I discovered "Red Storm Rising" late in my life, compared to other submarine games. Still, when I finally did, it made a large impact on me and chewed up large amounts of time on the PC. For me, RSR was quite perfect in its IBM version, but as soon as I got to try the Amiga release it quickly dawned on me that there were much to be desired on DOS. The Amiga had better action animation graphics, better sound, and a more immersive command plot screen. I was disappointed. But I also felt that it really did not have to be like that. See, the IBM version was in fact ported from Atari ST, and did not really take advantage of the PCs capabilities. You'll notice that VGA is an option in the config menu -although you will never see VGA graphics ingame. Still, I felt a lot more could be done with EGA. Especially for the main command plot screen and the "Action Track" backgrounds. So last year I finally decided to try to do something. It proved decisive that CanadianAvenger managed to decode the image format used in the game. Then, we did some truly heavy brainstorming and managed to find important graphic assets integrated in the game's executables. (Thanks a million C.A.!)

After we had proved that the files could be changed, I set about not only drawing various new graphics, but also researching the game heavily in hex, slowly mapping out what did what. Basically finding out how the game was built up graphically, layer by layer, offset by offset. And then testing new concepts. It was hard, and there were many roadblocks. But this is how I mod stuff. Patiently and with determination. Plus a TON of testing. Being quite familiar with Roland and their sound generators, I also modded the official RSOUND.RSR driver that was offered by MPS at one point. Not much, but you get a new sonar sound. All in all, this was a dream come through for me, to be able to change RSR to what I wanted to see in the game.

The mod is standalone and includes the full, final version of the game, with the official fast CPU fix already applied. The game is de-protected, so any ship chosen during identification is correct. As of today RSR is considered abandonware. If this changes I will offer the mod only, in the future. There might be more versions, but for now the mod contains the following:

- Custom splash screen for the mod!
- Removed blue background on ship identification.
- A completely new customized plot/command console!
- UI assets changed, moved and re-colored to fit.
- Better color choices on individual screens.
- New and more atmospheric "action track" graphics.
- More realistic in-game text content.
- Custom Roland sound driver with new sonar ping.
- MPS startup config improved to accommodate Roland driver.

Red Storm Rising 'Improved' 1.0 Mod
Red Storm Rising - Key Reference Chart

Red Storm Rising - Theater Map
Red Storm Rising - Manual
Red Storm Rising - Technical Supplement
Red Storm Rising - CGW Advert 1
Red Storm Rising - CGW Advert 2