Final week at Gamescom, NVIDIA introduced the winners of the NVIDIA and ModDB RTX Remix Mod Contest, a $50,000 competitors celebrating community-made initiatives that reimagine traditional video games with fashionable constancy.
The entries confirmed how far online game modding has come, with particular person modders and small groups pulling off overhauls of comparable high quality to these created by total studios.
On the coronary heart of those initiatives was NVIDIA RTX Remix, a platform that lets creators seize property from traditional titles and rebuild them with fashionable lighting, geometry and supplies. Paired with generative AI instruments like PBRFusion and ComfyUI, modders can now upscale or generate 1000’s of textures and automate repetitive duties to allow them to concentrate on their artistry.
Plus, with NVIDIA RTX GPUs accelerating these AI-driven workflows, formidable remasters that after took years can now come collectively in months.
There are at present 237 RTX Remix initiatives in improvement, constructing on over 100 completed mods and a pair of million downloads throughout fan favorites like Half-Life 2, Want for Pace: Underground, Portal and Deus Ex.
Reworking Classics With Generative AI
The RTX Remix Mod Contest topped Merry Pencil Studios’ Painkiller RTX Remix with a number of awards, but it surely wasn’t the one mod price celebrating.
Right here’s a better take a look at the profitable submission, together with different standout initiatives that showcase how RTX Remix and AI-powered instruments are redefining what’s attainable with modding on PCs.
‘Painkiller’ RTX Remix: Winner in Finest Total, Finest Use of RTX and Most Full Classes
The mod group Merry Pencil Studios rebuilt greater than 35 ranges of the gothic shooter Painkiller utilizing AI-assisted workflows and handcrafted artistry. The group batch-processed 1000’s of low-resolution textures and generated high-resolution bodily primarily based rendering (PBR) supplies that mechanically received imported into RTX Remix.
The group’s AI mannequin of alternative was PBRFusion, a mannequin skilled by the RTX Remix neighborhood that may upscale textures by 4x and generate high-quality regular, roughness and top maps.
This workflow supplied a constant basis for the sport’s advanced environments, liberating up time for inventive polish. From there, the group used instruments like Blender and InstaMAT to craft property like lanterns and different gothic particulars that outline the sport’s environment.
“Generative AI has fully expanded what feels attainable in modding. Past texture upscaling, we’re now seeing it generate 3D fashions, refine advanced multi-material surfaces and help with coding duties like constructing workflow instruments, writing documentation and catching errors.” — Merry Pencil Studios
“PBRFusion and different AI instruments made it attainable for a small group to transform a whole recreation into PBR. It set the baseline look, whereas we centered our guide efforts on the property gamers discover most.” — Merry Pencil Studios
With RTX Remix, gothic church buildings now glow with volumetric mild pouring via stained glass, marble statues scatter coloured mild and fight scenes erupt with particle results that solid reasonable shadows. NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs powered the workflow from begin to end, with real-time path tracing and NVIDIA DLSS expertise guaranteeing clean iteration whereas enhancing even on large scenes.
“The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU was a dream for our workflow: velocity, fluidity, all the things felt seamless. DLSS Body Era doubled and even tripled body charges, making the sport look unbelievable on high-refresh shows.” — Merry Pencil Studios
What makes the Painkiller RTX Remix notable is its scope, that includes over 35 remastered ranges. This quantity of labor couldn’t have been accomplished in such a short while with out RTX Remix and the generative AI instruments the group used.
By combining generative AI automation with cautious craftsmanship, Merry Pencil Studios delivered a undertaking that feels each formidable and polished.
‘Unreal’ RTX Remix: An Formidable AI Texture Rebuild
“I wouldn’t have been in a position to create PBR textures with out AI. I might have possibly created emissive maps and top maps, however I wouldn’t have been in a position to do the roughness or regular maps myself.” — mstewart401
UnrealRTX demonstrates the dimensions of generative AI’s affect in modding. Modder mstewart401 got down to rebuild almost each texture throughout 14 ranges of the 1998 traditional — a process that may have taken years by hand.
With RTX Remix’s built-in AI texture instruments, plus experimental strategies like producing animations from AI video instruments and hand-editing mild maps, complete environments had been reimagined with new element and environment.
