Mapping Red Dead Redemption 2! Landmark Analysis Thread

[Non Funkable Token]

 

Is this how Red Dead Redemption's America looks?

 

No definitely not. Red Dead spans only a very small area. In Red Dead Redemption 1, there are only 3 territories, one being in Mexico.

 

It still only takes place in one state. So at most RDR2 spans two states, but my guess is that it is still only one state.

 

RDR 1 & 2 spans 6 US territories, which are defided into 15+ counties.

Then there is Mexico which also has a few counties *I have no idea what the Spanish name for 'county' is

 

 

County means condado in Spanish. Anyway, iirc, there are no counties or similar concept in Mexico as of late 1800s onwards. It has states, and municipalities (cities, towns). Punta Orgullo, Perdido and Diez Coronas seem to be just geographical demarcations.

[Mirokunite]

Is this how Red Dead Redemption's America looks?

 

 

No, it looks like regular America. What your seeing in game is a condensed version of certain areas in America.

[vKing]

Hey i'm new here (Gtaforums) and i actually took the time to read this whole thread from start to finish before i opened my mouth. First i want to say you people are doing amazing work with constructing maps and tying everything together, i'm looking forward to seeing the final products or whatever when the game launches.

So, i noticed while reading through the thread that some of you guys had issues with the screenshots/trailer because sometimes some buildings seem to be missing (like the barn when Arthur rides towards the church in Valentine) Now, R* has already confirmed that the map will "evolve" in some ways. Towns/ranches/buildings will be built and you will see the progress throughout the game. So maybe the barn/building simply aren't built yet in some of the screenshots/trailer scenes?

 

Also the blacksmith building seem to be missing. According to the screenshot the blacksmith should be located to the right of the barn when standing inside of it looking outward towards the church. We can kind of see the blacksmith building to the left of Arthur in the screenshot we get from behind him. But in the other screenshot where he rides toward the church both the barn and the blacksmith building are missing. Obviously we haven't been able to identify the barn at all since R* is hiding it from us for some reason. It's also a possibility that te barn is behind Arthur's horse. But we KNOW it's there because of the Trailer. #SHOWMETHEBARN lol

 

Mach1Bud had another explanation for this:

"The barn is blocked by Morgan's horse in the other shot. The barn is slightly to the left of the street. The barn is small in the background, because the shot is zoomed out."

 

Not saying that i am 100% correct just spitballing here bois! Either way, i wanted to throw my two cents in since i didn't see anyone else mention it.

 

- The screenshots are borrowed from SneakyDeaky, just using them for reference. The lines and boxes are not what im referreing to.

Edited May 12, 2018 by vKing

[zachsterosu]

Hey i'm new here (Gtaforums) and i actually took the time to read this whole thread from start to finish before i opened my mouth. First i want to say you people are doing amazing work with constructing maps and tying everything together, i'm looking forward to seeing the final products or whatever when the game launches.

 

So, i noticed while reading through the thread that some of you guys had issues with the screenshots/trailer because sometimes some buildings seem to be missing (like the barn when Arthur rides towards the church in Valentine) Now, R* has already confirmed that the map will "evolve" in some ways. Towns/ranches/buildings will be built and you will see the progress throughout the game. So maybe the barn/building simply aren't built yet in some of the screenshots/trailer scenes?

 

Also the blacksmith building seem to be missing. According to the screenshot the blacksmith should be located to the right of the barn when standing inside of it looking outward towards the church. We can kind of see the blacksmith building to the left of Arthur in the screenshot we get from behind him. But in the other screenshot where he rides toward the church both the barn and the blacksmith building are missing. Obviously we haven't been able to identify the barn at all since R* is hiding it from us for some reason. It's also a possibility that te barn is behind Arthur's horse. But we KNOW it's there because of the Trailer. #SHOWMETHEBARN lol

 

Mach1Bud had another explanation for this:

"The barn is blocked by Morgan's horse in the other shot. The barn is slightly to the left of the street. The barn is small in the background, because the shot is zoomed out."

