Fallout New Vegas is one of the many games of Bethesda Softworks studio, loved by modmakers from around the world. Thousands of various modifications have been released for her, probably because of this the game still does not lose popularity. The Garden of Eden Creation Kit editor, released simultaneously with the game, allows you to create add-ons of any volume and difficulty level.
Since modifications are supported at the development level, the game has its own launcher that can integrate third-party mods into the game. The builders also excelled here, offering players an alternative in the form of the Fallout Mod Manager program, which is more advanced than the original. Regardless of the type of launcher used, all add-on lovers should know how to install mods on Fallout New Vegas.
Install Mods
There are three ways to install modifications to the game:
- manual;
- semi-automatic;
- combined.
Experienced players prefer the latter method.
Manual installation
It is an ordinary transfer of add-on files to the game folder. However, it is worth considering some features of the process:
- Many users make a mistake by unpacking additions to the root directory of the game, and not to the Data folder located in it, where you need to install mods for Fallout New Vegas, the game reads files from this directory.
- In most cases, modification files are packaged in archives, from which they must first be extracted. Any archiver is suitable, but it is better to use 7-zip. At the same time, authors respecting themselves and the players will necessarily provide the archive with installation instructions, because depending on the features of the addon, the installation may not be limited to simple copying.
- Regardless of the launcher used, it is necessary to activate the installed plug-ins, without forgetting about the download order (these points, as a rule, are also mentioned in the instructions).
- Each of the texture-containing modifications requires a validation check. If the game does not find the necessary lines in the special configuration file ArchiveInvalidation.txt (and you need to enter them there yourself), it will give an error at startup, or it will start, but with unpredictable consequences. In order not to edit the file manually, you can use the Fallout New Vegas ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated utility, corresponding to the user's game version.
Semi-automatic installation
You can install mods on Fallout New Vegas both in manual mode and in semi-automatic mode. And here it will already be necessary to attract third-party funds - programs that independently distribute third-party add-ons. The most famous is Fallout Mod Manager. With its help, players can both install mods on Fallout New Vegas and control the download list, process the archives of modifications (unpack and pack), and also conduct the much-needed validation of the game.
It is also a tool for installing modifications packaged in special FOMOD archives, which contain script listing in addition to the modification files. Thus, mod-makers give players the opportunity to customize the add-on parameters for themselves and their own style of play without extra effort.
In addition, any modification installed in this way is placed in a separate folder, which allows you to remove the add-on if necessary without a long search for mod files in game directories, for example, if it is incompatible with some already installed add-ons.
New Vegas Script Extender
In an effort to make quality additions, many modders often step over the possibilities of their favorite games, incorporating many complex scripts into their creations. Starting a game with such modifications usually ends with an eternal download or crash: without preparation, you should not install such mods on Fallout New Vegas. How to solve this problem? Answer: use a special tool that extends the capabilities of the scripting mechanics of the game - New Vegas Script Extender. By itself, this program is nothing more than an external add-on to the game, activating the mechanisms required by complex scripting mods at launch, without interfering with the game configuration.
Players faced with the need to use this tool, most likely already know how to install mods in Fallout New Vegas. When installing NVSE, it is very important to unpack it not in the Data folder, but in the root directory of the game. If everything is done correctly, another executable file nvse_loader.exe will appear in the folder, through which the game should now be launched.
In order not to open the game catalog every time, you can make changes to the properties of the shortcut on the Desktop (or at any place where it is located, respectively). To do this, call the shortcut menu of the shortcut, and then edit part of the line with the path to the game file, instead of FalloutNV.exe register nvse_loader.exe.
RAM Interaction
As you know, Fallout 3 and Fallout NV support only 2 GB of RAM, which is enough for a comfortable game at maximum settings. But when using modifications replete with scripts and textures, this limit turns out to be a problem: in some game locations, FPS falls to catastrophic values, and the game freezes sooner or later (in especially severe cases, the computer freezes too). How to install mods on Fallout New Vegas on machines capable of accepting more than 3.5 GB, while ensuring stable operation of the game? The easiest way is to install a special patch that makes changes to the original executable file of the game, however, users of the Steam version will not be able to start the game after this procedure: the protection system will work. The situation will be corrected using the free 4GB utility Fallout New Vegas, by installing which (in the root directory), players get the opportunity to allocate 4 GB of RAM for the game.