Install RedM

Before you start

You need all four of these. Missing one of them is the cause of most failed installs.

• 64 bit Windows. The client is Windows only. There is no Mac, Linux or console client, and no way around that.
• A legitimate PC copy of Red Dead Redemption 2, on Steam, the Rockstar Games Launcher or the Epic Games Store. RedM launches your copy of the game. It is not a way to play without owning it, and it will not work with a pirated copy.
• The game installed and fully updated. Not merely bought. Installed, patched, and able to reach its own main menu.
• Disk space, and patience for the first run. RedM downloads and prepares game data the first time it starts. It is a large transfer and it only happens once.

On hardware: if Red Dead Redemption 2 runs acceptably in story mode, RedM will run. A busy roleplay server puts more players and a lot more custom script in a scene, so expect fewer frames in town than single player gives you, and fewer again in a crowded saloon.

If you are not yet sure what any of this is, read what RedM is first. It is five minutes and it saves asking later.

The install, step by step

1. Confirm the basics

   Work through the four requirements above. In particular, note which launcher your copy of the game is on, because you will need it if a build mismatch comes up later.

2. Launch Red Dead Redemption 2 once, then close it

   Open the game through Steam, the Rockstar Games Launcher or Epic. Let any update finish. Sign in to Rockstar if it asks, reach the main menu, then quit.

   This step is easy to skip and worth doing. It proves the install is complete, forces a pending patch to apply, and creates the local profile the game expects to find.

3. Download RedM from Cfx.re

   Get the client from the official Cfx.re RedM page at redm.net, and nowhere else. Not a mirror, not a link in a video description, not a file somebody posted in a Discord.

   Reuploaded RedM installers are a known route for malware. If a page offers you a modded or cracked RedM, close it.

4. Put the file somewhere you own, then run it

   Move the downloaded executable into a folder you have full write access to. A folder inside your user profile is ideal. Do not put it in C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86): the client writes to its own folder constantly, and Windows permissions on those directories cause exactly the kind of failure that looks like something else.

   Run it. Windows SmartScreen may warn about an unrecognised application. If you downloaded it from the official site, run it anyway.

   On first run the client installs itself. Unless you choose otherwise, it sets up inside your user profile:

   %localappdata%\RedM

5. Let the first run finish

   RedM now downloads and prepares the game data it needs. This is the slowest part of the process and it happens once. On a slow or congested connection it can take a long while.

   Leave the window open and leave the machine on. Closing it partway usually means starting the download again. If it looks frozen, check whether the disk and the network are still busy in Task Manager before deciding it has died.

6. Point RedM at your game if it asks

   If the client cannot detect your installation, it will ask you to locate it. Select the folder that contains the game executable, RDR2.exe. Not a shortcut, not the launcher's own folder, and not the parent folder of your whole library.

   Depending on where you installed it, that folder is usually one of:

   ...\steamapps\common\Red Dead Redemption 2 ...\Rockstar Games\Red Dead Redemption 2 ...\Epic Games\RedDeadRedemption2

   If the game sits on a second or external drive, make sure that drive is connected and readable before you browse to it.

7. Sign in when prompted

   Red Dead Redemption 2 wants a Rockstar account regardless of where you bought it, so expect a Rockstar sign in during launch. Complete it. If your copy is on Steam or Epic, that client may need to be running as well.

8. Find a server and connect

   Once the client is up you get a server browser. You can search it, filter it and favourite the servers you mean to come back to.

   To join by address instead, open the client console with F8 and type:

   connect your.server.address

   The first time you join any server it sends you its resources, which is another download. A large roleplay server takes minutes on a first join and seconds afterwards. A long first load is normal. A long load every single time is not, and usually means the cache wants clearing.

One thing that catches people out at the end: most roleplay servers are allowlisted, so connecting is not enough on its own. You apply through the server's Discord and wait for a person to read it. Before you spend that effort, the Australian RedM servers guide has the questions worth asking about a server first.

