This is my second article about modding New Vegas. And it’s a big one, because it’s about the main focus on my mod list: Quests.
The idea that more stories could be told in this world, making it a fuller and longer experience, was fascinating to me. I started playing quest mods with Autumn Leaves, all the way back in 2015. The chance to see even more in New Vegas was too interesting to pass up, and my mod list was built for compatibility around these mods.
I spent a long time trying to figure out what worked for me, but here’s the criteria I used.
1: Strong design. No quest mods were added for the sake of being there, they’re all on this list because they’re fun and interesting to play.
2: Good voice acting. All quest mods on this list are dialogue-based in one way or another, so this matters. This means accents that reasonably fit the game, good mic quality, and expressive voices as a whole. If it didn’t have voice acting for certain characters, I didn’t include it.
3: Feel. This is entirely subjective, as people’s interpretation of what Fallout is can be wildly different. In terms of humor, I don’t think I pushed past anything you would have found in the good parts of Fallout 2.
4: It has to be finished. Some mods I would otherwise put on this list (notably Nova Arizona, Tales of New Reno, and Salt Lake Stories) are still being worked on at the time I’m writing this article. While they are still playable in one form or another, I would prefer to experience the complete version.
5: No buggier than an actual Obsidian game. Julie Farkas’s goodbye line was never recorded, the game chugs in a spot near Camp McCarran no matter how good your PC is, and sometimes the engine just crashes for fun. Holding a mod to a higher standard than that seems unfair. If I can reasonably play it without noticing a difference between it and my regular New Vegas habits, I’m good.
6: Balance. I do not have fun with mods that destroy the difficulty curve of the base game. General item, experience, and cap progression should work well together.
7: Minimize players being notified of new quests when the game starts. I didn’t like that with the DLC, I don’t like it here.
8: Compatibility. All mods on this list and these articles are compatible with one another.
This list of 28 quest mods will give you at least 150 new quests, and another 50-80 hours of gameplay for one playthrough depending on your style.
There are also links to integrate these quests with other mods. Unique textures, animations, or other things I use, like B42 Descriptions and B42 Interact. I’ve linked them here for convenience.
This guide presumes you’re familiar with modding enough to add these quests. If you’re looking for a guide to start modding New Vegas, check out Viva New Vegas for an optimal experience and clear tutorial. At the absolute minimum, get to the end of the Base Finish section for maximum stability, but this guide presumes the entirety of the VNV guide was followed.
If you use the Extended Finish, I strongly discourage any use of B42 Optics, both for content and bugs. For Agua Fria, if you use it, I recommend the .ini provided at the end of this article.
Some mods on this list have patches. You can just add these to your load order, or if you have some experience, patch them in yourself with FNVEdit per Advanced Installation Instructions. This is not necessary, just helpful.
Alien Exterminator
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/66465
Do you like killing aliens? If so, head to Camp McCarran to get a job with the Bureau of Extra-Typical Activity. This is a fun, well-written, combat-heavy mod that includes the return of the Zetans from Fallout 3.
Extras
B42 Descriptions https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/73988
Autumn Leaves
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/50146
Main Mod Additional Downloads: Lip Files for Faster End Slides
Autumn Leaves Uncreative Edition https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/87374
A Quiet Start – Quest Mod Delayers Autumn Leaves https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/67639
Advanced Installation Instructions: In FNVEdit, move all “Script” changes from “A Quiet Start” to the “Uncreative Edition” AutumnLeaves.esp. Do not do this with the Worldspace marker or you will remove the Reputation marker from the world map.
Autumn Leaves is a murder mystery in a hidden library just outside of Novac. New Vegas’s DLC centered its design around certain skills or playstyles. Autumn Leaves takes a similar approach, focusing entirely on dialogue and puzzle-solving to uncover a murder and understand the staff of the library. If you’ve played older CRPGs, the design philosophy will be very familiar to you. If not, you’ll get a unique experience—albeit with fewer quest markers than you may be used to.
It has a custom soundtrack, excellent voice acting, and a fantastic story. I have always maintained this should be considered the fifth DLC for New Vegas, and it is the first mod that I download every time I play this game.
