My personal list of the top 10 greatest games ever made, Red Dead Redemption would in that list.
Just a few days ago, i decided to fire up my PS3 and hit RDR Multiplayer to find some weird stuff going on. When i joined a friendly session, i noticed one player gaining XP like crazy and soon after things started to disappear and everything went very weird. I then did a net search and here is what i found :
The Problem
Most of the multiplayer servers are hacked rendering public free roam unplayable. This has been happening for both 360 and PS3 since 2014. Xbox One new comers (or old vets) are just finding out since it still uses the last gen servers. Same servers, same bugs and glitches. Anyways, there currently exists a mod called ride-able zombie mod (you bring a zombie from Undead Overrun and use it as a mount) that spreads throughout the online public servers like a virus because it’s a glitch combined with a mod. This mod can be identified as an undying NPC glitched on the ground. Us regular folk see the glitch (it in it’s human form as glitched NPC) but not zombie because we’re not modded. When shot the glitched NPC will give off a normal amount of XP points but since it can’t die the xp score keeps going and going infinitely essentially leveling you up. Doing this will cause the glitched NPC to multiply and eventually cause tremendous lag/slowdown, overloading the server causing a variety of problems including, Invisible players, Infinite loading screens, and Console freezing.
The Bigger Problem
Those ignorant of what the mod is will likely shoot the NPC’s for the free XP, completely unaware of the damage they are causing to the game. They will also become infected with the mod behaving sort of like a “nest” for the glitched NPC’s, carrying them wherever they go in their games cache, reproducing them and causing the previously stated problems. Even if you avoid shooting the glitched NPC’s you will still carry them with you if you either come into contact with a “nest” player or spawn in area heavily infected with them like McFarlanes Ranch.
SWITCHING LOBBIES DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM! YOU WILL ONLY SPREAD THE VIRUS EVEN MORE!
The solution
There is no solution. Rockstar support has made no official comment for a 2nd patch since July 2014. NOT A WORD EVER SINCE! Anyone with a jailbroken console can get mods for RDR and run around freezing other player’s consoles. I wish i was joking but i’m not. Remember that when RDR released it was a hilariously buggy game. That’s because the game’s Rage engine is very messy resulting in lots of glitches. So, the modding community have found multiple ways to abuse the errors in the game’s internal code causing it to freeze the console and other game destroying mods like the ride-able zombie mod.
These problems are partly due to the game’s complicated upbringing since it was almost canceled. Dan houser himself called RDR “a recurring nightmare” during development in an email that was recently brought up during a lawsuit against Rockstar (SOURCE- http://www.gamespot.com/articles/red-dead-redemption-a-recurring-nightmare-during-d/1100-6438770/ ) The bugs and messy game engine is ALSO another reason why it was never planned to be ported to PC (SOURCE-http://kotaku.com/5847192/dont-expect-red-dead-redemption-to-ever-come-out-on-pc )
Temporay Solutions
- DO NOT SHOOT the giltched NPC’s!!! If anyone in your lobby begins shooting them vote to kick them out or immediately switch to a new lobby but remember not to switch while in an heavily infected area. Players leveling up using the glitched NPC’s can be easily identified by their rapid and infinitely increasing score.
- Entering Multiplayer through the main menus will likely give you an infinite loading screen. To enter safely and un-infected go to Singleplayer first, pause and select Multiplayer, then Multiplayer PRIVATE, from there you can safely switch to public.
- The outfitter only works in private. Attempting to enter in an infected public will likely give you infinite an loading screen.
- Some days public will work fine, other days when there is heavy traffic (weekends) the virus will re-spread.
- Avoid commonly infected areas such as McFarlanes Ranch and Armadillo. Mexico is safest.
- Sometimes “Nest players” will inevitably glitch themselves up to level 50, 5th prestige (max level) and really, really doom the servers and areas they’ve been to. In order to test if your lobby is playable, whistle for your Mount. If it does not spawn then your lobby is very, very infected.
- If you have somehow become infected (which you most likely will be), log off then log yourself back in. This will remove the buggers off your cache. Don’t forget to re-enter through Multiplayer Private first.
- Add as many people as you can to your friends list and invite them to a private free roam. Remember that everyone has to enter through the Singleplayer method or else you risk the private free roam becoming infected if anyone came from public.
- Make sure to start from private free roam if you’d like to play the other game modes like gang matches, poker, horse races, undead overrun etc. This will prevent any public infected players from joining and ruining your game.
- PS3 ONLY- you can spawn clean public lobbies using this simple method-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q5KQVewkRo
- Try something new. Try playing in the smaller community servers like Friendly or Hardcore. Smaller communities are likely to have less infected servers due to their smaller player base and significantly less likely to run into a modder. Remember that they can freeze your console at will and respawn the glitched NPC’s mod anytime.
- Voice your discontent. Here is Rockstar’s RDR support page (https://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/200025576-Red-Dead-Redemption ). Submit a ticket and complain about the state of multiplayer. They will most likely ignore you but with a little perseverance and enough people caring about this wonderful game this is the best chance we have at getting it fixed.
Thanks for sticking with me through the entire post! Be sure to inform others about the status of RDR online and if you have the time be sure to check out my small YT channel!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv-D-MNq2S4 -Thank you!
Good luck!
Thank you Reddit user USSV-Cdr_Cobra:
This game really needs some attention from the developers. I was hoping maybe soon a PC version or even a high res 4k version for PS4 could be possible but for now, a multiplayer patch is seriously needed. Sporting some incredibly fun replay value and probably one if the best multiplayer systems ever.
It is such a shame that such a great game has to be partly ruined.
Never had i experienced such a fantastic adventure since the first Tomb Raider back in 1996 and the sequels that followed also presented a great experience to my gaming life.
Could i ever experience in my lifetime a great adventure like i did back in 1996?
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