The mod scene surrounding Red Dead Redemption 2 is already hustling and bustling in the weeks after the game’s launch. It’s hardly a surprise the mod community has taken so kindly to Red Dead 2 either. Rockstar’s magnum opus packs an incredibly beautiful world which takes itself very, very seriously. Anything to mess around with this formula and ‘break’ the game is always going to be a hoot, whether that’s turning yourself into a miniature cowboy or becoming a giant crab terrorising Valentine.

But, managing mods in games without official mod support can be an especially fiddly process though. Step forward the Red Dead Redemption 2 Mod Manager on Nexus Mods, which should hopefully take some of the pain out of managing which mods you’ve got installed.

Right now, we suspect the RDR2 Mod Manager is a bit rough around the edges. The creator has built it as a direct port of the Grand Theft Auto V mod manager, meaning it works in exactly the same way for those already familiar with the tool.

This was just to get version one out of the door as quickly as possible; over the next few weeks they plan to tidy up the code and begin the process of adding new features. 

Most of the current mods for Red Dead Redemption 2 are focused upon messing around with what’s already in the game. This includes a fully pilotable hot air balloon, for example, shrinking player characters, or messing with scripts to control time and weather. Given a bit more time though, we're expecting some fine stuff from the more creative mod developers out there.

OpenIV confirms mod tool support for Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC

You can grab the Red Dead Redemption 2 Mod Manager for yourself over on NexusMods. It looks to be a simple enough install and there’s also a brief tutorial. The mod’s creator, Bilago, has said they’ll be putting together a tutorial video for the RDR2 Mod Manager soon.