blogs.nvidia.com
Last week at Gamescom, NVIDIA announced the winners of the NVIDIA and ModDB RTX Remix Mod Contest, a $50,000 competition celebrating community-made projects that reimagine classic games with modern fidelity.The entries showed how far video game modding has come, with individual modders and small teams pulling off overhauls of similar quality to those created by entire studios.At the heart of these projects was NVIDIA RTX Remix, a platform that lets creators capture assets from classic titles and rebuild them with modern lighting, geometry and materials. Paired with generative AI tools like PBRFusion and ComfyUI, modders can now upscale or generate thousands of textures and automate repetitive tasks so they can focus on their artistry.Plus, with NVIDIA RTX GPUs accelerating these AI-driven workflows, ambitious remasters that once took years can now come together in months.There are currently 237 RTX Remix projects in development, building on over 100 finished mods and 2 million downloads across fan favorites like Half-Life 2, Need for Speed: Underground, Portal and Deus Ex.Transforming Classics With Generative AIThe RTX Remix Mod Contest crowned Merry Pencil Studios Painkiller RTX Remix with several awards, but it wasnt the only mod worth celebrating.Heres a closer look at the winning submission, along with other standout projects that showcase how RTX Remix and AI-powered tools are redefining whats possible with modding on PCs.Painkiller RTX Remix: Winner in Best Overall, Best Use of RTX and Most Complete CategoriesThe mod team Merry Pencil Studios rebuilt more than 35 levels of the gothic shooter Painkiller using AI-assisted workflows and handcrafted artistry. The team batch-processed thousands of low-resolution textures and generated high-resolution physically based rendering (PBR) materials that automatically got imported into RTX Remix.The teams AI model of choice was PBRFusion, a model trained by the RTX Remix community that can upscale textures by 4x and generate high-quality normal, roughness and height maps.This workflow provided a consistent foundation for the games complex environments, freeing up time for creative polish. From there, the team used tools like Blender and InstaMAT to craft assets like lanterns and other gothic details that define the games atmosphere.Generative AI has completely expanded what feels possible in modding. Beyond texture upscaling, were now seeing it generate 3D models, refine complex multi-material surfaces and assist with coding tasks like building workflow tools, writing documentation and catching errors. Merry Pencil StudiosRTX Remix transforms the gothic cathedral in Painkiller: RTX OFF (left) shows the original look, while RTX ON (right) fills the hall with stained glass reflections, volumetric beams and realistic shadows.PBRFusion and other AI tools made it possible for a small team to convert an entire game into PBR. It set the baseline look, while we focused our manual efforts on the assets players notice most. Merry Pencil StudiosWith RTX Remix, gothic churches now glow with volumetric light pouring through stained glass, marble statues scatter colored light and combat scenes erupt with particle effects that cast realistic shadows. NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs powered the workflow from start to finish, with real-time path tracing and NVIDIA DLSS technology ensuring smooth iteration while editing even on massive scenes.The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU was a dream for our workflow: speed, fluidity, everything felt seamless. DLSS Frame Generation doubled or even tripled frame rates, making the game look incredible on high-refresh displays. Merry Pencil StudiosWhat makes the Painkiller RTX Remix notable is its scope, featuring over 35 remastered levels. This amount of work couldnt have been completed in such a short time without RTX Remix and the generative AI tools the team used.By combining generative AI automation with careful craftsmanship, Merry Pencil Studios delivered a project that feels both ambitious and polished.Unreal RTX Remix: An Ambitious AI Texture RebuildI wouldnt have been able to create PBR textures without AI. I could have maybe created emissive maps and height maps, but I wouldnt have been able to do the roughness or normal maps myself. mstewart401UnrealRTX demonstrates the scale of generative AIs impact in modding. Modder mstewart401 set out to remaster the entire 1998 classic, with 14 levels completed by the contest deadline and more in progress.With RTX Remixs built-in AI texture tools, plus experimental methods like generating animations from AI video tools and hand-editing light maps, whole environments were reimagined with new detail and atmosphere.The results are striking: glowing crystals pulse with emissive light, alien landscapes shimmer with modern materials and the games otherworldly maps feel richer and more alive. By leaning on AI for the bulk of the texture work, mstewart401 could focus on creative polishing delivering an overhaul that feels ambitious even by professional standards.RTX Remix transforms the alien environments in Unreal: RTX OFF (left) shows the original flat look, while RTX ON (right) adds detailed PBR materials, emissive lighting and realistic reflections.If someone like me can make a mod like this, anyone can. I only get an hour here and an hour there, but with generative AI and RTX, Ive been able to push Unreal further than I ever thought possible. mstewart401Need for Speed: