I have the steam version of fallout new vegas with about 30 mods installed using fallout mod manager. When I click play from my steam library it opens the launcher for Fallout NV but immediatly stops working and closes. However, if I launch the game from Fallout mod manager, it loads straight to the game instead of through the launcher and works perfect.

Is it normal for the launcher not to work correctly with this number of mods even though the game launches normally through fallout mod manager?

Using mods that require nvse? Fomm automatically uses it if memory serves.

Ah, I have a lot of mods installed so there's probably a couple that require it. Thanks!

Is it still possible to get steam acheivements if I don't launch it through steam?

Yeah pretty sure. Just looked at my steam account and I apparently have lots of unlocks but I never use the vanilla launcher. On the off note, even if you use fomm your still using steam. (Exit steam and use fomm to lauch the game, you will still it start steam up)

The only way to lock cheevos is to use the console, so if you have to tlc yourself out of stuck or remove a perk or something, just save, exit out of the game (completely) and relaunch, moar achieving.

Using any of the various launchers doesn't make a bit of difference, NVSE, 4GBNVSE, etc.

The launcher does crash more often than not for me too, but you're only required to run it once to set the settings. After that it is completely useless.