What is RedM? A Plain Explanation for RDR2 Players

You finished the story, you know what Valentine smells like, and somebody has told you there is a version of the game where the town is full of people who stay in character. That is RedM. Here is what it actually is, in plain terms, with nothing assumed.

The short answer

RedM is a free client from the Cfx.re project. You install it alongside the copy of Red Dead Redemption 2 you already own, and instead of loading Rockstar's story mode or Rockstar's online mode, it loads the game into servers that other people run and write themselves.

The map is the one you know. Almost nothing else has to be. A server decides what jobs exist, whether money is worth anything, what a shop stocks, whether the law is played by people or by nobody, and what happens to you when you are shot. Two RedM servers can have nothing at all in common except the ground you stand on.

If you have heard of FiveM, this is the same idea, made by the same people, for a different game. RedM is the Red Dead Redemption 2 counterpart.

What RedM is not

Most of the confusion clears up in four lines.

It is not Red Dead Online. Rockstar's online mode and RedM have nothing to do with each other. Different servers, different rules, different characters. Nothing you do on a RedM server appears in Red Dead Online, and nothing you built in Red Dead Online comes with you.
It is not a way to play without buying the game. RedM starts your installed copy of Red Dead Redemption 2. No copy, no RedM. A pirated copy will not do, and there is no console or streaming version.
It is not one game with one set of rules. There is no central RedM world. There is a client, and there are hundreds of separate servers, each its own place with its own staff.
It is not a single player mod. It does not add anything to your story mode. Your Arthur, your camp and your save file are untouched by it.

How the client works

The order of events, once, on your machine:

You download the RedM client from Cfx.re and run it. It installs itself into its own folder and keeps its own files there.
It finds your installed copy of Red Dead Redemption 2, or asks you to point it at the folder holding the game's executable.
On the first run it prepares the game data it needs. This is the slow part, and it happens once. Leave it alone until it finishes.
You get a server browser. Pick a server, or type a connect address into the client's console.
The server sends you its own code and assets. That is why the first join to any server takes far longer than the second, and why a large roleplay server can take several minutes the first time.
The game starts, and you are in that server's world rather than Rockstar's.

The important part of that list is step five. On a RedM server, the systems you interact with are the server's own. When you open a shop menu, the server is being asked a question and answering it. That is also why where the server physically sits matters so much, which is the whole subject of the Australian RedM servers guide.

RedM is still described by Cfx.re as a prerelease. It has been in use for years and it works, but resources written for it carry an explicit acknowledgement that a future release may break them. In practice that shows up as the occasional patch that gives every server a busy week.

What you need

A Windows PC. The client is Windows only. Servers are often hosted on Linux, but players need Windows.
A legitimate PC copy of Red Dead Redemption 2, bought on Steam, the Rockstar Games Launcher or the Epic Games Store. Installed, patched, and able to reach its own main menu on its own.
A Rockstar account. The game asks for one no matter where you bought it, so expect a Rockstar sign in when it launches.
Disk space and patience for the first run. The client prepares a substantial amount of data before you play the first time.
A microphone, usually. Not a technical requirement of RedM, but proximity voice is how most roleplay servers are played, and a silent rider gets a short conversation.

If the game runs acceptably in story mode, RedM will run. A town full of players and a server's worth of custom scripts costs you some frames, and a crowded saloon costs you more, so expect a little less than single player rather than the same.

When you are ready, the step by step install guide covers the download, the first run, and the handful of errors that stop most first attempts.

RedM, FiveM and Cfx.re

Cfx.re is the project behind both. FiveM came first, for Grand Theft Auto V, and it is enormous: thousands of servers and a script market to match. RedM is the same approach applied to Red Dead Redemption 2, and it is much smaller.

That size difference is worth knowing before you go looking, because it explains most of what you will find:

Fewer servers, and fewer of them near you. Australia has some. It does not have many.
A smaller pool of ready-made systems, so servers either share the same handful of public frameworks and scripts, or write their own.
A slower pace of play, mostly by nature. Horses are not cars. A ride to the next town is fifteen minutes of talking, which suits roleplay and frustrates anyone in a hurry.

If you already play FiveM, the client and the joining process will feel immediately familiar, and the game underneath will not.

What a roleplay server does with it

The great majority of RedM servers are roleplay servers. You make one character, you speak as that character, and the server has rules and staff to keep it that way. If you arrive expecting free roam deathmatch you will be asked to leave, politely at first.

What that looks like in practice, on most servers:

One character, kept. Your name, your face, your money and your possessions persist between sessions, held in the server's database.
A job or a trade. Mining, hunting, smithing, driving a stage, wearing a badge, or robbing the people who do.
An economy. Money comes from work and goes on ammunition, horses, medicine and rent. How well that is balanced is the single biggest difference between a server that is still good in three months and one that is not.
Proximity voice. You hear people near you, at the volume distance suggests. It is the thing that makes the whole exercise work.
An allowlist. Also written whitelist. You apply, usually in the server's Discord, and a person reads the application before your account can connect. It is slower and it is the reason the population is worth talking to.
Rules with names. Value of life, powergaming, metagaming, the new life rule. Every server defines them slightly differently and every server expects you to have read theirs.

Your save, your account, your online character

RedM uses your installed game but keeps its own files apart from it. Remove the client and story mode and Red Dead Online are as they were. It does not edit your save, and it does not carry anything into Rockstar's servers.

On the question everybody asks next: RedM is third party software that connects to servers outside Rockstar's infrastructure, the same way FiveM has for Grand Theft Auto V for years. It is widely used and has been for a long time. Nobody other than Rockstar can promise you anything about how Rockstar enforces anything, so if that risk matters to you, weigh it yourself rather than taking a forum post, or this page, as a guarantee.

Cheating is a different matter and worth saying plainly. Modified clients, injected menus and anything sold as a way to give yourself an advantage are how accounts and characters get ended, on any server worth joining.

What it costs

The client is free. The game is not, and you have to own it. Servers are almost always free to join.

Many servers take donations, and that is normal: somebody is paying for a box and a database. What that money buys is the thing to look at. Cosmetics and a name in a credits channel are fine. Currency, stat advantages, exclusive weapons or horses for cash change the game you are joining into a different one.

Where The Pub fits

The Pub is an Australian RedM server, hosted in Australia, built on a framework written for it rather than bought. Twenty five skills, a per-town economy where shop stock physically runs out, a grid inventory with corners, and a real minigame behind every trade instead of a progress bar.

It is not open yet. There is nothing to connect to today, and this page is not an invitation to try. When the doors open, entry will be allowlisted through the Discord, and the Discord is where the notice will go up.

See the frontier Join the Discord

Questions

Is RedM free?

The client is. Red Dead Redemption 2 is not, and RedM will not run without a legitimate installed PC copy of it.

Do I need Red Dead Online?

No. RedM does not use it, does not touch it, and does not need you to have ever loaded it.

Can I play RedM on PlayStation, Xbox, Mac or Linux?

No. The client is Windows PC only. There is no console version and there is no announced plan for one.

Does RedM change my story mode?

No. It keeps its own files and uses the game as it finds it. Your save is left alone.

Can I run RedM and FiveM on the same PC?

Yes. Separate clients, separate folders, separate games. They do not interfere with each other.

Do I have to roleplay?

On a roleplay server, yes, and it is enforced. There are a few servers that are not roleplay servers, but they are a small minority of what you will find in the server list.

Is there an Australian server?

There are a few, and finding them takes more work than it should. That is what the Australian RedM servers guide is for.

Can I join The Pub now?

Not yet. The server is not open to players. The Discord is the place to hear when that changes.

What is RedM