Fallout: New Vegas is an old game that many players report crashes regularly on their Windows PCs. For example, an FNV player’s Reddit post says this: “Fallout New Vegas crashing every few minutes or so, tried everything… Whenever I load and play for a few minutes, it just closes out of the game randomly, and it’s awful.” Some players report Fallout: New Vegas crashes when they try to start new games. This is how you can fix regular in-game Fallout: New Vegas crashing on Windows PCs.
Run Fallout: New Vegas in Compatibility Mode
It makes sense to try running Fallout: New Vegas in compatibility mode because it’s an old game. Running the game in compatibility mode sets it to run as it would on a PC with an older Windows platform like 7 or 8. Thus, this mode is designed to help run older software on newer Windows platforms. You can run Fallout: New Vegas in compatibility mode like this.
- Press the Windows logo and E buttons on your keyboard and go to the Fallout: New Vegas installation folder, which has a default Program Files (x86) > Steam > steamapps > common > Fallout: New Vegas folder.
- Right-click the FalloutNV EXE file to select Properties.
- Click Compatibility in the tab bar.
- Select Run this program in compatibility mode and Windows 7 inside the drop-down menu.
The Run this program in compatibility mode option
- Click Apply to confirm the selected settings and OK to close.
- If Windows 7 doesn’t work for you, try selecting the Vista or 8 compatibility options.
Run the Compatibility Troubleshooter
Bestheda support recommends players troubleshoot Fallout: New Vegas crashing by running the Program Compatibility Troubleshooter for the game, which tests program compatibility. To do that, open the Compatibility tab for FNV, as covered in the first two steps of the previous resolution, and select Run compatibility troubleshooter. Click Try recommended settings > Test the Program Next > Yes, Save these settings for this program to apply in the compatibility troubleshooter that opens.
The compatibility troubleshooters
Extract the DXVK Performance Optimization Mod
A widely confirmed way to fix Fallout: New Vegas is to extract the DXVK performance mod. The DXVK mod enhances the game’s performance and stability on Windows PCs. This is how you can extract the DXVK mod for Fallout: New Vegas.
- Open the DXVK page in your browser software. Note that you’ll need to register and log in to that site to download from it.
- Click the Manual button for the latest DXVK mod.
The DXVK mode page
- Next, open whatever folder includes the downloaded DXVK ZIP archive.
- Double the DXVK ZIP file to view its contents.
- Press Ctrl + A to select all files in the DXVK ZIP.
- Next, press Ctrl + C to copy all files within the DXVK archive.
The DXKV mod files
- Open the Fallout: New Vegas installation folder in File Explorer.
- Right-click inside the Fallout: New Vegas installation folder to select Paste. You can also press Ctrl + V to paste the copied DXVK files into that directory.
The Fallout: New Vegas folder
Verify the Fallout: New Vegas Game Files
Although verifying files does not always fix game crashes, this troubleshooting method is still worth trying. Running a verification scan will check for and repair game file corruption, which can cause a wide variety of technical gaming issues. To apply this fix, check out these Epic Games and Steam help pages.
The Verify integrity of game files
Reduce Graphical Settings in Fallout: New Vegas
Lowering in-game graphical settings will usually enhance gaming performance and stability to some extent, particularly on older PCs. So, try lowering the in-game graphical settings to fix the Fallout: New Vegas crashing by selecting Settings and Display in that game. Then, generally turn down graphical settings in the Display tab.
The Display tab
Start Fallout: New Vegas in Windowed Mode
Running Fallout: New Vegas in windowed mode can potentially remedy program conflicts and hardware-related issues that arise when playing the game in fullscreen mode. Some players who have tried applying this potential fix say it resolved FNV crashing on their PCs. This is how you can start the Fallout: New Vegas game in windowed mode.
- First, click the Fallout: New Vegas desktop shortcut on the Windows desktop with the right mouse button and select Properties.
- Click inside the Target box within the Shortcut tab.
- Next, input a –windowed parameter at the end of the Target box.
- To set the launch parameter, click Apply > OK.
Update Graphics Drivers
Bethesda also recommends that players update graphics card drivers to troubleshoot Fallout: New Vegas crashing issues. This is quite a standard troubleshooting method because outmoded or faulty graphics drivers can crash games. Our guide to updating GPU drivers includes instructions for how to apply this potential fix.
The NVIDIA graphics drivers download page
Those possible fixes are among the more confirmed ways to fix Fallout: New Vegas crashing issues on Windows PCs. However, remember that Fallout: New Vegas is quite an old game for which there isn’t necessarily a surefire way to fix its crashing. If the crash persists, you can contact the Bethesda support service for further troubleshooting guidance from this help page.