 

Not saying that i am 100% correct just spitballing here bois! Either way, i wanted to throw my two cents in since i didn't see anyone else mention it.

 

- The screenshots are borrowed from SneakyDeaky, just using them for reference. The lines and boxes are not what im referreing to.

 

 

-snippety snip-

Welcome to the forums my man, glad to have ya! I hadn't thought about the prospect of the barn being built over time, but that's a good point you got there. I think we'll just have to wait and see lol.

Edited May 12, 2018 by zachsterosu

[Screewdriver]

Hey i'm new here (Gtaforums) and i actually took the time to read this whole thread from start to finish before i opened my mouth. First i want to say you people are doing amazing work with constructing maps and tying everything together, i'm looking forward to seeing the final products or whatever when the game launches.

 

So, i noticed while reading through the thread that some of you guys had issues with the screenshots/trailer because sometimes some buildings seem to be missing (like the barn when Arthur rides towards the church in Valentine) Now, R* has already confirmed that the map will "evolve" in some ways. Towns/ranches/buildings will be built and you will see the progress throughout the game. So maybe the barn/building simply aren't built yet in some of the screenshots/trailer scenes?

 

Also the blacksmith building seem to be missing. According to the screenshot the blacksmith should be located to the right of the barn when standing inside of it looking outward towards the church. We can kind of see the blacksmith building to the left of Arthur in the screenshot we get from behind him. But in the other screenshot where he rides toward the church both the barn and the blacksmith building are missing. Obviously we haven't been able to identify the barn at all since R* is hiding it from us for some reason. It's also a possibility that te barn is behind Arthur's horse. But we KNOW it's there because of the Trailer. #SHOWMETHEBARN lol

 

Mach1Bud had another explanation for this:

"The barn is blocked by Morgan's horse in the other shot. The barn is slightly to the left of the street. The barn is small in the background, because the shot is zoomed out."

 

Not saying that i am 100% correct just spitballing here bois! Either way, i wanted to throw my two cents in since i didn't see anyone else mention it.

 

- The screenshots are borrowed from SneakyDeaky, just using them for reference. The lines and boxes are not what im referreing to.

 

Good to see a fellow Norwegian in here

[capton_cutclass]

The map has no basis in reality its coming purely from Western movie...actually no a cliche on every Western movie ever made. And I for one think its a good thing. You have to realize they are building the map along with missions you will have to do. A solid variety of environments for a fictional place is fine by me. I dont care what direction Mexico is in in relation to what Desert or mountain or river...Its a place on the map. Once I figure it out Ill make it make sense in my head somehow. I just want the game to be fun.

[The Nefarious]

 

Is this how Red Dead Redemption's America looks?

 

No definitely not. Red Dead spans only a very small area. In Red Dead Redemption 1, there are only 3 territories, one being in Mexico.

 

It still only takes place in one state. So at most RDR2 spans two states, but my guess is that it is still only one state.

 

RDR 1 & 2 spans 6 US territories, which are defided into 15+ counties.

Then there is Mexico which also has a few counties *I have no idea what the Spanish name for 'county' is

I have to disagree with you there. The RDR states are just amalgamated so the US in theory would be considerably smaller. Kind of like the 3D era GTA games which had SF, L.A. & LV right beside each other as opposed to the HD era version of America which is somewhat closer to the real thing.

[Mirokunite]

Anyone up to map the town of Valentine?

[ivarblaauw]

It is not defined. No one is sure what state(s) New Austin and such are in. This is done on purpose, so the developers have more creative freedom in mapping and writing.

 

I don't think we can place the map of RDR in a real United States map. It is too diverse and definitely too small. Combined, even scaled up 2x, it is still way too small to be a 'real' state.

 

So I don't think we can place the map in a real US, and I personally think that is a good thing. No one wants to walk 10 real life days over uninhabited plains, just as in GTA, you wouldn't want to travel 10 hours from major city to major city. In The Crew you can drive 30 minutes without a city, and that feels perfect, larger and it would become a burden.

