Player homes are so integral to New Vegas that they made an entire DLC around it. But as much fun as The Sink is, sometimes you don’t want to wait until you’re nearing Level 20 to access to it. Or maybe you’re just up for some variety. Here are the player homes I use for my modlist, based on the following criteria.
1: Each house has to be distinct.
2: If the house has services (a vendor, healing, etc.), it should be earned.
3: Try to have them on different parts of the map. This is partly to facilitate a playthrough that had limited fast travel, and partly to avoid everything being in Goodsprings.
As with all other articles on this site, I use these mods concurrently.
This guide presumes you’re familiar with modding enough to add these stations. 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. If you have some experience, you could also patch them in yourself with FNVEdit per Advanced Installation Instructions. This is not necessary, just helpful.
Afterschool Special
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/43757
YUP Patch https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/78465?tab=description
Afterschool Special Tweaks https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/73603
Advanced Installation version (Non-Sortomatic) https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/43757?tab=files&file_id=1000016076
Advanced Installation Instructions: Download the second version, which does not include Sortomatic. Merge YUP into Afterschool Special.esm.
Merge Afterschool Special Tweaks, except the Containers section. This will remove the Sortomatic function.
This is an oldie but a goodie. Afterschool Special is a quest-based player home mod. It’s a good cap sink, which is extremely helpful if you’re looking for a more balanced economy. The quest chain really makes you feel like you earned your player home. As a bonus, it takes you outside of Goodsprings to find certain items.
You will also unlock a high cap vendor at the end of this quest chain.
Cliffside Hideaway
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/58086
A player home northwest of the Deathclaw Promontory, overlooking the Colorado River. It has various amenities and a great view, but it requires some trekking to get to it the first time.
Dust Devil Adobe Home
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/76098
A player home near Sunset Sarsaparilla HQ. This has adobe architecture from the old Fallout games, accented in raider chic. You will need to fight raiders to claim it, but once you have it it’s yours. You can also remove the raider chic part of things with a toggle in the home.
If you’re concerned about this standing out as a singular adobe building, that’s fair. I use other Adobe mods (specifically Sloan and Searchlight), which makes it feel like a natural part of the landscape. These will be discussed more in a later article.
Fixer-Upper
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/90634
Main Mod Additional Downloads: Afterschool Special Patch
Advanced Installation Instructions: Merge Afterschool Special Patch into main Fixer-Upper. Select “Deep copy overwrite (with overwriting) into…” instead of the normal “Deep copy overwrite into…”, preserve Object IDs, cancel operation if Object IDs aren’t preserved.
This is the second (and final) player home in Goodspring, and is good enough I had to keep it and Afterschool Special.
This mod is great. Every marked quest, unmarked quest, unique weapon, challenge (and more!) that you complete is tracked via in-game trophies that decorate your home. There are also crafting benches and some medical treatment options.
You will need to complete a quest chain for this (requiring some Repair checks). It all starts with a key on Doc Mitchell’s bulletin board across from the bed you woke up in. This is the best mod on the list.
Nellis Quonset Hut Player Home
https://www.sublevel3.com/mmtv/fnv/fnv-nellis-home.html
This one is interesting – the Boomers do not give you a safehouse in the main game. This serves as a de facto one, giving you access to a hut at Nellis Air Force Base. You’ll get a notification for it once your reputation is high enough.
Extras
These mods aren’t entirely new player homes, but they’re adjacent to them in one way or another.
Lime’s Casino Suite Overhaul
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/70051
Main Mod Additional Downloads: Lucky 38 Add-on
This is just a revamp of the Strip’s casino’s suites, since some people use these as player homes.
Lime’s Faction Safehouse Overhaul
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/69997
Installation Instructions: Open the Config file, and change the first value from 0 to 1. This re-enables the caretaker NPCs normally present in the safehouses.
A revamp of the Faction safehouses. There’s more stuff, more personality, and it just feels more finished. If you’re used to a safehouse for a player home, this is a great upgrade.
New Bison Steve Hotel and Casino
A quest mod about opening your own casino, complete with a suite of your own. Links and patches are included on the quest mods page.
Skidge’s Quest Pack
A quest mod that introduces a new town, and includes a customizeable player home as a reward for a specific quest. It’s just across from Dust Devil Adobe. Links and patches are included on the quest mods page.
Tidier Novac Motel Room
https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/70609
I can’t believe it took me this long to find: the humble Novac motel room has been cleaned up. No frills, no new crafting benches, no new layout, it’s just not covered in trash anymore.
There are absolutely more great player homes out there, these are just the ones I use. By all means, share yours and if I find something that works I’m happy to put it on the list.
CMYK Avenger