Many fans would argue that Fallout: New Vegas is the best in the series. Released in 2010, the game has aged considerably in the intervening years. The fact that gamers keep coming back to it, again and again, is a testament to its superb overall quality.
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However, there's no getting around the fact that visually, Fallout: New Vegas is a fossil. Luckily, as with most products associated with Bethesda and Obsidian, the modding community is quite active. With the right essential graphics mods in place, this game can be given a new lease on life. These mods should serve as the core of any player's load order.
Updated July 25, 2021 by Mark Hospodar: Veteran vault dwellers are certainly aware of the huge variety of mods on offer for Fallout: New Vegas. Best of all, the modding community for this game doesn't show any signs of slowing down. Even hugely expansive mods of the total conversion variety are still being developed by talented and dedicated authors. Recently, fans heard the news of an incredibly ambitious total conversion mod that aims to bring the world of Star Wars to Fallout: New Vegas. Alongside its own story, the mod promises to give players the opportunity to explore various planets from the beloved sci-fi universe. Although the completed project is still a long way off, it surely heralds an exciting new addition to New Vegas's already gargantuan modding community.
16 Vanilla HUD Remastered
Before getting into the meatier graphical enhancements, there's actually a very simple add-on to install first. Players are no doubt familiar with New Vegas's HUD. When looking to upgrade the visuals of the game as a whole, it's important not to neglect this small detail.
Vanilla HUD Remastered is an essential mod to have in one's repertoire. It updates the HUD to either an HD or 4K resolution. The crispness of the details is such that once installed, it's almost impossible to play the game without it.
15 NMC Texture Pack
Updating the textures is absolutely essential when modding Fallout: New Vegas. For beginners and veterans alike starting with the NMC Texture Pack is a great place to start. All-in-one packages serve as a terrific base for sharpening the textures. Smaller, individual mods can always be added later to fill in the gaps.
There's a wide range of objects that get covered by this mod. Everything from roads, the landscape, trees, vehicles, buildings, interiors, and other assorted objects. The mod doesn't handle every single object in the game, but when combined with other graphical enhancements, it offers a very noticeable improvement.
14 OJO BUENO Texture Pack
Yet another massive texture package, this one performs very well with the previous mod on this list. OJO BUENO is fairly customizable as it contains three different performance levels depending on the player's PC. The highest quality textures require more VRAM when it comes to OJO BUENO.
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The "High" setting is arguably the best choice. The textures will still look great without the "Ultra" setting. It's best to strike a good balance between performance and quality, especially if the player intends to have a monster load order. It's definitely a must-have when shooting for maximum coverage in regard to textures.
13 Wasteland Flora Overhaul
The Wasteland Flora Overhaul mod does exactly what its name implies. It retouches a lot of the assets contained in the wilderness, specifically the foliage. The mod also possesses a couple of different customization options when it comes to upgrading the environment.
The main version of the mod, known as the "Fertile" setting, re-textures the vanilla models while also adding new ones for more variety. Older versions of the mod just enhance the vanilla textures without any new additions. No matter which settings are chosen the environment will see a marked improvement regardless.
12 Weapon Retexture Project
Weapons obviously play a significant role in Fallout: New Vegas. The player will spend much of their time looking at these weapons, so it's important to give their looks an upgrade as well. The Weapon Retexture Project, or WRP, contains a comprehensive package for improving the visuals of various firearms.
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Details on the myriad pistols, rifles, shotguns, and machine guns really pop with this mod installed. Guns actually look like they were made from real metal. The words printed on certain firearms can be clearly seen. Hundreds of little visual improvements make this mod absolutely essential.
11 Fallout Character Overhaul
For old games, the look of the NPCs often serves as the starkest example of the product's diminished visual quality. The characters in Fallout: New Vegas look horrendous, very much akin to something one would find in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Fallout Character Overhaul is outstanding in the level of detail it brings to the NPCs. "Lifelike" is the operative word to use when describing what this mod offers. It's recommended to pair FCO with Immersive Mouth and Teeth as well as Natural Eyes in order to get the best result.
10 Improved Robots Textures
Having human characters look their best is all well and good. But the inhabitants of the Fallout universe are varied. Robots are a common sight, coming in a diverse range of makes and models. They deserve to look the best they can too.
For a comprehensive all-in-one mod regarding robots, Improved Robots Textures is an excellent choice. From Sentry Bots to Mr. Handys and everything in between, this mod ensures all robots receive a much-needed makeover.
