LadyCrimson

Oh yeah, all of your textures are compressed into that .bsa. For the companions, there are a few reasons: * It makes the game way easier to have two human companions whom you can equip. * Reduces logical complexity in a variety of scenarios. * Memory. It's hard enough to account for the player's various equipment loadouts in an area. Three human characters with potentially any weapon or armor -- that gets really hard to deal with. I definitely preferred/enjoyed the party mechanics in Kotor2 more. But then again FO:NV is, for me at least, as enjoyable if not moreso without any companion at all, so it kind of evens out.

I have no tech info to back it up, but I'm starting to agree. In an effort to be slightly more helpful than my usual "I get random crashes," here's the assessment of my experience so far: My 1st character I played for 20+ hours with only 1 freeze/crash, and then not long after it began to crash more frequently as time went on. It's still wildy unpredictable where I can have 3 crashes in 15 minutes or 2 in a few hours, but crash within a few hours of play it does. So far it's always a 'soft' crash, not a 'hard' crash. Screen frozen and the Windows 'game not responding what do you want to do: Close program" error box overlaid on top of it. The 2nd character I made I've played 10 hours without a single crash, so it certainly feels like the longer you play/the more info the game has to deal with might be an issue in some unknown way (for me). I'll let you know if the new character starts to crash more frequently later, as well. The save files for both characters right after chr. generation is about the same, and the incremental file size increase for game time spent, for each, seems to be about the same rate, so doesn't seem to be the sudden save-file bloat that I've heard Oblivion had for some. Lastly, occasionally when the game freezes I get sound looping where game sound goes wawawawa until I close the frozen program. But not usually/always. Also: this is with these system stats: Win7-64 Pro GTX275 (both driver 258.96 and 260.99 tried) 6GB RAM i7-920 (stock speed no OC) SoundBlaster Xi-Fi Extreme Audio (driver 1.04.0090, which is the last they released for it I think)

Yes, my concept for STR was for heavier weapon/less/no penalty for using them. It certainly wasn't for carrying, since I altered my base weight capacity via a mod. Nor do I care about more skill pts. per level up. The perks are nice, but my impression was that the stats themselves had some subtle bonuses that combined with a related perk would make things that much better. For instance, Luck and loot, perhaps. Not saying it's so, that was just my impression. Maybe I'm wrong. (edit:I guess loot isn't mentioned in the Luck description, but it does help w/criticals, so with both Finesse & high Luck...) . Or that some perks require at least 6/7 in the stat. Also, to see the dialogue options. I suppose I might also try building a chr. with 2 maxed attributes and very low everything else. heh

I haven't seen that many really negative reviews...altho I certainly haven't tried to find/read all the smaller/lesser known (to me) website reviews. Most of the ones I read think it's a great to good game, and they're mostly complaining about the bugs/crash issues, not gameplay. Which I can understand. If you're experiencing a lot of crashes or bug weirdness, it's often the thing foremost in your mind. I have some crash issues but I keep obsessively playing anyway, which I think says a lot about the gameplay despite any tech issues. So yeah, well done Obs. Very fun.

That's kind of how I'm feeling. For me there are maybe 6-7 Perks that I'd consider "I really want" and the rest are 'eh' or at most "sounds funny". So I was thinking I'd rather have higher stats, either to be overall balanced or pump one or two to 10, haha. Hm.

My current chr. I went: STR 4, PER 6, END 4 CHAR 6 INT 8 AGI 6 LUCK 6 and then took Intensive Training twice to put Luck at 7 and STR at 5. Going to do one more IT for Luck at 8 and then do perks. But if you want more STR or END I'd take away INT. (6). I like high INT mostly for non-combat dialogue options, tho the bonus points are nice too. Can't remember why I want 6 AGI, it wasn't for VATS. Something else in the description or for one of sniping type perks maybe. Perks are just...whatever helps your crits/dmg and defense for preferred weapon/combat style. I ignore experience gain/instant-level/increased magazine time type perks and don't do the extra skill pts. perk either. Most later Perks need 6 in their attrib. requirement, a few/some need 7, or else they're chr. lvl/skill-level number only requirements.

