OVERVIEW
Ultimately, this mod aims to make NPC loadouts, weapon choice, and other gameplay elements as historically accurate to 1898 as possible without deviating from the feel, pace and overall combat TTK of the original vanilla game. I simply wasn't satisfied with the historically accurate mods currently available, so I decided to make one myself. I researched for months, I went through each source and their references extensively to ensure an experience that's ACTUALLY historically accurate. I went through catalogues from 1896-1898 to ensure what exactly was available to civilians at the time, and I've also introduced area preference for weapons, so some weapons can be found more often in the North, East, South, or West. I don't want to majorly re-balance weapon stats, as I don't want to make it feel like another game, I still want it to feel like Red Dead 2, although I did make some tweaks to Sniper Rifles & Rifles to make them feel more like one cohesive class. I added the ability to toggle/remove the scope for Snipers, and I made the Springfield feel more like a hybrid of the two classes by lengthening the damage drop-off range and increasing minimum damage at max range. I also adjusted the damage range for the Bolt-Action Rifle, giving it a more sophisticated damage model so that it can OHK under 10m and still be effective at range, without overpowering the Springfield. The Medium & Long scope has been given to all rifles & repeaters (except the for Evans, which lacks the component data required for that)




                                                                THE WEAPONS
Cattleman: despite being the former standard-issue revolver for the US Army, the Cattleman (Single Action Army) was still a very popular choice for soldiers, gangs, and law enforcement due to it's stopping power and reliability, and was heavily abundant on the civilian market for years. Lawmen tend to use long barreled, civilians tend to use short barrel. Short barrel exclusively for (limited) Army & Government usage.


Schofield:  Very popular with lawmen during the Wild West, at one point standard-issued by the US Army, but by 1898 their stock was mostly liquidated to the civilian market, making them a popular choice for their age. The Schofield itself is a nearly-identical variation of the Smith & Wesson No.3 revolver, an immensely popular revolver that was widely copied & used by gangs, law enforcement and militaries worldwide (so it would make sense to see a No. 3 in Guarma or in the hands of a Del Lobos bandito). Short-barreled Schofields & nickel-plated Schofields were very popular on the commercial market, a notable customer was Wells Fargo and Company, who issued a 5-inch barrel variant to their stagecoach drivers. can be found on citizens, gangs, coach drivers, and guards.


Double Action: replaced the SAA (Cattleman) as the standard-issue revolver in military service, almost exclusively issued with a blued finish. By this point, the Model 1892 (Double-Action) and its identical successors Model 1894 & 1896 are some of the most popular revolvers in America. Used by law enforcement, civilians, fort guards & Army with long or short barrel, in blackened, blued, or nickel finish. 


Carbine Repeater: popular with the Union Army during the Civil War, and with law enforcement in the years that followed, but by 1898 was almost entirely replaced by the Winchester (Lancaster). It was rarely used by the Confederate Army during the Civil War, due to the scarcity of its proprietary .56-.56 Spencer ammunition in the South, and this would naturally apply to gangs and law enforcement too. Despite 56-.56 Spencer ammo being produced well into the 20's and 30's, it was nowhere near as popular as Rockstar seems to think. Out of all the Civil War repeaters, the Spencer (Carbine Repeater) WAS  one of the more popular & reliable options, but nowhere near as popular as the Carbine Repeater is in-game. Used sparingly by law enforcement, gangs, and travelers


Lancaster Repeater: Arguably the most popular repeating rifle of its time, very similar to how everyone carries Carbine Repeaters in the default vanilla game. the 1866 Yellow Boy Winchester featured by default has been mostly replaced by the more contemporary 1873, 1892 and 1894 Winchester for gangs, US Army, civilians, and law enforcement. Some civilians, gangs & law enforcement still use the 1866, as it was a very reliable option and cheap on the civilian market


Litchfield: predecessor to the Winchester (Lancaster), the Henry (Litchfield) was popular with both sides during the Civil War, and with lawmen in the decades that followed. However, by 1898 it was not in much official use anymore, a slightly harder-to-find gun overtaken in popularity by it's successor. Limited usage by civilians, law enforcement, guards, and gangs, with an extremely rare chance to find an early-production rifle with a steel receiver on civilians


Bolt-Action Rifle: standard issue rifle for the US Army, used exclusively by the Army and fort guards. At the time, the US was incredibly hesitant to foreign firearms, and even the US Army themselves had to fight a lawsuit and incredible pressure from the domestic US gun industry to adopt & locally produce the Norwegian Krag-Jorgensen as the Model 1892 (Bolt-Action Rifle). Much like the Carcano, you would not find this weapon in the hands of the general public, even more so than the other two since it was not available for sale to any civilians at the time


Varmint Rifle: one of the first successful slide-action rifles, the Winchester 1890 (Varmint Rifle) packs a surprising amount of punch into a little .22 cartridge, and due to it's utility, rate of fire, and cheap cost, it saw regular use with shooting galleries and target shooters, but also gangs & thieves. Specifically, the Varmint seems to be based on the 2nd model of Winchester 1890, judging by the screws on the rear sides of the receiver. Despite what Wikipedia says, they did produce blued receiver Winchester 1890's before 1901, I looked into this extensively and I've found multiple examples, the earliest from 1894. Rarely used by gang members, civilians & travelers 


Springfield: former standard issue rifle for the US Army, replaced by the Model 1892 (Bolt-Action Rifle). Despite this, it was still used by rear-echelon troops until the Spanish-American war, after which most were unloaded onto the civilian market, making them a popular choice for hunters, gangs, guards and lawmen. Also used by some soldiers and fort/prison guards