 

A game should be playable, not a burden or feel like work.

 

Anyone up to map the town of Valentine?

For as far as I know it has something like an L or T shape Edited May 13, 2018 by ivarblaauw

[vKing]

Anyone up to map the town of Valentine?

 

Someone already did! A guy named "Tsycho" back on page 37 post #1085. Looks pretty good.

 

[Mirokunite]

Not bad, but it needs to be updated. We got some new angles in the last trailer.

[Mach1bud]

I'll draw up a map here in a bit.

[zachsterosu]

 

Anyone up to map the town of Valentine?

Someone already did! A guy named "Tsycho" back on page 37 post #1085. Looks pretty good.

 

-snip-

 

I remember him and I joking about how far-fetched it was to think that the bank from trailer 2 was located in Valentine. It looks like he was actually right lol... Edited May 13, 2018 by zachsterosu

[Cutter De Blanc]

If I were to wager a guess, I'd say that the Bank is next to the law office. If I were a city planner I would put the bank someplace safe like that in the town. Also it appears to be some brick two story building. I dunno, it just looks like a bank or a jail

Edited May 13, 2018 by Cutter De Blanc

[ivarblaauw]

If I were to wager a guess, I'd say that the Bank is next to the law office. If I were a city planner I would put the bank someplace safe like that in the town. Also it appears to be some brick two story building. I dunno, it just looks like a bank or a jail

In the old west, banks were the first brick buildings. Also they were mostly situated next to the law enforcement office.

 

During the early years people tried to rob banks quite often (a few times per year over the entire world, most during war time (acts of war)). By 1890 that number went down very fast. There was no way in hell you could succesfully rob a bank, unless you had a large posse (Jesse James).

And even then expect heavy resistance by both the lawmen as inhabitants. You are afterall stealing their money...

Edited May 14, 2018 by ivarblaauw

[Cozzi]

 

If I were to wager a guess, I'd say that the Bank is next to the law office. If I were a city planner I would put the bank someplace safe like that in the town. Also it appears to be some brick two story building. I dunno, it just looks like a bank or a jail

In the old west, banks were the first brick buildings. Also they were mostly situated next to the law enforcement office.

 

During the early years people tried to rob banks quite often (a few times per year over the entire world, most during war time (acts of war)). By 1890 that number went down very fast. There was no way in hell you could succesfully rob a bank, unless you had a large posse (Jesse James).

And even then expect heavy resistance by both the lawmen as inhabitants. You are afterall stealing their money...

 

makes sense. lol. i believe they usually put them close to the law offices in RDR1, too. I mean the safe at MacFarlane's ranch is literally inside the marshall's building.

[6fangedcutthroatTV]

 

 

Is this how Red Dead Redemption's America looks?

 

No definitely not. Red Dead spans only a very small area. In Red Dead Redemption 1, there are only 3 territories, one being in Mexico.

 

It still only takes place in one state. So at most RDR2 spans two states, but my guess is that it is still only one state.

 

RDR 1 & 2 spans 6 US territories, which are defided into 15+ counties.

Then there is Mexico which also has a few counties *I have no idea what the Spanish name for 'county' is

I have to disagree with you there. The RDR states are just amalgamated so the US in theory would be considerably smaller. Kind of like the 3D era GTA games which had SF, L.A. & LV right beside each other as opposed to the HD era version of America which is somewhat closer to the real thing.

 

 

 

To use examples that have more iterations than RDR so far, IV and V LC and LS are just bigger. Look at LC IV. It is like 8 or 10 roads wide at the most in manhattan? In III it was like 4 or 5 at its widest? You cut out places in between.

 

San Andreas in III is a cool representation of the circuit you would drive if you scenically went from LA to SF to LV. But going back from LV to LA not so much.

