There are so many good games out this fall. So, so many. There's a type of video game for just about every type of video game player. But there is one thing missing: There's no vast, open-world role-playing game.

Bethesda, scions of the vast open-world RPG, have dedicated this year to the fantastic but decidedly not-open-world Dishonored. I had to go somewhere to get my fix of wandering, leveling, and exploring. And so I decided to return to Fallout: New Vegas.

Over the past couple of years, I've heard a lot of people rave about the underratedness and overlookedness of Obsidian's take on Bethesda's first-person reinvention of the Fallout universe. I actually played a big chunk of New Vegas when it first came out, but I never finished it. I just sort of ran out of steam not too long after I'd arrived on the strip.

Two years later, with a healthy gaming PC and a new appreciation for how much modding can improve these types of games, I thought I'd dig back in. After so, so many hours in Skyrim, I'm increasingly hungry to return to the darker and, frankly, more interesting Fallout universe. (That's a mouthful! But you get it, right? Obsidian made New Vegas, Bethesda just published it.) I've also heard nothing but good things about the New Vegas DLC, which is now so cheap that I couldn't help but download all of it.

I'll be writing a few articles about my time in New Vegas—it's a crazy time of year, and I can't guarantee that I'll be able to play the game all the way through or anything, but I've already put in a big chunk of time and have noticed a lot of interesting stuff while doing so.

For the first post, I thought I'd write about how I've modded the game to get it looking as good as possible. I haven't gone nearly as overboard with mods as I did with Skyrim; lots of New Vegas mods make the game unstable, and seeing as how it's already pretty crash-y, I wanted to stick with the biggest cosmetic upgrades and not much else.

So, here's what I've got installed. These mods, coupled with my solid gaming PC (I'm running an i5 2.8GHz with 8GB of RAM and a GeForce 660Ti) certainly make New Vegas a better-looking, more tweakable, and more interesting game than it was when I played it on Xbox in 2010.

I've downloaded all of these mods from The Nexusmods Site for New Vegas, and most have been installed using the Nexus Mod Manager. I've made a note of the mods that require manual installation. Here goes:

Project Nevada

Project Nevada is the only overhaul-ish mod I'm using, but it's a heck of an overhaul. It adds all kinds of crap to the game—hotkeys for grenades, a sprint button, bullet-time, stealth modes, cybernetic implants… honestly, it makes New Vegas feel like a much different—and much better—game. I particularly like the cybernetic implants—my sneaky fast-talker now has a stealth mod installed in her chest, and with a press of the "X" button, I can activate a stealth field akin to a Stealth Boy. This is great, since I always hoarded stealth boys in the original game and never used them.

To get Project Nevada to work, you'll have to install the latest version of the New Vegas Script Extender, which is very easy to do. Just follow the directions at the site. You'll also have to check the boxes for the four .esm files in the "Plugins" tab in the Nexus Mod Manager.

Centered Third Person Camera

This one does just what it sounds like—it centers the third-person camera. Very nice, as the up-close third person camera is weird and claustrophobic. It's especially good for those early hours when you need to run/jump away from radscorpions to get where you're going. It's much easier to see when one of the little biters is right on your heels.

Fellout NV

Fellout is a mod that, just like the previous version for Fallout 3, removes the orange tint that the game previously had. It, in combination with a couple of other mods, makes the game a much more welcoming-looking thing, and makes daytime in the desert a more arid, clear affair. I dig it.

NMC's Texture Pack

NMC's texture overhaul for New Vegas is definitely the biggest graphical boost you can give the game, though it can also be a bit persnickety. You can't use the mod manager, and have to extract the archives straight into your New Vegas directory. That's no sweat, but after installing the large version of the pack, my game became hugely unstable. You'll also want to install the 4GB New Vegas Mod, which allows the game to use 4GB of virtual memory. Unfortunately, even with that mod installed, the texture pack caused constant crashes.

I downgraded to the medium texture pack, and things are much, much more stable now. The game still looks great, and while it does crash every hour or two, I'm A) not certain the crashes are due to the textures and B) can live with it.

Nevada Skies

Nevada Skies adds a bunch of new weather effects and sky textures to the game, and makes everything that much prettier.

FNV Enhanced Shaders

This is another big one—I've actually installed the lite version of this mod, since the most recent one forces me to turn off AA and also slows my framerate down. The lite version still looks nice though, and adds a lot of good lighting effects. I generally turn it off when I'm in dungeons, however, as it just makes things too dark. Fortunately, you can turn it off with a simple keystroke at any time.

And that's that. There are, of course, a ton of other mods I could install, but I don't want to change the core experience too much—I'm interested in looking back at how the game feels a few years after it came out, and Project Nevada brings enough changes to keep me happy.

I've been playing the game sort of casually between other big fall releases, but I've already noticed a lot of things that are interesting, particularly after spending so much time playing Skyrim (and so much more time theorizing about Bethesda's presumed Fallout follow-up). I'll have some more articles throughout the week about New Vegas, and hey, if you've got any free time between the alien-blasting and stealth-stabbing, download some mods and join in.

