Creative Decisions

I skipped mods that IMO contradicts the intended design i.e. one mod adding an additional entrance to the Strip when the single heavily guarded entry gate reflects the controlling nature of Mr. House. Same goes for mods adding alliance options that weren't originally there like the\ Brotherhood of Steel with Mr. House. He's a bit of a dictator at the end of the day and mods providing more Mr. House negotiation options go against his character.

I included zero Fallout 1 and 2 inspired content. If Obsidian wanted them in New Vegas, they'd be there. The world of New Vegas should stand on its own and not include FO1/2 elements for nostalgia's sake IMO.

I'm currently playing with A World of (Less) Pain. I'll include it if I determine it's vanilla-friendly enough.

I chose NV Redesigned 2 over 3 as it's closer to vanilla (no new NPCs).

I elected to choose the See Through Scopes mod instead of more modern, complex mods allowing for variable zoom and fancier visual effects as IMO, in a post-apocalyptic 50s landscape, the technology for scopes shouldn’t be too complex. See Through Scopes fits the world the best.

I chose not to include the Charisma Scales Reputation mod because I think this too heavily limits player choice. I think you should be able to explore any quests or factions you wish to at any time.

Fiends Friendly to Khans was originally included as quests within the game have the Great Khans trading with the Fiends, so I thought them being friendly made sense lore-wise. However, it was mentioned in this TriangleCity video on Friends cut content the designer decided to cut faction outfits for them. So it can safely be assumed that the Fiends being hostile to everyone is an intentional design choice. Plus the mod wouldn't function as expected in my mod list. I imagine it clashes with another mod impacting faction values. The most likely culprit is Essential Vanilla Enhancements Merged's faction outfits tweaks.

Simply Uncut New Vegas isn't included since it restores some cut content I think was intentionally cut. This includes the brilliant 'The March West' quest which I'd love to restore in standalone form.

There's a well known cut laser weapon called the Laser PDW. Whilst there are mods that restore this JSawyer stated they were cut due to being buggy, so I elected to keep this removed.

Cluttered Gun Runner's Kiosk isn't included as I don't like how the windows look. Barred windows in makes sense, but given it's directly in front of a factory with armed guards and has been there for quite some time they feel unnecessary.

Gomorrah Casino Uncut is an amazing mod that restores Gomorrah to its grander pre-release state, but unfortunately its incompatible with mods included in this guide. I cannot include it until compatibility patches are made and the mod author has been inactive for years.

Simple Interior Lighting Overhaul was replaced with Atmospheric Lighting Tweaks as I found the latter more visually impressive.

I replaced Hit's animation packs (Hit's Anims Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 and Hit's Anims Animation Fixes) with Dedicated Weapon Animations for full See Through Scope Pack compatibility (Hit's anims don't work with the Anti-Material Rifle).

Sigma's excellent animations (SIGMA Melee Animation Overhaul Chapter 1 + Baseball Bat and Golf Club + Katana) were made redundant by Butcher Pete's pack. Feel free to swap to your personal tastes. I went with Butcher Pete to reduce the mod number.

This mod guide initially included the Legacy Reborn Texture Pack for nicer environmental textures, but it seemed to negatively impact performance. I've removed it for now whilst I determine what issues it's causing. Same reason for not trying out Nut's Landscape Overhaul. I similarly had to remove Mojave NPCs as that caused instant new save crashes. MoreMojave also caused instant crashes in my mod setup.

Charisma Tweaks aren't included as I think Actually Useful Charisma has smarter perk integration.

I didn't include JIP Companions Command and Control nor the addon that restores some cut dialogue as I think its features offer too much distracting micromanagement. New Vegas is already significantly easier with Companions and orders would make the game way too easy IMO.

The Great Mojave Interior Overhaul isn't recommended since it doesn't work with FPGE.

I didn't include Van Graff overhauls since they're a faction that exist in two buildings. Mods trying to expand their practically non-existent importance in the Mojave felt unnecessary to me.

High Resolution Bloom NVSE isn't included as I think the lower resolution bloom is part of the iconic New Vegas aesthetic. Install this if you disagree.