 

LS in V is bigger, but it's still doing sort of the same thing, like III and IV LC, but it respects geography less because Chiliad is mount shasta, if you ever drive by it, you will not mistake it for the 4 million hours you will be looking at it by the time you pass it And the salton sea is really south east of LA, along with all the landmarks just south of chiliad there, including the alien camp etc.

 

If you treat GTA V Salton Sea as a "hand" and the main road leading to it from la as an "arm", disconnect it, reconnect it north of LA, and then "curve" the arm/road around until the sea is flipped another direction, there you have GTA V map + plop mt shasta from way north Cali at the top - there you have V LS, just connect the sea/chiliad area to PCH, and you're done, there's your southern route back, like you'd end up on eventually coming back from norcal on the coast.

 

Anyway, the RDR map, to lay it on the US map, it has to be sliced like 4 or 5 times top to bottom and spread out, skipping over places - just like how from the east to west rivers in Liberty City is missing like 100s of streets, only including the most noteworthy seen in films and television. like all the other rockstar maps and locations.

Edited May 15, 2018 by JuliusCaesar

[Cutter De Blanc]

Chiliad is not Mt. Shasta. Mt. Shasta is in Northern Ca near Oregon

It doesn't resemble Mt. Shasta

I see Mt.Shasta every day

I mean just for the record

[The Nefarious]

 

 

 

Is this how Red Dead Redemption's America looks?

 

No definitely not. Red Dead spans only a very small area. In Red Dead Redemption 1, there are only 3 territories, one being in Mexico.

 

It still only takes place in one state. So at most RDR2 spans two states, but my guess is that it is still only one state.

 

RDR 1 & 2 spans 6 US territories, which are defided into 15+ counties.

Then there is Mexico which also has a few counties *I have no idea what the Spanish name for 'county' is

I have to disagree with you there. The RDR states are just amalgamated so the US in theory would be considerably smaller. Kind of like the 3D era GTA games which had SF, L.A. & LV right beside each other as opposed to the HD era version of America which is somewhat closer to the real thing.

 

 

To use examples that have more iterations than RDR so far, IV and V LC and LS are just bigger. Look at LC IV. It is like 8 or 10 roads wide at the most in manhattan? In III it was like 4 or 5 at its widest? You cut out places in between.

 

San Andreas in III is a cool representation of the circuit you would drive if you scenically went from LA to SF to LV. But going back from LV to LA not so much.

 

LS in V is bigger, but it's still doing sort of the same thing, like III and IV LC, but it respects geography less because Chiliad is mount shasta, if you ever drive by it, you will not mistake it for the 4 million hours you will be looking at it by the time you pass it And the salton sea is really south east of LA, along with all the landmarks just south of chiliad there, including the alien camp etc.

 

If you treat GTA V Salton Sea as a "hand" and the main road leading to it from la as an "arm", disconnect it, reconnect it north of LA, and then "curve" the arm/road around until the sea is flipped another direction, there you have GTA V map + plop mt shasta from way north Cali at the top - there you have V LS, just connect the sea/chiliad area to PCH, and you're done, there's your southern route back, like you'd end up on eventually coming back from norcal on the coast.

 

Anyway, the RDR map, to lay it on the US map, it has to be sliced like 4 or 5 times top to bottom and spread out, skipping over places - just like how from the east to west rivers in Liberty City is missing like 100s of streets, only including the most noteworthy seen in films and television. like all the other rockstar maps and locations.

Not to be rude but exactly what is your point here? Aside from you being way off with the Mt. Shasta comparison I'm really not sure whether you're agreeing with me or not. The fact that you typed so much would indicate that you disagree but I really can't see where exactly. Edited May 15, 2018 by Money Over Bullshit

[6fangedcutthroatTV]

Did you read it? The point is that the map is not just shrunk in any rockstar game, it's got chunks all cut out. That's why it's desert on the west of rdr2 and why you can't just plop it on the US map like that. Because if it were all 50 states for example, you'd cut out 2 states between each one that is modeled...

Clear enough now, or?

