“We’ve been waiting 14 years for this game,” modder Badass Baboon said of the original Red Dead Redemption, which finally came to PC late last month.
“My excitement was through the roof, even though based on datamined information about the Switch/PS4 version, we’ve all but confirmed that a PC version exists somewhere. When I finally got to play and tinker with the game on PC, nothing could ruin my excitement. “
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For his part, the modder told me that the “compelling story and character development” of the modern Red Dead series, as well as the “‘Last Frontier’ vibe” shared by the adventures of John Marston and Arthur Morgan ” is what appeals to them most about Rockstar’s westerns, and the eventual arrival of RDR1 is the opportunity to bring “Reality Redemption” to a new platform. Badass Baboon began developing this overhaul mod for the Xbox 360 version of RDR back in 2023, and has since created versions for the Nintendo Switch and now-released PC version.
Their project goal is to remake the game in their own way, bringing it closer to modern standards. They’ve been busy improving the visuals by adjusting things like “textures, models, and weather cycles,” as well as “fixing continuity errors,” and looking to provide a “smoother, more realistic experience” on the gameplay side. It’s still a work in progress, but modders have implemented enough substantial tweaks that the version of Reality Redemption on Nexus Mods is currently the most recognized RDR PC mod on the platform. As of this writing, it has been downloaded a total of just over 10,000 times, putting it just shy of the top spot, trailing only a few other popular titles.
“I had modded Need for Speed and GTA games before and was looking for a new challenge,” Badass Baboon told me when I asked them what prompted them to start this project. “I’ve found the Red Dead Redemption 1 modding community to be quite niche and friendly. Modding this game is somewhat familiar as it’s also run on the Rage engine, which I’ve modded before so I have experience with it [GTA 4 and 5]but at the same time very different, since it’s the San Diego branch of the engine, not the Rockstar North engine. It was definitely a fun challenge to learn and understand the different ways San Diego has customized the engine for their games. “
Another challenge they faced was jumping from one platform to another, with 360 proving to be the most difficult customer to deal with. “These file formats are difficult to study and understand, let alone mod, and a lot of workarounds and tricks must be used to make a functional mod of the scale of Reality Redemption on the Xbox 360,” they told me. “[The] Most texture replacements break or crash the game, but editing the profile works just fine.
“With the release of the Switch version, the file format is almost the same as GTA IV, and with more research and understanding, modifying this version has become much easier and streamlined. One tool can manage almost everything, and character models from buildings can Edit. The PC version is actually a 1:1 copy of the Switch version because the files I modified for the Switch version can be used interchangeably between PC and Switch.”
Like many high-profile developers, Rockstar has an interesting and complicated history with how it chooses to interact with game modders. There were a few takedowns, some full-blown lawsuits, and then last year, the company chose to hire the team behind the popular FiveM and RedM role-playing mods. Given that Badass Baboon is also in development for Switch and multiple emulators have been discontinued following Nintendo’s actions this year, I asked modders if any of this affected their processing or feelings about Reality Redemption.
“I had been planning not to pay attention to the mod until the PC version came out [of Red Dead Redemption] out,” they responded. “I could only speculate on what Rockstar and Take-Two would do, and knowing the background of their DMCA lawsuits over save files, I assumed the worst. There was always a sense of a dark presence, and I didn’t know if what I was doing was taboo, but I never stopped working on this project. I avoided including any original game files and refused to backport assets from other Rockstar games to avoid any potential issues. Thankfully, the mod still works. “
That being the case, modders are busy working on plans for a mod that includes additions and modifications designed to help fill in the knowledge gaps that existed between the original Red Dead, which famously didn’t even mention Arthur Morgan’s name , and its prequel “Red Dead Redemption 2”.
“I plan to modify the game world and audio to include more references to the world and events of RDR2 without affecting the feel/atmosphere of the original game,” said Badass Baboon. “It could be anything from a small reference, like RDR2’s painting of West Elizabeth, the Grizzlies, and Lemoyne in the MacFarlanes house (which is the latest version of the mod, by the way) to a staple of AI voice acting, where the characters will directly Reference events and people [from] RDR2. “
Since the latter may involve using controversial techniques to generate lines that imitate the voices of the game’s well-known voice actors, many professional VAs have expressed strong objections or concerns about this, so I asked the modders for their thoughts on the issue, because and whether they plan to consider any alternatives. For example, remixing existing lines in the game to form new ones is an approach used by many additional dialogue mods for games like Skyrim (usually from AI-hating or skeptical modders).
“If you’ve seen it, many content creators have used artificial intelligence tools to make their favorite characters popular on YouTube, Tiktok and other places singing pop songs or saying certain things and getting pretty accurate results,” they responded. “Considering they’ve never been in trouble for that, I don’t think people would complain about some voice line editing, of course. , it is also possible to use the voice resources in “RDR2″ and mixing in new lines, or just lines from the original game, with varying degrees of success. While there are other methods like the ones I mentioned, I still need to test and see if the AI can deliver the authentic tone I’m looking for. . If not, then I would consider remixing the existing recording.”
We’ll have to see where the overall future of the PC modding scene goes for Reality Redemption and Red Dead Redemption. After all, this port hasn’t been around for very long, and no doubt a lot of cowboys still nostalgically follow its lanes while deciding what they might want to try to add, or finish off the final round in another game’s saloon Then board the train to Armadillo.
