*Sadface*

Okay this is what happens:

I start up the game.
The intro loads then says "please stand by" and everything
and the screen goes to the guy with the gun but no menu buttons or anything show. This has happened since I've started up the game for the first time. I haven't even played the game yet. I've tried that verify game cache thing with Steam and it said 1 (now 2) are missing but when they finish re-downloading it says there's 1 (again, now 2) files still missing.

Any ideas? Help would be greatly appreciated.

That sounds somewhat similar to the kind of reaction that a Low Quality system offers when faced with this game. You'd better compare your PC to the requirements:

What are the Fallout New Vegas system requirements?

Minimum System Requirements (VGAs corrected for Obsidian stupidity):

* Windows XP/Vista/Win7
* 1GB System RAM (XP)/ 2GB System RAM (Vista)
* 2.0 Ghz Dual Core processor
* Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 256MB RAM
(NVIDIA 6800 "GS" or better/ ATI X1300XT or better)
{Added my note here, the X1600 Pro & up really, and
avoid both the Geforce 6800 SE, and the 6800 XT}
* 10 GBs of free hard drive space

Recommended System Requirements:

* Windows XP/Vista/Win7
* Intel Core 2 Duo processor (or the equivalent AMD Phenom)
* 2 GB System RAM
* Direct X 9.0c compliant video card with 512MB RAM
(NVIDIA 8800 series, ATI 3800 series)
* 10 GBs of free hard drive space

What files are missing? CHeck: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\gamevalidation.log

Post a dxdiag. Please use spoiler tags properly. http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1122570-how-to-dxdiag/

Is there a crash or it just wont proceed? Do you still hear music can you see/move the mouse pointer?