from more than 65 other mods, and an optional plugin adds hundreds of remastered icons without replacing anything. It comes from the same artist as Clean Vanilla HUD (entry 22), and version 4.5 arrived in November 2025. Creator: ItsMeJesusHChrist (also known as LOC or The Icon Guy). Download: Consistent Pip-Boy Icons on Nexus Mods.

30. High Resolution Screens

According to its page, the game renders the Pip-Boy, terminals and the character creation screen at 1280 by 720 whatever resolution you play at, which is why they look soft on a modern monitor. This plugin renders them at your screen resolution instead, for a noticeably sharper image. It is a tiny engine plugin, last updated in February 2026, and its page suggests pairing it with High Res Local Maps (entry 25) and Consistent Pip-Boy Icons (entry 29). Creator: lStewieAl and Wall_SoGB. Download: High Resolution Screens on Nexus Mods.

31. JIP Improved Recipe Menu

Vanilla crafting caps each batch at 100 items, closes the menu after every craft, and makes mouse users highlight a recipe and then click a separate Accept button. This purely scripted mod fixes all three: you craft as many as you have components for in one batch, the menu stays open until you close it, and clicking a recipe selects it directly. Its page says it does not modify any UI files, so it works with any interface style. The original was last updated in 2018, and the Viva New Vegas guide uses an ESPless version by rootBrz that needs no plugin slot. Creator: jazzisparis. Needs: xNVSE and JIP LN NVSE. Download: JIP Improved Recipe Menu on Nexus Mods.

32. Official Pip-Boy Readius

The Readius swaps the arm-mounted Pip-Boy 3000 for a handheld, Readius-style device and removes the Pip-Boy and its glove from your arm. It is the official New Vegas port of the Fallout 3 mod, and an aid item called Pip-Boy Readius Options lets you adjust its field of view. It dates from November 2010. Two caveats from other pages: EVE (entry 43) lists handheld Pip-Boy replacers as a known conflict that can hide its holographic iron sights, and the Viva New Vegas guide warns that handheld Pip-Boys share visual bugs that show up if you open and close them too quickly. Creator: AlexScorpion and Brianide. Needs: NVSE (xNVSE, entry 1). Download: Pip-Boy Readius on Nexus Mods.

Visuals and Atmosphere

33. New Vegas Mesh Improvement Mod (NVMIM)

NVMIM optimizes and fixes a large selection of 3D models across the base game and DLC. The changes are faithful rather than flashy: fewer visual glitches, cleaner geometry, and better performance in places. It is part of the core Viva New Vegas list, and version 1.14 arrived on October 19, 2026, followed by a hotfix the next day. Creator: RoyBatty and SciRika. Download: NVMIM on Nexus Mods.

34. Ojo Bueno Texture Pack

Ojo Bueno is a set of hand-crafted, high-quality texture replacements for objects across the Mojave, built from the original textures so the game still looks like itself. It comes in Ultra, High and Fast versions with VRAM guidance for each, per its page. Updated in February 2026, it remains one of the most endorsed texture packs for the game. Creator: Ojo Bueno. Download: Ojo Bueno Texture Pack on Nexus Mods.

35. Wasteland Flora and Terrain Overhaul

This adds more than 100 new trees and plants to the desert, from cacti and bristlecone pines to junipers and wildflowers, with 3D distant versions for many of them. It also offers optional new terrain textures, a medium resolution version, and a lighter vanilla replacer that only swaps the Joshua trees and yuccas. It has over 72,000 endorsements, and version 3.8 of the main file arrived on October 14, 2026. Creator: vurt and Marcurios. Download: Wasteland Flora and Terrain Overhaul on Nexus Mods.

36. Mojave Scenery Overhaul

Mojave Scenery Overhaul remakes the empty, forgettable stretches of the map while leaving major towns alone, which keeps it compatible and light on performance. Its author hand-navmeshed the changes and added hidden loot to reward exploring, and Viva New Vegas recommends it over the older New Vegas Landscape Overhaul Remastered, which it says has broken navmeshes. You need to generate distant object LOD afterward, which the Viva New Vegas LOD guide explains, and a separate version exists for Tale of Two Wastelands. Creator: Biggie404. Needs: MAC-TEN. Download: Mojave Scenery Overhaul on Nexus Mods.

37. Sunshine On My Shoulders

A vanilla-plus weather mod that keeps the look of the original skies while adding configurable weather tints, adjustable night brightness and more. It is the weather choice in the current Viva New Vegas guide and was updated in May 2026. Like any weather mod, it does not combine with other weather or lighting overhauls, though it leaves interiors alone, so any interior lighting mod still works. Creator: Qolore7. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar, MCM Extender, ShowOff and the four story DLC, with MoonlightNVSE, Vanilla Plus Tonemapper and Perfect Skies recommended alongside it. Download: Sunshine On My Shoulders on Nexus Mods.

38. Atmospheric Lighting Tweaks

Interiors in New Vegas often look flat and uniformly lit. This adjusts image spaces and lighting templates so indoor spaces feel more dynamic and moody, without adding new light sources that need patching, and its author says it has no performance cost. It comes in separate New Vegas and Tale of Two Wastelands (3.3 or newer) versions; install only one, and load it near the end of your load order. Creator: Roni8501. Needs: the four story DLC, plus YUP for the New Vegas version. Download: Atmospheric Lighting Tweaks on Nexus Mods.

39. Simple Character Expansions

This overhauls the faces of more than 170 NPCs, based on Machienzo’s larger character project but simplified for compatibility. Viva New Vegas recommends it over the older Fallout Character Overhaul, which the guide says has broken file paths and reverts YUP fixes. Version 1.8 arrived in July 2026, with a separate file for Tale of Two Wastelands. It conflicts with other mods that edit the same NPC records. Creator: Machienzo and SupaSTO. Needs: every official DLC. Download: Simple Character Expansions on Nexus Mods.

40. Cloud Upgrade NVSE

A small plugin that adds pseudo-animated clouds to the horizon and the game’s panoramic cloud systems. Static skyboxes suddenly drift, which does a lot for long walks across the desert, and its page calls it compatible with everything. It has had no update since 2023 and still ships in the Viva New Vegas visuals section. Creator: doodlum. Needs: xNVSE. Download: Cloud Upgrade NVSE on Nexus Mods.