I'm really chatty tonight. One last question before I try to get a few hours sleep: What do you all think, in terms of Perks, about Intensive Training vs. combat-helpful ones. With only 1 Perk every 2 levels I wouldn't want all 10 ranks of Training, but 3-5l ranks to boost the stats you left weak seems helpful. Did you go for all the different Perks, or more stats?

That's probably because just before, I was forcing him to 'dance' via repeatedly hitting the Sneak key. ...besides, he's the one who's always staring at me! Everywhere I go, his head turns to keep me in view. So tit for tat. Who'll blink first? lol....most of the hairstyles are terrible! I considered going for one of the patchy bald but not this time.

Tonight, like every other night, was another step in the journey towards jolly madness. This is a positive thing, in case you're wondering.

Any game that lets me carry a gun while walking around in my 'sexy nightwear' is my kind of game. Also...at least I can make it look like there's romance! ....Yes I know, I'm strange, as always.

But wouldn't getting to New Vegas at lvl3 or so with hardly any money or gear (cause you're not doing anything) be a bit difficult? I do agree about not wandering overly much tho...the game seems more geared (difficulty wise) for not doing that. After level 8 or 9 I stopped talking to new people when I discovered a location, I only tried to get places on my map so I could fast travel there when I needed to later. At Normal difficulty non-hardcore, once I became used to the combat, it became a little too easy at level 15 when doing "everything" along the way, except for those few badarse enemy types. If I go back to my first game I'll be pushing that up to Very Hard. Doesn't mean you can't wander...just depends what you want from the game.

Yeah but the cycling ones might be harder to find on the 'net, w/out the menu words in them. That big red one is all over the place.

Oh? You don't have to do anything but go to Vegas, if you can run yourself down there? Interesting. I'd think getting there that early & then trying to do the quests might be a little difficult. Intriguing! I'll leave Boone in the hotel (he'd fire at things...) and try it then.

The main menu has several cycling images. Unless you mean the red helmeted guy one that shows up when you first start the game.

I became slightly unmotivated after reaching New Vegas (that's typical for me, it's nothing wrong w/the game) and thus I made a new chr. w/higher sneak/luck & tried to get to Novac as soon as possible. By following the road and skipping most of the stuff you're supposed to do on the way there, I made it w/out too much trouble. The few bandits along the way were rather tough to deal with with my puny gear but not that bad. Did the check ranger station quest for Novac rep, grabbed Boone, & have my hotel room. Ppl of Novac still gave me the 'follow the men who tried to kill you' quest, even tho I hadn't gone to Primm yet. Hopefully I haven't broken any quests. Or maybe I could keep going and not have to do Primm? This should be interesting. I'm liking this character build better too. Higher luck definitely feels...well, luckier.

Could you elaborate? What menu screens? Are you looking for something w/artistic rendering or just screenshots of them?

The Legion I've met seem to use firearms until you get up closer to a certain distance. Or maybe they run out of bullets.

The only view I've seen through home windows or on porches are shirtless, potbellied guys holding a beer...husband included. I'm in a good mood today. The Giants are up 2-0 in the WS, it's the weekend & it looks like I have nothing pressing that needs doing for it, and FO:NV hasn't crashed on me yet today.

Making a pork roast and it's making the house smell nummy! In another couple hours or so it'll be in my tummy!

"My, you look tasty." lol Also, at least with a Luck of 5, the slots feel almost like real ones...while still losing overall, it pays out just enough for a long while to make you keep on hitting the lever.

I don't have issue with knowing what area the NPC is in, but exactly where in the area/compound etc. is another story. The areas are so huge sometimes I run around & run around because I can't recall if they're upstairs or in the left wing or the right wing or in this tent or that tent. Oh well....yellow notepad time. Or stop solving side quests. ;p

....yup, that was it, thanks. And it still says it's only taken 1 pot out of your inventory. heh

Can you place notes on the maps? I can place markers but don't see... I can tell I'm going to be frustrated with 'quest overload' and running around in circles like a chicken with it's head cut-off, being unable to remember where NPC's are located.

So...repairing the food processor in Camp McCarron. I have all the parts but it says I don't. Is this an instance of needing all non-stolen parts?

There may well be a decisive factor for the crashes, but for me at least, the crashes are seemingly so completely random that it's impossible to even try to test for triggers. It is definitely not specific area-triggered however. That is, there may be some actual area-trigger crashes in the game, but the overall problem I have of 'general random crashing' isn't.