Fallout: New Vegas - Fall 2010

I've played maybe 15 hours and it has crashed on me 3 times, usually at a load point, but once when I was saving. It lagged down when I was fighting the main boss at Raul. Other than that it's running just fine. I'm on the 360 version.

So, one thing that kind of annoys me, but maybe I'm missing something. All of the training manuals I've picked up seem to be temporary buffs now instead of permanent skill points. I don't really see myself carrying around a library of skill buffs just in case I need them.

I've been really impressed with all of the new monsters so far, with the exception of the

Spoiler:

lakeLurk; I always thought that the Mirelurk Kings were the lousiest enemies in Fallout 3 - always seemed way too Oblivion-y and just seemed too goofy

. At least their ranged attack is a bit faster, so they're more troublesome in battle. Those suckers hit hard!

Orphu:

The regular skill books are still in the game, though their numbers seem to be greatly reduced (in 20 hours of play I've only found two so far.) On the upside, they +3 permanent skill points instead of +1.

Orphu wrote:

So, one thing that kind of annoys me, but maybe I'm missing something. All of the training manuals I've picked up seem to be temporary buffs now instead of permanent skill points. I don't really see myself carrying around a library of skill buffs just in case I need them.

They are light, so why not?

Thing is I seem to find tons that give me stats I don't need. There are also books in there somewhere too. Is it a glitch, or does "Guns & Bullets" not do anything? The effects screen is blank.

Unlike the temporary skill magazines, the permanent skill books don't have descriptive text, though you can usually tell what it will do by the title.

polq37 wrote:

Not reading this thread because of spoiler possibilities.

But, 7 hours into the game, I think Fallout:New Vegas may be the finest computer RPG I've ever played.

The writing is immensely improved over Fallout 3. So far the game strikes exactly the right balance between funny/silly and creepy/dark. The game is deep and involving and thoughtfully paced.

The geckos are adorable.

Agreed Pol, Once I worked through the technical issues I'm now running entirely without crashes and it's been fantastic.

Also, for anyone experiences random crashes 15-20 min into the game, turning the in game music (not the radio) off seems to have fixed it. Apparently this is a bug/relic from way back.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:

I've played maybe 15 hours and it has crashed on me 3 times, usually at a load point, but once when I was saving. It lagged down when I was fighting the main boss at Raul. Other than that it's running just fine. I'm on the 360 version.

Is it weird to keep Raul, just because he has a good voice actor?

Puce Moose wrote:

Just a quick update on some of the mods that have hit the scene so far:

Achievement Remover
Removes all of those idiotic '12 / 45 geckos killed with a hairbrush!' style notifications that continually pop up.

Mikoto Eyes Expansion
Re-textures those hideous cataract-lookin' default eyes with some sharper, brighter ones.

BEWARE OF GIRL Type 3 HiRez HiDetailed Replacer
*WARNING* NSFW nekkid computer-women images. This one replaces the skin textures with nicer, higher-resolution ones, and reduces that nasty neck seam a bit. There are also more chaste 'nightie' options to choose from.

Quieter Vats
This is just a quick mod I made to reduce the volume of VATS noises. The 'ping' sound when selecting targets was hurting my ears, so I just made VATS sound effects considerably quieter. It affects no other sounds.

In addition to the above, here's some others I've come across some might be interested in:

Darker Nights
Some have mentioned that the nights are too bright. This will fix that. Be sure to check the sample screenshots as there are a few different versions depending on how dark you want it.

Realistic Death Physics
This is a port of a FO3 mod that does exactly what it says. No more bodies flying 20 feet back from a gunshot.

Better 3rd person camera
This one changes the 3rd person camera so it's centered instead of over the right shoulder. It also lets you zoom out much farther than vanilla. There are 2 versions; one is centered and raised slightly, the other is just centered.

Caravan card in inventory fix
I recently noticed that all the Caravan cards I was buying or finding weren't being added to my deck. Well, apparently there is a scripting bug that prevents cards you find or purchase from vendors from actually being added into your Caravan deck. They just sit in your inventory instead. So this is just a script fix to properly add the cards into your deck. I assume this issue will be patched at some point so this is just a temporary fix until that happens.

Stylez wrote:

Also, for anyone experiences random crashes 15-20 min into the game, turning the in game music (not the radio) off seems to have fixed it. Apparently this is a bug/relic from way back.

Yeah, I remember Oblivion having that problem with the ambient music, though I have yet to have NV crash. Considering they patched that bug in Oblivion, you'd think they would have fixed it in the core engine. Hrm.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:

I've played maybe 15 hours and it has crashed on me 3 times, usually at a load point, but once when I was saving. It lagged down when I was fighting the main boss at Raul. Other than that it's running just fine. I'm on the 360 version.

PC version here. The crashes that I had, I can't really nail them down to specific circumstances. I'll try turning off the music to see if that changes anything.

On a mildly related note, at least the ingame radio is working now. In Fallout 3 it was constantly stuttering (for me at least) and became so annoying that I never tuned into any radio stations. In NV I actually find myself checking the radio every now and then.

Anybody know where I can find 3 sugar bombs? I screwed up on a quest and now I'm stuck trying to find them before I can complete it but I can't find any.

As for bugs, 12 hours in and all I have run into are spots in the geometry (usually rubble or rocks out in the wasteland) where I get stuck and can't move anymore so I have to load my last save. Other than that I have been fine.

boogle wrote:
KrazyTacoFO wrote:

I've played maybe 15 hours and it has crashed on me 3 times, usually at a load point, but once when I was saving. It lagged down when I was fighting the main boss at Raul. Other than that it's running just fine. I'm on the 360 version.

