Fallout: New Vegas bugs

General advice and notes

 * Make sure your game is patched to the latest official patch. If your game is not up-to-date, do not report any bugs you may experience.
 * Save often and in different slots. Do not rely too much on autosave. A frequently overwritten autosave slot can become corrupted.
 * If you are playing on the PC, make sure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements. If any component of your computer falls below the minimum system requirements, do not report any bugs you may experience.

Bethesda's support page
Bethesda's FNV support page offers many simple solutions to common problems.

Mods

 * The Vault does not cover information concerning third-party mods for Fallout: New Vegas.
 * If you have any mods installed, do not report any bugs you may experience, even if it seems to you that your issue is not mod-related. Please visit the Bethesda mod forums for information.

Using the console
On the PC, many NPC, quest, and player-getting-stuck issues can be resolved through the use of console commands.

It should be noted that after using the "Duplicateallitems" command the game can crash when going into your Pipboy.

Crashing, freezing and other hardware- or software-related issues
Stuttering, crashing, freezing, and slow-down issues are often hardware- and/or software-related. Please visit the Bethesda Fallout: New Vegas hardware forums for information regarding these issues. In particular, read through the stickied threads at the top of the forum pages.

NPC-specific bugs

 * For NPC-specific bugs, please see the respective NPC article page.
 * For bugs that apply to NPCs in general or to followers in general, please see the General NPC bugs section below.

Quest-specific bugs
For quest-specific bugs, please see the respective quest article page.


 * The unnamed quest to find the food processor parts doesn't allow you to fix the processor even if you have all the parts, one more pot is needed. This was found on the Xbox version, unknown if PS3 is affected. EDIT (different author): I was able to fix the food processor when carrying an extra Pan in my inventory (2 instead of 1). Upon fixing the processor, only 1 Pan was removed from my inventory, however.
 * During I Put a Spell on You, when going to defuse the bomb on the monorail the tram will leave before you can get on it or bomb will explode even if disarmed.

Location-specific bugs
For location-specific bugs, please see the respective location article page.
 * At Helios One, just north of scrap yard when going out the back door (to the solar panels). Old Lady Gibson and her dogs will spawn and attack you. Reloading the autosave will fix this.
 * In the Lucky 38 Presidential Suite the terminal used for purchasing extra features does not have the items properly mapped and you must click of to the right of the right of the item to select it.
 * An ammo box inside a tent at Helios One shows a computer hack screen over the normal lockpick mini-game screen while hacking. Picking the lock is still possible but more of a challenge. The same bug occurs on a locked door next to a computer terminal in Vault 3, reloading a save game does not rectify but quitting the game completely and reloading does.
 * At Buffalo Bill's Casino and Hotel in Primm, the computer terminal will blur w/sound but the screen will not appear. At the Lockpick later on on the first floor the computer screen will appear over the lockpick interface. (Resolved with a restart of the console, reverting a save did not fix)
 * North of the cove location towards the south, standing on the highest rock will result in becoming stuck and unable to move.

Exploits
Please see Fallout: New Vegas exploits.

General solutions

 * Leave and re-enter the area.
 * Load a save from before the glitch occurred.
 * Exit the game, restart the game, and load a save from before the glitch occurred.
 * PC users may be able to fix some issues by using console commands.

Clipping

 * Clipping (items and actors getting stuck in the ground or in other items) is a common problem.
 * The PC may be pushed through objects, such as the ground, and launched forwards.