Underground RTX Remix: Blending AI and 3D ArtistryIn the Need for Speed: Underground RTX Remix, modder Alessandro893 used AI and 3D artistry to remaster every race course in the game with new textures, materials and lighting.In racing games, generative AI opens up new possibilities for creating realistic and immersive environments. In a racing game like Need for Speed: Underground, the visual environment is crucial for player immersion, but it also needs to feel responsive and varied. Alessandro893Using ComfyUI, Alessandro893 generated more than 500 new textures, then refined them in Adobe Photoshop for consistency and realism. In addition, the modder built over 30 new high-poly car and environment models in Blender, upgrading older assets with smoother, more lifelike detail.Generative AI was mainly used for texture generation. The original look was preserved by using the original textures as input for AI. Its impossible to create such a large number of textures in such a short period of time alone without AI. Alessandro893With RTX GPUs driving AI texture conversion, path-traced reflections and DLSS acceleration, the team could reimagine racing environments with faster iteration and higher fidelity than ever. But as the modder emphasized, AI didnt replace artistry. It created room for it.RTX Remix reimagines Need for Speed: Undergrounds Chinatown: RTX OFF (left) shows low-resolution textures and flat lighting, while RTX ON (right) adds neon reflections, detailed materials and fully path-traced streets.The overhaul is most striking on the Chinatown track, which was rebuilt with new buildings, vegetation and fully path-traced lighting that makes neon reflections pop against wet pavement.By leaning on AI to handle the repetitive work of texture generation, the modder could focus on creative refinements giving Olympic City a modern, cinematic twist while preserving its nostalgic feel.Portal 2 RTX Remix: An Innovative AI-Powered WorkflowAI opened up new opportunities and drastically accelerated my workflow, allowing me to focus on more ambitious creative tasks. SkurtyyskirtsSkurtyyskirts, the modder behind Portal 2 RTX Remix, used a unique workflow tapping a large language model to build a custom plug-in called Substance2Remix, bridging Adobe Substance Painter directly to RTX Remix.This flow allowed the modder to pull in an asset, apply AI-assisted materials, hand-paint details and push it straight back into the game, all in one rapid loop. What would normally take days of exporting and importing was done in minutes.Once I saw the potential of Remixs REST application programming interface, I realized I could create a more integrated workflow between tools like Substance Painter and RTX Remix. I didnt want to deal with a manual, tedious export-import process for my handmade textures, so I developed a simple plug-and-play plug-in. This completely shifted the role of AI from a simple upscaling tool to a core component of my creative pipeline, enabling me to focus on creating detailed, high-quality textures by hand. SkurtyyskirtsRTX Remix modernizes Portal 2s test chambers: RTX ON highlights realistic reflections, detailed materials, and atmospheric lighting that transform Aperture Science into a more immersive environment.Early on, the project leaned on AI upscalers like PBRFusion, but over time the workflow evolved into a mix of AI and manual artistry. The result is a sharper, more atmospheric game environment enhanced further by RTX Remixs volumetrics and fog systems, which make the decaying test chambers feel more alive.RTX Remix modernizes Portal 2s test chambers: RTX ON highlights realistic reflections, detailed materials, and atmospheric lighting that transform Aperture Science into a more immersive environment.By creating a new pipeline, the project opens the door for other modders to experiment with faster, AI-powered workflows of their own.Press Start: Remaster With RTX RemixTo get started creating RTX Remix mods, download NVIDIA RTX Remix from the home screen of the NVIDIA App and check out our tutorials and documentation. PBRFusion on Hugging Face also offers a plug-and-play setup with ComfyUI, letting modders batch-process textures into high-quality, PBR maps in just a few clicks.PBRFusion is a generative AI tool built by modder NightRaven109 (and shared on Hugging Face) that helps convert old, low-res game textures into full PBR (Physically Based Rendering) materials.Check out all of the mods submitted to the RTX Remix Modding Contest, as well as 100 more Remix mods, available to download from ModDB. Read the RTX Remix article to learn more about the contest and winners. For a sneak peek at RTX Remix projects under active development, join the community over at the RTX Remix Showcase Discord server its a great place to get a helping hand.Each week, the RTX AI Garage blog series features community-driven AI innovations and content for those looking to learn more about NVIDIA NIM microservices and AI Blueprints, as well as building AI agents, creative workflows, productivity apps and more on AI PCs and workstations.Plug in to NVIDIA AI PC on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and X and stay informed by subscribing to the RTX AI PC newsletter. Join NVIDIAs Discord server to connect with community developers and AI enthusiasts for discussions on whats possible with RTX AI.Follow NVIDIA Workstation on LinkedIn and X.See notice regarding software product information.
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