How to play Fallout: New Vegas on Steam

1 month ago 27

To play Fallout: New Vegas on Steam, you need more than just the game… If you want a pleasant stay in the post-apocalyptic Mojave wasteland, that is. But don't worry, as the right mod pack will enhance your experience and fix any issues you might otherwise run into. Bug fixes, reduced loading times, visual improvements, and additional quests are just a few clicks away.

Here's where to get the right mods to play Fallout: New Vegas in 2025 and have a grand time.

How to play Fallout: New Vegas on Steam

First things first, you'll, of course, need to buy Fallout: New Vegas on Steam and install the game. We recommend purchasing the ultimate edition (when it's on sale), as it includes every available DLC and some of the best mods require you to own them all. Additionally, most mods require you to have the English language package installed, which can be found in the game's properties on Steam. Furthermore, once you've finished modding, it's highly recommended to start a new game — old save files may no longer work properly.

Of course, you may start playing Fallout: New Vegas right away, without any mods, but the experience is likely marred by bugs, crashes, and outdated visuals. So, to get your New Vegas playthrough up to par with 2025 standards, you'll need to download a bunch of essential mods first (more on that in the section below).

The easiest way to mod Fallout: New Vegas is to go to Nexus Mods, which has a collection of almost 40K mods to choose from. For some mods, you will need to manually install them by following the instructions listed on their pages, but for most mods, we recommend using a mod manager like Vortex as it can make the modding process a lot easier for a beginner. With Vortex installed, you can click on any mod and press the orange "Vortex" button on the top right (next to "download") to automatically install the mod.

Best Fallout: New Vegas mod packs

That begs the question: Which mods are essential for a proper Fallout: New Vegas experience, 15 years after the game's initial release? Although you can select and install individual mods, it's easiest to choose a mod pack that already contains everything you need, so you can jump into New Vegas without delay. All you need to do is select a mod collection on Nexus and choose the orange "add collection" button in the top right corner.

While premium Nexus members can download an entire mod pack in just one click, beware that users with a free account must click every download button individually, so if a mod pack contains 100 mods, that's 100 clicks for you — you might want to grab a book and have a cup of tea while you wait for each mod to finish downloading.

The Nexus mod collections page offers a few hundred New Vegas mod packs to choose from, but here are the ones we recommend.

Viva New Vegas

This is the quintessential Fallout: New Vegas mod pack, as it contains every performance enhancement you'll need to run the game smoothly. Viva New Vegas also includes some visual enhancements, such as weather improvements and atmospheric lighting, as well as liveliness improvements, such as additional NPCs.

As of writing this, the Viva New Vegas mod pack on Nexus has not been updated for a while, so it's best to download it from their website instead. Choose "full guide" if you prefer to download it manually, or choose "Wabbajack" for easier installation (you still need a Nexus account). In short, you must install Wabbajack, create an empty installation folder, find the Viva New Vegas mod pack in the Wabbajack app, choose "download," and install every Nexus mod that pops up, but be sure to follow the detailed instructions carefully! You do not need Vortex for this download, so be sure to scroll down to the general "download" button for each mod instead of clicking the orange "Vortex" button.

VeryLastKiss's New New Vegas

If the Viva New Vegas installation process seems a bit daunting, go for VeryLastKiss's New New Vegas instead. With Vortex installed, you just need to click "add collection" and let Vortex handle the rest.

VeryLastKiss's New New Vegas contains every essential performance improvement and visual enhancement you could wish for (better weather, atmospheric lighting, smoother animations, etc.). It also offers various quality of life improvements such as sprinting, objective markers, and quick-throwing. On top of that, you'll get additional fan-made quests. If you'd rather receive the performance, visual, and quality of life enhancements without extra quests, try VeryLastKiss's New New Vegas Lite instead.

Gopher's Stable New Vegas

If you don't want to install dozens of mods, this bite-sized mod pack contains the most essential enhancements only. Just like VeryLastKiss's New New Vegas, you just need to visit Gopher's Stable New Vegas's download page and click "add collection" to download the mods in Vortex.

Gopher's Stable New Vegas mod pack includes a ton of bug fixes, less lag, and faster loading screens, making it the best option for players who'd like to remain as close to vanilla Fallout: New Vegas as possible. This mod pack, therefore, does not include things like texture upgrades and better lighting. For that, download Gopher's New Vegas Remaster pack as well — it includes a lovely set of visual upgrades without major gameplay changes, so it's still fairly close to the vanilla experience.