If your Science skill was too low, or if you just enjoyed the LSAT problem of trying to figure out how to brute force hack your way into a terminal in Fallout 3 then this flash game is for you. And look, no need to back out of the terminal before making your final attempt!

Complete with authentic keyboard-clacking and power-switch whoomphing, from mitchellthompson.net is this flash timewaster based on the good ol Robco Industries security protocol. I haven't gone to GameFAQs or my strat guide (yes, I bought one) to see if it's using real passwords or not—I don't think it is. I can't even tell if it has a correct answer or just one chosen at random. Anyway, here you go, drive yourself nuts.

Fallout 3 Terminal [MitchellThompson.net. h/t leonsbuddydave2]

And so here we are, observing the fall of innocent, impressionable minds (ha, Mega64) seduced by Fallout's violence and thievery.

Also: awww to the woman who helps him pick up his pants.

Looks like someone mistook facial features for wall textures. Oops!

Was modding my fallout 3 game. Think I messed up somewhere. [Reddit]

Well, not just for you. Fans of Wasteland, RAGE, Borderlands or any other game set in a post-apocalyptic desert are more than catered for at Wasteland Weekend, which will be held in the Mojave Desert at the end of the month.

While originally conceived as a Mad Max-inspired event, it's since taken on wider influences, as you can see by the Fallout-esque trailer the organiser's have released.

Note that by themed party, I mean themed party: people dress, hang out and act as though we're already past the end of the world, with the weekend full of stuff like apocalypse-appropriate live music, modified cars and burlesque performances.

Wasteland Weekend [Official Site, via Laughing Squid]

If you've played Fallout: New Vegas, you may have come across Lanius. Second Legate. Military commander of all Caesar's Legion's forces in the field. Sharply-dressed badass.

Well, a group of Aussie filmmakers are trying to bring the man to the big screen, roping in a bunch of talent that includes former WETA effects men, professional concept artists and attractive, athletic young people to work on a project called Fallout: Lanius.

It'll be an origin story, telling how the man came to his position of power, and in a nice touch the voice under his mask will be provided by Mitch Lewis, the same man who played the role in the game.

You can read more about the project at the link below.

Fallout: Lanius [Official Site]

---

ED-E and I were inseparable, when I first played Fallout: New Vegas. Well, except for all those times that the demands of the plot separated us. But no matter: his perks, cheerfully sarcastic beeping, and killer laser were great company on an endless trek through the Mojave Wasteland.

This real-life ED-E, sent to Geekologie by their reader Will Brown, would look perfect hovering along behind my shoulder. He'd be perfect for zapping people that cut in line, or letting me know if there were enemies in the road ahead. Alas, despite the beautiful workmanship, the ability to fly is not included.

Scroll down for a few more photos showcasing the making-of process, as well as a couple of close-ups.

Geekologie Reader Makes ED-E Replica From New Vegas [Geekologie]

---

Two PAX attendees in Fallout cosplay thought they might be able to trade in months' worth of bottle caps savings for some cool swag at Bethesda's booth in Seattle this past weekend.

Little did Alisha, Trevor's girlfriend of three years, know what was hidden inside the ammo box the Bethesda booth representative handed them. Skip ahead to roughly 3:50 if you want to get to the proposal action. Kudos to Trevor and Bethesda for the very sweet, sneaky moves.

Fallout Proposal [YouTube via Reddit]

I'm partial to the Zelda triforce logo, but that Fallout Nuka-Cola wallpaper is pretty damn cool too. These were all designed by talented Kotaku reader Keena Venegas. Any of them catch your eye? Or your desktop?

---

Wallpapers Video Games [DeviantArt]

It seems like Black Isle, the game studio behind RPG classics like Fallout and Planescape: Torment, is making some sort of comeback.

An official website for the new Black Isle popped up today, as did Facebook and Twitter pages (as spotted by the folks on NeoGAF). The website appears to have been registered by Interplay, the company that owned Black Isle back in the late 90s—and shut it down in 2003.

The elephant in the room here is that as far as we know, all of the people who used to work at Black Isle—talented video game designers like Feargus Urquhart and Chris Avellone—are now elsewhere. Some are at Obsidian, the company behind games like Fallout: New Vegas and Knights of the Old Republic II, while others are at inXile, the studio currently working on crowdfunded RPG Wasteland 2.

Interplay also recently lost all rights to develop a Fallout MMORPG.

---

---

So what would a new Black Isle look like? What would they work on? A banner on the new website reads: "Our goal has always been to make the world's best RPGs. Black Isle Studios is back." But can they really be "back" with none of the talent that made those RPGs great? Have they brought back some of that talent?

I've reached out to the e-mail address listed on the new Black Isle website for comment. Will update should I hear anything.

Update: Avellone says he isn't involved: