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Fallout New Vegas has been with us now for well over a decade. For most, the 2009 title is but a figment of the past. However, out in the wild, pockets of dedicated fans are still propelling themselves toward New Vegas in the search for Benny and that Platinum Chip.
One of the great things about New Vegas is that the developers knew people like me, and you would continue to play the thing long after they have completely moved on from it.
Therefore, they built myriad ways to change the game for each playthrough to keep things interesting. Things like perks, traits, and difficulty settings all play a role.
However, after a decade of consistent playing, I think it would be somewhat crazy to still be so in love and enamored by the base game storyline and side quests alone.
Therefore, as with all Fallout games, the modding community which has sprung up around the franchise is deep, rich, and as active as ever, with numerous new Fallout mods being released daily on the Nexus.
With this in mind, today we will look at one of the best story mods ever released for Fallout New Vegas, the Bounties mod, developed and initially released by Nexus user someguy2000.
Currently, the first mod in this series stands with over 1.7 million downloads on the platform, which is staggering, considering that it has not been updated since 2014.
In this Fallout New Vegas bounties mod guide, we will look at how to install this mod, its storyline, voice acting, and effectiveness, and whether you should bother downloading it. So, let’s get into the good stuff.
How to Install Mods for Fallout New Vegas
While I could sit here for hours and thousands of words to walk you through the process of installing Nexus mods on your computer, I think I will do the simple thing of giving you some simple steps and some YouTube links that will walk you through each step bit by bit.
- Install FNV Script Extender – This will enable all the mods you wish to use later in your modding career to work and play well together. Check out the video here!
- Install the Nexus Vortex mod manager – This is an easier method of managing your mods for various games than the dated standalone FNV mod managers. Check out the video here!
- Using the Vortex app, now install the Someguy Series mod – This mod will allow the someguy2000 mods to play well together, which is essential for those wanting to play Bounties parts 1 and 2. To install this mod using Vortex, follow the rules displayed in this video; it will work for every mod.
- Install the Bounties mod by someguy2000 via the FNV Nexus.
Key Features of The Bounties Saga
- This mod adds a series of bounties to the game that can help proceed with the main quest and serve as simple side quests to keep you occupied as you venture through the Mojave.
- There are hundreds of fully voiced NPC in the game and two possible companions – Doc Friday and Ford.
- Several new locations and areas are added to the base game, including two brand-new, DLC-sized locations.
- Each mod comes with several unique weapons and player upgrades that can be used throughout the rest of the game.
- The Someguy2000 mod series is all designed to work together. Therefore, if the player downloads some of his other mods, more Bounties quests will open up for the player.
Bounties Part 1
Getting Started
After you install the Bounties mod for your New Vegas, boot up your game and load either a new save or one you have already put some time into. When this is done, you will be greeted with this menu screen, telling the player to head to Goodsprings.
When you have the time, travel back to Goodsprings and pick up the holotape sitting at the edge of Trudy’s bar – this holotape is named “Now Hiring!”
After listening to this holotape, you should head out and find the headquarters of Randall & Associates out in the Mojave. This dessert shack will be very close to the Mojave Drive-in, the site where you can access the Old World Blues DLC.
Courier Turned Bounty Hunter
The first two targets in your bounty-hunting career involve dispatching a fiend named Eileen and an NCR deserter named Tom Quigly. Neither target should give any decent courier much bother. However, when Eileen is dead, you will begin to learn that there is something else going on beneath the surface of this new job.
Standard Bounties
After this, the player will return to Randall and acquire some more bounties. The next couple will be rather mundane, requiring the player to travel to some random location, either finding their target or a clue that eventually leads them to said target.
I won’t bore you with the details of these quests; however, here is a quick list of your targets during this period.
- Cullen.
- Tony Idaho.
- Tommy.
- Alex and his friends.
The only notable thing about all of these people is that once you take down Cullen and leave the location, you will be confronted by Duane “The Coyote” Collins, another bounty hunter for Randall & Associates who apparently doesn’t like that you are taking down all his bounties, taking his money.
The player can choose whether to kill or dissuade Duane from violence in the following dialogue with no repercussions.
The Fun Contracts
While many of the contracts in this mod are simple and easily forgotten, some do stand out among the rest. In my opinion, the best contract in this mod has to be one that takes you just outside of Novac, forcing you to deal with someone out of movie legend.
Nightmare Outside Novac
Novac has been dealing with a troubling case of missing children. In the night, children have been whisked away, never to be heard from again, understandably worrying the townsfolk.
The player must first meet with a Jet fiend named Ricky in the town; according to Randall, he is the only witness, and whether he can be relied on is another story. You will find Ricky in one of the settler houses in Novac; here, you must persuade him in some way to give up the information.
I chose to intimidate him, but there are various options open to the player here. He will tell you that he saw something northwest of the town, and this gives the player a general direction and enough to go on.
When you leave Novac and head in this direction, you will find an irradiated cave filled with skeletons and some general supplies. The camera will spin around as someone approaches the player from behind.
You are greeted by Fred himself, a ghoul dressed like Freddy Krueger, including a Deathclaw gauntlet to complete the look. After your conversation with the killer, he and the ghoul children he kidnapped will attack the player.
Competition is Hotting Up
After you complete some other standard bounties and get some more background info on the other bounty-hunting organizations in the area, the player will return to Randall & Associates to find something very worrying indeed.
Behind Randall’s desk, in the painting, you will find a note pierced by a combat knife and no Randall.
This note tells the player that The Judge has had enough of Randall and his bounty hunters edging in on his business. Therefore he has taken care of your friend and mentor. You also learn that a man named Javier is on his way to you.
Once you finish the letter, Javier will enter the building, and a short spell of dialogue will ensure, after this, kill Javier and take the safe key off his body. Once you get Randall’s safe open, you will find a letter addressed to the player wherein Randall predicted his own death.
In this letter, he will also tell the player about a man named Marko, who becomes very relevant in the sequel mods, and how he killed Randall’s family. The Remington revolver named ‘Sweet Revenge’ that you also find in the safe was to be used to kill Marko someday. The player must then proceed by finding and dealing with The Judge.
Final Judgement
After you exit the building, you must find The Judge by whatever means necessary. To do this, follow the quest marker to Cormac, a man who sells slaves to The Judge. From him, you should be able to get information on the Judge’s location.
You will find Cormac in the same location as Violet. Be prepared to deal with numerous dogs and Fiends when you arrive. However, Cormac himself is nothing to worry about. You will find the letter you have been looking for on his corpse.
Now that you have a location for The Judge’s hideout, I recommend you head there straight away with Sweet Revenge in hand. Once you arrive at Richter & Associates, located just around the corner from Bradley’s shack, you must enter and talk with The Judge.
Inside, the player will find a lot of heavily armed guards protecting their boss. However, you will be ushered inside to speak with the man himself. Once face to face, there are myriad skill checks available to the player to choose how they wish to end the altercation.
Ultimately, you can either kill The Judge or side with him. I recommend that you kill him to get the canon ending of the mod. Once this is done, his goons will all drop dead, thanks to the bomb collars strapped to all their necks linked to The Judge’s heart rate. Once he is dead, you will be greeted with this message and the end of the first mod.
New Vegas Bounties Part Two
After you complete the first mod, the second mod will kick into action, presenting the character with a similar start menu as the previous mod. This text will instruct the player to head to Boulder city jail, a new location where Captain Larry Scull is waiting to hire new bounty-hunting recruits under an NCR-sponsored program.
Starting All Over Again
Once the player makes their way over to Larry Scull, the player will notice that this sequel is going to be a little different. Instead of being fed quests by Larry, the player is informed of the wanted posters scattered around the Mojave that detail all the published bounties in the area.
If you find these posters, you can collect the reward by killing the subject or convincing them to turn themselves in at the Boulder City jail.
Standard Bounties
After becoming an NCR-sponsored bounty hunter, the path to success and quest completion is rather simple, like the first mod in this series. The player must get bounties from posters or Larry Scull and complete said bounties to progress the main quest forward.
The Mongol Kid
One of your first bounties will be The Mongol Kid, a man that rolls deep with many fiend friends. Therefore, make sure to bring along some companions and plenty of Stimpaks when facing him. This is the first time you will realize that Bounties Part Two is going to be a lot harder than Part 1, with the general enemy difficulty kicked up substantially.
Prometheus
Another target that is far from boring but still rather plain is Prometheus, a super mutant who lives in the bowels of a Black Mountain cave, surrounded by fellow super mutants.
Once again, this is going to be a very difficult task for pretty much every player. I walked in with a fully geared level 50 character and some pretty good armor and still died multiple times.
Progressing the Main Quest
Something I kind of disliked about the main quest of this mod is that you simply couldn’t tell which bounties would push everything along. Most are simple and do nothing for the main story. Therefore, if you want to push the main story along, complete these quests to advance.
Justice Delayed
To activate this quest, you will have already completed the Loaded for Bear quest and some other superfluous bounties before Larry will tell the player about an organization named ‘The Syndicate’ and a Novac-based ghoul bounty hunter who is apparently linked to them.
This ghoul, named Rounder, is also rumored to be linked with another famous ghoul in the area, Doc Friday.
Doc Friday is the first possible companion the player can gain in this mod. He is a hard man, known for doing what’s right and taking care of the wasteland scum he happens to cross paths with.
I recommend that you find and recruit Doc before you confront Rounder, as the pair have some history together. Doc Friday can be found in the new location, Short Stick Salon, in Boulder City.
You will find Rounder on the outskirts of Novac, where you and your friend will quickly be surrounded by his friends. Take care of them all and retrieve Rounder’s finger to give to Larry.
As a Judgement
Once again, you can pick this quest up from Larry at the Boulder City jail after you return from Fisk’s bunker. Here, he will tell the player about the person he suspects who carried out the murders, a man named Sergio Booth.
According to Larry, Sergio is the half-brother of the looming specter, Marko. With Sergio now in the area, Larry worries that he is planning on making a move for control of the gangs in the area as well as the Syndicate.
Therefore, the player must journey to the newly created town of Valle Del Hierro, accessible via a passage just west of the Fields’ Shack.
When you finally meet Sergio, the player has multiple options; in the end, Sergio will lie dead, and you must take his finger back to Larry for your reward. After this and a day of in-game time, the player can be approached by a courier who will drop off a letter by none other than Steven Randall, who is apparently very much alive.
Honourable Mentions
Once Sergio dies, the main quest is virtually complete, leaving the player wanting so much more. However, this does not mean there aren’t a couple of standout bounties still scattered around the wasteland for the player to complete. Here is a quick selection of the best out there.
- Aaron Flag: You will find Mr. Flagg at the center of his very own cult, complete with religious symbolism and a custom poster of his face.
- Uncle Chuckles: This terrifying clown will knock the player out and force them to escape through a series of twisted games before confronting him in his child-eating basement.
New Vegas Bounties Part 3
With the Syndicate seemingly dissolving into nothing after the death of Fisk and Sergio, and the reappearance of Steven Randall somewhere in the wasteland, the player is left with one last question – where is Marko?
Once you start this mod, the welcome message will direct the player to return to where it all began, leading you to the old Randall & Associates hut that has long been abandoned.
Marko’s Errand Boy
Once the player manages to arrive at the old Randall HQ, they will see a strange, duster-wearing man hanging around outside. This man, Virgil, will tell the player that he has been sent to the Mojave by his boss, Marko, with the goal of bringing the Courier to see him.
However, before he takes you to Froshill, a new location somewhere in Utah, you must travel around the wasteland with Virgil and complete some tasks.
Ghost of Christmas Past
After you talk with Virgil, the quest for ‘The City of Woe’ will properly begin. This quest is divided into a couple of different targets and locations. However, each target has one thing in common – the player character, in some way, is linked to their current evil doing.
