Google Viva New Vegas. Gives a great selection of vanilla themed mods that make the entire game feel fresh again. No wackiness.

It has been a while since I've modded Fallout New Vegas but if it is anything like back when I did it you need to be really, really careful if you seriously mod it because the game is already seconds away from bursting into flames and crashing at any time before you even add mods to it.

There are mods which improve the stability of the game considerably but at least back in my day adding too much on top of those was a game of fucking around and hoping you won't find out.

Project Nevada was made with keeping the core experience intact while updating the combat for more modern tastes.

Brave New World is a fan project that hired voice actors to re record lines for a ton of characters that previously shared like 5 voice actors. It keeps the text the same, you just won’t hear the same voice for like 20 people anymore.

I always recommend alternate start mods, it really helps roleplaying.

Unlimited companions really helps sell the vibe of assembling your crew as you go down the main quest and meet new people who join you.

Uncut wasteland restores a bunch of scenery that was cut in order to get it running on console at an acceptable framerate.

tale of two wastelands kicks ass. they port fallout 3 into the new vegas engine which makes it a million times better

been a while since i did a playthrough, but Project Nevada was always good
and EVE and JSawyer

The one that adds a diagonal walking/running animation

Easy, just install the Dust mod

The various Someguy story mods are decently high quality side quests that link together in a larger storyline.

Viva new vegas is a pretty good baseline

get lots on animation replacers. you're looking at your character's ass or bobbing hands the whole time so if its different from memory it breathes some freshness in. also a camera mod so if you look down you see legs in 1st person.

in addition retextures/remodels of ground/plants/weather etc. is familiar but different.

as far as expansions and new stuff to do i haven't been very impressed with how a lot of them integrate as essentially hard-mode dungeons, but if you're into that there certainly are options. i'd recommend stuff that just makes the regular content require more effort, thought & immersion, enhancements to hardcore mode like that heat-stroke mod.

obviously you should install tale of two wastelands though, its got a guide a baby can follow that includes all the stabilization/fixes for smooth play. fallout 3 sucks but its twice the content :stonks-up:

Just from personal experience, I would install the base bug fix mods first and play 2-3 hours of it unmodded. I spent a few hrs modding it initially but could not avoid freezing or weird pop. Uninstalled everything but the basic bug fixes, more freezing Clean install, played for 15 mins before issues with fps. Added the bug fixes and couldn't play more than 30 mins without freezes.

I think I honestly had exceptionally bad luck, but I ended up spending about five hours total troubleshooting and was never able to get further than Novac. I have a much better PC now and may try again but I will keep it baseline until it's running nicely.

Also, I've heard the PS3 streaming emulation is good if you have the Mbps to go ham

Honestly what's breathed the most life into my recent playthrough was kNSVE and hitman's reanimation mods, just having weapons that feel better improves the game a lot.

Edit: also JAM is fantastic, tons of quality of life stuff.

go down the rabbithole of ENB presets to significantly change/improve lighting, atmospheric effects/colour palette etc

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Spending hundreds on a powerful gaming PC, only to play games that are a minimum of 10 years old. This is true leftism.