Where RedM keeps its files

By default, everything lives under your user profile. Paste this into the Windows Explorer address bar:

Inside that is the client's application directory, and inside that are its working folders. Exact names shift a little between builds, so go by what a folder holds rather than by an exact path:

• A data folder. The prepared game data, plus the cache folders, including per server caches for resources servers have sent you.
• A logs folder. The client log. This is the file to attach when you ask a server's staff or the Cfx.re forums for help. Asking without it wastes an evening.
• A crash dumps folder. Written when the client crashes rather than exits.
• The client's own files. Nothing in here needs touching by hand.

On antivirus: some products interfere with the client, usually during the first run or while a server is sending resources. If downloads keep failing at the same point, an exclusion for the RedM folder is the usual fix. Exclude the folder, not the whole drive.

Clearing the cache

Clearing the cache fixes a surprising share of problems: crashing on join, models or textures failing to load, a server stuck at the loading screen, and odd behaviour right after a server has updated its resources.

1. Close RedM completely. Check Task Manager and end any leftover process.
2. Open %localappdata%\RedM.
3. Go into the application folder, then its data folder.
4. Delete the folders whose names contain cache, including the server cache folders.
5. Start RedM again. It rebuilds what it needs, and your next join to each server downloads that server's resources again.

Leave the game data alone unless you mean it. A folder named something like game-storage holds the large data RedM prepared on the first run. Deleting it forces that whole download again. Only do it if a support instruction tells you to, or if you have genuinely exhausted everything else.

If clearing the cache does not help, the next escalation is deleting the whole RedM folder and installing the client again. That is safe. It does not touch your copy of Red Dead Redemption 2, your story mode save or your Red Dead Online character.

Common errors, and what fixes them

RedM cannot find Red Dead Redemption 2

The client could not locate a valid install. In order:

1. Confirm the game is installed, not just owned, and has been launched at least once.
2. Launch the game normally and reach the main menu. If that fails, fix the game first. RedM cannot help a broken install.
3. Run RedM again and, when it asks, select the folder containing RDR2.exe.
4. If the game is on an external or network drive, connect it and make sure Windows can browse it.
5. Verify or repair the game files through Steam, the Rockstar Games Launcher or Epic, then try again.

An outdated game build, or a server refusing your version

Servers target particular game builds. If your game is behind, RedM may launch happily and then a server will turn you away, sometimes with a message about the build or the version.

1. Open the game through its own launcher and let it update fully.
2. Verify or repair the game files afterwards.
3. Restart RedM. If it offers its own update, take it.
4. If only one server refuses you, ask that server which build they run. Some sit on an older one deliberately.

The first run stalls, or downloads keep failing

1. Give it longer than feels reasonable before deciding it is stuck. Watch disk and network activity rather than the progress bar.
2. Add an antivirus exclusion for the RedM folder.
3. Use a wired connection if you are on wireless, and turn off a VPN for the initial download.
4. If it dies at the same point every time, delete the RedM folder and start again in a clean one.

A crash on launch, or right after joining

1. Clear the cache as above.
2. Update your graphics drivers.
3. Close overlays. Steam, Discord and similar overlay software are a common cause of launch crashes in Red Dead Redemption 2, with or without RedM.
4. In the game's own graphics settings, switch the graphics API between DirectX 12 and Vulkan and relaunch. If one is unstable on your hardware, the other often is not.
5. Run RedM as administrator once, to rule out a permissions problem with its own folder.

Stuck on a server's loading screen

A long first load on a big roleplay server is normal, because you are downloading its resources. If it never finishes:

1. Clear the cache, including the server cache folders, and rejoin.
2. Check the server's Discord. A stuck load for everybody at once is the server, not you.
3. If it loads for others and not for you, send the staff your client log from the logs folder. Guessing without the log wastes both sides' time.

Connected, but you cannot actually play

If you are in and being turned away at the character stage, that is almost always the allowlist rather than a fault. Most roleplay servers need an approved application before your account can make a character.

Questions

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