Everyone you visit during this section of the quest, whether it is Dana Quigley, a woman who sold her own child to cope with financial issues, or Karl, a prostitute running scumbag, the buck always comes back to the player and their actions during the first two bounties mods.
Arriving in Frosthill
After Virgil’s business is complete in the Mojave, the player will be taken to Frosthill; Virgil will say his goodbyes and inform you that Marko will be waiting for you. Soon after he leaves, a group of raiders will confront the player. However, an old friend will be nearby to help out – the zombified Steven Randall.
After meeting with Randall, the player will be ushered toward his new bounty-hunting headquarters in the area. Here, you will take up your old job, hunting down the worst of the worst in the Frosthill area, all of whom work for Marko.
During this time, you will be pushed to kill many of Marko’s top agents, some of which you can choose to spare if you feel generous. Once you take down all of these bounties, the next step will be facing down Marko once and for all.
The Final Showdown
After the player manages to dispatch the final member of Marko’s crew, Randall will tell the player to speak with the NCR representative in the camp for instructions regarding his next move.
When you enter his metal hit, noxious gas will quickly flood the room, downing the player while your possible companion, Ford, and the NCR man dawn a pair of gas masks. The player will then pass out.
Like Seeing a Ghost
When the player comes too, their hands will be bound, and the entire town of Frosthill will be on their knees, surrounded by the bounty hunters both you and Randall trusted.
One man will stand in the center – Virgil. However, it quickly becomes apparent that this man is not Virgil but Marko. Apparently, he enjoyed tricking the player and revels in your hatred.
Marko will then instruct the bounty hunters to kill the townspeople under his new authority as Marshall of Frosthill county, a position given to him by the NCR.
Lastly, he will have Ford dispatch your old mentor via a shotgun blast to the face before shooting the player in the hands and burring them alive in a shallow grave.
Nine Lives
It seems that nobody can kill the Courier as soon after you are left by Marko and his cronies. Thorne digs the player out and brings them to safety, healing your wounds as best he can.
This leaves the player with two options. You can either leave Frosthill, never to return so that you can heal from your injuries. Or you can go back into town and exact revenge. Of course, there is really no option here for any real courier.
Last Steps
Once you make your way to the old cemetery, the final showdown between the player and Marko will take place, only ending when one of you is dead.
Marko will be a very tough fight, but it is nothing a little Buffout can’t solve. Marko will undoubtedly be the hardest fight you will have during this mod. I found that loading up on some chems and the holy hand grenades really helped.
Once Marko is dead, return to Thorne before leaving Frosthill to return to the Mojave. This spells the end of the Bounties’ quest line.
Great Mods to Take with You on this Adventure
- Leather Backpack mod by d_ivanov – There are a lot of unique weapons in this mod. Make sure you have a big enough backpack to store them all.
- NVAC anti-crash mod by Yukichagai – This mod helps prevent your game from crashing, a minor problem throughout my playthrough of Bounties.
- Mandalorian main theme music replacer by Andrew20 – This simple mod replaces the main theme music with that of the TV series, The Mandalorian. I think this music really fits the bounty-hunting aesthetic of this mod.
- Bleedout mod by Slippy – This mod adds a bleed-out feature to the game. This means that the player can sustain injuries that will continue to bleed and drain health until a bandage or trauma kit is applied, adding to the immersion of the game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Where Do You Start the Bounties Mod?
Answer: After the mod is installed, a notification screen will pop up when you load the game; this will give you a quest marker, pointing you toward the saloon in Goodsprings.
Question: Where Can I Find FNV Mods?
Answer: The Nexus is the hub for all FNV mods. These mods can be downloaded manually from the website or with the help of the Vortex app.
Question: How many Parts are there to the Bounties Mod?
Answer: There are three different mods comprising the entire bounties storyline.
Final Thoughts
So, there you have it, a complete guide to one of the most important mods ever released for FNV, one that I would definitely deem as essential for any New Vegas fan. I really hope you enjoyed this article and found it useful.