Crashing, freezing and slowdowns
Crashes and freezes may happen occasionally to anyone. Crashes and freezes are only notable when they are repeatable (e.g. they happen under the same set of circumstances often). If the crash only occurs on one particular save, then the save itself is most likely the source of the problem. Please verify that crashes and freezes are repeatable on more than one save game before reporting.
 * Unknown cause, but in The Tops and Ultra-Luxe casinos, the game freezes after the last line of dialogue "Enjoy your stay" when handing over weapons to the greeters. Taking the violent approach and leaving allows the game to keep running, but may cause permanent relationship damage with that casino.
 * Severe slowdowns are occurring on all platforms. Restarting your system may help.
 * One freeze in particular effects 360 users (known as of now). When traveling on foot from Primm and heading south, the game might freeze freeze if you look at the vast expanse of desert wasteland.(Attempted multiple times. No Freezes as of 1407 10-22-10)
 * when walking to the scrap yard passing under a rock you will freeze
 * On the Playstation 3 version. Repairing two "NCR Bandoleer Armors" at the same condition will always result in a freeze
 * In Primm, there are some tents that the NCR forces stationed there use as their field HQ. In one of the tents, it is empty except for a bedroll and a shelf with a few containers. One of the containers holds two NCR facemasks. The game will crash fairly soon after trying to use these masks in any way after picking them up. Combining them to repair them causes the item to disappear from your inventory. The only safe method to interact with them seems to be to avoid that tent entirely or drop the masks after finding them. This bug was found on the Xbox 360 version and verified on the PS3; also when wearing or repairing NRC Trooper Armor.
 * While playing, it is not uncommon to have a "black screen" crash upon exiting a building. The exact cause of this is unknown, but there is a quick work around. The player simply needs to eject the disc from the 360 and then restart the game once it returns to the main dashboard menu. So far this is the only known way to prevent corrupted save data.

General NPC bugs
When you enter a casino with Boone as a companion they take all your weapons and when you leave they give them back along with Boone's Rifle. When you try to give it back to him it will not show up in your inventory and if you drop it you can't pick it back up(PS3).

Missing NPC bugs

 * If you give Arcade Gannon the Wait command and leave the area (i.e. fast travel) he can disappear from the location from where you left him and will not be back in the location where you recruited him. You also cannot change your Humanoid companion while this is happening. (Xbox 360)

Engine Bugs

 * Control and HUD loss on reload from save. Known to happen on all three Gamebryo Engine games.
 * (Seen on Xbox 360) Hacking in Bison Steve's casino sees the gameworld blur, then brings up only the audio of the hacking minigame. This can be repaired by quitting to the console dashboard and restarting and reloading, but is likely to recur.  Similarly, attempting to lockpick in Bison Steve's may result in a blank hacking minigame console appearing instead of the correct minigame.  Again, this can be solved by restarting and reloading, but again may recur.

Radio-related bugs

 * Subtle audio-normalization issues on the radio, making some songs noticeably quieter than the announcer (Mr. New Vegas).
 * Some songs played much more often than others

Animation bugs

 * When putting away pistols (9mm and such) if you're running the pistol will enter your characters back and stay there until you draw your weapon again, if you hold still while holstering your weapon it will go to your side as normal.
 * When equipped with a two-handed gun in first-person mode, the weapon often clips mid-view, distorts, and slides to the top of the screen and behind the player's perspective.
 * Zooming in with Guns equipped with the scope mod sometimes results in a black screen with a hack computer screen.
 * Sometimes when telling a follower to switch back from melee to ranged will result in their ranged weapon to be holstered where their melee weapon was. (Example: Boone unequipping his machete and equipping his rifle. The rifle will be at his hip instead of on his back).

Weathered 10mm pistol missing mesh bug
The Weathered 10mm pistol is missing a mesh, that is, a graphics file needed to display the gun correctly with gun mods added. Consequently, when you add mods to the gun, you end up with severe visual distortions. A couple examples below:

Crashing and other hardware- or software-related issues
Stuttering, crashing, freezing, and slow-down issues are often hardware- and/or software-related. Please visit the Bethesda forums for information regarding these issues. In particular, read through the stickied threads at the top of the forum page.


 * Strange black and white boxes appearing at long view range with Nvida GTX 4xx cards (seen with a 480, 470, 460 and 450 GTS so far).


 * With trait selected with 20% slower firing speed gun at time "spasms" firing multiple times, possibly due to stacked fire commands.


 * Indoor HDR lighting will frequently flicker in areas close to light beams and other nondescript areas. This bug is intensified when the PipBoy light is on.


 * When buying cards for your caravan deck, they will just sit in your inventory and you won't be able to add them to your deck.