In November a beta build of Fallout: New Vegas that is a whole two gigabytes bigger than the release version was uncovered on an Xbox 360 dev kit. It contained locations, textures, and even whole NPCs that were ultimately cut to get the finished game down to a more workable size.
But what was too much New Vegas for an Xbox 360 disc is not nearly enough for a heavily modded playthrough on PC, and the Fallout modding community has spent weeks going over the beta with a fine-toothed comb to restore some of the most interesting things that were lost.
For starters, there’s an NPC who made it to the deck of playing cards in the Collector’s Edition, yet was absent from the finished game. Marilyn, the second of Mr. House’s securitron lady friends, is even referenced by Veronica in the finished game, so it’s a relief to finally have her return. There are actually a few mods bringing Marilyn back, but I went with the straightforward Marilyn Restored for my current loadout.
On the subject of Mr. House, the skeevy Steve Buscemi-looking original depiction of the character is also back thanks to Restored Beta Mr House, and if you really want to go all the way his Lucky 38 casino was supposed to have its own bespoke trash cans—you can see them in the intro cutscene—and finally you can experience true peace of mind on that front with Lucky 38 Trash Cans Restored.
In terms of locations, Beta Goodsprings Restored and Prospector Saloon Full Neon Sign Restored give the starter town back some of its pizazz, and the Restored Nipton Train Station is one of those things it just makes sense to have.
For smaller changes, here’s the Original (red) Tribal Armor Restored, and Clean Tops Casino Interior. One of my favorite tiny tweaks is Beta Posters Restored, which brings back early versions of the posters for various casino performers, as well as making the Sunset Sarsaparilla poster a little more suggestive than the final version ended up being. Now this is what modding is all about.
(Image credit: Bethesda/Nightmare32X)
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