compressed_2026-10-09.17-41-58.mp4

RFG Physics Sandbox

A Windows sandbox for exploring destruction from the original Red Faction Guerrilla. Built with Rust, Bevy and Avian, it converts data from your own game installation into a playable district where you can swing the sledgehammer, remove supports and watch structures collapse.

Original game only. Re-Mars-tered is NOT supported. This project targets the original game's Steam build, version 1.0.2.1 (Steam app 20500). The remaster uses different formats.

This repository includes the sandbox, extraction tools and research notes. Game assets, game executables, memory dumps and decompiled source are not included. You must supply your own game installation.

What works

• Mason's character model, animations and weapon models, converted from your installation.
• Sledgehammer hits and a structural destruction system based on recovered game rules.
• A district of converted building chunks, loaded as you move around.
• A Buildings panel for teleporting between lots and running support-removal experiments.
• Pause, single-step and reset controls for inspecting the simulation.

This is an experimental reconstruction. Root detection and collision shapes are approximations, and some game behavior is still missing. Only the sledgehammer has gameplay implemented; the rifle, remote charge and grenade tool slots are placeholders. See destruction fidelity and limitations for details.

Requirements

• Windows.
• Your own installation of Red Faction Guerrilla, original Steam build 1.0.2.1.
• Rust. Complete any Windows C++ build tools setup requested by the installer. The repository selects Rust 1.95.0 automatically.
• Python 3.9 or newer. Enable the Python launcher or add Python to PATH during installation.
• Internet access for the first setup, to download the Rust toolchain, Rust dependencies and Python packages.
• About 3 GB for extracted and converted game data, plus additional space for Rust, dependencies and build output.

Get started

1. Download the project

Clone this repository, or download its ZIP from GitHub and extract it. Open the project folder containing ExtractAssets.bat and Play.bat.

2. Extract your game assets

Double-click ExtractAssets.bat, or run it from a terminal in the project folder:

ExtractAssets.bat

The extractor looks for the game in your Steam libraries. If it cannot find it, a Windows folder picker opens. Select the original game's install folder containing RFG.exe and build\pc\cache. Cancelling stops extraction.

The script checks the executable's SHA256, creates a Python environment in LocalData\venv, installs NumPy, Pillow and SciPy, and writes converted assets into LocalData\Assets. Your game installation is read as input.

Full extraction takes roughly an hour on the reference machine; most of that time converts around 680 chunks. You can stop and rerun it. Completed outputs are reused, incomplete conversions are retried, and a failed conversion makes the command fail rather than report success.

3. Build and play

For normal play, use the optimized build:

Play.bat release

The first build can take a while and keeps the CPU busy. Before building, Play.bat asks how many CPU cores to use (default 4, up to all of them); fewer cores keep your PC responsive but build slower, and 1 core is extremely slow. Set CARGO_BUILD_JOBS beforehand to skip the prompt. Later runs reuse the compiled dependencies. Double-clicking Play.bat builds the development profile, which is useful while changing code but slower with many buildings.

To start near a specific lot:

Play.bat release 0203house01_a

Controls

Click the scene to capture the mouse. Press Esc to toggle between camera control and a free cursor for the panels. Alt+Tab also frees the cursor.

Input	Action
W / A / S / D	Move
Mouse movement	Orbit the camera while the cursor is captured
Left Shift	Sprint
Space	Jump
Left mouse button	Primary hammer swing
Right mouse button	Alternate hammer swing
1	Select sledgehammer
2 / 3 / 4	Select rifle / remote charge / grenade placeholder slots
[ / ]	Cycle the displayed weapon model
P	Pause or resume
Enter	Resume
N	Advance one simulation tick while paused
R	Reset the simulation

Cycling the displayed weapon model does not implement that weapon's gameplay.

