How do I set up New vegas for mods?

[Tomdogg449]

Ok I'm having a bit of trouble here. The problem is that I can't exactly remember how I set up Fallout 3 so that I could use mods way back when. Thus, I don't know how to set up New Vegas. So could someone kinda walk me through it a bit? I know the first thing you need is the mod manager which I have and you need to set up archive invalidation or something like that. I got the INI file all set but I can't seem to activate the invalidation itself.

 

That's where I'm stuck...

[PowderdToastMan]

Download ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated. download the manual version here: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=944

Manually place it in your data folder. do not download the automated installer

 

Download and install FOMM.

 

Once installed, go to Documents\My Games\ FalloutNV and right click the Fallout doc. Look at Properties, if it is Read Only uncheck it. Open the doc and Ctrl+f. Find SInvalidationFile. Change the [Archive] block to look like this:

 

[Archive]

SInvalidationFile=

iRetainFilenameOffsetTable=1

iRetainFilenameStringTable=1

iRetainDirectoryStringTable=1

bCheckRuntimeCollisions=0

bInvalidateOlderFiles=1

bUseArchives=1

SArchiveList=Fallout - Voices1.bsa, Fallout - Sound.bsa, Fallout - Misc.bsa, ArchiveInvalidationInvalidated!.bsa, Fallout - Textures.bsa, Fallout - Textures2.bsa, Fallout - Meshes.bsa

 

Do the same thing to FalloutPrefs.

 

Now go to Program Files\Steam\steammaps\common\fallout new vegas and open the Fallout_default config doc. Change the [Archive] block like you did for the Fallout and FalloutPrefs docs.

 

Once all of that is done, open the FOMM. Go to Tools and select Archive Invalidation from the drop down menu. Toggle archive invalidation on and off and then leave it ON.

 

You can find these instructions here: http://www.newvegasnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=38132

 

Or on the wiki here: http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Archive_invalidation

 

Make sure you have at least one save in your folder so that the ini files are all there

 

If the toggle off then on does not work, just keep doing it and it will eventually work. its just a kink

 

EDIT*

 

also, archive invalidation is only needed for things that replace vanilla materials in the game. it will not be needed for things that add new content with out overriding vanilla meshes and textures