Status 4/26/23 - v1.2 Changed the way the .esp functioned, and this version is much more robust. Added and revised more tips. As-is, I foresee no need for further updates.

What this mod does

Most loading screen "tips" are useless. You don't need to be told that feral ghouls are feral, or what the Rad Resistance perk does. But there's so many things that aren't intuitive in FNV. Hacking using the bracketed code to cheat the system, stealth boys lasting twice as long with Chemist, VATS doubling melee damage, etc. Those are the things that deserve to be called tips. And for some extra variety, I've added some fallout history blurbs - that the Families were reformed only 7 years ago, or that the 140 years ago, the Vipers, Jackals, Khans, and NCR all came out of Vault 15.

This single esp file has edited the text on nearly 100 vanilla loading slides, and when I ran out of worthwhile pieces of information, I deleted the remaining worthless tips. There are a handful of vanilla tips I deemed acceptable.

Installation

You should have a mod manager by now, but since Useful Loading Screen Tips is a single, simple esp file, it's fine to install/uninstall manually. Safe to install/uninstall mid-game.

Compatibility/Requirements/Conflicts.

No requirements. Conflicts with mods that alter vanilla loading screens texts (eg  No Loading Screens). Is compatible with mods that only alter the loading screen pictures (eg Better Loading Screens) . V1.2, I configured the obsolete loading screens to only load in the Vender Chest Cell, so if you coc to there you may have issues.

