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 basic video games with trendy 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 basic titles and rebuild them with trendy lighting, geometry and supplies. Paired with generative AI instruments like PBRFusion and ComfyUI, modders can now upscale or generate hundreds of textures and automate repetitive duties to allow them to deal with 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 presently 237 RTX Remix initiatives in improvement, constructing on over 100 completed mods and a couple 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, however it wasn’t the one mod price celebrating.
Right here’s a more in-depth have a look at the successful submission, together with different standout initiatives that showcase how RTX Remix and AI-powered instruments are redefining what’s doable with modding on PCs.
‘Painkiller’ RTX Remix: Winner in Greatest Total, Greatest Use of RTX and Most Full Classes
The mod staff Merry Pencil Studios rebuilt greater than 35 ranges of the gothic shooter Painkiller utilizing AI-assisted workflows and handcrafted artistry. The staff batch-processed hundreds of low-resolution textures and generated high-resolution bodily based mostly rendering (PBR) supplies that routinely obtained imported into RTX Remix.
The staff’s AI mannequin of alternative was PBRFusion, a mannequin educated 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 artistic polish. From there, the staff used instruments like Blender and InstaMAT to craft property like lanterns and different gothic particulars that outline the sport’s ambiance.
“Generative AI has fully expanded what feels doable 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 doable for a small staff to transform a complete recreation into PBR. It set the baseline look, whereas we centered our handbook efforts on the property gamers discover most.” — Merry Pencil Studios
With RTX Remix, gothic church buildings now glow with volumetric gentle pouring by way of stained glass, marble statues scatter coloured gentle 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 making certain easy iteration whereas modifying even on large scenes.
“The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU was a dream for our workflow: pace, fluidity, all the pieces 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 staff used.
By combining generative AI automation with cautious craftsmanship, Merry Pencil Studios delivered a venture 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 perhaps 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 influence in modding. Modder mstewart401 got down to rebuild practically each texture throughout 14 ranges of the 1998 basic — a activity 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 gentle maps, entire environments had been reimagined with new element and ambiance.
The outcomes are putting: glowing crystals pulse with emissive gentle, alien landscapes shimmer with trendy 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 deal with artistic 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 doable.” — 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, however it additionally must really feel responsive and assorted.” — 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 automotive 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 unimaginable 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 staff 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 towards moist pavement.
By leaning on AI to deal with the repetitive work of texture technology, the modder might deal with artistic 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 deal with extra formidable artistic duties.” — Skurtyyskirts
Skurtyyskirts, the modder behind Portal 2 RTX Remix, used a novel workflow — tapping a massive language mannequin to construct a customized plug-in known as Substance2Remix, bridging Adobe Substance Painter on to RTX Remix.
This move allowed the modder to tug in an asset, apply AI-assisted supplies, hand-paint particulars and push it straight again into the sport, multi function fast loop. What would usually take days of exporting and importing was executed in minutes.
“As soon as I noticed the potential of Remix’s REST software programming interface, I spotted I might create a extra built-in workflow between instruments like Substance Painter and RTX Remix. I didn’t wish to cope with a handbook, 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 device to a core part of my artistic pipeline, enabling me to deal with creating detailed, high-quality textures by hand.” — Skurtyyskirts
Early on, the venture leaned on AI upscalers like PBRFusion, however over time the workflow advanced into a mixture of AI and handbook 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 venture 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 just some clicks.
Take a look at the entire mods submitted to the RTX Remix Modding Contest, in addition to 100 extra Remix mods, out there to obtain from ModDB. Learn the RTX Remix article to study extra in regards to the contest and winners. For a sneak peek at RTX Remix initiatives below energetic improvement, be a part of the neighborhood over on the RTX Remix Showcase Discord server — it’s a fantastic place to get a serving to hand.
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