So I followed this guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=741846155
to mod New Vegas.

This time, the game actually runs, but FCO has some issue with UIO and characters have exclamation marks on their eyebrows. Finishing character creation gives me the message:

"The FCO Eyebrows UI extension was not detected.
Please make sure User Interface Organizer (UIO) is installed correctly.
You may also need to re-install the mod."

I did reinstall the mod, to no effect.
I found this forum post about something that sounds similar, but the steps seem way out of my league/way too specific: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/3876110-uio-and-fco-wont-work-please-help/

I'm using Vortex because the recommended Mod Organizer just freezes whenever I try to do anything more than edit the .ini.

This is the third time I've tried to run this damned game with mods. I don't understand why the modding community for New Vegas is so much more of a pain in the ass than it was for Fallout 3. Is there any way to get this irritating wreck to run nicely?