Extras
B42 Descriptions – Autumn Leaves https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/93728
Cabot’s Quest
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/68177
In a shack north of New Vegas, a scientist will appear in a flash of light. Take up his request for assistance with an urgent task: saving the world. Time travel, comedy, dungeons, and ties to other Fallout games abound.
Extras
B42 Descriptions https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/75985
The Caravan Tournament
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/72768
Akarion’s Core Mod – https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/73018
A high-stakes Caravan tournament is taking place at the Crimson Caravan Headquarters. You’ll receive a radio transmission on your Pip-Boy informing you of the details. The players are all interesting and unique, and your Caravan skills will be put to the test.
You can also find unique cards around or inside the new building in the Crimson Caravan HQ. Collect them all if you dare, they were pretty tough to find.
The Collector
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/39807
This is an early mod from the creator of the Skyrim mod Falskar. At the Tops Casino, you can find Mr. Franco, who has a bounty hunting job for you. It’s short, but very replayable and well worth your time. https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/64937
Death’s Last Whisper
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/64937
This is a mod for the Fallout 2 fans out there. A small-scale reappearance of the Enclave, the return of talking Deathclaws, and the impact of that game’s story through the generations. You’ll also be introduced to a unique companion with her own questline.
The message to begin the quest triggers at Level 10, leading you to the northern part of the main map.
Extras
JIP CCC – Eve https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/80134
Dry Wells
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/88180
Main Mod Additional Downloads: Imperium Radio Patch
Desert Natural Weathers Patch
Obsidian cut any permanent Legion settlements from the base game due to New Vegas’s short development time. This mod is a take on what one such settlement would look like, and why what Caesar offers could theoretically be a functioning society. It’s not making the Legion more palatable, it just shows the good and bad of the Legion in their own environment. Normally you can only access the town of Dry Wells after certain choices in Lonesome Road, but the worldspace is now available to all players before then.
There are several in-game clues that can lead you to Dry Wells, but if you have trouble finding them like I did, then here’s what you do. Head to Blue Paradise Vacation Rentals by Cottonwood Cove, find a dead man next to a boat, take his map and visit the town.
This mod is getting redone with better visuals and overall presentation. I still recommend the mod as-is, but I will update this list when the Dry Wells Rework is given a full release.
Garden of Ethan
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/88477
West of Nellis Air Base, by the parking lot, is an entrance to a Pre-War science facility. You’ll find a gorgeous worldspace and quests that are designed more like old point-and-click adventure games. I really admire the craft on this, and the soundtrack is great.
Havasu Blues
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/76680
Bugfixes https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/86083
Tweaks and Additions https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/91740
Silverball and Militia Combat Armor Retexture https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/88238
Installation Instructions: The mods should be loaded in this order. “Havasu Blues”, “Bugfixes”, and “Tweaks and Additions.” Disable “havasublues.esm” from the main file and bugfixes mods.
You’ll be taken to a new Ghoul settlement in Arizona. The mod comes in two ‘acts’: the first is a little more like Dead Money’s survival gameplay, while the second is more focused around traditional exploration and quests.
The quest has two potential starting points: you can stumble across the opening at the Searchlight Airport, or you can find an admittedly hard-to-see note on the front desk of the Novac Motel.
Extras
B42 Interact https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/89457
B42 Inject https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/88089
The High Roller
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/76699
Machine Gun Animation Mod – https://mega.nz/folder/yhUBDRbD#ZnKeKC0SLoJW_0mITq3I7A
This mod adds a new Caravan player in the Ultra-Luxe lobby. He offers three high stakes games of Caravan, including a special item after the third match. This is the Dr. Wily fight to The Caravan Tournament’s Robot Master gauntlet, complete with multiple phases. The reward is well worth it.
If you use Wild Wasteland, there is some fourth wall breaking, but no more than what you’d find in certain pockets of Fallout 2.