 

And I am not way off with mt shasta. Mt Shasta is the Mt Chiliad main inspiration for its overall appearance, it's 1:1 when driving north and viewing it from the south except it is proportionally made smaller, on top of being smaller overall. It's just "squished thinner", but it is mt shasta. It's unmistakable by people who see it in real life (the guy who says he lives near it must just see it too often to accept the similarities). I ride by shasta every year nearly. The overall shape is Mt Shasta, just look at pictures for yourself. Same spines/crests, same two humps at the top. It is based on Shasta. Don't even argue with it, just go compare pictures until you find the correct angle.

Edited May 15, 2018 by JuliusCaesar

[Cutter De Blanc]

More like San Jacinto, or San Antonio which are actually in southern california

[in the bag]

More like San Jacinto, or San Antonio which are actually in southern california

 

This.

 

San Jacinto or San Gorgonio. If you ever drive through that area and see those mountains, you'll be like omg.

 

Always interpreted it as Chiliad being based off Greyback / Gorgonio. Josiah being based off Jacinto. and Mt. Gordo being based off San Antonio. All 3 of those mountains are in the same geographic area IRL, as well as in V.

[Cutter De Blanc]

At any rate back on topic, with the Bank and the Saints Hotel I think we have Valentine mapped out, or at least the main part?

[nixrp]

 

I don't think we'll be seeing New Austin at all in this game, since the whole crux of the game seems to be about Dutchs Gang and Arthurs relation to them. In RDR John talks about how the gang would always talk about going down to New Austin because of how lawless it was, but that they never made it down there. Don't rule out the possibilty that they mave have remastered New Austin for RDO exclusively

In the base game - no. It will almost certainly be added to Online though.almost certainly? ehhh idk bout that

[nixrp]

 

More like San Jacinto, or San Antonio which are actually in southern california

This.

 

San Jacinto or San Gorgonio. If you ever drive through that area and see those mountains, you'll be like omg.

 

Always interpreted it as Chiliad being based off Greyback / Gorgonio. Josiah being based off Jacinto. and Mt. Gordo being based off San Antonio. All 3 of those mountains are in the same geographic area IRL, as well as in V.

I mean mt jacinto has the tram and view of the salton sea

[The Nefarious]

Did you read it? The point is that the map is not just shrunk in any rockstar game, it's got chunks all cut out. That's why it's desert on the west of rdr2 and why you can't just plop it on the US map like that. Because if it were all 50 states for example, you'd cut out 2 states between each one that is modeled...

Clear enough now, or?

I never said the states would be shrunk.. I said states are rolled into one another so there would be less states overall and the country would be smaller as a result. GTA III's Liberty City took inspiration from several East Coast cities so it's sort of the same thing here. They wanted to include certain areas so they cut them out and placed them in a similar layout to the real life states of America with massive areas missing in between.

[Cozzi]

I'll draw up a map here in a bit.

I'm gonna do it if you don't. lol. its been 2 days. whats up with that map. I wanna see a graphical representation of what we've figured out.

[Mach1bud]

 

I'll draw up a map here in a bit.

I'm gonna do it if you don't. lol. its been 2 days. whats up with that map. I wanna see a graphical representation of what we've figured out.

Sorry, got life to tend to, busy lately. You draw up a map and I'll draw up mine when I can and we can compare 'em.

[Chinese Takeout]

I remember this discussion from back in 2016.

 

http://gtaforums.com/topic/848472-archive-red-dead-redemption-2-rumour-mill-leaks-speculation/?p=1069093643

 

[skip down to the map, and read Note 3.]

 

Then there was this map, back when it was still only speculation that part of the RDR1 map was going to be included in RDR2...so the WHITE squiggly circle was a guess at what the RDR2 map would comprise (story-wise):

 

 

[Svip]

The map so far doesn't have a lot of the classic flat grassy Midwest lands. "The Heartlands" is the closest we come to that, but given its surroundings, it seems more like an exception than supposedly the Midwest.

 

I always thought Redemption Mountains were supposedly part of the Rockies.