The outcomes are putting: glowing crystals pulse with emissive mild, alien landscapes shimmer with fashionable supplies and the sport’s otherworldly maps really feel richer and extra alive. By leaning on AI for the majority of the feel work, mstewart401 might concentrate on inventive sprucing — delivering an overhaul that feels formidable even by skilled requirements.
“If somebody like me could make a mod like this, anybody can. I solely get an hour right here and an hour there, however with generative AI and RTX, I’ve been in a position to push ‘Unreal’ additional than I ever thought attainable.” — mstewart401
‘Want for Pace: Underground’ RTX Remix: Mixing AI and 3D Artistry
Within the Want for Pace: Underground RTX Remix, modder Alessandro893 used AI and 3D artistry to remaster each race course within the recreation with new textures, supplies and lighting.
“In racing video games, generative AI opens up new prospects for creating reasonable and immersive environments. In a racing recreation like ‘Want for Pace: Underground,’ the visible atmosphere is essential for participant immersion, but it surely additionally must really feel responsive and different.” — Alessandro893
Utilizing ComfyUI, Alessandro893 generated greater than 500 new textures, then refined them in Adobe Photoshop for consistency and realism. As well as, the modder constructed over 30 new high-poly automobile and atmosphere fashions in Blender, upgrading older property with smoother, extra lifelike element.
“Generative AI was primarily used for texture technology. The unique look was preserved by utilizing the unique textures as enter for AI. It’s not possible to create such numerous textures in such a brief time period alone with out AI.” — Alessandro893
With RTX GPUs driving AI texture conversion, path-traced reflections and DLSS acceleration, the group might reimagine racing environments with sooner iteration and better constancy than ever. However because the modder emphasised, AI didn’t exchange artistry. It created room for it.
The overhaul is most putting on the Chinatown observe, which was rebuilt with new buildings, vegetation and absolutely path-traced lighting that makes neon reflections pop in opposition to moist pavement.
By leaning on AI to deal with the repetitive work of texture technology, the modder might concentrate on inventive refinements — giving Olympic Metropolis a contemporary, cinematic twist whereas preserving its nostalgic really feel.
‘Portal 2’ RTX Remix: An Modern AI-Powered Workflow
“AI opened up new alternatives and drastically accelerated my workflow, permitting me to concentrate on extra formidable inventive duties.” — Skurtyyskirts
Skurtyyskirts, the modder behind Portal 2 RTX Remix, used a novel workflow — tapping a giant language mannequin to construct a customized plug-in referred to as Substance2Remix, bridging Adobe Substance Painter on to RTX Remix.
This circulation allowed the modder to drag in an asset, apply AI-assisted supplies, hand-paint particulars and push it straight again into the sport, multi functional fast loop. What would usually take days of exporting and importing was achieved in minutes.
“As soon as I noticed the potential of Remix’s REST utility programming interface, I spotted I might create a extra built-in workflow between instruments like Substance Painter and RTX Remix. I didn’t need to cope with a guide, tedious export-import course of for my handmade textures, so I developed a easy plug-and-play plug-in. This fully shifted the position of AI from a easy upscaling instrument to a core element of my inventive pipeline, enabling me to concentrate on creating detailed, high-quality textures by hand.” — Skurtyyskirts
Early on, the undertaking leaned on AI upscalers like PBRFusion, however over time the workflow advanced into a mixture of AI and guide artistry. The result’s a sharper, extra atmospheric recreation atmosphere — enhanced additional by RTX Remix’s volumetrics and fog programs, which make the decaying check chambers really feel extra alive.
By creating a brand new pipeline, the undertaking opens the door for different modders to experiment with sooner, AI-powered workflows of their very own.
Press Begin: Remaster With RTX Remix
To get began creating RTX Remix mods, obtain NVIDIA RTX Remix from the house display of the NVIDIA App and take a look at our tutorials and documentation. PBRFusion on Hugging Face additionally affords a plug-and-play setup with ComfyUI, letting modders batch-process textures into high-quality, PBR maps in only a few clicks.
Try the entire mods submitted to the RTX Remix Modding Contest, in addition to 100 extra Remix mods, accessible to obtain from ModDB. Learn the RTX Remix article to be taught extra in regards to the contest and winners. For a sneak peek at RTX Remix initiatives beneath energetic improvement, be part of the neighborhood over on the RTX Remix Showcase Discord server — it’s an amazing place to get a serving to hand.
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