Fallout: New Vegas has five story-rich DLCs for players to sink their teeth into, most of which tell an interconnected story woven throughout their unique experiences. The DLCs for Fallout: New Vegas add many hours of gameplay to the game, so it's incredibly frustrating when one fails to work.
The Dead Money DLC has an issue where it can crash upon starting the DLC proper, seemingly for no reason at all, as soon as the player crosses the threshold to the first part of the DLC area. This is more than frustrating because there isn't any indication as to why it's happening. Fortunately, there are fixes for it!
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Check Mod Updates and Compatibility
Many players of Fallout: New Vegas play the game with mods, thanks to the large and vibrant modding community which is still dedicated to the game. Unfortunately, some mods are incompatible with each other and with different parts of the game. When running a modded installation it's always best to first check on mod compatibility and updates when encountering strange crashes.
Method 1: Get Rid of Hardcore Mode Debuffs
One of the strangest reasons the Dead Money DLC can crash seems to be related to the debuffs implemented for the Hardcore Mode in New Vegas. Turning off Hardcore Mode can prevent this, but turning off Hardcore Mode mid-game also blocks getting the associated achievement, so this is something that many players won't want to do.
Fortunately, the methods for fixing this problem come with Hardcore Mode itself. Players can ensure that they don't have any of the associated debuffs by simply eating enough food, drinking enough water, and sleeping a sufficient amount of time to clear fatigue. This is a simple fix and should allow progression to the DLC, although it sometimes doesn't work.
Method 2: Start The Lonesome Road DLC
Crashing upon entering Dead Money is a common problem for Hardcore Mode users, but it can happen outside of Hardcore Mode too. And sometimes, clearing the Hardcore Mode debuffs manually just doesn't help and the crashing persists. One unusual fix to this problem is to head to the start location of the Lonesome Road DLC and cross into the DLC itself. The entrance to the Lonesome Road DLC can be found on the north-western edge of the map and is called Canyon Wreckage.
Crossing into Lonesome Road appears to reset some hidden red flags, and fortunately, the player isn't locked into completing Lonesome Road and can simply exit the DLC area as soon as they load in. After leaving Lonesome Road the player can simply fast travel to the Abandoned BOS Bunker to start the Dead Money DLC, and the crashing problem should be fixed.
If All Else Fails, Reinstall The Game
The solution nobody ever wants to do, sometimes the only fix is reinstalling the game. This can be time consuming depending on download speeds, but it's sometimes the only way to fix a botched game install and prevent crashing in the future. This shouldn't be necessary to fix Dead Money crashes, which seem to be fixed by other methods, but it's something worth bearing in mind if absolutely nothing else has worked.
Fallout: New Vegas
- Released
- October 19, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