Into the Deep
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/81385
Main Mod Additional Downloads: B42 Interact
JIP CCC – Coco
This adds a new town called Shamble, new companion (of sorts), and a brand new dungeon by way of a Vault. Save the trapped miners inside, collect a set of Bobbleheads, and maybe even buy a Brahmin. The town is near Nipton, along Ivanpah Dry Lake. You can also get directions and quest marker from a new character in the Mojave Outpost.
Legion Arena Expanded – Brave New World version
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/86481
This is exactly what it says: the Legion’s arena, but expanded. There are more matches. Crowds gather for the fights. Caesar watches the important matches. There are repeatable fights. You can even watch matches yourself. And yes, women can now compete in the Arena if they aren’t Shunned by the Legon.
I use the Brave New World version of this mod, but the base game version will work fine. If you’re unaware, Brave New World is a huge modpack which revoices 130+ characters in New Vegas to minimize the base game’s VAs playing multiple roles. It also has redesigns for some characters to match their new voices or give a slightly more unique appearance.
Lights Camera Anarchy
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/92610
Main Mod Additional Downloads: Fixer Upper Patch
A quest mod about the production of an NCR TV show’s second season. It’s lighthearted, but very sincere. You can stumble across the quest independently or be directed to it from a new NPC in Novac. The patch provides additional material for the house mod Fixer Upper, which I strongly recommend.
The Long 15 – NCR Expansion
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/94306
Long 15 Patchified (Now ESPless) – ChavingRolet’s Unofficial Lone Star Patch (CRULSP) https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/95004
Long 15 – NCR Expansion New Vegas Animation Overhaul Patch https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/94938
ZL’s Long 15 Special Service Rifle Patch https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/94867
A counterpart to Dry Wells, this leads you to another area normally only accessible from certain choices in Lonesome Road. This stands comfortably as the most content-heavy mod on this list. To give an example, the creative lead was able to get to Level 18 with a Level 1 character solely within the Long 15’s quests. The chance to see what the NCR is like in its native environment is enough to recommend this, but this has so much depth, variety, and replayability.
As mentioned in a previous article, this even includes a brand new radio station.
I called Autumn Leaves the fifth DLC, and I stand by that. For those of you old enough to remember the term, Long 15 (especially alongside Dry Wells) feels like an expansion pack.
Mikeburnfire’s NPCs and Quests
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/70988
This mod puts characters and small quests across the main worldspace. There’s a lot of humor, but it rarely crosses the line into goofy. With one exception, it fits Tim Cain’s rule for Fallout. If there’s a reference joke, there must either be an additional joke or no one should know the joke is there at all. It’s less over-the-top than The High Roller, which is far and away the goofiest mod on this list.
Mothership Zeta in New Vegas
This is a complete port of the DLC from Fallout 3, with some touches added to make it fit New Vegas instead of 3.
Along Ivanpah Dry Lake, a spaceship has crashed in the Mojave. When you approach it, you’ll be kidnapped and forced to make your escape. Discover holotapes about the old world, break out fellow abductees, fight the good fight, and enjoy some of Bethesda’s best visuals.
Mothership Zeta is a (somewhat controversial) DLC for Fallout 3. Separated from that game and placed into New Vegas, its strengths become more apparent and weaknesses less obvious. It fits surprisingly well into the Southwest setting of New Vegas, and fits the pattern for New Vegas’s DLC by being a different experience than the base game. In this case, it’s a corridor dungeon crawler and a pretty fun one. I’d never played Mothership Zeta before this version, and I enjoyed my time with it quite a bit.
The quest begins automatically upon leaving Doc Mitchell’s house.
This mod is not hosted on Nexusmods. If you google “ZetaNV.esm”, you’ll be able to find the Russian site that hosts this English language mod.
Please make sure to purchase Fallout 3, as this is a re-use of that game’s DLC.
New Bison Steve Hotel and Casino Master File
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/40433
New Bison Steve Version 107 – SORTOMATIC VERSION
Sortomatic https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/41142
YUP Patch https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/74254
New Balanced Steve (Recommended version) https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/82493
New Bison Steve Consistent Interior Overhaul https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/80417
Immersive and Consistent Bobbleheads https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/91706
Weapon Replacers for the New Bison Steve and Hotel Casino https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/78323
Advanced Installation: You can merge the YUP patch, New Balanced Steve, and Consistent Interior Overhaul into the main mod.