Is it weird to keep Raul, just because he has a good voice actor?

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/qKEze.jpg)

Also, regarding mods, the better binoculars mod is pretty nice too. The default ones have just silly zoom levels. There's another mod that has a super zoom but I think this one is just right.
http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloa...

Also, also MTUI has been made for New Vegas. It basically is a UI mod that reduces text size to make menus easier to navigate. I'm using it until (or if) Darnified UI is made for New Vegas.
http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloa...

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Anybody know where I can find 3 sugar bombs? I screwed up on a quest and now I'm stuck trying to find them before I can complete it but I can't find any.

The vendor in the dino/gift shop in novac has 4 in stock.

Found a unique sniper rifle yesterday. It just destroys everything at long range. I tried clearing the quarry once and got my ass handed to me, came back with my new rifle and rained death down upon all the Deathclaws!

Spoiler:

The rifle is located in a sniper hut overlooking a legion camp at the very SE corner of the map. You'll need 100 lockpicking to get it, fortunately I maxxed my lockpicking fairly early on.

Just finished that little encounter at Nipton. Reminded me why I like Obsidian games despite their jankiness. Now THAT's some nasty villiany right there.

Spoiler:

oh, and word of advice for Mr high-and-mighty-civilian-butchering-legion-jackass-with-his-poncy-wolf-hat" - If you're going to be all "if you don't like it why not take a shot at me and see how far you get" with me, then arrogantly walk away with your entourage in tow....

....you should probably make sure I didn't just find a rather nifty grenade launcher in one of the nearby buildings.

...

In totally unrelated news, I'm loving my nifty new wolf hat

Just beat the game. I won't post any spoilers but the end of this game has the same problem fallout 3 did: You cant continue after the story ends.

Multra wrote:

Just beat the game. I won't post any spoilers but the end of this game has the same problem fallout 3 did: You cant continue after the story ends.

I am fairly sure that is a spoiler, but a welcome one.

SallyNasty wrote:
Multra wrote:

Just beat the game. I won't post any spoilers but the end of this game has the same problem fallout 3 did: You cant continue after the story ends.

I am fairly sure that is a spoiler, but a welcome one.

I've heard that from various reviews & podcast discussions so it's not too much of a shock. Personally I don't have any problem with it, the only issue with the ending in Fallout 3 for me was...

Spoiler:

...that there was a perfectly logical alternative to sacrificing yourself , ably demonstrated by everyone's favorite super mutant not more than a couple of quests earlier

Out of future interest, is the "point of no return" in New Vegas easy to spot?

Shooting dynamite in a powder ganger's hand is satisfying on so many levels.

About 15 hours in now. Very few crashes, a couple of texture clipping issues. Meh.

My biggest problem so far is that the weekend is already half gone.

Regarding the darker night mod Puce posted.
When I had it on (did this with both versions) I was getting consistent crashes. I'm not sure what was causing it but before putting it on the game never crashed once. After having it on I had 3 crashes within 30 minutes before turning it off. It stopped after turning it off.

Vega wrote:

Caravan card in inventory fix
I recently noticed that all the Caravan cards I was buying or finding weren't being added to my deck. Well, apparently there is a scripting bug that prevents cards you find or purchase from vendors from actually being added into your Caravan deck. They just sit in your inventory instead. So this is just a script fix to properly add the cards into your deck. I assume this issue will be patched at some point so this is just a temporary fix until that happens.

Aha! I knew I had more than 30 cards! I just figured it didn't count duplicates of the same card, even if they're from different casinos. I'll have to add that one and give Caravan a try.

Brill wrote:

Shooting dynamite in a powder ganger's hand is satisfying on so many levels.

Brilliant! *runs to 360*

Finally figured out a good three part strategy for dealing with cazadors and it should work with most character builds: re-load from your last autosave, figure out which direction they were in, go the opposite direction.

I just ran into them today and what a pain in the --. And by the way, who crosses a rattlesnake with a coyote, that's just sadistic.

Ballotechnic wrote:

I just ran into them today and what a pain in the --. And by the way, who crosses a rattlesnake with a coyote, that's just sadistic.

I got a load screen talking about them, and it mentioned gene splicing. Sounds like they're created by man, not mutation.

First test version of Darnified UI for new Vegas is out. This UI makes everything much less 'large and console-y', boasts smaller fonts, and a wealth of customization options. It does require a bit of manual editing of .ini files, so just be warned there's a bit of under-the-hood tinkering to get it up and running.

stevenmack wrote:

Out of future interest, is the "point of no return" in New Vegas easy to spot?

Yes, the game tells you.

Strewth wrote:
Ballotechnic wrote:

I just ran into them today and what a pain in the --. And by the way, who crosses a rattlesnake with a coyote, that's just sadistic.

I got a load screen talking about them, and it mentioned gene splicing. Sounds like they're created by man, not mutation.

Their wings seem to be the weak spot. Not a one shot kill or anything, but much better than a body shot. Also one of the companions seems to consistently stun them, and you can unload with an smg while they squirm.

Funniest moment so far:

Spoiler:

Encountered Harland in the Repconn Basement. When I told him I had found his friend, then opened the door to the right, he came storming through it, ran through two bear traps and died.

I don't remember what was in his inventory but that was quite comical.

Oh man. Suggestion on the black mountain quest: do it at an earlier level, don't wait.
Oh man.......