Well, about time I played a Fallout game myself instead of watching/hearing friends talk about it. Started a New Vegas play-through after watching the show. Not far in, I'm about to head south of Primm after doing what I could first visit.
I followed this steam guide to get started, they recommend Mod Organiser 2 over vortex/nexus auto installs.
Steam Community :: Guide :: Simple Guide to Setting up New Vegas in 2024
That got it running with the unofficial patch and crash prevention, but it was still looking it's age a bit. I went with the top 5 mods from this list to update the look but not change the feel.
Fallout New Vegas: The 21 Best Graphics Mods You Need To Install
In addition to some manual copying of textures into the directory from the NMC texture pack in 3 separate downloads
NMCs_Texture_Pack_For_New_Vegas
My final MO2 list looks like this -
View attachment 524818
I may or may not add more, but I'm happy with the changes so far, definitely feels like I'll stick with it more after giving it the new coat of paint.
Also, for any other newbies like me this table was helpful during character creation.