Red Dead Redemption 2 Just Got An Absolutely Massive Overhaul

Red Dead Redemption 2 is still going strong and is nearly at its 10th anniversary. While Rockstar is likely to release another iteration at some point, for now, the fans are in the driver's seat.

Over on Nexus Mods, you can pick up one of the most expansive additions to the game yet. If you haven't booted up the game in a while, this might be your excuse.

Red Dead Redemption 2 Fans Are Keeping The Game Alive

In More Ways Than One

By using Dominator's Red Dead Redemption 2 Full Game Overhaul mod, you'll rework the entire aesthetic of the game to make it more in line with modern PC open-world adventures.

Here's a message from DominatorGt, the creator, to kick things off: "This mod has been developed over several years with a lot of love, patience, and stubborn consistency. Don’t be scared by the size — the mod is large simply because it covers everything you can possibly see in a single frame: from individual grains of sand, to insects, characters, NPCs, terrain, vegetation, interiors, exteriors — everything. Despite its scope, the mod is extremely well optimized, and in many scenarios it actually performs better than vanilla."

So how does the mod accomplish that? Well, through a massive 53GB texture pack. This is essentially a full visual workover for the game, tweaking all this and way more:

• Wind strength
• Temperature shifts
• Fog density physics
• Light absorption
• Atmospheric shifts
• Temperature and climate logic

According to the modder, "all temperatures were authored with the help of a professional meteorologist." Given how pretty much every environmental mod is compiled here, it saves you the time of combining them individually.

Here's an example of a scenario that could now play out thanks to this modding package: "Hail is perfectly normal during certain periods of the year. If hail starts at night, temperatures may drop enough for it to transition into snow. If it starts in the morning, rising temperatures will turn hail into rain, and once it stops, you’ll see ground evaporation forming naturally. All weather transitions interpolate organically, following physical logic instead of scripted switches."

After reviewing even a fraction of the patch notes, it's clear that the mod's scope is astounding and the result of years of work. Like The Witcher 4, the Red Dead Redemption 2 community has a knack for creating strong mods that don't fundamentally alter the core of the game.

You Can Download This Mod Now

It's Not Locked Behind A Patreon

This mod, which is large enough to be an entire AAA game, is available now. While there's an uptick in mod creators that gate their services behind paywalls, this one is free on Nexus Mods.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is an incredibly ambitious game, even by today's standards. But the amount of work modders have done to alter it is simply staggering.

Systems

Released October 26, 2018

ESRB M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Engine RAGE

Multiplayer Online Multiplayer

Cross-Platform Play N/A

Cross Save N/A