This casino-building mod starts with a new NPC in Primm’s Vikki and Vance. The quest chain is relatively short, but it’s fun and gives you more opportunities to gamble. Not to mention the suite, which comes with a nice present for the Courier. Like Afterschool Special by the same author, this feels very earned. The patches provide balancing for economy and character progression, additional consistency, and graphical upgrades.
On top of that, there’s an entire set of Bobbleheads to collect! I use the Recommended version of New Balanced Steve for a +3 to Skill Points/+1 SPECIAL for balance.
Extras
B42 Interact New Bison Steve https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/88882
Map Marker Icons unofficial mod patches https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/92218
B42 Dropmag Quest Mod Patches https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/83520
New Vegas Stories
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/66505
3-Story ModDB https://www.moddb.com/downloads/new-vegas-stories-bafonets-three-quests-cut
Installation Instructions: Hide the original NewVegasStories.esm
Originally five quests in a few random points throughout the Mojave, the patch removes two unvoiced quests and adds a custom model to one of the characters.
Of Truth and Lies
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/67294
Main Mod Additional Downloads: Crossover Content with Death’s Last Whisper
A bounty hunting quest with a unique twist. This includes additional content for players who have Eve from Death’s Last Whisper in their party.
Powder Ganger Bartender
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/92583
This adds a Powder Ganger vendor in Goodsprings if you side with them in the opening quest. The vendor has an additional quest for you, which makes siding with the Powder Gangers feel less like a total dead end.
The REPCONN Blues
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/64265
Main Mod Additional Downloads: B42 Descriptions Patch
A short and combat-heavy dungeon for early-midgame players. What I appreciate about it is the exploration required on the main map. This mod sent me to locations I’ve never really been to in the base game, and even as a long-time player, I got to experience new things. If only for the opportunity to purposefully explore more of the world, this is worth your time.
Skidge Quest Pack
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/89698
Main Mod Additional Downloads: B42 Interact
Cabot’s Quest
Simple Open Strip
The Living Desert
Immersive and Consistent Bobbleheads https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/91706 (If you’ve already downloaded this for the New Bison Steve, you do not need to download this again. Just place it below this mod.)
This is a series of quests that center around a new city, Sue Town, and the character of Granny Gradbash. It reminds me of Fallout 3’s better qualities in the setting of New Vegas. It’s odd, quirky, but feels very human. These quests have multiple entry points, but you’re most likely to start by finding a Ghoul near Goodsprings Source. Not only that, this includes the third and final Bobblehead set on this list.
Extras
Skreg Physically Based Cars Patch https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/91996
Suspicious Minds
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/86117
A quest in Goodsprings about a missing wife, alcoholism, and the Powder Gangers. This mod is extremely reactive. Some of the small touches feel more like Vampire Bloodlines or Alpha Protocol than anything. An absolute 10/10.
Treasure Hunting
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/81649
A side activity for you to enjoy while walking – there are six hundred manually placed treasures that can only be found with a metal detector! You can purchase it, and the additional radar mod, from a trader under one of Novac’s bridges.
Uncanny Valley Research Center
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/72654
A new research center in the Big MT. Creepy, eerie, and vanilla-friendly. It’s actually mentioned in the main Old World Blues dialogue, so that’s even better.
Wild Card – Open the Lucky 38
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/73395
Main Mod Additional Downloads: Brave New World Patch
If you have Yes Man installed in the Lucky 38, you can re-open the casino. For an investment of 5,000 caps, you can pick your preferred staff and music. After that, you’ll receive passive income of 150 caps per day. 300 if the Lucky 38’s lights are on.
Working on the Chain Gang
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/74958
Main Mod Additional Downloads: Download 2.1 and 2.2
Working on the Chain Gang kNVSE https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/80823
Installation: Disable ChainGang.esm from the 2.1 version.