41. MoonlightNVSE

In vanilla, night lighting actually comes from the sun below the horizon. MoonlightNVSE makes the moon the light source, so shadows and moonlight point the right way, and fixes a few other sky bugs along the way. It is a requirement for Sunshine On My Shoulders. Creator: Wall_SoGB. Needs: xNVSE, lStewieAl’s Tweaks. Download: MoonlightNVSE on Nexus Mods.

42. NMC’s Texture Pack

With more than 19 million downloads on Nexus Mods, NMC’s pack is one of the most downloaded mods for the game. Its page says one artist spent a year retexturing roads, landscape, trees, vehicles, buildings, interiors and larger objects with high-resolution, photo-based textures, while leaving the sky, water, small clutter, characters, weapons and the DLC to other mods. It comes in Large, Medium and Small packs, and its page warns that Large needs the 4GB Patcher (entry 2) to avoid slowdowns and crashes. The pack dates from 2011, and its page links a pre-generated LOD add-on so distant terrain matches the new textures. Creator: NeilMc_NMC. Needs: the 4GB Patcher for the Large pack, and strongly advised for Medium. Download: NMC’s Texture Pack on Nexus Mods.

43. EVE (Essential Visual Enhancements)

EVE overhauls the game’s combat visuals: new critical kill scenes for energy weapons, new energy weapon textures, projectiles and impacts, HD blood and fire effects, new explosions and new bullet impacts, per its page. It does not need NVSE. Version 1.19 is the current main file, from June 2021, with an optional fix added in August 2024, and its optional files include a grenade explosion lag fix and patches for players who turn off True Iron Sights. Its page lists handheld Pip-Boy replacers as a known conflict. Mature content. Its kill scenes are graphic. Creator: weijiesen and jonnyeah. Download: EVE on Nexus Mods.

44. Nevada Skies

Nevada Skies is the most endorsed weather mod for the game on Nexus Mods, and its final rework, Nevada Skies 2281, adds more than 400 weather types, all configured through MCM. Its current maintainer also built in an interior lighting overhaul, an FX editor and sound volume controls, and reworked the climates to suit each worldspace, DLC included, per its page. It must load at the very bottom of your load order, and its page lists every other weather mod, Interior Lighting Overhaul and Simple Interior Lighting Enhancement as incompatible, so it replaces Sunshine On My Shoulders (entry 37) rather than joining it. Its maintainer calls the June 2021 release the final update. Creator: Yossarian and Anro24. Needs: xNVSE 6 or newer, JIP LN NVSE, MCM and UIO, with JohnnyGuitar NVSE for some optional features. Download: Nevada Skies on Nexus Mods.

45. Interior Lighting Overhaul

ILO makes interiors darker and creepier on purpose. Per its page, it adjusts lighting templates and image spaces, changes every interior cell in New Vegas, Fallout 3 and their DLC, adds missing light fixtures, fixes floating, invisible and bleeding lights, makes caves properly dark, and adds working light switches and generators; its page calls it the unofficial patch for lighting. The Viva New Vegas guide says there is nothing inherently wrong with it but that it needs proper patching to work as intended, and suggests the plug-and-play Simple Interior Lighting Enhancement instead. Use one interior lighting mod: ILO, Atmospheric Lighting Tweaks (entry 38) or Nevada Skies’ built-in overhaul. The main file dates from 2015, with a Vortex installer fix in March 2024. Creator: Sarge198 and Killergrimm. Download: Interior Lighting Overhaul on Nexus Mods.

46. FNV Realistic Wasteland Lighting (RWL)

RWL is a complete weather overhaul for New Vegas and its DLC, built from reference photos of real deserts: lighting, weather, clouds, stars and the moon are reworked to look photographic rather than tinted, while staying light on the processor, per its page. Later versions added more clear, dusty, overcast and hazy variants, each with its own cloud patterns. It has full Tale of Two Wastelands support and optional patch collections, and its page says to load it very last and, on an existing save, wait a few in-game days for the changes to show. Version 5.542 dates from November 2018. Like every weather mod here, it replaces the others rather than stacking with them. Creator: Sal203 and Camo. Download: RWL on Nexus Mods.

47. Desert Natural Weathers

Desert Natural Weathers is the most recently updated of the big weather overhauls. It covers every New Vegas, DLC and Tale of Two Wastelands 3.4 weather with 360-degree panoramic cloud textures, high-quality moving clouds, improved lighting and more rain, overcast, snowy and foggy variety, without straying far from the original art direction, per its page. Hotkeys disable or shuffle weathers, and a config file controls the rest. Its page lists Climate Control NVSE, lStewieAl’s Tweaks, MoonlightNVSE (entry 41) and Atmospheric Lighting Tweaks (entry 38) as soft requirements, and says DNWeathers.esp must load last with HDR enabled in the launcher. Version 7.9.2 arrived in January 2026. Creator: Scott Clam. Needs: xNVSE 6 or newer, JIP LN NVSE, JohnnyGuitar NVSE, ShowOff xNVSE and all DLC. Download: Desert Natural Weathers on Nexus Mods.

48. Fellout NV

Its author’s Fallout 3 version removed that game’s green tint, and Fellout NV removes New Vegas’s orange one. Its page describes harsh, realistic lighting indoors and out: darker static lighting with a longer range, reduced ambient light, properly dark nights and a daytime haze that fades naturally into the distance. Optional files cover Old World Blues and add greener grass. It was last updated in 2011, and like the other weather mods here it is an alternative rather than an add-on: Nevada Skies’ page names it as incompatible. Creator: Hattix. Download: Fellout NV on Nexus Mods.

49. Improved Lighting Shaders

Per this plugin’s page, the game’s shader code only handles four lights per exterior cell, so lights pop in and out as you move the camera, terrain lights wrongly, and your Pip-Boy light fights other lights for a slot. Formerly called Pip-Boy Light Priority Fix, this xNVSE plugin patches the shading code to use up to 13 light slots and ships 28 reassembled shaders, and its page says that almost completely fixes the exterior lighting bug. Its author still labels it a beta, and its optional light-data buffer expansion needs more than 100 patches to the game, so the page asks you to report anything strange. Version 1.6a arrived in February 2025. Creator: emoose. Needs: xNVSE. Download: Improved Lighting Shaders on Nexus Mods.

50. MGs Neat Clutter Retextures

Big texture packs skip the small stuff, and this fills the gap: high-resolution textures and normal maps for more than 200 clutter items, from glass pitchers and flour sacks to pillows, crates and reloading benches, mostly at 2048 or 1024 resolution, with smaller items kept at 512 to limit the performance cost, per its page. An Ojo-friendly version leaves four items to Ojo Bueno (entry 34). The main pack dates from 2012, with extra single-item files added through 2020, and it has more than two million downloads. Creator: Mental Gear. Download: MGs Neat Clutter Retextures on Nexus Mods.

