The Fallout franchise is seeing a significant resurgence in popularity with the success of the new Prime Video series. A lot of folks are returning to the games having been long-time fans, but there are also a lot of players diving in for the first time.
Fallout: New Vegas is one of the most beloved games in the series, and despite being from 2010, it’s still an excellent play in 2024. It’s also available stupidly cheap most of the time, making it crazy good value for someone who’s jumping in new.
Thanks to the increasing popularity of gaming handhelds, there’s also the ability to play Fallout: New Vegas in the palm of your hand while you’re feet up on the sofa, on a commute, or laid in bed. I’ve fired it up on the Steam Deck to work out what settings you should use for the best performance while also preserving a little of your battery life.
Fallout: New Vegas on Steam Deck best settings
Steam Deck compatibility
Valve’s official compatibility indicator for Fallout New Vegas shows that the game is Playable on Steam Deck. This means that the game is functional on Steam Deck, but might require extra effort to interact with or configure.
- ⚠️ This game’s launcher/setup tool may require the touchscreen or virtual keyboard, or have difficult to read text.
- ⚠️ Entering some text requires manually invoking the on-screen keyboard.
- ⚠️ This game supports Steam Deck’s native display resolution but does not set it by default and may require you to configure the display resolution manually.
- ✅ All functionality is accessible when using the default controller configuration.
- ✅ This game shows Steam Deck controller icons.
- ✅ In-game interface text is legible on Steam Deck.
- ✅ This game’s default graphics configuration performs well on Steam Deck.
- There’s also a note that the game doesn’t default to external controllers and may require manually switching the active controller via the quick access menu.
Specifically worth highlighting is that in Fallout: New Vegas, you will have to deal with a launcher, and it’s in that launcher that you set the game settings. For this, you’ll need to use the touch display to activate the various checkboxes and dropdown lists.
External controllers will not automatically be recognized by the game and do require manual intervention. However, they do work, and I’m able to play with an Xbox controller after. If you’re still having issues, make sure the in-game setting to enable “360 controller” isn’t disabled.
Best Fallout: New Vegas settings for Steam Deck
Being a now almost 14-year-old game, Fallout: New Vegas isn’t particularly demanding by modern standards. That said, being an older game sometimes introduces issues with more modern hardware just based on age and how it was made.
Fortunately, to get New Vegas running to a good standard on the Steam Deck requires very little effort in tinkering with settings. The settings below will give you a 60 FPS experience while also preserving a little battery life. Frame dips will occur in some busier areas, but the Steam Deck doesn’t struggle with maintaining 60 FPS most of the time.
You can run this using the latest official version of Proton or the later versions of Proton 6 or Proton 7.
Open Fallout: New Vegas→ Options
- Aspect ratio: 16:10 Widescreen
- Resolution: 1280 x 800
- Detail: High
- Antialiasing: 4 Samples
- Anisotropic Filtering: 8 Samples
- Screen Effects: HDR
That’s literally all you need to do. You can run the game at Ultra, but you’ll get more frequent frame drops for little visual gain, as well as increased load on the GPU. I also recommend setting the TDP to 7W, which is plenty for this game at High detail settings.
If you wanted to limit it further to extend battery life a little more, you could drop it to 5W, but for this, you’ll need to drop the detail settings down to Medium. Additionally, I’ve tried it with FSR, but you don’t really need to utilize it to maintain 60 FPS.
One other thing to highlight is that there’s no aim assist for controllers, which applies to both the Steam Deck’s own controls and external hardware. There are mods available that can add this in if you’re into modding, but otherwise, it’s just something to adjust to.
Fallout: New Vegas Steam Deck FAQ
Does Fallout: New Vegas play well on Steam Deck?
Yes, you can play Fallout: New Vegas at 60 FPS on Steam Deck at High settings. Fallout: New Vegas is marked as Steam Deck Playable rather than Verified, so some aspects of the game take a little more effort than they would on PC. For instance, you might have to manually bring up a keyboard to enter text or might have to tap on the touchscreen rather than just rely on controls.
Can you play Fallout: New Vegas with mods on Steam Deck?
Yes, you can install and use mods for Fallout: New Vegas on Steam Deck. As it’s a little more advanced, we’re not covering it in this guide; instead, we’re focusing on the vanilla experience. But if it’s something you’re interested in, I recommend using this excellent tutorial from OhNoItsAlexx on YouTube to walk you through it. You’ll need a keyboard and mouse to make setting it up easier, though, and it’s important to make sure the game is installed to the Steam Deck SSD, not a microSD card, if you intend to mod it.
Enjoy the best Fallout game on your Steam Deck
Our Top Gaming Recommendations
We’ve put Fallout: New Vegas at the top of our list of all the Fallout games ranked and with good reason. Obsidian’s Fallout game packs an epic open world, branching quest lines, interesting characters, and dialog. It might be from 2010, but it still holds up today as the highlight of this beloved franchise.
It’s also a blast to play on the Steam Deck, too. It’s old and, at times, very janky, but it’s well worth persevering with and is a must-play for anyone jumping into the Fallout franchise. If you’re coming over after enjoying the Fallout Prime Video series, it’s an easy choice to be one of, if not the first, Fallout games you play.
Other games in the series also play pretty well on the Steam Deck, and we’ve got a full settings guide for Fallout 4 on gaming handhelds, too, if you’re interested in playing a more modern take.
