“We've waited 14 years for this game” The story of the Red Dead Redemption PC remaster mod looking to bring RDR2 to classic New Austin

“We've all waited 14 years for this game,” modder Badass Baboon says of the original Red Dead Redemption, when it finally arrived on PC at the end of last month.

“My excitement was through the roof, even though with the datamined information from the Switch/PS4 version, we pretty much had confirmation that a PC version existed somewhere. Nothing could spoil my excitement when I finally got to play and mod the game on PC.”

For this modder, who tells me that “the compelling story and character development” of the modern Red Dead series, as well as “the ‘final frontier’ vibes” both John Marston and Arthur Morgan’s adventures share are what draw them most to Rockstar’s westerns, RDR1 finally arriving was a chance to bring ‘Reality Redemption’ to a fresh platform. Badass Baboon had started work on this overhaul mod back in 2023 for the Xbox 360 version of RDR, and has since created versions for both the Nintendo Switch and now PC versions as they’ve been released.

Their goal with the project is to remaster the game in their own way, bringing it closer to modern standards. They’ve been busy revamping the visuals by tweaking things like “textures, models, and weather cycles”, as well as “fixing continuity errors”, and seeking to provide “a more fluid and realistic experience” gameplay-wise. It’s still a work in progress at current, but the modder’s already implemented enough substantial tweaks that the version of Reality Redemption on Nexus Mods is currently the most endorsed RDR PC mod on the platform. Its just over 10,000 total downloads as of writing aren’t far off top spot either, only trailing a couple of other popular works.

“I've previously modded Need for Speed and GTA games and was looking for a fresh challenge,” Badass Baboon tells me when I ask what inspired them to start the project. “I found the Red Dead Redemption 1 modding community rather niche and friendly. Modding this game was somewhat familiar since it's also on the Rage engine, which I have experience with, having previously modded [GTA 4 and 5], but at the same time very different since it's the San Diego branch of the engine, and not the Rockstar North one. It was certainly a fun challenge learning and understanding how differently San Diego tailored the engine for their games.”

Another challenge they’ve faced is hopping from platform to platform, with the 360 proving the toughest customer. “The file formats were hard to research and understand, let alone mod, a lot of workarounds and tricks had to be used to make a functioning mod on the scale of Reality Redemption on Xbox 360,” they tell me. “[The] majority of texture replacements would either break or crash the game, but editing configuration files worked fine.

“With the release of the Switch version, the file formats were almost identical to GTA IV, and with a lot more research and understanding behind that, modding that version became far easier and streamlined, a single tool could manage almost everything, every texture from character models to buildings became possible to edit. And the PC version turned out to be a 1:1 copy of the Switch version, as files that I have previously modded for the Switch version could be interchangeably used between PC and Switch.”

Like a lot of high-profile developers, Rockstar has an interesting and complex history when it comes to how it’s chosen to interact with those modding its games. There’s been some takedowns, some full-blown lawsuits, and then last year, the company electing to bring on board the team behind the popular FiveM and RedM roleplaying mods. Given Badass Baboon is also developing for the Switch, which has had multiple emulators cease operation following action from Nintendo this year, I asked the modder whether either of those had influenced how they’ve approached or felt about their work on Reality Redemption.

“I'd always planned to keep the mod under the radar until a PC version [of Red Dead Redemption] came out,” they responded. “I could only speculate what Rockstar and Take-Two would do, and knowing their litigious background to the point of DMCAing a save file, I assumed the worst. Always felt a shadowy presence, I didn't know if what I'm doing is taboo or not, but I never stopped working on the project. I avoided including any original game files and refused to backport assets from other Rockstar titles to avoid any potential issues. Thankfully, the mod is still up.”

Since that’s the case, the modder’s busy working on their plans for the mod, which include making additions and alterations designed to help fill the gaps that exist lore-wise between the original Red Dead, which famously doesn’t even mention Arthur Morgan’s name, and its prequel Red Dead Redemption 2.

“I plan to modify the game world and the audio to include more references to the world and events of RDR2, without taking anything out of the original game's feel/atmosphere,” Badass Baboon says. “It will be anything from small references such as paintings of RDR2's West Elizabeth, Grizzlies, and Lemoyne in the MacFarlanes’ house - which is in the latest version of the mod by the way - to something major with AI voice acting where characters will directly reference events and characters [from] RDR2.”

Since the latter would likely involve using the controversial tech to generate lines that mimic the voices of the game’s established voice actors, something lots of professional VAs have voiced strong opposition to or concerns about, I asked the modder for their take on the issue, as well as whether they plan to consider any alternatives. For example, remixing existing lines from the game to form new ones, a method a lot of extra dialogue mods for games like Skyrim - often from AI-averse or sceptical modders - have used.

“If you've seen, many content creators have used AI tools to make their favourite characters sing a popular song or say certain things on YouTube, Tiktok, and other places, with very accurate results,” they responded, “Considering they've never gotten into hot water for any of that, I don't think people would complain for a few voice line edits. Of course, there is also the possibility to use voice assets from RDR2 and mix new lines, or just the lines from the original game, but to varying levels of success. While there are alternative methods like I mentioned, I still have to test and see if AI can even deliver the authentic tone that I'm looking for. If not, then I'll look into remixing existing recordings.”

We’ll have to see what the future ends up holding for Reality Redemption and the Red Dead Redemption’s PC modding scene as a whole. After all, the port hasn’t been here long at all, and no doubt plenty of cowboys are still either nostalgically making their way up its trails while deciding what they might want to try adding, or are downing their last rounds in another game’s saloon before hopping on the train to Armadillo.