Red Dead Redemption 2

Shot by Otis_Inf

Summary

Feature Supported
Vanilla Photo Mode Yes
Hotsampling Yes, see notes
DSR Yes
Custom Aspect Ratios Yes, with tools
Reshade Yes (v4.4+)
Ansel No
Graphics API DirectX 12
Vulkan Yes

Tools

Essentials

Texture/Graphic Mods

Hotsampling

While it's possible to hotsample with Vulkan, it is very unstable and has a crash rate of about 70%. SRWE often loses track of which window to handle as well. This can be fixed by Refreshing the Window Tree, which will allow you to select the game and edit the resolution again.

Info

The game hotsamples with SRWE problem-free when running in DX12.

Important!

Hotsampling to a 32:9 aspect ratio and going back to your original one will break every trainer menu, with some losing the text, and some having the text way off the screen.

Vulkan or DX12?

If you're using Windows 7 or 8.x, the only option you have is Vulkan. If you use Windows 10, you can use DX12 as well. There are reports of higher performance under Vulkan, but also lower-res textures and less stability. The cheat table should work with both. Regardless of API, the game is highly unstable, and you have to prepare for crashes during your gameplay session.

Important!

Most texture mods do not work in DX12, making it a trade-off if you are willing to modify the game textures.

Tweaks & tips

In the file My Documents\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2\Settings\system.xml:

  • search for <lodScale value="...." /> and <pedLodBias value="...." />, set these to 1.0, by default they're set to 0.0
  • search for <deepsurfaceQuality>...</deepsurfaceQuality>, set the value to kSettingLevel_Ultra.
Info

As of the Blood Money (Version 1.25. July 13th, 2021) update, some graphics settings revert back to their default values. The graphics settings are: "Resolution Scaling" off, "TAA" high, "MSAA" off. It is currently not possible for them to stay changed.

Info

If you have visual artifacts that look similar to GPU VRAM artifacts (green, purple, white noise) in the game (usually noticed in the main menu), turn off "Triple Buffering".

Info

Bypassing the in-game VRAM limit can only be done by changing the values through the system.xml file.

CT Weather control

The cheat table offers two ways to control the weather: one option is to set the weather type, another is to define a combination between two weathers.

Different weather types

Weathers are defined using a number. -1 (or in hexadecimal: FFFFFFFF) means that no weather is set and the default weather is used.

List of weather types

Value Weather name
0 High pressure
1 Sunny
2 Misty
3 Fog
4 Clouds
5 Overcast
6 Overcast dark
7 Drizzle
8 Rain
9 Thunder
10 Thunderstorm
11 Hurricane
12 Shower
13 Hail
14 Sleet
15 Snow clearing
16 Snow light
17 Snow
18 Blizzard
19 Ground blizzard
20 Whiteout
21 Sandstorm

How to set the weather

To set the active weather, enable the 'Weather control' entry in the table by clicking the check box in front of it. Then, double-click the value in the 'Weather type' entry on the right. By default it'll show 'FFFFFFFF'. Double clicking it allows you to type a new weather, e.g. 4 for cloudy weather. The weather change will be instant and also works in photomode.

Info

In-game trainers can also be used to change the weather.

How to set a combination of two weather types

If you want to create your own unique weather, you can create a combination of two weather types. After you've enabled 'Weather control', you can then check 'Enable weather interpolation'. After that, you double click the value in the 'From weather' entry and type a value, e.g. 4 for cloudy weather. Then you double click the value in the 'To weather' column and also specify a value, e.g. 14 for thick snow.

You can then define the amount of how much of one or the other should be used using the 'Interpolation factor'. Double click the value of that entry to specify a value between 0 and 1, e.g. 0.3. If you e.g. specify 0.3 it means the weather is 70% the 'From weather' weather and 30% the 'To weather'.

To go back to the other weather option, simply disable the 'Enable weather interpolation' entry.