Try a demolition

1. Press Esc to free the cursor.
2. In the Buildings panel, filter the lot list or select a building. Selecting it teleports you nearby.
3. Swing the hammer manually, or use Support ring, One side, or All supports at once to run a demolition experiment.
4. Use Stop to stop an experiment, and P / N to pause and inspect it one tick at a time.

Extraction options

Run these commands from the project folder. If you supply a game path, put it before the options and quote paths containing spaces.

Option	Effect
--chunks NAME ...	Convert only the named building chunks; character, weapon and table steps still run
--force	Re-extract and rebuild the selected steps instead of reusing completed outputs
--only STEP,STEP	Run only the named pipeline steps; prerequisites must already exist
--clean	Remove intermediate extracted files after a successful full extraction

Examples:

REM Supply the game folder explicitly
ExtractAssets.bat "D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Red Faction Guerrilla"

REM Build one lot for a quicker first try
ExtractAssets.bat --chunks 0203house01_a
Play.bat release 0203house01_a

REM Rebuild a converted lot using previously extracted data
ExtractAssets.bat --only build --chunks 0203house01_a --force

REM Extract everything, then remove intermediate game data
ExtractAssets.bat --clean

Valid step names, in order: misc, items, anims, player, chunks, assets, tables, build.

--only reports completion of the selected steps, not readiness of the whole sandbox. Run ExtractAssets.bat without --only to finish setup. --clean cannot be combined with --only or --chunks; the extractor keeps intermediates until a full conversion succeeds. A later extraction recreates any intermediates removed by --clean.

The selected game folder is remembered in LocalData\game_dir.txt. Pass another folder explicitly to change it.

Troubleshooting

The executable is not the supported build. Confirm you selected the original game, not Re-Mars-tered. The supported RFG.exe SHA256 is:

0606BBED95481EE6D54B5A926ADACCAA29DB6E2E42E2FFF09FE9DFD25946C72D

Python or cargo was not found. Finish installing Python/Rust and open a new terminal, then retry. Double-clicked scripts also check Rust's default installation directory.

Extraction failed or assets are incomplete. Read the first FAILED message or error above the summary, correct the problem, and run the command again. Successful chunk conversions remain available. Use --force when you need to regenerate existing outputs.

The scene is slow. Use Play.bat release. Reduce the stream radius in the Buildings panel to keep fewer buildings loaded.

The project moved to another folder. Rebuild it with Play.bat; some asset paths are baked in at compile time. Move LocalData with the project if you want to retain extracted assets.

Project layout

Path	Contents
Sandbox/	Bevy application, character, tools, UI and building simulation
Crates/destruction/	Structural stress, damage and island splitting, independent of Bevy
Crates/physics/	Reserved rigid-body backend boundary
Extractors/	Archive readers, asset converters, validation and Windows folder picker
Research/	Findings, evidence IDs and player asset inventory
Docs/	Destruction pipeline and fidelity notes
ReverseEngineering/	Function addresses, proposed names, call graph and structure layouts
Tests/	Extraction regression tests using synthetic data
LocalData/	Generated assets, intermediate extraction, Python environment and Rust builds; ignored by Git

Development and checks

cargo check --locked -p sandbox
cargo test --locked -p rfg_destruction -p rfg_physics
python -m unittest discover -s Tests -v

The Python regression tests require NumPy, Pillow and SciPy for converter tests. After extraction setup, you can use LocalData\venv\Scripts\python.exe instead of python.

The Rust tests run without game assets. The building-data test skips when local assets are absent; it does not replace gameplay validation against the original game.

To check converted assets without launching the sandbox:

LocalData\venv\Scripts\python.exe Extractors\asset_status.py

Research references: destruction status, evidence registry, player asset inventory, and reverse-engineering reference.

License and attribution

Original project code is available under the MIT License. This license does not grant rights to Red Faction Guerrilla assets, binaries, trademarks or other third-party material. Extracted game data remains local and is excluded from this repository.

This is a fan research project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Volition or THQ Nordic. Red Faction belongs to its respective rights holders.