Desert Nomad - Simple Portable Camping
🟡 Updated this year⚠️ Install Order · 5 steps
Install in this order, then this mod last — most mods fail to load without their framework and dependencies in place.
Preview

🔍 Analysis
- 👍 1.2% endorsement rate — high engagement, a strong quality signal
- 🏆 #141 of 383 Gameplay Effects and Changes mods in this game by downloads
📋 About This Mod
This is the first mod in the Desert Nomad series which aims to create a more survivalist play style in the unforgiving desert. Travel the Mojave with a trusty, portable tent to act as a mobile and minimalistic player home. Invest your caps into various upgrades to make life in the Desert easier.
-Water Purifier (Upgrade)
-Furnishings and storage (1. 3 tweaked Upgrade)
-Crafting Stations (Upgrade)
-Hot plate (1. 3, replaces campfire)
-Storage, shelter, and bedding
-Radio (1. 3 Upgrade)
-Repair Station (1. 3 Upgrade)
-Medical Station (1. 3 Upgrade)
-Healing Garden (1. 3 Upgrade)
-Light Source
-Light Source
-Sleeping (Home On The Range Perk Required)
Many of the new features are upgrades that are entirely dependent on your skill level. The following is a brief guide covering the logic behind these upgrades:
Hot Plate: Explained in-game but for clarification, the Hot Plate runs out of battery every 24 hours. You must either use a Fission battery or jury-rig the Hot Plate to accept 30 Energy Cells. Either way, the Hot Plate will lose power 24 hours after powering it up.
Repair Station: The Materials needed are already explained in the repair station UI, however, it doesn't explain the equation that determines how much an item is repaired. The calculation is as follows:
((Item base health Repair Skill) / 100) / 3. Example: Base item health is 100 40 repair = 4000 / 100 = 40 / 3 = 13. 13 health points are added to your item's health versus if you have 100 in repair, in which you would get 33 points (almost a third of the item's health) repaired.
Since the ingredients necessary to repair items are so easy to come by, naturally I am preventing the player from easily being able to repair everything to max health in one fell swoop. Think of it as a cheaper and also less effective solution versus repair kits and vendors.
Medical Station: A cheaper and more skill-intensive alternative to a doctor or crafting meds yourself. You use very minimal material, but you also rely on survival skills to use said material. The UI explicitly states the skill level needed for each procedure.
Chemistry Station: A mobile Chemistry station scraped together with bottles and cans the player found while unpacking camp. There are three levels of production; low, medium, and high. The thresholds are the same for each type of chemical you choose, so regardless of whether you're making healing meds, radiation drugs, or chems you will still need to meet the same thresholds to produce the low, medium, and high yields. The thresholds are as follows:
Low: Science < 26 (Yields basics and poorer a
Desert Nomad adds a compact, portable campsite to Fallout: New Vegas, serving as a mobile player home for travelers exploring the Mojave. With 432 endorsements and over 35,000 downloads, this gameplay mod offers a simple solution for players who want a home away from home without settling down.
✨ Key Features
📊 Pros & Cons
✅ Pros
- Community-approved with 432 endorsements and 35k downloads
- Fills a niche for players who want a mobile base without fast-traveling back
- Lightweight and straightforward—no complex systems to learn
⚠️ Cons
- Last updated in January 2026—may not be compatible with the latest game patches or mods
For Fallout: New Vegas players who love roaming the wasteland and want a portable home base without committing to a static location. If you're a survivalist or roleplayer who enjoys camping under the stars, this mod is for you. Skip if you're looking for a full player home with quests or extensive features—this is a simple, no-frills addition.
💡 Beginner Tips
- Since the mod is simple, you can likely just drop the files into your Data folder and activate it in the launcher—no mod manager needed.
- If you use other mods that alter the Mojave worldspace, check for conflicts with the campsite's placement.
- Make sure you have the game's DLCs if the mod requires them—though not stated, it's worth verifying.
📊 Mod Details
- Game
- New Vegas Mods
- Author
- Ashtonlp101
- Version
- 1.31
- Downloads
- 35,105
- Endorsements
- 432
- Category
- Gameplay Effects and Changes
- Created
- 5/14/2021
- Updated
- 1/23/2026
🔧 How to Install New Vegas Mods
Download from Nexus.
📖 Full step-by-step install guide for New Vegas →
Visit the official mod page for specific installation instructions for this mod.
🎮 Need cheat codes or console commands? Check ur gaming wiki for New Vegas commands, item IDs, and more.
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