Novac

Novac is a town in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281.

Background
The faded, cracked concrete and peeling buildings give the sense of depression; indeed, Novac is little more than a lonely desert highway motel with multiple surrounding buildings that have been fortified for the protection of its inhabitants. The name, for that matter, comes from what's left of the old "No Vacancy" sign on which all but the first five letters have fallen off, therefore becoming 'No Vac'. This way of naming a town is similar to Arefu from Fallout 3. Watching over them is the landmark of the area: a giant fabricated tyrannosaurus rex named Dinky biting off the top of "The World's 2nd Largest Thermometer". The interior of "Dinky" also serves as the settlement center (a converted gift shop from pre-War times, with a sniper's nest in Dinky's mouth). Dinky is the "attraction" that drew in tourists from both post and pre-war. Most of the locals are friendly folk, though most aren't trusting of outsiders. They appreciate the protection of the NCR, but are afraid of what's going on at the REPCONN Test Site up the road. The local law enforcement, Ranger Andy, is unable to investigate due to an injury. (See Come Fly With Me.)

Layout
Novac consists of a residential area with several houses, including Jeannie May Crawford's house, the McBride house, No-bark's shack and a house with Novac settlers living in them. There are 3 bungalows inside the motel compound as well, where Ranger Andy and Cliff Briscoe live.

The main part of Novac is the motel area. Here you can find the Dino-Bite Gift Shop, eight motel rooms and the Dino Dee-lite Front Desk, where you can buy a motel room for 100 caps from Jeannie May Crawford. Alternatively, she will give you a room free of charge once you attain Accepted status in Novac. Cliff Briscoe will give this room instead if Jeannie May Crawford dies, likely during the quest One for My Baby.

The Dino Dee-Lite motel room you can acquire is located up the stairs on the immediate left after entering the motel compound. Inside it is a bed and storage facilities that are safe to store your items in. Also, in the bathroom of the motel room is a First aid box.

Across the street from the motel is a gas station with some spare parts, a workbench and a reloading bench. There are two graves you can open with a shovel beside one of the residences that runs parallel to the motel's main building, as well as a kitchen tent that traveling merchants rest in front of. Near the grave site is a shanty that contains a usable workbench. With all graves, walking near them will trigger faint, ghostly whispering.

Notable loot

 * D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine can be found on the bed in Ranger Andy's bungalow but must be stolen.
 * That Gun is inside Dino Bite gift shop inside a locked closet behind all the rocket souvenirs on a metal shelf or sold by Cliff Briscoe at the Dinky the Dinosaur Shop.
 * Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap in the kitchen of a house called "Novac House" North-East of Jeannie May Crawford's house. The bottlecap is in the kitchen on the table to the left as the player enters.
 * Sunset Sarsaparilla star bottle cap in Daisy Whitman's room, the northernmost motel room on the second floor. The cap is marked as property so taking it is stealing and you will lose karma for doing so. It is suggested not to kill Daisy Whitman due to her being essential to complete For Auld Lang Syne.

Appearances
Novac appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Unlike most other towns in the Mojave, Novac has no real-world equivalent. There is a road crossing at US 95 and NV-165 (the road to the real-world location of Nelson, where Novac would be if it existed), but there is nothing there in the real world. However, it has many similarities with Baker, home of the world's largest thermometer, and clearly takes some inspiration from Claude Bell's Dinosaurs.
 * Novac was the first cell developers constructed because it's more advantageous to not build tutorials around areas that you're going to end up scrapping in the end, and due to game engine fluctuations.

Bugs

 * If you push Manny Vargas or Boone onto the teeth of the dinosaur and then do a Ranger Takedown on him, he will fall off of the dinosaur, and then fly back up, creating humorous results.
 * After the 1.6 patch, sections of the motel will not load properly, leaving working doors hanging in empty space.
 * Items stored in the player's hotel room, in the wardrobe & footlocker etc., can be lost with the original junk contents replacing them.