51. aMidianBorn Book of Water

CaBaL’s collection gathers his high-resolution New Vegas retextures into themed books: the Book of Steel for armor (reinforced combat armor, T-51b and Brotherhood T-51b, Remnants and NCR power armor, the Gannon family Tesla armor and T-45d) and the Book of Flesh for creatures (bighorners, blowflies, cazadores, centaurs, deathclaws, geckos, mantises and radscorpions), per its page. The armor textures ship at full resolution with no smaller option, and the page points low-end PCs to the standalone releases for resized versions. Since the November 2011 update, only the salvaged armor needs a plugin. Creator: CaBaL. Download: aMidianBorn Book of Water on Nexus Mods.

52. IMPACT

IMPACT sets out to make bullets feel powerful and dangerous. It adds new custom particle effects for hits on wood, hollow and solid metal, stone and concrete, dirt, glass and cloth, new bullet hole decals that match the ammo, and shell casings that match their rounds, per its page. It comes in three versions for different PCs, from The Basement Dweller to The Michael Bay, with optional files such as a Matrix-style VATS mode and a compilation of compatibility patches. Version 2.0 dates from 2014. Creator: weijiesen. Download: IMPACT on Nexus Mods.

53. Rudy ENB

If you want an ENB anyway, Rudy ENB is the most endorsed preset for the game on Nexus Mods: a small configuration for ENBSeries that its author says gives good performance with strong visuals, with a brightness switch for interiors and nights and optional night vision code. Version 4.0 targets ENB 0.451. Read the warnings first. Its own plugin adjusts the weather, so its page says it is not compatible with any weather mod (you can skip the plugin and try), and it notes that ENBSeries can have problems with the 4GB patch. The Viva New Vegas guide also advises against ENBs in general: it says Fallout 3 and New Vegas ENBs were never fully developed, have been abandoned by their author, and require MSAA to be turned off. Creator: Rudy102. Needs: the ENBSeries binary. Download: Rudy ENB on Nexus Mods.

54. Beauty Pack PLUS (Project Mikoto)

For character creation, Mikoto’s Beauty Pack is one of the largest hair and eye collections for the game: 151 female and 70 male hairstyles, 131 eye textures and 25 glowing eye options for custom races, plus working eyelashes, per its page. It dates from June 2011. Its page warns that it is not compatible with any mod that alters races, including other beauty packs, and says to install it manually, because FOMM unpacks its BSA. Creator: Matteius. Download: Beauty Pack PLUS on Nexus Mods.

Sound and Radio

55. CONELRAD 640-1240

CONELRAD adds a new station to your Pip-Boy radio: 55 music tracks from the atomic era, about two hours and 20 minutes of music, plus 29 authentic Civil Defense public service announcements. It takes its name from the real emergency broadcasting system the United States set up for an enemy attack, which its page explains. The station is fully scripted, version 1.3 made it start in DLC areas too, and version 1.4 dates from 2015. The same team also made a Fallout 3 version. Creator: Macabre Productions. Download: CONELRAD 640-1240 on Nexus Mods.

56. Brave New World

Brave New World recasts New Vegas. Per its page, the team went through 30,000 auditions over nearly four years to revoice about 7,000 lines across 145 NPCs, many of whom the original game had to share among a small group of voice actors. It installs through one all-in-one FOMOD, with a Revoice Only version if you want to keep the original faces. Its page is clear about the costs: it needs a new game, it can conflict with any mod that changes vanilla dialogue or NPCs, it lists hard incompatibilities including Simply Uncut and Legion Quests Expanded, and it has minor Tale of Two Wastelands conflicts for now. Version 1.6 arrived in March 2022. Creator: The BNW Team. Download: Brave New World on Nexus Mods.

Gameplay and Combat

57. Agua Fria (JSawyer Redone)

JSawyer was the balance mod released by Josh Sawyer, the game’s own lead designer, with changes he wished had shipped. Agua Fria is a modern, heavily configurable version of it, with YUP fixes forwarded and automatic compatibility for many popular mods, per its page. Viva New Vegas features it but says it is not recommended for a first playthrough, and a community patch for Tale of Two Wastelands is linked from its page. Version 1.0.5.3 arrived in April 2026. Creator: Qolore7. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar, ShowOff and UE ESM Fixes Remastered, with MCM Extender for in-game settings and ITR NVSE optional. Download: Agua Fria on Nexus Mods.

58. JAM (Just Assorted Mods)

JAM merges a set of small, polished mods: a dynamic crosshair, hit markers, a hit indicator, visual objective markers, hold breath for scopes, sprint, bullet time, a weapon wheel and a loot menu. Viva New Vegas lists it as the modern replacement for several features players used to install Project Nevada for, a mod the guide now calls outdated and bloated. Creator: yvileapsis and others. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar, kNVSE, Stewie’s Tweaks, UIO, all four story DLC. Download: JAM on Nexus Mods.

59. B42 Weapon Inertia

Part of the Project B42 series, this makes your weapon lag and sway naturally as you turn and move, so guns feel like they have weight. It has more than 20,000 endorsements and was updated in July 2026. Pair it with the animation entries below. Creator: Xilandro, with jazzisparis and DarianStephens. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar, NV Compatibility Skeleton. Download: B42 Weapon Inertia on Nexus Mods.

60. Anniversary Anim Pack

Released for the game’s tenth anniversary, this collects its author’s animation work in one pack: subtle camera motion, iron sights recoil for the base game and DLC, fire animation variants and a dozen previously unreleased animations. Its page lists the animation mods it conflicts with, so read it before stacking. Creator: Hitman47101. Needs: ISControl Enabler and Ironsights Adjuster. Download: Anniversary Anim Pack on Nexus Mods.

61. Enhanced Movement

An all-in-one movement mod with new first- and third-person sprint animations, first-person diagonal movement, smoother sneak transitions, leaning, and a working prone mode. Every feature can be switched on or off in MCM. It was updated in January 2026 and has more than two million downloads. Creator: Wombat. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar, kNVSE, MCM Extender, ShowOff. Download: Enhanced Movement on Nexus Mods.

