I have used mods in Bethesda games since Morrowind, and While I have occassionally had problems with a mod or two, I could generally get most to work. However, With New Vegas, its been changed around a bit. I found the data folder, and can get mods that are just a esp to load, but I tried to use some that used custom meshes and textures. However, there arent any meshes or textures folders that I can see, unless im installing to the wrong folder. I just tried dropping the whole flder in from the mod and my game kept crashing. Anyone know how to do it properly?

You know that with the esp-only mods, you just drop in the esp. So with the ones that include custom meshes and textures, all you need to do is drop the esp (if applicable) , the textures folder, and meshes folders into the data folder. The textures and meshes folder located inside the data folder overwrite the existing ones in the game files.

This also applies with the Sounds folder etc.

-gecko

I tried that and it crashed the game

There is no difference between how Fallout 3 and New Vegas mods work. You're either doing something wrong, or the mods you're adding are.

You might have installed a mod with a missing master. Quite a few mods have been uploaded with unintentional dependencies on one or more of the pre-order packs. Run FNVEdit and see if throws up any messages at you.