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.

Custom button-mapping bugs
Using custom control-mappings can cause problems when attempting to activate or use objects, fire weapons, reload, etc.

Pip-Boy bugs

 * The Pip-Boy screen may increase in brightness to a point where you can't see anything on the screen. (Saving and loading the new save can fix this on PS3 and xbox 360)(Turning on then off the pip boy light can fix this on PS3 & Xbox)
 * In some instances when the player turns on their Pip-Boy's light, the entire sky may glare up, regardless if day or night.(Confirmed)
 * In H&H Tool Company the dates on the journal entries hidden on the secret network drives do not match the dates of the same journal entries on the Pip-Boy (they are ten years earlier on the Pip-Boy).

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.

Location-specific bugs
For location-specific bugs, please see the respective location article page.
 * 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. EDIT: Or you can just close the Computer and the using the standard menu.
 * After upgrading the Lucky 38 Presidential Suite the containers by the workbench can reset causing you to lose any items placed there.
 * North of the cove location towards the south, standing on the highest rock will result in becoming stuck and unable to move.
 * At the Gomorrah, the dealer may talk to a Gomorrah floor manager like he is a visitor of the casino.
 * It's possible to go outside of the map due to a ledge southeast of Morning Star Cavern.
 * In No-Bark's house, if you jump in between the fridge, the wall, and the bed area, you will be stuck. Reloading the last save or using the TCL console command are the only ways to get out.
 * After upgrading Mr. House's Securitrons, the gate to the Strip is locked by key and the guarding securitrons aren't upgraded.
 * At Repconn Headquarters, it is possible that the upstairs robots will attack you even if you've already acquired an Executive Level pass from hacking Isley's computer.
 * At the Brotherhood of Steel's Hidden Valley Bunker, you can possibly become stuck within the bunker. The door in Level 1 will be locked and you will need a key to open it.
 * Inside the train tunnel south of Nellis Air Force Base; walking into the first room on the right will re-spawn the player at the tunnel entrance.
 * At the NCR Military Police HQ, prisoners in cells (If attacked) can open the cells to their freedom.
 * At HELIOS One when you walk out the door to the solar panels sometimes you will see Old Lady Gibson, her dogs, and molerats (If you have a companion they might accidentally hit Old Lady Gibson when they are attacking the molerats and they will kill her)

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.
 * Sometimes, if you pick up an object from a table or other surface, all other objects on it will fall through the table.
 * Some clothing have bad clipping problems such as the weapons going through the armour.

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.
 * Crashes often when you near completion of the game.
 * Crashes in VATS are somewhat common.
 * Crashing or freezing when entering or exiting areas is somewhat common.
 * Crashing or freezing upon entering The Strip is fairly common.
 * A Sputtering slowdown followed by a crash.
 * Severe slowdowns are occurring on all platforms. Restarting your system may help.
 * On the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 version. Repairing two "NCR Bandoleer Armors" at the same condition will always result in a freeze. In fact, this may happen with other stackable items as well.
 * If one saves at the beginning of the game while editing your character the Level up system can crash.
 * After entering the Hidden Valley Bunker. In the main office, after handing over your Weapons, Clothes and Ammo. (Occured during ED-E My Love quest) (PC and Xbox 360). (Workaround: Don't bring any companions inside the bunker with you during the "strip")
 * Attempting to fire Euclid's C-Finder at any time with the Heave Ho Perk. (After arming the Archimedes-II) (360)
 * At any time the game will freeze up and crash followed by a message box stating that required downloadable content is not present, and then continuing to load will bring up another message saying selected save device is not present.

General NPC bugs

 * The NCR Rangers that follow you when you have a bad reputation with the NCR will hunt you down in locations they should not have access to, such as the brotherhood of steel base.
 * After calling an NCR Ranger to assist you, despite them saying 'Ranger at the Ready' I have had to actually approach and talk to the Ranger, having them repeat 'Ranger at the Ready' to get them to follow my party.
 * When attempting the quest Still in the Dark I went to talk to Elder McNarmara about the 3 Scouts and upon entering Level 2 of Hidden Valley an Initiate ran towards the command center. Upon entering the command center McNarmara stands up and equips his Laser RCW, he then proceeds to run in place towards Paladin Hardin's room and it is impossible to start conversation with him. Every NPC after this is frozen including followers not in the party.

Engine Bugs

 * Control and HUD loss on reload from save. Known to happen on all three Gamebryo Engine games.
 * If for some reason the engine hangs for a while, the terrain thread can get stuck which means A) the terrain will never update again, leading to the player being able to access the lower LODs B) the thread never closes which means the game hangs on exit

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 (seems to only be radio stations with an announcer, Mojave Music Radio appears to randomize correctly) One song played twice in a row begining to end.
 * A noticable distortion is present in Mr. New Vegas' speech while on the New Vegas Strip or in Freeside. Only occurs on the ambient radio not while played via the Pip-Boy 3000.