Uncomprehensive list of tips added

• Drinking some water? Holding down the button lets you drink deeply instead of just taking sips.
• You can bind 1-8 to your favorite guns, disguises, chems, you name it!
• Hacking a terminal? Those bracketed data <^$£*$%!> will make {£^@"&%} things easier {%{£^!£&}. Faster than backing out anyway.
• Want to cleanly take someone's gear? Reverse pickpocket something stronger onto them, wait, and then pickpocket the target.
• Open the pipboy to specific tabs with F1, F2, and F3.
• Kill a person undetected with a silent weapon? That faction doesn't need to know. Careful with the Shady Sands Shuffle though - that's far from silent.
• VATS isn't just for shooting people. Spot distant friends and foes, shoot grenades out of the air, and hold down the VATS button for a zoomed-out view of the battlefield. (fixed for v1.1)
• Crafting ammo can be effective, though not profitable. Disassembling those rounds can let you rebuild stronger shots.
• Allocate skills wisely. With the right gear, brushing up on relevant magazines, and some good drugs, you can squeeze by with less practice in certain skills.
• The elusive DR (up to 85%) is applied before DT, which can't lower damage below 20% of it's original. The difficulty modifier is applied after. DT can't go negative, and DT modifiers are applied before damage multipliers.
• Clean out your pack. All of those "just in case" things you never use are taking up valuable space.
• Different food items stack. Three gecko kebabs at a time won't help any more, but a kebab, a steak, and a stew will
• Cazadors make me scream "Kill it with fire!", but my flamer didn't seem as useful as I hoped.
• Vats special attacks? Cross is 2.5x versus limbs. More efficient: Stomp, Grand slam, Blood-Nap, Dirt-Nap, surgical strike, proton/frequency. Knockdown: Mauler. Fore!. The rest? meh.
• Attacks while unnoticed guarantee crits AND do 2x (ranged) or 4x (melee) damage, but doesn't boost the AoE splash damage. Those slow projectiles, though, may hit the target after your grunt gives you away.
• Jury riggers can use clothing to repair Legion light uniforms, to repair Legion medium uniforms, to repair any medium armors.
• Companions use ammo & consumables, but don't degrade their equipment.
• While in VATS, you take 25% less damage, have 5% more crit chance, 2x non-thrown melee and unarmed damage, targeted enemies are moderately slowed while nontargeted enemies are slowed marginally. Weapon degredation normal.
• Caravan is easy, easy caps. Columns are 'owned' by having 21-26 points there. Higher outbids lower. If any column is tied, the game goes on; owning 2+ columns wins the game. Use 6-10s, Js, Ks. Ignore queens, aces, & jokers. You can play 6-10s on same-suit cards OR increasing/decreasing order. J's & K's can hit ANY card.
• Weapons have specific critical damage stats. A Paciencia crit adds 110 damage, while a LAER only adds 15. Better Criticals & Just Lucky I'm Alive stack multiplicatively.
• The Great Khans were the resurfacing of the Khans. Seven years ago, they withdrew from House’s rising to Bitter Springs.
• You can’t have exact duplicates of Caravan cards, but you can have same cards from different decks.
• An absolute genius will easily max out skills, but average intelligence with Comprehension can get there just fine.
• For items with weight or value, a pickpocket attempt has a minimum chance to succeed of 5% and a maximum chance of 85%.
• The "Chemist" perk also doubles the duration (ie total healing) of all aid items with positive effects.
• Anti-material rifle? 5600g. BB gun? 36g. Getting a vendor to repair fifty BB guns, which repaired the fifty broken AMR you're reselling? Priceless.
• Unarmed includes punch weapons such as spiked knuckles and power fists.
• If an item is in a difficult spot to steal but is not in an inventory of some kind (wardrobe, desk, person, etc.), one can easily steal it by the "Grab" function and taking it somewhere out of sight. NPCs do not perceive grabbing as stealing so they will not react unless when stealing the item the player character is still in their sight.
• Survival amplifies the positive effects of non-chem aid items, such as food and alcohol.
• A failed pickpocketing attempt is not guaranteed to turn NPCs hostile, but it is possible.
• Explosions from the meltdown perk are relative to the damage that caused them, and often do heavy friendly fire.
• Items without weight or value, such as spent many keys and ammo casings, can be pickpocketed without a chance of failure or karma loss, although this does not count as a "Picked Pocket" for any achievements.
• Perks like Rad Child, Atomic, and Eye for an Eye will help you out when you’re most in need.
• The State of Utobitha was founded 2 years ago, as a takeover. Marcus led the more civil to found Jacobstown.
• The perk “And Stay Back” gives each pellet a 10% chance to knock foes down. For a standard 12-gauge, that’s 50%.
• The perk Ninja only applies to unarmed and melee attacks.
• The Stonewall Perk can really help versus Deathclaws, or any melee foe that knocks you down.
• The Heavyweight perk applies globally, which means even your companions get the benefit of extra encumbrance.
• Most perks that increase VATS chance to hit are applied multiplicatively, not additively. The exception is Concentrated Fire.
• The Concentrated Fire perk will make each successive shot in a VATS queue +5% more accurate for each successful hit in that queue.
• The Jackals are opportunistic, cowardly, and sometimes cannibals. The Vipers were quasi-religious devotees, but were reduced to simple raiders by the NCR war.
• The Comprehension perk causes skill books to raise skills by 4 instead of 3, for all the 94 guaranteed skill books.
• The Pyromaniac perk helps the Shishkebab, Sonic Emitter – Tarantula, superheated Saronite glove, and your flamer and flame explosives. No effect on flame ammunitions.
• The Atomic perk grants extra AP regen based on your radiation sickness, and while you’re being irradiated you get +2 DT, +2 STR, 1.25x run speed, and 1.25x attack speed.
• The Solar Powered perk grants 1 hp per second while outside from 6am to 6pm.
• The Nerves of Steel perk increases your AP regeneration by 20%.
• The Rad Absorption perk removes 1 radiation point every 20 seconds. Waiting 1 hour removes 6 rads, and waiting 33 will remove 200 rads.
• In the course of the game, there is exactly one point for the NCR and one point for the Legion to clear your infamy.
• Some challenges grant you helpful perks for completing them. All grant nice exp.
• Stealth boys normally last for 2 minutes. Combining Lily with Logan’s Loophole, Chemist, and Day tripper makes them last 20.
• Heave, Ho! Not only affects thrown melee weapons, but also grenades and projectiles from the Incinerator. No effect in VATS though.
• Karma can impact your interactions with Cass and Lanius, and the game ending slides.
• You can take the McCarren monorail into the New Vegas Strip with a 'liked' reputation with NCR, Boone as a companion, or an NCR disguise. This bypasses the Strip credit check.
• The Boomer Munitions Manager is one of the best explosives vendors around.
• The Flare Gun is effective versus abominations, including tunnelers, deathclaws, centaurs, and night stalkers.
• Slasher’s damage buff won’t stack with Psycho, but it’s DR buff will stack with Med-X and/or Battle brew.
• Cass’s Moonshine is unaffected by Survival, but stacks with regular alcohol.
• Contrary to some guides, agility does not affect movement speed.
• A crippled head lowers PER by 4. Crippled torso causes higher flinch chance. Crippled legs slows movement and disables leap attacks. Crippled arms reduce accuracy and melee damage.
• The Educated perk grants 2 extra skill-up points on level-up, for a potential maximum of 92 skill boosts.
• The damage to cripple a limb is 20%hp for head, 25%hp arms, 25%hp legs, and 60% torso.
• FNV has been completed by killing everyone, killing no one, without healing, and without eating or drinking.
• Attacks to heads deal 2x damage. Attacks to other limbs generally deal normal damage, though creatures like ants are only damaged half as much for shots to legs.
• Obsidian developed FNV from FO3 in 18 months.
• If you’ve turned against House, stop by Victor’s Shack to say goodbye.
• Robert House used surface-to-air missiles and laser turrets to shelter Las Vegas during the Great War. Had the war started 20 hours later, the platinum chip would’ve been delivered.
• The Strip’s Families were contacted by House only 7 years ago, though House has been conscious for 96 years.
• The First Battle of Hoover Dam was a mere 4 years ago, where the NCR turned Boulder City into an explosive trap for Caesar’s Legion.
• According to Vault-tec projections, the US will be inhabitable again in 96 years.
• The Kings were transformed 7 years ago, as a Vegas Outskirt tribe that rejected House’s reforms and was revolutionized when one of their own scavenged some old holotapes.
• The Brotherhood’s almost-last stand took place 5 years ago, at Helios One.
• The Boomers left Vault 34 over 50 years ago. Later, an inspired group of dissidents tried to storm the armory to escape, causing the Vault’s current condition.
• Weapons' critical chance multipliers amplifies luck, traits, gear, and finesse. Other perks & VATS add a flat chance on top, except Ninja, which multiplies the whole chance by 1.15 for melee/unarmed.
• The Bitter Springs Massacre took place just 3 years ago.
• Caesar’s Legion was founded 34 years ago, when the Blackfoot tribe captured the missionary Edward Sallow for ransom.
• Remember in FO3:Broken Steel, taking that train? It was actually an oversized hat.
• Captain Gilles, found at Bitter Springs, was the commanding officer of the situation there three years ago. She was demoted, and Dahtri was promoted to replace her.
• A Glowing one is a unique feral ghoul that has become a living conduit of radiation, with the ability to deliver bursts of extra radiation.
• Mister Gutsy is a combat variant of the Mister Handy, equipped with a Plasma weapon and flamethrower. Commissioned by the US Army just before the apocalypse.
• Vault 3 was self-sufficient for 200 years, before having to open up to trade for water. Then, the fiends came.
• 140 years ago, four groups led exodus from Vault 15. The Vipers, the Jackals, the Khans, and Shady Sands.