Clothes Make the Courier - and the wasteland
Armor, Clothing, and the things we wear.
This section will cover armor and clothing textures. While I will give a brief mention of some total replacers, they are generally out-of-scope since they significantly change the “feel”. The exception is PAVE.
If you are using SMIM for New Vegas (the skinned mesh improvement mod), remove it before using this section or STARS. I cannot offer support if SMIM is installed.
Clothing
This section will cover the game’s clothing. Please note that actual clothing retextures aside from simple upscales are uncommon. This list also somewhat relies on having followed the RENOVATION section since the Fallout 3 HD pack will cover quite a few outfits otherwise not covered. For TTW users I highly recommend STARS TTW instead of this portion of the guide. There are some caveats that I go into in a section below, but generally STARS can be a more complete option.
STARS users can use anything from this first section alongside STARS without issue. Later mods are either included in, or superseded by, STARS itself.
Wasteland Clothing HD
Back from beyond the grave! Due to gracious permission from macintroll, Wasteland Clothing HD (removed from the Nexus several years ago) is now available legitimately as a Guide exclusive. This pack will cover the majority of NV clothing and outfits, and consequently a large amount in TTW as well.
I cannot thank mac enough for allowing this inclusion. Proof of permission will be provided upon request, or you can just ask macintroll yourself. At the very least, say thanks if you run into him.
You do not have permission to reupload this elsewhere, and any other sources for this download are piracy.
One of the reasons this section is so short is thanks to this mod - the alternative (my plan B) involved picking and choosing from several different upscale packs, as well as some less-than-ideal alternatives.
Adamowicz Vault Suits
Based on the original concept art for the Bethesda Fallout era - these are an excellent and unique look - they aren’t based on the skintight Fallout 4/76 design, but rather on the denim utility coverall design that was initially conceived for the new Fallout era. Excellent.
Wanderer Outfit 4k Upscale
While an upscale, it was done with a fair amount of manual intervention and looks extremely good.
Improved Desperado Hat
Vastly improved mesh for the coolest hat in New Vegas.
Heaviin's Desperado Cowboyhat Retextured
Vastly improved texture for above.
ArmoUr - Keeping You Alive
These are all pure retextures, and not replacers. For those looking to retain more of the vanilla “feel”.
PM's HD Legion Overhaul
PM is one of the all-time greats of NV retextures, and this is some great work.
PM's HD Ranger Outfits
Another PM classic.
Field Ready Combat Rangers
Great cover of ranger combat armor. Alternately, you can use the next mod instead.
Physically Based Rangers
I haven’t tested this one extensively yet, but so far feedback is great. If you are a TTW user running STARS, you may need to patch a few back to default texture paths in order to see all the armors.
Assorted Legion Armor Retexture
Overlaps and overwrites some of PM’s textures. Change the order if you prefer, but this setup works best in my opinion.
Assorted NCR Armor Retexture
Again some overlap with PM’s work, but again works out nicely in this order.
The Gruntening - 2k Combat Armor Retextures
The best non-replacer for combat armors, hands down. TTW users will want to use this patch in addition to the main mod for all the extra FO3 combat armor types. Please note, you may need to manually adjust the filing paths when installing - see mod comments for specific instructions.
HiRes Chinese Stealth Armor
Honestly, this is more useful in TTW than in vanilla NV, but still an excellent mod.
Assorted Leather Armor Retexture
Another quality Scout retex.
Metal Armors Metalized
I debated including this one - personally, I’m not a fan. However, aside from using a replacer this is the best available option in my opinion. If you are using STARS on the other hand, I actually highly recommend this as it will also apply to the nifbashed armor contained in STARS and can dramatically improve the look.
Dandadern's Wastehound Helmet Retexture
Not something I regularly use, but nice to see a good texture for it.
Power Armor Visual Enhancement (PAVE)
This is the exception to the “no replacer” rule. PAVE does indeed replace meshes as well as textures, but the result is so absolutely fantastic I can’t not list it here. HIGHLY recommended. I personally also recommend Titans of the New West 2.0 as well, but this mod can be more conflict-prone and intricate. YMMV.
See these patches if you decide to use Titans - Webb's Titans of The New West Patch Emporium and WARmix TOTNW patch.
Lucky Authority Glasses ESPLess
Because why not?
Expansion
No, not an expanding belt line, but instead an expansion of clothing options. This section is optional, and includes replacers.
For TTW users I highly recommend STARS TTW instead of this section. It is incredibly complete, although also rather complex. While it also changes balance, which may rub some the wrong way, it adds so much variety to the game, TTW users should definitely at least try it.
Spice of Life
A classic, with a reworked plugin from Sweet6Shooter. If you are using a vanilla body instead of the Type required by original Spice of Life, you can use Jokerine’s vanilla conversions instead. You’ll still need Sweet’s plugin. If you use B42 loot and experience crashes, there is a set of fixed meshes available on my discord.
Classic Combat Armor Replacer Redux
Significantly changes the look of combat armor, but is also incredibly high quality. There is a TTW version here, which also includes several other armor type replacers.
Combat Armors Replacer (NV - TTW)
An alternative for those who don’t want the classic design, but still want to freshen things up a bit.
Classic Fallout Metal Armor
This is a replacer I basically always recommend - I really despise the look of vanilla metal armor.
Classic Fallout 2 Metal armor Mk II
Also one I always recommend, for the same reasons.
Pip-Boy
This section was added upon request. In my experience, I usually prefer to use a simple retex instead of replacers - that’s where I would start. But, I will also list the replacers that I find work and look best.
Note - you can generally only use one replacer or retexture for the PipBoy. You can use Universal Pip-Boy Customization but you will need to add most replacers manually, following the instructions on the mod page. This is out of scope for this guide, and is recommended for advanced users.
Parkerized Pip-Boy
A classy retexture, although not for everyone.
PipBoy 3000 HD Retexture
Probably the best vanilla+ retex that doesn’t change the mesh.
PipBoy 3000 Remastered
A full mesh replacer. Has some clipping issues, specifically with female characters. This patch fixes those issues unless you are using a body replacer - those will often re-break any position fixes, or replace them with their own which may not work correctly with this replacer.
Mojave Tin Pip-Boy
My current daily driver. Pretty spec(tac)ular with Real Time Reflections. Har har har.
Pip-Boy 2000 Mk VI
Probably one of the most popular Pip-Boy replacers out there.
Clean Pip-Boy 2022
Gives a clean Pip-Boy screen.
Configurable Pip-Boy Light Color
Also lets you change the brightness. Must-have.
Mods To Avoid
Dragbody’s overhauls
This includes drag’s FO4 power armor, NCR overhaul, Legion overhaul, and even the 10th Anniversary Pack.
Unfortunately, although they generally look spectacular and often drag’s porting and rigging of meshes into NV are technical marvels, they also often have broken meshes.
Aside from visual glitches like stretching or invisible bits, they also cause frequent crashing and unfortunately must be avoided for a stable game.
ADAM
Including ADAM Reborn. Not only are these mods somewhat conflict prone, there is some breakage in the plugins. I can only recommend using these if you are going to manually patch it, and pick-and-choose the assets yourself.