Final week at Gamescom, NVIDIA introduced the winners of the NVIDIA and ModDB RTX Remix Mod Contest, a $50,000 competitors celebrating community-made tasks 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 complete studios.
On the coronary heart of those tasks 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, bold remasters that after took years can now come collectively in months.
There are at the moment 237 RTX Remix tasks 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, but it surely wasn’t the one mod value celebrating.
Right here’s a more in-depth have a look at the profitable submission, together with different standout tasks that showcase how RTX Remix and AI-powered instruments are redefining what’s potential with modding on PCs.
‘Painkiller’ RTX Remix: Winner in Greatest Total, Greatest Use of RTX and Most Full Classes
The mod crew Merry Pencil Studios rebuilt greater than 35 ranges of the gothic shooter Painkiller utilizing AI-assisted workflows and handcrafted artistry. The crew batch-processed hundreds of low-resolution textures and generated high-resolution bodily based mostly rendering (PBR) supplies that mechanically obtained imported into RTX Remix.
The crew’s AI mannequin of selection was PBRFusion, a mannequin educated by the RTX Remix neighborhood that may upscale textures by 4x and generate high-quality regular, roughness and peak maps.
This workflow supplied a constant basis for the sport’s advanced environments, releasing up time for inventive polish. From there, the crew used instruments like Blender and InstaMAT to craft property like lanterns and different gothic particulars that outline the sport’s ambiance.
“Generative AI has utterly expanded what feels potential 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 potential for a small crew to transform a complete recreation into PBR. It set the baseline look, whereas we targeted our guide 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 sensible shadows. NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs powered the workflow from begin to end, with real-time path tracing and NVIDIA DLSS know-how guaranteeing easy iteration whereas enhancing even on large scenes.
“The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU was a dream for our workflow: pace, fluidity, the whole lot felt seamless. DLSS Body Technology 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 crew used.
By combining generative AI automation with cautious craftsmanship, Merry Pencil Studios delivered a venture that feels each bold and polished.
‘Unreal’ RTX Remix: An Bold 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 peak maps, however I wouldn’t have been in a position to do the roughness or regular maps myself.” — mstewart401
UnrealRTX demonstrates the size of generative AI’s influence in modding. Modder mstewart401 got down to rebuild almost each texture throughout 14 ranges of the 1998 basic — 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 gentle maps, complete environments have been reimagined with new element and ambiance.
The outcomes are hanging: 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 inventive sharpening — delivering an overhaul that feels bold 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 potential.” — 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 sensible and immersive environments. In a racing recreation like ‘Want for Pace: Underground,’ the visible setting is essential for participant immersion, but it surely additionally must really feel responsive and diverse.” — 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 setting fashions in Blender, upgrading older property with smoother, extra lifelike element.
“Generative AI was primarily used for texture era. The unique look was preserved through the use of the unique textures as enter for AI. It’s unattainable to create such numerous textures in such a brief time frame alone with out AI.” — Alessandro893
With RTX GPUs driving AI texture conversion, path-traced reflections and DLSS acceleration, the crew might reimagine racing environments with sooner iteration and better constancy than ever. However because the modder emphasised, AI didn’t change artistry. It created room for it.
The overhaul is most hanging on the Chinatown observe, which was rebuilt with new buildings, vegetation and totally path-traced lighting that makes neon reflections pop towards moist pavement.
By leaning on AI to deal with the repetitive work of texture era, the modder might deal with inventive refinements — giving Olympic Metropolis a contemporary, cinematic twist whereas preserving its nostalgic really feel.
‘Portal 2’ RTX Remix: An Progressive AI-Powered Workflow
“AI opened up new alternatives and drastically accelerated my workflow, permitting me to deal with extra bold inventive duties.” — Skurtyyskirts
Skurtyyskirts, the modder behind Portal 2 RTX Remix, used a singular workflow — tapping a massive language mannequin to construct a customized plug-in known as Substance2Remix, bridging Adobe Substance Painter on to RTX Remix.
This movement allowed the modder to tug in an asset, apply AI-assisted supplies, hand-paint particulars and push it straight again into the sport, multi functional speedy loop. What would usually take days of exporting and importing was accomplished in minutes.
“As soon as I noticed the potential of Remix’s REST utility programming interface, I noticed 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 utterly shifted the position of AI from a easy upscaling instrument to a core element of my inventive 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 guide artistry. The result’s a sharper, extra atmospheric recreation setting — enhanced additional by RTX Remix’s volumetrics and fog methods, which make the decaying take a look at 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 only a few clicks.
Try all the 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 tasks underneath energetic improvement, be part of the neighborhood over on the RTX Remix Showcase Discord server — it’s an excellent place to get a serving to hand.
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