9 FNV Realistic Wasteland Lighting
Although it may not always seem like it, a game's lighting has a substantial effect when it comes to graphics. Things like shadows and reflections enhance the atmosphere in small, but significant ways. Vanilla Fallout: New Vegas is clearly lacking in this department.
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FNV Realistic Wasteland Lighting aims to fix that problem. According to the mod page, it improves "lighting, weather, clouds, stars, the moon, and the overall look and feel of the wasteland." Feeling as if the player is actually outdoors is the main aim of this mod.
8 Interior Lighting Overhaul
Improved lighting on the outside is all well and good, but the interior also requires similar treatment. As far as atmosphere is concerned, the argument can be made that lighting is even more important when it comes to interior locations.
Interior Lighting Overhaul is hands-down one of the best mods out there. Afternoon sunlight gleams through windows. Vaults are appropriately dark and creepy. When combined with the previous mod, Interior Lighting Overhaul properly accentuates the game's already excellent atmosphere.
7 Ultra-Luxe Interior Retexture
Interior lighting overhauls go far beyond general improvements. There's also an abundance of lighting mods that focus on specific locations. Many of these mods are geared toward making the Strip look even more impressive, particularly on the inside.
One great example that's hard not to mention is the Ultra-Luxe Interior Retexture mod. According to the inhabitants of the Strip, the Ultra-Luxe is arguably the most luxurious casino in New Vegas. This mod aims to capture that magnificence by upgrading the textures and their color scheme. It makes the casino look just as impressive as it's described by the in-game inhabitants.
6 PipBoy 3000 HD Retexture
The PipBoy is perhaps the Fallout franchises' most ubiquitous gadget. It serves as a menu for the player to organize their items, gear, and weapons. The all-important map of the Mojave Wasteland is also accessed through the PipBoy. Anything that's important is contained within this wrist-mounted tool.
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As such, it's likely the player will be pulling up their PipBoy every few minutes. The PipBoy 3000 HD Retexture mod, although small, is pretty important. Why look at the same ugly texture for hundreds of hours on end? The mod upgrades the gadget's resolution, making it much crisper and easier on the eyes.
5 MGs Neat Clutter Retextures
Fallout: New Vegas is filled to the brim with clutter or otherwise useless junk. Nevertheless, it does serve a purpose. It reinforces the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic world, one where civilization itself is brought back to its infancy.
Looking at these objects is a regular occurrence. Enhancing the look of the myriad junk items scattered about the environment shouldn't be ignored. MGs Neat Clutter Retextures improves the graphical fidelity of over 200 objects, from globes to pencils and everything in between.
4 Audleys Misc. Textures
Even the most comprehensive of texture mods tend to miss a detail or two. Oftentimes, players are forced to install small, individual mods that retexture just a single object. It can all become a bit cumbersome, especially if one decides not to use a mod manager.
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Audleys Misc. Textures is a highly useful mod that helps fill in some of the blanks without the need to hunt down individual retexture mods. The scope of the add-on is modest, but it's very well-made and can save fans some extra time when giving the overall visuals an upgrade.
3 Essential Visual Enhancements
Essential Visual Enhancements, or EVE, focuses its attention on the effects generated by weapons. The mod adds some impressive visual flair to combat encounters. Mowing down a small gang of raiders never looked or felt so good!
Among the mod's features are new meshes for various energy weapons, custom HD impacts, static mesh animations, new explosions, and even new character reactions. It all serves to make combat more visceral, which makes sense considering the game's violent and dangerous setting.
2 Enhanced Blood Textures
Let's face it, Fallout: New Vegas is a pretty violent game. Enemies can be dispatched and decapitated in a number of gruesome ways. There's even a perk called "Bloody Mess" that makes certain executions even more of a gory spectacle.
For fans looking for that added realism, improving the textures of the blood is essential. Enhanced Blood Textures is the quintessential mod that accomplishes this purpose. Blood spatter looks better than ever and certainly turns combat encounters into a more visceral performance.
1 A Note Concerning ENBs
ENBs are not graphics mods in and of themselves. They add and improve a game's post-processing effects, heightening the visual fidelity of the graphics far beyond what was initially intended by the developers. ENBs tie all graphics mods together, making them look their very best.
A great choice for Fallout: New Vegas is Rudy ENB. It gives everything a stunning photorealistic quality to it without tanking one's PC. When combined with the above mods Fallout: New Vegas will look amazing. It just might make you want to reinstall the game and experience it from a new (and sleeker) perspective.