This one is really interesting. It expands the Powder Gangers to something much more nuanced and interesting than just bomb-happy, chaotic evil lunatics. Very few mods have a conversation that reminds me how enjoyable it was to talk to Chief Hanlon in the base game, but this one does. You can find the starting NPC at Goodsprings Source.
I feel obligated to warn you that the final battle may be difficult for older PCs, and that VATS is a very helpful tool during that fight to avoid friendly fire.
The World We Knew
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/82052
Another Garden of Ethan and World We Knew Patch https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/89154
Enter a Vault near Nellis Air Force Base to discover its secrets, find some treasure, and just dig into the reactivity.
Extras
There are other quest mods that are not on this list since they were better suited to previous articles. I’ve listed them here in case you haven’t read those yet. Check them out for more information, including links and any required patches.
Player Homes – Afterschool Special and Fixer-Upper
Radio Stations – KELZ Fiend Radio
Agua Fria
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/94767
Recommended INI – CMYK Personal Version
New Vegas was shipped with the intention of remaining as friendly to new players as Fallout 3, specifically in terms of its combat and difficulty. Director Josh Sawyer released a mod for the game which adjusted that difficulty to something closer to older CRPGs, called jSawyer. Certain minor content is restored, player HP and carrying capacity is reduced, almost everything about how armor works is changed up, Power Armor no longer requires training (but gives you different advantages if you have it), and it places the pre-order DLC in four locations around the game world. The game is more challenging without being unfair.
Agua Fria updates jSawyer to modern modding practices and with maximum compatibility in mind, and I prefer it over other jSawyer forks due to its configurability and compatibility with other mods.
The mod has two main features that are specifically relevant to this list: reducing the EXP for DLC quests to something more manageable, and increasing the amount of EXP needed to level up. The original jSawyer increased the latter value by 33%. For the purposes of this list, I increased it to 300%.
That might seem like too much, but I promise you it’s better than going into New Vegas for the first time at level 30. For perspective, I mentioned Long 15 having enough experience to get you to Level 18 on a vanilla playthrough. With a 300% modifier, that same amount of experience gets you to Level 10 instead – and that’s just from one mod.
You’ll still almost certainly hit the level cap for a full game if you’re a thorough player, but you’ll need to work for it.
I’ve included my personal INI for Agua Fria above, which keeps the level cap at 50 (jSawyer reduced it to 30), fixes certain things for consistency, and keeps the proposed experience change. I don’t play New Vegas quite as hard as Josh Sawyer would have wanted it, but this still adds a level of complexity which should be enjoyable to new players. I use Titans of the New West 2.0, so Power Armor stats have been changed to allow that mod to supersede jSawyer’s changes.
If you just want slower leveling and none of the other changes, use Slower Leveling Rates here. https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/35178
I prefer this to the option to reduce EXP in Stewie’s Tweaks – it’s mathematically about the same, but it’s much less satisfying to get 3 XP from a new location than 10. If you use Slower Leveling Rates, make sure you only have one plugin from it active in MO2.
Last thing, I swear: If you’re not using everything on this list, it’s a good idea to reduce the amount of XP required to level up. Since it’s all dependent on what mods you’re using, I have no way to gauge what those numbers should be.
Quest XP Overhaul
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/94842
DLC experience progression is just… insane. All DLC quests scale up to 7x of their initial rewards, and they’re already stupidly high. This was almost certainly done to make sure that the DLC always provided some form of leveling during play. I get it, but it makes the DLC more like a candy store.
Agua Fria curbs part of that, reducing the actual XP gain to something manageable per the original jSawyer mod, but doesn’t handle the scaling problem. This does.
It does increase some XP for base game quests to even out the disparity between the main game and DLC. It’s not entirely necessary for our purposes, but it’s a pretty minimal balance change that I can at least understand.
31 quest mods across three articles. My modlist was designed around these quests, and I’m happy I get to share it. But this list will never really be done: New Vegas modders are coming out with new things all the time. Long 15’s release is deservedly getting the spotlight right now as an incredibly achievement, but it’s a spotlight that will shine on other projects yet to come. Enjoy what we have while we have it, and keep an eye out on what’s next.