Rolling Block: Standard-issue rifle for Guarma soldiers. Similar to the Double-Barrel Shotgun, the Rolling Block's cheap cost, hard-hitting capabilities, and venerability made it quite popular with all walks of life. By 1898, it was very much a backup gun for most organizations with a competent access to current firearms, like the Saint Denis police or Cornwall & Jameson, but it was quite capable in its role. Despite its popularity with export and civilian sales, it was not favorably seen by the Army and was not officially adopted by them in sizable numbers. Used occasionally by gangs, guards, and lawmen


Carcano: Not used by anyone. Since the Carcano uses a proprietary round, civilians with no connections or money would have a horribly difficult time finding any ammo, and even then, the variant depicted in-game is not the historically accurate long rifle that it should be (M1891), but the WWII-era carbine conversion (M91/38), so realistically you wouldn't see the Carcano depicted in-game at all     


Semi-Auto Shotgun: Not used by anyone, while prototypes were extant at this time it wasn't released on the market until 1900


Pump-Action Shotgun: Popular with hunters and lawmen. Despite being famous for it's performance in the trenches, the Winchester 1895 (Pump-Action) wasn't adopted by the US Army until 1899, so it's not used by them


Double-Barrel: Usage mostly restricted to "lower" units like sheriffs, low-level lawmen, and gangs. Reliable, sturdy, and easy to maintain, the double-barrel shotgun was staggeringly popular at the time, in a multitude of different finishes


Sawed-Off Shotgun: Despite the name, the Sawed-Off depicted in-game is a specialty-made short barreled shotgun, not a cut down Double-Barrel. Which was somewhat common back then, but since they were quite expensive, most custom-made SBS' of the time were used for sport shooting & hunting. Thus, I only gave the Sawed-Off to groups who could realistically be able to order & purchase a custom-made sporting firearm, such as upper-tier gangs, hunters and civilians


Pistols: Mauser used by Bronte's guards, Volcanic used by civilians very rarely, C93 & M1899 isn't used by anyone. Semi-automatic pistols were not very popular in America at the time (1898). Most semi-auto pistols on the market, if not all, were foreign designs in calibers that weren't easy to find for Americans, so in 1898 the only people who would have a semi-automatic pistol are people with connections, and wealthy citizens like Bronte who could afford them and have a reliable source of ammunition



Knives & Attachments: Different groups will now use different knives. Micah's knife is used by high level guards, Kieran's knife is used by ambient & lower-level lawmen, the Wide-Blade knife is used by Guarma soldiers, Uncle's knife is used by the US Army & Sisika Guards, and Bill's knife is used by higher-level bounty hunters & Saint Denis lawmen. The No Scope option has been given to Sniper Rifles, and Rifles and Repeaters have been given the Medium & Long scope 



                                                      DISPATCH, LAW & HORSES
Law loadouts have been re-balanced to be centered around location and the affluence of an area, rather than "difficulty", so this means the lawmen in Saint Denis & Blackwater will carry better equipment than poorer areas like Rhodes & Annesberg. Guarma law enforcement originally shared loadouts & dispatch info with already existing lawmen, this has been rectified and Guarma law enforcement now have their own loadouts and dispatch groups. the cut Liver Chestnut Hungarian Halfbred has been re-added as a bounty hunter/lawman horse, while also adding other Hungarian Halfbreds to the pool. I also added the Tiger Striped Bay Mustang, Mahogany Bay Tennessee Walker, the Black Snowflake Appaloosa, and Eagle Flies' Splashed White (Bay Base) American Paint to wild horse spawn pools.





                                                                                                     INSTALLATION
                      drop the Accurate NPC Weapons folder in the lml folder of your RDR2 main directory





                                                          NOTES AND STUFF
-loadouts are the same between 1898 & 1907, and since this mod is specifically tailored to 1898, inherently the Epilogue will be less accurate than Chapters 1-6

-I honestly have no clue if a lot of the re-added horses have stable slots, so if you encounter any issues with stabling that's why

-for some reason, this mod does not impact loadouts in missions. I still don't know why, I guess there's a file that dictates loadouts in missions, once I find it I'll update this accordingly 

-since they're not encountered until the Epilogue, I gave the Laramie Gang a loadout that's accurate to 1907

-the Lancaster in-game model is technically not 1:1 accurate with a specific Winchester model (similar to the 1873 Saddle Ring carbine, but with the flat-sided receiver of the 1894), since the difference is so negligible I decided to portray all models since it would be the most accurate 

-since there's no Spanish Mauser in the game, the Guarma soldier/guard loadouts are somewhat inaccurate since they would be using whatever Cuba would use at the time. the Rolling Block and Winchester would still be seen somewhat often, so the loadout featured in-game isn't technically inaccurate, but IRL you would see way more Spanish Mausers

-from what I've gathered, it's currently impossible to make NPC's spawn with a post-launch weapon that was added to Online, such as the LeMat or the Evans. However, they are allowed to spawn with the M1899 pistol

-the Volcanic pistol in-game is technically not the original Volcanic pistol, but an aftermarket retrofit for a higher caliber, this was never done in real life and aftermarket caliber changes were typically custom-ordered, it's not typically something that's done in such a large batch that it's being advertised in an official catalogue, so i'm gonna ignore that aspect and treat the Volcanic as if it's still chambered for .41 caliber rocket ball