62. Manual Reload and Ammo Memory

This stops your gun from reloading itself the instant the magazine empties, plays the empty click for automatic weapons, and remembers which ammo type each weapon was using. It is a feature inside Stewie’s Tweaks: switch on bManualReload and bRememberWeaponAmmos in the Pause, Settings, Tweaks menu, and this page documents both. Its last update was in 2023. Creator: lStewieAl and carxt. Needs: lStewieAl’s Tweaks. Download: Manual Reload and Ammo Memory on Nexus Mods.

63. The Living Desert

The Mojave in vanilla feels empty between towns. The Living Desert adds hundreds of travelers, patrols, prospectors and raiders, and makes the world visibly react to your choices: clear the Fiends or lift the Brotherhood lockdown and you will see the consequences on the roads. Its page says it is natively compatible with FPGE (entry 90), and Viva New Vegas points to it as the alternative to older spawn mods that bloat saves. Version 2.7.3 arrived in January 2026. Creator: ElPascal and friends. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar, and every official DLC except Courier’s Stash. Download: The Living Desert on Nexus Mods.

64. Essential DLC Enhancements Merged

A merged collection of small improvements to all four story DLC: more skills for Christine in Dead Money, Ghost People fixes, post-completion rewards, missing return options and plenty more. Its author deliberately avoided always-running scripts to keep it lightweight. It was updated in April 2026. Creator: PushTheWinButton. Needs: All four story DLC (xNVSE, JIP LN and ShowOff are optional). Download: Essential DLC Enhancements Merged on Nexus Mods.

65. More Perks Reimagined

The original More Perks from 2010 is on Viva New Vegas’s list of mods to avoid, because many of its perks are broken. This is a ground-up remake with rebalanced requirements and effects closer to vanilla, plus Tale of Two Wastelands support, per its page. It was updated in January 2026. Creator: VoidNotNull. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar, ShowOff and the four story DLC, with Stewie’s Tweaks recommended for its bug fixes. Download: More Perks Reimagined on Nexus Mods.

66. Perk Every Level

New Vegas normally grants a perk every other level, and this plugin gives you one at every level from the moment you activate it, per its page. It does not add perks retroactively, so its page suggests console commands for any you missed, and installing it is just a matter of dropping its single plugin into the Data folder. As of October 27, 2026, its page offers only the original October 2010 file, and it warns that a level cap mod can leave you getting a perk only every other level, which it says you fix by setting iMaxCharacterLevel in the GECK to match. lStewieAl’s Tweaks (entry 6) also lists an optional file called Perk Per Level on its page, so check that you are not running both. Creator: Phoenixfang55. Needs: nothing beyond the base game; its page lists no other requirements. Download: Perk Every Level on Nexus Mods.

67. Enhanced Camera

Enhanced Camera gives you a visible body and a player shadow in first person, and keeps you in first person for the moments the game normally forces into third, such as sitting down, getting up, being knocked out or dying. Its INI lets you hide the first-person body, turn head bob back on or disable the dialogue zoom, and later versions let you rotate the camera while sitting. Version 1.4c (December 2018) fixed a potential crash when loading saves, and its page says the No Gore version of the game is not supported. Creator: LogicDragon. Needs: NVSE (xNVSE, entry 1). Download: Enhanced Camera on Nexus Mods.

68. Roleplayer’s Alternative Start

Instead of waking up at Doc Mitchell’s every time, this mod lets you choose a history for your character, from a gambler down on his luck to someone on a Followers of the Apocalypse mission, then starts you at one of more than 95 hand-placed locations, with faction-specific start points. Each history comes in Poor, Well-off and Wealthy versions, and your skills decide your starting weapons, how well repaired your gear is, and your caps, chems and food, so no two starts are the same, per its page. Version 1.5 dates from 2012. Creator: Gribbleshnibit8, pintocat and scaredwolf. Needs: NVSE (xNVSE, entry 1). Download: Roleplayer’s Alternative Start on Nexus Mods.

69. Smooth True Iron Sights Camera

With True Iron Sights on, the vanilla first-person camera snaps into place when you aim, which its page calls jarring and says hides the detail in the animations. This engine plugin smoothly blends the camera to the iron sights instead, and the difference is most noticeable with weapon FOV disabled. It needs no plugin file, so it works with any animation mod, and you switch it on with bSmoothIronsightsCameraTransition in the Pause, Settings, Tweaks menu. Version 2.0 arrived in August 2023. Creator: lStewieAl and Hitman47101. Needs: lStewieAl’s Tweaks. Download: Smooth True Iron Sights Camera on Nexus Mods.

70. Flashlight NVSE

Unlike the Pip-Boy light, which brightens everything around you, Flashlight NVSE adds a directional flashlight that only lights what you look at but reaches much farther. It comes with handheld and headband models, lights for helmets including power armor and Ranger combat helmets, an optional battery and a hotkey (J by default), and pointing it at an enemy alerts them to you, per its page. Its author recommends a clean install for every new version, and version 1.22 dates from 2012. Creator: vivanto. Needs: NVSE, MCM and the Unified HUD Project. Download: Flashlight NVSE on Nexus Mods.

71. Mojave Raiders

Mojave Raiders is the second part of its author’s trilogy for populating the Mojave and an overhaul of the game’s raider gangs. Its page argues that the Vipers and Jackals were meant to be spear-wielding tribals with a taste for poisons rather than gun-toting street thugs, and that their weapon and armor lists hold items above the game’s level cap; the mod reworks both and hand-places many more raiders to fight. Optional files restore vanilla outfits or disable its Nipton takeover. Version 1.2.8 arrived in March 2026. Creator: PushTheWinButton. Needs: Gun Runners’ Arsenal. Download: Mojave Raiders on Nexus Mods.

72. DUST Survival Simulator

DUST turns New Vegas into a hardcore post-apocalyptic survival game. Its author felt the Mojave was too tame, so it overhauls nearly every part of the game toward a harsh, lore-focused survival-horror atmosphere, and version 2.0 added eight alternative starts and standardized weapon skill requirements, per its page. It was File of the Month in February 2015, and its author called 2.0 its probable final version. The Viva New Vegas guide warns that DUST contains many errors and strongly recommends DUST Community Fixes and Tweaks, which merges three earlier fix packs into one and was updated on October 7, 2026. Creator: naugrim04. Download: DUST on Nexus Mods.

Weapons, Armor and Animations

73. Weapon Retexture Project (WRP)

WRP collects all of Millenia’s New Vegas weapon retextures in one pack, giving the vanilla guns sharper, more detailed surfaces while keeping them recognizable. Its page asks you to read the installation instructions closely if you run into problems, and offers a Tale of Two Wastelands patch. WMIM’s page (entry 16) says WRP now requires it, so install that first. Version 2.2.5 is a hotfix from May 2020. Creator: Millenia. Needs: WMIM. Download: WRP on Nexus Mods.