Animation bugs

 * The stack of books in Doc Mitchel's bedroom will bleed if hit with a Power fist.
 * When putting away pistols 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 a gun equipped with the scope mod sometimes results in a black screen with a with a blank terminal screen.
 * Zooming in and quicksaving the game and then loading the game will cause the zoomed-in view to overlay the first-person view, you will be able to move around normally but most of the screen will be covered.
 * When you kill something and the cinematic death is presented, pressing and holding the 3rd person button and then rotating the camera will cause you to spin while you gun stays in place. The view stays in 1st person and you can't switch to third.  You can still move and shoot but not aim down the sights.
 * Looking through binoculars sometimes results in a black screen with a terminal screen but can be fixed by exiting the game and loading it.
 * 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).
 * Some caravan card games may not load up a screen, but rather load up the options to choose cards. The screen will remain, with you looking at your opponent.
 * When wearing the Prostitute Outfit and straffing to the left, the arm will twist and morph, causing the player's skin to show through the clothing.
 * Occasionally, some NPC's heads will do an 'exorcist', or will turn completely upside down, being near their chest. This is extremely rare, but the most notable person to do this is Antony ( This bug can be solved changing the screen texture settings in "PAUSE" menu, tested by me).
 * Sometimes, your fingers will 'break', and your index finger will bend and partially clip through itself.
 * Many NPCs seem to sit about 2 feet to the left or right of chairs instead of actually in the chair in several places throughout the game. (PS3)
 * Sometimes, when a character is talking, their mouth won't move or there mouth will move when they aren't talking anymore. This happens (generally) when a message pops up on the screen during a conversation.
 * Somtimes while sitting with Brotherhood T-51b power armor equipped, the shoulder plates start turning upside down.
 * When activating a terminal for use, the screen becomes blurry, but you can hear the typing on the computer as if nothing is wrong. Players can still back out from the screen.

Barter system bugs

 * The vendor's name is blank when the barter screen is first opened. If the category of the vendor's items is changed, when you cycle back to the vendor's name, it is now displayed.
 * When purchasing any items from Blake at The Crimson Caravan Company the game will freeze or suffer a severe slowdown immediately after the transaction is complete. Has happened many times and occurs occasionally with other merchants. Occurs most often however with Blake.
 * Selling a modded weapon, and then subsequently trying to buy back the weapon, will result in the purchasing of a different form of the weapon(if it is stocked). Example: Trying to buy back an extended mag 10mm Pistol while other 10mm Pistols are present will result in the purchase of the unmodified weapons first. Purchasing all weapons did not solve this problem, as the modded weapon would not be transferred, though caps were lost
 * If the user abuses the infinite caps glitch with a vendor, the item the player is buying may duplicate in their, or the vendor's inventory. If the item duplicates in the players' inventory and the player is already carrying an item of that type, all the duplicates will not be listed. However, once the player drops or stores that item, the duplicates will appear.
 * When repeatedly buying items from vendors, the item the player is buying may simply disappear when the player accepts the trade. The player will still be charged for the purchase, but never receives the item.

Schematics/Workbench Bugs

 * If you obtain the Rock-it Launcher Schematics or Food Recipes, they will not show up in the workbench or campfire crafting menu.

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 in singular, and many SLI setups. I believe it's a Driver Issue--Omega. (may be fixed by latest GeForce 260.99 driver)


 * 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.

Inventory Bugs

 * When first accessing a merchant's inventory, the merchant's name is not initially displayed as the inventory heading. After scrolling through the available item categories / headings (Weapons, Apparel, etc.) and back to the master list, the merchant's name appears.
 * Throwing Spears often stack incorrectly when moving to / from companion inventory and containers. For example, while you may have 30 Throwing Spears in your inventory, they will appear as 10.  Attempting to take all of them resulted in 3 being removed from the stack and 27 remaining. This has also been seen with dynamite and a few types of armor/helmets.
 * When removing a weapon from several of the same type in your inventory, a "modded" weapon (as per the mod ability present in the game, not one added by a game mod) will lose the (+) indicating that it is modified. For example, I have five Varmint Rifles in my inventory, one, with a scope and silencer, indicates the presence of modifications with a "+" appended to its name.  After removing one of the "un-modded" Varmint Rifles from inventory, the "+" disappears from the weapon's title. Also present in bartering. Also happens when moving modded weapons to or from storage containers, such as the cabinet in your hotel room in Novac; in this instance at least it is temporary, and you can still see attached mods by holding the mouse over the modded weapon.