Welcome Shtivi! It’s great to have you here with us, why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into gaming, and modding after that?
Hi! My name is Ido, I am 28 and I live in Israel. My uncle installed Super Mario on our family computer when I was six years old and that's basically got me into gaming.
As a teenager, I always loved experimenting with mods for the games I played. I would install skins, tweak the config files, and see what happened, just exploring. When Red Dead Redemption 2 came out for PC, I instantly fell in love with it. I had so many ideas on how to improve the game and what extra features I’d love to see as a fan.
I do code for living, so I already had the necessary skills, so I thought, "Why not?". I remembered that GTA V has a massive modding community, so I figured it couldn't be impossible to create scripts for RDR2 too. In the end, what drives me is my passion.
If your uncle installed Super Mario on your family computer, modding and programming must have been in your life from a young age. Does your family know about your modding adventures nowadays?
That’s true! Programming, gaming, and modding have been hobbies of mine for a long time. I work as a software engineer and although I can spend a lot of hours a day coding at work, it doesn't get me too tired to code mods and games in my free time. I really love it.
My family knows a bit about my mods, and even though none of them are gamers, they understand that it’s important to me. My wife has been very supportive throughout, even after I get her mad for dedicating too many hours on that.
You’ve released a bunch of mods for Red Dead Redemption 2, from ones that enable seats all across the American West, to giving the player a dog companion. Is there a favourite mod you’ve made?
My favourite mod is Bounty Hunting. I know it's not perfect (mods almost never are), but I just love this side activity in the game and I believe this mod does a good job in expanding it.
Bounty hunting feels like it should have been in the base game with how seamlessly it integrates thanks to your mod. Is there anything else you'd love to see developed in the game that hasn't yet been fleshed out?
Thank you! Many of my mods "came to life" because I felt that certain features should have been part of the original game, and I always tried to make them feel as integrated as possible with the base game. But I guess that’s exactly where mods can sometimes take over.
Honestly, my biggest hope for RDR2 is a story DLC, but if I were to be more modest, a map extension would be amazing. With a map extension, we could add even more content through mods.
Your mods are really popular with the RDR2 community and you clearly spent a lot of time and effort on them, but did you face any challenges in doing so?
Thank you! Wow, I’ve actually faced a lot of challenges. Scripting for RDR2 can sometimes feel like an uncharted territory, as there’s no official documentation or anything like that. You need a lot of patience to dig into the game’s code and collaborate with other modders to get things done.
For example, creating the dynamic bounty posters for the Bounty Hunting mod took me literally days (and nights) to figure out. Like me, other modders have also cracked some of the game’s more complicated mechanics, and working together can often be crucial. I made some really good connections with other modders such as Bolmin70, who is a really talented modder himself and made some of the best mods for RDR2. We used to work together very closely and I think it played an important role in the making of many of my mods.
It's amazing to see the Red Dead Redemption 2 modding community work together, is there anywhere readers can go to learn how to get into modding the game or find a community?
Yes, of course! There are many RDR2 modding Discord servers, and as I mentioned, using open-source mods and knowledge repositories can be really useful. Also, don't be afraid to collaborate and ask for help in the Nexus Mods forums.
The mods you’ve made for RDR2 are really varied, how do you decide what you want to make next for the game?
As I mentioned, what drives me is my passion. After finishing work on a mod, I take some time to play the game with the mod, testing how the game now feels. It usually doesn’t take long before I come up with another idea for something new. I never had a to-do list of mods or anything like that, I just made what I would love to have as a fan of the game.
Even though you don't have a to-do list for your mods, and I know you mentioned you've taken a bit of a break, is there anything you're working on at the moment that you can tease?
I’ve had a great time creating mods for RDR2, and there’s a good chance I’ll join the modding community for RDR1 when it finally comes out. But right now, my main focus in my free time is learning Unreal Engine 5. Creating my own game has always been a dream of mine, and even though I often get too ambitious, I have to give it a real shot.
The first Red Dead Redemption arrives on PC at the end of this month, are you looking forward to it? Should we expect some original Red Dead Mods from you?
I’m really glad that the first RDR game is finally coming to PC. I haven’t played it yet because I always knew that only on PC would I be able to mod it. I can’t make any promises, but as you already know, Red Dead Redemption holds a special place in my heart. I guess I'll wait until it comes out and see where it leads me.
For others who are looking to get into creating mods for RDR2, do you have any advice?
If you’re into scripting for RDR2, check out open-source mods and Femga’s GitHub repo. I’ve made many of my own mods available on public GitHub repositories for the same reason. Anyone can check them out and give them a try. Another strong piece of advice is to start small, especially if you’re not an experienced coder or modder. It can often feel overwhelming, so make sure to pick a small project that you’re confident you can finish.
Once again, thank you to Shtivi for joining me today, it was great to learn more about their journey into modding and their process. If you want to hear about any other community member’s modding experience ping SlugGirl a DM.
13 comments
Some of my all-time favourites are:
- Jobs
- Contracts (remastered, never tried the original)
- Dog companion
- Bounties Expansion
There's a lot I haven't tried but am planning to further down the track.
Thanks for the modding resources too. I'm looking at trying my hand at it in the future, but I have a lot of basic learning to do first.