74. Weapons of the New Millenia

WotNM gathers Millenia’s individually released guns into one pack: 45 professional-standard weapons with plenty of weapon mods, custom sounds and leveled list integration, plus a store with a quest and a voiced vendor, per its page. The base ESM does nothing on its own: you pick plugins for how the guns enter your game, from leveled lists (enemies and vendors) to the store or cheat cabinets, plus an Honest Hearts patch. It takes about 1.5GB of disk space, and its page says every user should run The Weapon Mod Menu (entry 26) alongside it. Version 1.1a dates from June 2014. Creator: Millenia, Naky and many others. Download: Weapons of the New Millenia on Nexus Mods.

75. WME (Weapon Mod Expansion)

WME expands the vanilla weapon modding system with more than 150 new modifications. Every standard gun gets the maximum number of mods, as do all but four uniques, and every mod it adds is visible on the weapon, from tapered barrels to a recycler, per its page. Because it edits nearly every weapon, its page says it will conflict with mods that change vanilla weapons: load its ESM near the top and its ESP after those mods, and check for conflicts in FNVEdit (entry 17) or build a merged patch. Separate files cover the DLC and Gun Runners’ Arsenal. Its last update was in 2014. Creator: jonnyeah. Download: WME on Nexus Mods.

76. Asurah Reanimation Pack

The Asurah Reanimation Pack is a global overhaul of the game’s weapon animations in first and third person, with more than 2.2 million downloads. Its author made almost every animation handgrip-compatible, and optional files add iron sight fixes for the DLC weapons and patches for several Millenia guns. Its page recommends FOV Slider (entry 28) with player FOV set to 60, and warns not to install the first-person animation files from EVE, WMX or WMIM, because they break its aim poses. NVAO’s page (entry 77) advises uninstalling animation mods that overlap with it, so choose one gun animation set. Version 0.2.3.2 dates from January 2021. Creator: Asurah. Download: Asurah Reanimation Pack on Nexus Mods.

77. New Vegas Animation Overhaul (NVAO): Guns

NVAO re-animates nearly every gun in New Vegas, its DLC and Tale of Two Wastelands in first person, per its page, which calls it two and a half years in the making. It compiles hitman47101’s and rockbiter68’s work into two presets, one for vanilla weapon meshes and one for WAP, with a FOMOD by Stentorious if you want to hand-pick each animation. Its page says to uninstall any animation mods that overlap with it, including its own authors’ older packs, which covers the Anniversary Anim Pack (entry 60) for the guns it handles. The latest hotfix, 1.1.3, arrived in May 2025. Creator: Rockbiter68, Hitman47101 and Stentorious. Needs: xNVSE, kNVSE, ISControl Enabler, Iron Sights Aligned (entry 78), HIPControl, JIP LN NVSE and JohnnyGuitar NVSE. Download: NVAO on Nexus Mods.

78. Iron Sights Aligned

Iron Sights Aligned promises pixel-perfect iron sights for whichever weapon meshes and animations you use. Its page says it covers every base game, DLC and Tale of Two Wastelands weapon, with vanilla, WMIM (entry 16) or TTW meshes and with the Anniversary Anim Pack (entry 60), rockbiter68’s FNV Clean Animations or NVAO (entry 77), all aligned on a center-hold sighting technique. Its configurator also lets you choose which kNVSE animation wins when two packs overlap, and it includes scope alignment for B42 Optics. Install it through its FOMOD and let it win all conflicts. Version 5.4 arrived on August 22, 2026, and it has more than two million downloads. Creator: Stentorious. Needs: ISControl Enabler and Viewmodel Shake Fix. Download: Iron Sights Aligned on Nexus Mods.

79. Titans of the New West

Titans of the New West turns power armor into classic-style heavy suits that are larger than life and slightly cartoony, per its page. Wearers are scaled up without stretching their heads or weapons, the Pip-Boy slots into the armor’s bracer, and more than 1,500 third-person animation files plus contextual footstep and landing sounds sell the weight. Stats can be adjusted from slightly better to fully overpowered, and it works with Tale of Two Wastelands out of the box. Since version 2.1.50 you need MCM Extender to change its settings, and its INI file is a required download. Version 2.1.51d arrived in February 2026. Creator: Wombat. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN NVSE, JohnnyGuitar NVSE, kNVSE, ShowOff xNVSE and lStewieAl’s Tweaks, plus MCM and MCM Extender for settings. Download: Titans of the New West on Nexus Mods.

80. Advanced Recon Thermal Nightvision

Gopher’s Advanced Recon adds high-tech vision and sensing: variable night vision you step up with the N key, from low-powered full color to high-powered green monochrome, thermal imaging that sees through walls, trap detection, scanners and water breathing, per its page. You get them through new headsets, perks, and upgrades to existing gear such as power armor and NCR Ranger helmets. Version 4 merged several mods from the series into a required tech file and an optional gear file, and the main file is Tale of Two Wastelands ready. Its page suggests pairing it with a mod that makes nights darker. Version 4.1.4 arrived in February 2023. Creator: Gopher. Needs: xNVSE, MCM, JIP LN NVSE and UIO. Download: Advanced Recon Thermal Nightvision on Nexus Mods.

Quests and New Content

81. Tale of Two Wastelands

The biggest New Vegas mod there is: Tale of Two Wastelands merges all of Fallout 3 and its DLC into New Vegas, so you can play both games in one playthrough with New Vegas’s engine and systems, including weapon mods, crafting and the companion wheel in the Capital Wasteland. Its team says it also fixes a huge number of bugs, restores some cut content and raises the level cap from 50 to 60. Version 3.4.0 went up on June 15, 2026. You need English copies of both games with all DLC from Steam, GOG or the Epic Games Store (you can mix stores), and The Best of Times guide from ModdingLinked, which TTW’s own FAQ points to, says the Microsoft Store versions are not supported. Its installer converts your Fallout 3 files, so Fallout 3 only has to stay installed until the installer finishes. For the Fallout 3 side of the merge, our best Fallout 3 mods list notes which of its mods have TTW versions. Creator: Tale of Two Wastelands Team. Needs: Fallout 3 and New Vegas with all DLC, at least 40GB of free space (both games included), a free MOD:PUB account. Download: Tale of Two Wastelands on MOD:PUB.

