Fallout NV, tying to get mods to work

I want to make Fallout: New Vegas more visually appealing with texture and model upgrade mods, but no luck so far.
Tried running ‘Nexus mod manger’ and ‘Mod organizer’ using ‘run EXE inside wine prefix’, Nexus mod manger doesn’t run. Mod organizer does seem to work but once in the game no evidence that mods are active.
Any advice on things to try are appreciated.