Installing Clientside Mods (RF1)

This step-by-step guide will walk you through installing clientside mods for Red Faction 1. These mods allow you to swap in-game assets (textures, models, sounds, etc.) with customized versions, while still maintaining compatibility with the base game.

NOTE: We've tried to standardize the distribution format of mods on FactionFiles.com and this guide assumes you're installing mods from there. These steps may not work for you if you obtained a mod from another source.

If you're attempting to install any other type of mod, you should not follow this guide. Please reference one of our other guides instead:
 * Installing Conversion Mods (RF1)
 * Installing Custom Levels (RF1)

If you run into issues using a mod or have questions, it's best to join the Red Faction Community Discord for some assistance.

Step 1: Downloading the mod
Visit FactionFiles.com to download clientside mods for Red Faction. Here's some quick links to the file categories:
 * Weapon Skin Mods
 * Character Skin Mods
 * HUD and UI Mods
 * Texture Mods
 * Misc/Other Clientside Mods

Once you've selected and downloaded the mod you want to install, proceed to step 2.

Step 2: Installing the mod
IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended you only attempt to modify each aspect of the game once. Having multiple Heavy Machine Gun skins installed at the same time for example, could lead to issues with files from each mod conflicting with eachother. As a best practice, try to keep track of the mods you've applied and avoid overlap.
 * The archive you downloaded should contain one or more .vpp files (game asset packfiles). Extract these .vpp packfiles to either your "...\user_maps\multi", or your "...\user_maps\single" directory - either will work. (Normally both of these directories will be in C:\Steam\steamapps\common\red faction\user_maps\ for Steam users, and C:\games\RedFaction\user_maps\ for non-Steam users)

Step 3: Running the mod
IMPORTANT: If you haven't already installed the de facto standard patch Dash Faction, you should do that before proceeding. Please reference the Dash Faction Installation Guide for instructions. NOTE: If you get tired of a clientside mod or it's causing issues, you can uninstall it simply by removing the associated .vpp packfiles for the clientside mod (which you installed in step 2 above) from your "...\user_maps\multi", and "...\user_maps\single" directories.
 * 1) Ensure you've enabled the "Allow overriding game files by packages in user_maps" option in the Dash Faction launcher options - this option is required for clientside mods to function. You can read more information about this and the other options available in Dash Faction in the Quick Start Guide.
 * 2) Simply launch the game and play! You don't need to do anything else to make the clientside mod work.

Troubleshooting

 * If you've installed a clientside mod and can't figure out how to get rid of it, follow these steps to identify the packfile containing the mod:
 * Identify the filename of one of the files in the clientside mod. This isn't always obvious, and unfortunately there's no "one size fits all" approach that can be detailed for it. If you're running into trouble with this, it's best to join the Red Faction Community Discord for some assistance.
 * Once you've identified the filename of a file in the mod, you can use the which_packfile console command in Dash Faction to find which packfile contains that modified file. Please see the Red Faction Console Commands page for syntax and usage guidelines for this (and all other) console commands.

Still need help?

 * If you run into issues using a mod or have questions, it's best to join the Red Faction Community Discord for some assistance.