82. New Vegas Bounties I

A fully voiced series of bounty hunts against boss-level outlaws across the Mojave, from rogue rangers to cannibals, each tougher than the last. It is an action mod first, with over 70,000 endorsements. It was last updated in 2014 and remains on Nexus Mods. Mature content. Its author warns of extreme violence and profanity. Creator: Someguy2000 (his Nexus account has since been deleted; the files remain up). Needs: The Someguy Series master file. Download: New Vegas Bounties I on Nexus Mods.

83. New Vegas Bounties II

The sequel drops the linear structure: you work as a solo contractor for the NCR and chase dozens of bounties in any order, with more dialogue choices for both good and evil characters. It has over 1,000 lines of voiced dialogue. It needs Bounties I unless you pick the standalone optional file. Last updated in 2014. Mature content. Violence and profanity throughout. Creator: Someguy2000. Needs: The Someguy Series master file. Download: New Vegas Bounties II on Nexus Mods.

84. Autumn Leaves

A DLC-sized quest mod set in a centuries-old library run by sentient machines, where you unravel the mysteries of Hypatia. Its page lists more than 2,000 professionally voiced lines, five endings and an original soundtrack. It is regularly cited as one of the best-written mods for the game, and it was last updated in May 2024. Creator: BaronVonChateau. Download: Autumn Leaves on Nexus Mods.

85. The Inheritance

A dying man hires the Courier to deliver a mysterious package, and the job pulls in unwilling allies and dangerous rivals. It is a compact, lore-friendly quest line for higher-level characters (it begins at level 10), followed by smaller side quests, with around 1,300 voiced lines. Last updated in 2014. Mature content. Violence and profanity. Creator: Someguy2000. Needs: The Someguy Series, Gun Runners’ Arsenal. Download: The Inheritance on Nexus Mods.

86. Russell

A fully voiced companion: a former Desert Ranger turned bounty hunter, recruited at the 188 Trading Post, with roughly 1,200 lines of dialogue. His page warns he attacks Legion personnel on sight, much like Boone. Its last file update was in 2014. Mature content. Its author calls it the most profane of his mods and warns of graphic massacre scenes. Creator: Someguy2000. Needs: The Someguy Series, Honest Hearts, Lonesome Road. Download: Russell on Nexus Mods.

87. Fallout: New California

An entire unofficial prequel campaign launched from the New Game menu. You play the kid from Vault 18 in the San Bernardino Mountains, facing the NCR, the Enclave and a raider alliance, with branching paths, eight possible companions and hours of voice acting, per its page. It was last updated in 2020, its installer includes its own 4GB patch, and The Best of Times guide says it does not work with Tale of Two Wastelands, even with patches. Creator: Radian-Helix Media. Download: Fallout: New California on Nexus Mods.

88. A World of Pain

Around 170 new locations spread across the wasteland, from roadside gas stations to maze-like sewers and derelict factories, plus a linked underground complex with quests, vendors and some of the toughest fights in the game. Its page says it uses only base game assets and needs no DLC. It was updated in May 2024. Creator: Dj Mystro. Download: A World of Pain on Nexus Mods.

89. Better Brotherhood

This expands the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel: a proper timed self-destruct sequence at Hidden Valley with new Veronica dialogue, the seized Van Graff stock for sale if you back Hardin, fixed ending slides and restored cut content. It is part of Viva New Vegas Extended and was updated in July 2026, with optional patches for FPGE (entry 90) and Tale of Two Wastelands 3.4. Creator: PlatinumShad0w. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, ShowOff, and every official DLC except Courier’s Stash. Download: Better Brotherhood on Nexus Mods.

90. FPGE (Functional Post Game Ending)

Instead of ending at the credits, FPGE jumps two weeks ahead into a Mojave reshaped by your ending: factions take territory, others evacuate or are wiped out, and dialogue changes to match who won. Viva New Vegas recommends it over the older CAGE, which it lists as broken. Version 8.8.1 arrived in July 2026. Creator: Kazopert and the Troopers. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, JohnnyGuitar and Lonesome Road, with Post-Game Dialogue Restored highly recommended. Download: FPGE on Nexus Mods.

91. Uncut Wasteland

According to this mod’s page, Obsidian patched a large amount of scenery and clutter out of the game after release to help struggling consoles and make room for the DLC. Uncut Wasteland puts the worthwhile parts back, from the car-pile walls around Freeside to signs and small details across the map, and its plus NPCs versions also restore the background characters and creatures that those patches removed. Install only one version: there are separate files for setups that use Freeside Open or Outside Bets, and its page says it may not work with non-English copies of the game. Its files date from 2015 and 2016, and its page was last updated in June 2025. Creator: sandbox6. Download: Uncut Wasteland on Nexus Mods.

92. Beyond Boulder Dome

Beyond Boulder Dome takes you to Boulder, Colorado, and a domed pre-war city of the future, where an elite chosen for cold sleep woke two centuries later riddled with a strange disease and sealed into bio-suits. It is a full adventure with quests, new lands, weapons, armor and creatures, per its page. It needs only the base game, updated to the latest patch, and the download is split into five main files plus a 1.2 update from April 2013. Creator: The Beyond Boulder Dome Team. Download: Beyond Boulder Dome on Nexus Mods.

93. The New Bison Steve Hotel and Lucky Casino

The Bison Steve Hotel in Primm stays a ruin in vanilla. This quest mod has you rebuild it from an empty structure to a grand opening and take a cut of the profits, restoring law and order to the town, tracking down supply shipments and fighting Fiends, ghouls and escaped convicts along the way, per its page. You also get Buck’s Place, a high-tech player home with a personal vendor who repairs gear, plus Buck bobbleheads to hunt across the Mojave. Start by asking Johnson Nash about the hotel at the Vikki and Vance Casino. Version 107 dates from late 2013, and a Sortomatic edition is available. Creator: Mike Hancho. Download: The New Bison Steve Hotel on Nexus Mods.

94. For the Enclave

The Enclave has split into rival factions, two of which are about to fight in the Mojave, and General Jamison wants the Courier’s help. For the Enclave makes the Enclave joinable, with a fully fleshed-out main questline that builds to a large-scale assault, side quests, a companion, new armor, three unique weapons, new interiors and a new worldspace, a player-run Enclave bunker and an Enclave radio station, per its page. It needs no DLC, but you must be at least level 10 to start it. Version 4.0 (2016) is not backward compatible with older versions, so follow its page’s upgrade steps if you played an earlier one. Creator: Otellino and CNC. Download: For the Enclave on Nexus Mods.

