Today, as promised earlier this month, CD Projekt RED has released The Witcher 3 REDkit to the public. It is now available for free download on PC across GOG, Epic Games Store, and Steam.
The modding tool, created with the help of Hungarian co-development company Yigsoft, was successfully tested with over 18K users before the public release. The goal is to unleash the creativity of modders with a much more robust modding tool than what was previously available for the game.
Ahead of the launch, we reached out to CD Projekt RED's Global Community Director Marcin Momot and Yigsoft's Lead Bence Hambalko to discuss the feature set of The Witcher 3 REDkit (there's full controller support, surprisingly) and what's coming after launch.
The REDkit for The Witcher 2 was released only two years after its launch, whereas nine years have now passed for The Witcher 3. Why the delay?
Marcin Momot: The truth is that, initially, we planned to release it much sooner, but, as usual, reality altered our plans. As we fully transitioned to working on Cyberpunk 2077, we had to adjust our production timeline. After its release, we began reevaluating some of the projects we had in the pipeline beforehand. Around that time, we started forming a closer partnership with Yigsoft, who have been helping us with certain elements of Cyberpunk 2077. As the old saying goes, better late than never, and here we are, releasing The Witcher 3 editor into the hands of players in 2024.
Why did you deem it worthy to release it after all these years?
MM: The Witcher 3 is one of those games that, even nine years later, is still thriving in the modding scene. Every week, new mods keep popping up as people tinker with various aspects of the game. After releasing the next-gen version in December 2022 and all subsequent updates, we offer this as a sort of parting gift — the final touch, if you will. We hope that now, with everyone having access to an editor that’s as close to being on par with what the game’s developers used to make it as can be, the game can continue to live on for years to come, with even more content being added by the community.
Can you explain the difference between the already released ModKit and the upcoming REDkit?
Bence Hambalko: The already-released ModKit was a simple set of command line tools derived from the internal tools we use for some processes in the engine. Compared to this, REDkit is a full set of tools close to what CDPR used to actually make the game, which means people benefit from having a comprehensive GUI to assist them in creating mods. The community was quite ingenious and figured out ways to create many kinds of mods over the years, but for less technical-savvy people it was difficult to get started. Compared to this, despite how complex of a game engine it truly is, people can get into creating new content for the game much easier and without as many limiting factors.
Does the REDKit support the latest technical features introduced with the next-gen update, such as ray tracing, allowing modders to create ray traced content?
BH: Yes, REDkit is using the improved toolset used for the Complete Edition of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, so you can preview your content with ray tracing and all the amazing graphical and gameplay settings enabled.
Did you make any usability improvements compared to the REDkit for The Witcher 2 with modders in mind?
BH: So, actually, quite a few people from the Yigsoft team come from a modding background. Before working on REDkit, together with one of our engine programmers on the project, Moritz Baron, we have been leading the WolvenKit project and have been quite involved with the community for many years. So, when we started working on REDkit, we decided to collaborate with them, learning what kind of features gamers would like to see from a modding tool. A few months before the release of REDkit, we had a small group of people that we were working with, discussing how REDkit was progressing and how we could make it even better.
Once we felt the tool was in good shape and ready to share with more people, we started the Steam Playtest. It’s hard to list all the feedback we received. One interesting point I’d like to touch on, however, was that none of us used REDkit with a controller, and we had a lot of requests to introduce controller support. The end result is that now you can play the game in the editor using a controller. We also wanted to make REDkit as open for everyone as we could, so we decided to port all of our techart tooling to Blender so people could enjoy it for free.
Do you plan to gather feedback from the community to make further changes post-release?
MM: Absolutely! The community has been an integral part of the REDkit development process. Earlier this year, we brought some members of The Witcher 3 modding scene on board to help ensure we deliver the best possible experience with the editor. Last month, we launched a closed playtest on Steam, allowing users to test drive The Witcher 3 REDkit. During this phase, we received a lot of very useful feedback that we were able to implement over the past few weeks. We also opened dedicated rooms on our forums and on Discord where people can report any issues they encounter and submit their ideas on how they think we can further improve the tool. The modding community has been incredibly helpful in bringing REDkit to life, and we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their contributions to the project. Moving forward, we definitely want to build on this and keep listening to the players, taking their feedback into consideration to ensure The Witcher 3 REDkit is the best tool it can be.
Do you believe the new REDKit will allow modders to create whole new regions and storylines within The Witcher universe, like in Bethesda games?
BH: Yes! Allowing gamers to create almost anything they can imagine using REDkit, be it a small piece of content or a full-fledged expansion for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, was our main goal throughout development. We will be sharing a proof of concept project inside our tutorials, which contains a bigger quest with some cutscenes and a new location. We hope it gets the creative juices flowing for the people who watch it!
Some of the most awaited Elder Scrolls modding projects are recreations of previous games in the new engine. Would you be okay if someone decided to remake The Witcher 2 with the REDKit?
BH: I think it would be quite interesting to see. Some of us in the development team actually did some tests of importing maps and models from a variety of projects, and it was quite fun to see how they look in The Witcher 3 engine.
Will there be an easy way to install mods within the game and without, such as with Steam Workshop support?
BH: REDkit does feature full Steam Workshop integration, which is a big win for gamers playing The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on Steam. That said, aside from what Steam Workshop offers natively, there is currently no UI element in-game allowing for installing mods directly. We’ve also been in contact with Nexus Mods and The Witcher 3 Vortex extension will be updated on REDkit’s launch day to make the experience as smooth as possible from Day 1 for everyone.
Do you plan to highlight the best mods in various ways, such as with contests or articles on the official website?
MM: Just like with every other project we work on, you can safely assume we will give The Witcher 3 REDkit proper attention on our social media and across our community channels. The modding community is incredibly creative, and we want to ensure that we provide them with a platform to elevate their creations and make sure players around the world hear about them. We have been working on a series of extensive video tutorials tackling the most important aspects of the editor, as well as building a wiki page that will make the onboarding process easier. As for challenges and contests, we are thinking about some ideas. All I can say is — stay tuned!
Thank you for your time.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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