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A recent Red Dead Online patch meant to ameliorate some issues with the naturalist update has instead completely destabilized the game, according to players who are attempting to load into the wild west right now. The issues are vast, some plaguing the game in the past, and some completely new.
Many are reporting a complete lack of characters and animals populating their servers, making Red Dead Online into somewhat of a ghost town (which has been a problem in the past.) Horses seem to be the only friendly faces that players can count on right now, but often, the steeds are completely glitchy as well. Fans perusing the new update are sharing clips of invisible horses, horses that phase in and out of reality, horses that are on fire, horses that run in place, and more. It’s better than that time Red Dead fans kept encountering huge piles of dead horses, but not by much.
I had to do it... Put sound on! pic.twitter.com/yHmLsYGyC9
— Red Dead Online Community (@RedDeadRDC) August 10, 2020
I’m loving this new patch update lol #RedDeadOnline pic.twitter.com/lErdiU5Jq5
— Nicole (@VideoGamerNiky) August 10, 2020
Can someone grab another wagon? I need to know what happens if the flames cross....lol#RedDeadOnline pic.twitter.com/VYDtcrSIg3
— STAXXMCDOOGLE (@staxxmcdoogle) August 10, 2020
My day in Red Dead. No animals spawn, ghost players, ghost wagons. pic.twitter.com/5CMnnU5x3L
— Damarus Moton (@Coach_Moton) August 11, 2020
#RedDeadOnline #RedDeadRedemption2
— Ryota Naito (@ChibaGamingjp) August 11, 2020
seriously? @RockstarGames spend less time milking GTA and more time fixing Red Dead Redemption pic.twitter.com/homhdu7Viq
Ghost town and broken horses RDO #Reddeadonline pic.twitter.com/qPBKDLCyCc
— EssentiallyRetro (@EssentialyRetro) August 11, 2020
To say the @RockstarGames update in Red Dead Online broke the game even more than the disconnects would be an understatement. This is another players horse running in place, in the ground. This was moments before my horse disappeared. Great job. pic.twitter.com/1VRKvkBfRs
— Dawn (@Cujo71) August 11, 2020
Some players say they can’t even shoot right now, depending on what you’re aiming at — which makes it impossible to complete quests or specific roles.
#RedDeadOnline can't even shoot NPCs since latest patch, cursor turns grey instead and rideless carriages popping up pic.twitter.com/3akUDrLRkH
— MrGreenToS (@MrGreenToS) August 10, 2020
Its just greyed out and I can't shoot them.@RockstarGames what is going on with this update? pic.twitter.com/0hzZFw1Znb
— Nebula (@Chirp_Bean9000) August 10, 2020
@RockstarSupport so someone needs to mention that Red dead online is broken something serious right now, you have no animals spawning 75 wagons crashing into one another can’t call your horse, if animals do spawn you can shoot or sedate them all roles are disabled, come on guys!
— Anthony Cookson (@anthony_cookson) August 11, 2020
They're really making it hard for me love Red Dead Online, now we can't even shoot at animals, making Trader and Naturalist roles impossible to engage in. Not to mention I cant even enter my moonshine shack again. Oh and now my game crashes frequently too.
— Jesse | DJ Elking (@DJ_ELKING) August 11, 2020
The game is 100%unplayable you guys need to take a break from.gta and pit red dead back to a playable state cant enter my shine shack I can't shoot or aim at anything camps won't appear. Like damn. Half assed update cause it's all about gta.
— TheLoneCanadain- (@Willyjay93) August 11, 2020
@RockstarGames what happened to your game (red dead online) I cant lock on to anything. I can’t shoot anyone, my camp won’t spawn. My horse won’t spawn. I can barely stay in a server like what did you guys do? #ps4 #RockstarGames #RDO2020 #RDROnline
— Isaiah S (@IsaiahSunshine) August 10, 2020
What happened to me amongst other things, like her flat out disappearing from under me. Not being able shoot anything ♀️ pic.twitter.com/TTxWyEb926
— (@lilith_sparkles) August 10, 2020
This red dead online update fucked my game up lol, it won’t let me lock on to or even shoot animals at all. The reticle grays out as if they are in passive mode
— dash (@dash_GTA) August 10, 2020
@RockstarGames Congratulations, you broke Red Dead online. Can't fish, can't hunt, no NPC's, can't use or call owned horses, missions are bugged, can't do damage against NPC's etc.
— Sketchy (@ReallyAmSpoder) August 11, 2020
Fantastic work, boys.
Perhaps the funniest — if not weirdest — issue fans are encountering right now is the sudden inexplicable appearance of a bald man. There are no NPCs except for this bald man in some lobbies. Sometimes he seems like a real person, sometimes he seems like a translucent ghost. Nobody can explain it.
Red Dead Online Patch 1.21 is the worst since the beta. No NPCs/Animals, Ghost driven horses and wagons and this... pic.twitter.com/TwGXhz3Eq5
— Nader ''LibaNz_'' Karame (@Nader_Karamehlo) August 11, 2020
What do you think about this ? In a Facebook group, many people report that they have seen this guy. There is even a theory that it is a hacker who caused all this mess. This is a larger community than the Facebook group, haven't you received any reports or something about? pic.twitter.com/JzYMXD0KfP
— Edgar Hernández (@EdgarHe13687060) August 11, 2020
Hey, what do u thing about this guy? In the LATAM community we are talking about this guy are in all sessions and it's very creepy. pic.twitter.com/LqreXCQict
— ➳ℰ (@xedithmp) August 11, 2020
You mean this dude that's floating in mid air? pic.twitter.com/HWcB4lqOBc
— one9eighty (@one9eighty) August 11, 2020
Lol i saw him too pic.twitter.com/8Gi9hgTWkR
— Ab (@abnas2012) August 11, 2020
Others are reporting a number of crashes and errors right now as well. A Rockstar representative tells Polygon that the developer is aware of the recent problems, and has erected a support page that says they are working on a fix. For now, most players seem to be steering clear of the update, since you can’t really do anything without NPCs, animals, horses, or the ability to shoot.
Update: This story has been updated to add comment from Rockstar.