95. Sunny Smiles Companion

Sunny Smiles becomes a fully voiced, lip-synced companion with a companion wheel, no companion limit, sandbox or guard waiting modes, an essential toggle and a set-home option, per its page. Her dog Cheyenne can come too, but follows Sunny rather than you. To hire her you need to have finished Ghost Town Gunfight with her alive and pass an easy speech check, or have the Lady Killer perk. Its author kept her look and scripting vanilla for compatibility, and version 2.6 dates from February 2011. Creator: gurk_meja. Download: Sunny Smiles Companion on Nexus Mods.

96. Underground Hideout

Underground Hideout adds a player vault west of Spring Mountain Ranch State Park, next to a boulder and a pond. It has what a home base needs: an armory, ammo sorters, a weapons wall, a water purifier, a bookshelf and a grow room where you plant produce, and it is companion friendly, with a command console for its settings, per its page. Version 4.4 dates from November 2011, and its page suggests Follower Home Marker if you want companions to treat it as home. Creator: Danthegeek. Needs: game version 1.3 or newer. Download: Underground Hideout on Nexus Mods.

Quality of Life

97. JIP Companions Command and Control

JIP CCC replaces the clunky companion wheel with a HUD you can command in real time: attack a chosen target, hack a terminal, pick a lock, use aid items, and more, for vanilla and modded companions alike. Viva New Vegas recommends it over Unlimited Companions for bigger parties. Last updated in 2017, and still widely used. Creator: jazzisparis. Needs: xNVSE, JIP LN, MCM. Download: JIP Companions Command and Control on Nexus Mods.

98. Auto-Save Manager

A lightweight plugin that fixes crashes with the vanilla autosaves and adds timed and event-based autosaves, rotating save slots, and hotkeys for incremental or full saves, with no plugin file and no performance cost, per its page. In a game as crash-prone as modded New Vegas, frequent automatic saves are cheap insurance. Switch it on with bImprovedAutosave in the Tweaks menu. Creator: lStewieAl. Needs: xNVSE, lStewieAl’s Tweaks. Download: Auto-Save Manager on Nexus Mods.

99. Faster Sleep-Wait

A one-line promise: it shortens the delay between hours when you sleep or wait. If you play with Hardcore mode or like to time arrivals to daylight, it saves a surprising amount of staring at a ticking clock. It is part of the Viva New Vegas gameplay section, and you switch it on with bFasterSleepWait in the Tweaks menu. Creator: lStewieAl. Needs: xNVSE, lStewieAl’s Tweaks. Download: Faster Sleep-Wait on Nexus Mods.

100. Better Caravan

Caravan is the Mojave’s card game, and its interface is famously clunky. This plugin skips invalid card slots, previews caravan values before you place a card, highlights finished caravans, adds mouse wheel deck building and optionally makes the AI smarter. It also improves controller support; see our guide to connecting an Xbox controller to PC if you play that way. Version 1.9 arrived in July 2026. Creator: lStewieAl. Needs: xNVSE 6.3.0 or newer. Download: Better Caravan on Nexus Mods.

Install Order

Install these first, roughly in this order. They are the base layer that almost every other entry on this list expects, and the same core the Viva New Vegas guide builds on.

• xNVSE (entry 1), extracted by hand into the game’s root folder.
• A patcher for your store: the 4GB Patcher for Steam and GOG, or the Epic Games Patcher for the Epic version (entry 2). Either one also loads xNVSE automatically.
• The shared script plugins: JIP LN NVSE (entry 3), JohnnyGuitar NVSE (entry 4), ShowOff xNVSE and the kNVSE Animation Plugin. Dozens of mods, including many on this list, name these as requirements.
• Performance and crash tools: New Vegas Tick Fix (entry 5), FNV Mod Limit Fix (entry 10) and Yvile’s Crash Logger (entry 11), then the engine plugins in entries 12 to 15.
• Bug fixes: YUP (entry 7), Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus (entry 8) and Ultimate Edition ESM Fixes Remastered (entry 9).
• Interface plumbing: lStewieAl’s Tweaks (entry 6), the Mod Configuration Menu (entry 19) and UIO (entry 20).

After that base, add interface and visual mods, then one weather mod and one interior lighting mod. Leave the big rebalances for a second run: the Viva New Vegas guide itself says Agua Fria (entry 57) is not recommended for first-time players.

How to Install Fallout New Vegas Mods

Most current instructions, including the free Viva New Vegas guide, use Mod Organizer 2 (MO2), and the order of operations is the same whichever store you bought the game from.

1. Install the game outside Program Files. Viva New Vegas says to avoid default Windows folders such as Program Files, your Desktop and Documents (OneDrive often manages the last two), and suggests a path like C:\Games. Then launch the game once from its launcher so it creates its INI files.
2. Update the Visual C++ redistributables. xNVSE asks for the latest x86 package, and JohnnyGuitar NVSE’s page warns the game will not launch without its current one.
3. Install xNVSE by hand. Extract it into the root folder, where FalloutNV.exe sits. Viva New Vegas notes that the file nvse_steam_loader.dll is still needed on the GOG and Epic versions, despite its name.
4. Run the patcher for your store. On Steam or GOG, run FNVpatch.exe from the 4GB Patcher. On Epic, run Patcher.exe from the Epic Games Patcher. Both make the game 4GB aware and load xNVSE automatically, so from then on you launch the game normally rather than through nvse_loader.exe.
5. Set up Mod Organizer 2. Version 2.5.2 is the current release. Install it outside Program Files and outside the game folder, create a portable instance, choose New Vegas, then choose your store: MO2’s New Vegas support covers Steam, GOG and Epic. Viva New Vegas uses ModdingLinked’s own fork of MO2, which adds New Vegas tweaks such as forcing the official DLC into their correct load order positions.
6. Install the rest through MO2. Click Mod Manager Download on each Nexus Mods page, double-click the file in MO2’s Downloads tab, and tick the mod in the left pane. Its plugins then appear in the right pane.
7. Keep the load order simple. The official DLC load first, and YUP’s page says that as long as it sits directly below the game’s own files it should not cause conflicts. After that, follow each mod’s own instructions. Viva New Vegas advises against using LOOT for New Vegas, because its masterlists are often outdated or incomplete.
8. Launch from MO2. Viva New Vegas starts the game with MO2’s New Vegas entry rather than an NVSE entry, since the patcher already loads xNVSE.

Vortex, Nexus Mods’ own manager, also supports New Vegas, and xNVSE’s page includes Vortex steps. Most New Vegas instructions, Viva New Vegas included, are written for MO2, which is why we recommend it here.

