Im gettin ready to play New Vegas again and im not sure how i should set my skills and stuff up.PLEASE HELP?

Basic 4-step

1) Get 45 melee and 45 guns
2) get the cowboy perk
3) upgrade from cowboy repeater, to trail carbine, to brush gun as time and money allows.
4) use your brush gun to murder everything in the wastes.

I also recommend hand loader and jury rigger. Other than that, pick whatever sounds fun or looks interesting.

Well, for a cowboy go with Guns, Melee, then something of your choice like Explosives or Speech. Your SPECIAL can be anything, but I'd focus on Perception, Agility, and Strength.

I just took a quick look at all ''cowboy'' guns. The highest skill requirement for those guns is 6, so I'd get a Strength of 6.
Other then that, I'd focus on Agility and Perception. If you want to make him a lucky cowboy (Lucky Luke! :vaultboy: ) get a high Luck (derp). If your cowboy is a Lucky Luke then I suggest you take Finesse, Better Criticals and (if you have DM) Light Touch.

Cowboy Perk.

Done.

I would go with a build like this:

Guns, repair and sneak/survival/melee weapons. If not melee weapons, make sure to get it to 45 in time for the cowboy perk

As for your SPECIAL, I would use this: S6 P7 E5 C4 I5 A6 L7. You may change it though.

Traits, I would pick small frame and maybe loose cannon.

As I (and countless other) have said before... There is no need to be "perfect" to be successful. Make a character that you like, and little else matters.

But, for the sake of argument, I'll give 1 example: if you're making a character around the cowboy perk, a Str of 5 is the most you need to start. You honestly only need 3. The best lever action weapon is the brush gun, with a Str requirement of 6. Start with 3, plus implant, plus weapons handling perk = perfect. A 5 Str (with implant and handling perk) will let you fire any weapon accurately, short of a minigun. And it's a FREAKING MINIGUN. Who cares if it's less accurate, because it's a FREAKING MINIGUN. (full disclosure; the rebar clubs and balistic fist world require 6 Str at the start, but those aren't exactly cowboy weapons)

Aside from that, Str only increases the weight you can carry (but that's what companions are for) and melee weapon dmg (which might be of value, if your cowboy will be using knives and hatchets a lot)

So if you wanted to start with the "perfect" Str, decide if you're ever going to use the anti-material rifle (prolly not) or the automatic rifle from the DLC (possibly) 5 Str if you will, 3 if you won't.

But all that ... That's just me. I'm a min/max'er. I crunch numbers for a living, so when I play games, any games, I squeeze every possible ounce of potential out of my characters. In fallout NV, I see every point of Int as 17 potential skill points. I see every point in Luck as money from the casinos and 1% chance to crit.

That's how I have fun. I'm the kind of guy who runs to NV straight away. Cleans out the wrangler, uses that $$ to get into the strip and cleans all those casinos out, and buys all the implants before lvl 5

You probably have fun differently. Maybe you'd get a kick out of playing a "cowboy" with 10 Str, who always kicks down doors, and is never without at least 5 knifes or hatchets. If you enjoy that, go with it. Don't let my style impede on your style.

Cowboy perk + Cowboy Repeater/ Trail Carbine/ Brush Gun + .44 Revolver + Combat Knife + Lever Action Shotgun + Authority Shades + Sheriff Duster + Sheriff Hat + Goatee = Cowboy.

Solid "All-Rounder" Cowboy build for hardcoe mode.

For skills just worry about having the required amount of a skills(s) to qual for a perk at the right time. At level 35 you are going to have all the skills you care about at 100....or damn close.