New Vegas Performance, Tips, Tricks, and More!

[CarnivalOfFear]

When I first bought New Vegas I was having serious problems running it. My FPS would drop below 30 constantly but I found a few tips and tricks that would help in improving performance and over all smoothness in the game.

 

First of all I would like to mention I am using a Dell Laptop to run my game on so quite a few laptop specific tips will be given.

 

Before we start I suggest you download a program known as Fraps. Fraps allows you to monitor your FPS in game to ensure you are getting improved results also you can post your results here and let me know if my guide worked.

 

First things first be sure your game settings are reasonable let the game auto adjust the settings for you the first time. If your game has been rated for high or ultra this guide will help you more than if your pc has been rated for medium or low as there is some sort of hardware bottleneck going on (if your running NV on a newer Nvidia based laptop stay tuned as I may be able to help you achieve a much higher score)

 

Computer settings and you! you may not realize it but settings outside the game effect game play a lot especially power settings on laptops and graphics card settings. If your running on a laptop be sure to have your power setting on HIGH PERFORMANCE when running games to ensure enough power is getting to your GPU and CPU. If you have an Nvidia based laptop ensure you are running the game on your Nvidia card. This can be checked under 3d settings in your Nvidia Control Panel. The stock intel or amd graphics would barely run the game if at all so this step is important. also it is important to be sure your computer is getting good ventilation when playing the game as CPUs and GPUs produce way more heat under load.

 

Now that that's out of the way game settings are also important. If your having problems running the game at a high enough FPS (above 30 99% of the time) try going with a lower resolution. Often the game will either not choose a good resolution or it will not choose one at all. Just make sure the resolution matches your monitors aspect ratio or you may have some stretching.

 

My settings when I began were pretty low everything on medium -high with a 720p resolution ( although my laptop screen is 1080p) I knew the issue wasn't my card as I could run much more up to date games at a higher frame rate so I began to look around.

 

Tip / Trick UPDATE YOUR GAME!

Many updates were made to the game just make sure your version is up to date by checking the version info and comparing it to patch logs online. Dead Money DLC also included graphical patches that can greatly increase FPS.

 

MODS

 

Now that you have the basics down there are also mods you can use to help improve performance. First of all I recommend you download NVSE if you haven't already it can be found here:

 

http://nvse.silverlock.org/

 

If you have 4 GB of ram or more in your computer I suggest you install the 4GB loader found below along with the NVSE 4GB loader found near the bottom of the NVSE page above. This allows your computer to utilize more ram and allow your game to run better.

 

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/35262

 

Basically you put all the files in your Fallout New Vegas folder and rather than running the game from the normal shortcut you run it through the NVSE 4GB loader. You can even create a desktop shortcut for it and create an Icon if you wish.

 

Next mod I'm going to show you increases game stability and removes a glitch in the engine known as the 64Hz glitch. This glitch causes a constant stutter in the game noticeable greatly when moving sideways. this is installed in the data folder in a folder called NVSE with another sub-folder called plugins. (link below has more info on install and has download links) after install open the file sr_New_Vegas_Stutter_Remover.ini in notepad. the line you are looking for is called MaximumFPS by default it is set to 30 which is fairly low but still smooth. This number should be set accordingly to your average in-game fps. Say if you find your self running around say 40 set this number to 38 or 36 if you find your self going to or over 60 I recommend you set this to 58 or 59 to reduce tearing on most monitors.

 

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/34832

 

My final mod is for those with dual core or better CPU's this allows you to take advantage of all of your CPU's power. After installing the mod below read the mod description and follow all steps until the part where he mentions changing NumHWThreads at this point many people think "I have a dual core so 2 would be the correct number" this can be wrong. Some CPU's are hyper threaded meaning it may have so many cores but for each core it has 2 threads rather than 1. if you hit the keys Ctrl+Alt+Delete and select "Start Task Manager" then go to the tab titled performance you will see an area titled CPU usage history this are will have anywhere from 2 to even 12 boxes in it for some. count the number of boxes and this is the number you should pun in for NumHWThreads.

 

http://newvegas.nexusmods.com/mods/46302

 

After all this I find my self being able to run Fallout New Vegas at Max settings at 1080p never dipping below 35 FPS and hovering usually around 55-59 FPS. Hope this Guide could help you achieve the performance you are looking for and remember to post your before and after results below.

Edited June 5, 2012 by CarnivalOfFear