Compatibility: Steam, GOG, Epic, Game Pass and Steam Deck

• Steam and GOG: fully supported. xNVSE’s page lists both, and the 4GB Patcher supports all known Steam and GOG versions. “Current version” on this list means the PC release with all the DLC.
• Epic Games Store: works with one extra step. xNVSE does not support the Epic build directly and points Epic owners to lStewieAl’s Epic Games Patcher, which downgrades the Epic executable to the Steam build most mods expect. Its page lists two trade-offs: Epic achievements and playtime tracking stop working, and because the Steam executable was compiled without optimizations, performance is worse until you follow a performance guide such as the one in Viva New Vegas. FNV Mod Limit Fix lists the patched Epic version as supported.
• PC Game Pass and the Microsoft Store: not supported. xNVSE, the 4GB Patcher and Viva New Vegas all rule them out, so most modern mods will not run on those versions.
• The German No Gore release: xNVSE does not support it, which rules out most of this list.
• Steam Deck and Linux: possible, but outside what the main guide supports. The 4GB Patcher calls itself Linux and WINE compatible and offers a separate Linux version in its files. The Viva New Vegas FAQ says Linux support is planned but not near; it describes the community’s Linux tools as being in a fairly good state, with help limited to a dedicated channel on its Discord server for now.
• Xbox and PlayStation: no mods. New Vegas has no official mod support on consoles, so this list is PC only.
• Tale of Two Wastelands: treat TTW as its own setup, started from a new save. It uses its own build of YUP, Ultimate Edition ESM Fixes Remastered’s author says not to use it with TTW 3.4, and the FAQ for The Best of Times guide lists Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus, Fallout: New California and weather mods not made for TTW among the mods that do not work with it. Atmospheric Lighting Tweaks, Simple Character Expansions, Mojave Scenery Overhaul, Better Brotherhood and Agua Fria all have separate TTW files or patches, and FNV Realistic Wasteland Lighting, Desert Natural Weathers, Advanced Recon Thermal Nightvision, Titans of the New West, Iron Sights Aligned, NVAO and WRP list TTW support or TTW patches on their pages. Brave New World’s page reports minor TTW conflicts for now. If Fallout 3 is the part you care about, our best Fallout 3 mods list covers the standalone game, its fixes and which mods have TTW versions.

How We Chose These Mods

We started from the mods the community treats as standard, especially those in the Viva New Vegas guide and its Extended section, then ranked the rest of the New Vegas library by Nexus Mods’ own popularity data, endorsements and downloads, and took from the top. Every entry was checked against its creator’s own page to confirm it is free, published, still downloadable, and that its requirements match what we list. Age alone did not rule anything out: older mods that still work are included with their last update stated, along with any warning their pages or the Viva New Vegas guide give. We balanced the list across stability, interface, visuals, weather, sound, gameplay, weapons, quests and companions.

We left out adult-flagged mods and mods that need adult body replacers to display properly, which ruled out a few popular companion and armor overhauls. We also left out popular mods that the Viva New Vegas guide lists as outdated or harmful, such as NVAC, Project Nevada, New Vegas Stutter Remover, Fallout Character Overhaul, Unlimited Companions, Populated Casinos, Monster Mod, Weapon Animation Replacer, the original More Perks and Weapon Mods Expanded; tools the list already replaces, such as the old mod managers and standalone 4GB patchers; cheats; and near-duplicates, such as reduced-size repacks of texture packs already on the list, a second JSawyer rebalance alongside Agua Fria, and more than one ENB preset. It is the same process we used for our best Fallout 4 mods, best Skyrim mods and best Sims 4 mods lists.

Download only from the creator pages linked above. Re-upload sites and bundled “mega packs” are the most common source of outdated, broken or malicious files, and they skip the requirement lists that keep a New Vegas setup stable.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the must-have Fallout New Vegas mods? xNVSE, the 4GB Patcher (or the Epic Games Patcher on Epic), JIP LN NVSE, JohnnyGuitar NVSE, New Vegas Tick Fix, lStewieAl’s Tweaks and YUP. The Viva New Vegas guide installs all of them, plus the rest of its stability base, in the correct order through Mod Organizer 2.

Which mods stop Fallout New Vegas from crashing? The 4GB Patcher lets the game use more memory, FNV Mod Limit Fix removes the file handle limit that breaks large load orders, YUP and Unofficial Patch NVSE Plus fix scripted bugs, and Yvile’s Crash Logger records what went wrong when a crash does happen. Viva New Vegas also warns against NVAC and the old New Vegas Stutter Remover, which it says can cause crashes of their own.

How do you install Fallout New Vegas mods? Install xNVSE by hand, run the 4GB Patcher (Steam or GOG) or the Epic Games Patcher (Epic), then install everything else through Mod Organizer 2 and launch the game from it. The full steps are in the install section above.

Can you use more than one weather mod? No. Weather overhauls replace the same records, and Nevada Skies’ page lists every other weather mod as incompatible, so pick one of Sunshine On My Shoulders, Nevada Skies, FNV Realistic Wasteland Lighting, Desert Natural Weathers or Fellout NV. Rudy ENB’s own plugin also edits the weather, and its page says it is not compatible with weather mods.

Do Fallout New Vegas mods work on the Epic Games Store version? Yes, after you run the Epic Games Patcher, which downgrades the Epic executable to the Steam build so xNVSE can load. Its page says it turns off Epic achievements and that performance needs tuning afterward.

Do mods work on the Game Pass or Microsoft Store version? No. The script extender and the patchers that load it do not support the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass versions, so most modern mods will not run. Use the Steam, GOG or Epic Games Store release.

Can you mod Fallout New Vegas on the Steam Deck? It can be done, but the main guides do not support it yet. The 4GB Patcher has a separate Linux version, while the Viva New Vegas FAQ says Linux support is planned but not near, so its step-by-step instructions assume Windows.

Can you mod Fallout New Vegas on Xbox or PlayStation? No. New Vegas has no official mod support on Xbox or PlayStation, so everything here is PC only.

Do you need Fallout 3 to play Tale of Two Wastelands? Yes. You need English PC copies of both Fallout 3 and New Vegas with all their DLC, from Steam, GOG or Epic. Fallout 3 only has to stay installed until the TTW installer finishes.

Are these mods free? Yes. Every mod on this list is free to download. Nexus Mods Premium only speeds up downloads, and Tale of Two Wastelands needs a free MOD:PUB account.