Patch 8 is now live! For the full patch notes, please click here.
Well folks,
This is it. Our final major game patch for Baldur’s Gate 3.
You’ve helped us make BG3 a bigger success than any of us could’ve ever hoped for, and that passion could keep us tweaking things and making changes until the end of time. But then we’d never be able to create something new.
Outside of minor bug fixing, Patch 8 will be the last game patch to introduce new content. That means we won’t be adding any new narrative content or significant changes to storylines, Origin characters, or companions. We’ve told our stories the way we needed to tell them, and tried our best to make them impactful and engaging, and we’re continuing to get better at handling our own chaos so that we can continue to create more chaos in the future.
From the start, your feedback has been incredibly important to us, and will continue to shape our future projects. As Swen said during the Baldur’s Gate 3 retrospective panel at PAX West in August of last year, it’s time for the team to go back to our cave and hang the armour on the wall while we focus on bringing you our next project.
If you’re already feeling nostalgic, you can click here to watch our last Baldur’s Gate 3 panel, where we looked back on Baldur’s Gate 3, from early access through to release, and answered some of your questions.
From patching in a way to change your appearance with the Magic Mirror, introducing Honour Mode for those of you looking for a hard time, and giving you new ways to make out with your romanced companion, to new cinematics for your most evil runs, and handing you the tools to create your own supported mods, Patch 8 now rounds off with cross-play, Photo Mode, and 12 new subclasses for you to enjoy.
To help us close the door on our last major patch, the party are back with their final animated short in collaboration with Spud Gun Studios - with a special appearance by the man in metal himself: Swen in his animated debut!
Patch 8
Now let’s talk about what's new with our final patch!
Steam Trading Cards
Baldur’s Gate 3 now supports Steam Trading Cards! And you thought you’d never get them.
Collect the unique trading cards to craft badges, and unlock exclusive profile backgrounds and emoticons to use anywhere on Steam! Speaking of Steam, Baldur’s Gate 3 is now on sale with 20% off until April 21st:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1086940/Baldurs_Gate_3/
Cross-Play
Players on PC, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation 5 will now all be able to enjoy Baldur’s Gate 3 multiplayer, with full cross-platform progression and cross-play.
Using the Larian Network, you can now join and create cross-play lobbies to take on your adventures together.
Cross-Play & Mods
You’ll be able to continue to enjoy creating chaos with mods in cross-play, but it’s important to note that all players joining the lobby must have the same version of mods installed. When joining a host’s game, you’ll be prompted with the Mod Verification window to enable, upgrade, downgrade, or install any missing mods.
If you are a PC player creating a cross-play lobby, keep in mind you can use the “Available on Console & Mac” tag to browse mods that will be compatible with consoles and Mac, and that the mod limit on consoles is 100. Third-party mods cannot be used on consoles.
Using Cross-Play
First things first, make sure everyone has their platform account connected to their Larian account. You can do this by going to https://larian.com/account/connected and connecting your account.
Once that's done, it's time to make sure cross-play is enabled by following these steps:
- From the Main Menu, select "Options"
- Under the Gameplay tab, scroll down until you see "Allow Cross-Play", and check the box
Add friends to your account by:
- Clicking the "Account Management" icon from the right-hand side of the Main Menu screen
- Select Friend List
- Click on "Add Friends" and enter their username
- You can then send them a Friend Request
For more details on how to add friends, please click here.
If you want your friends to join you in an existing save, you'll need to make sure the save you want to use has cross-play enabled.
- To check this, go to Load Game from the Main Menu
- Select the save game you'd like to enable cross-play on, and look for the check the box to enable cross-play
- Load the save game
- Once in your save, navigate to Multiplayer and invite your friend!
You can also create a new cross-play multiplayer lobby by following these steps:
- Access Multiplayer
- Select “Cross-Play”
- Select “Create”
- Customise your options and select “Launch”
To join another player in multiplayer via cross-play:
- On the main menu, select “Multiplayer”
- Select the “Cross-Play” tab
- Join the other player’s lobby
- If you or the host are using mods and there are any discrepancies, the Mod Verification window will open to inform you of which mods need installing, uninstalling, or updating
Get started with cross-play by following our video guide, and check out this article for more details.
Photo Mode
Position and pose your party, play around with camera settings, and whack a few stickers on there. Photo Mode is now yours to explore with Patch 8!
Getting Started
To test out Photo Mode, toggle it on or off by pressing down on both analog sticks if on console, or by pressing F9 if on PC. You can also enable Photo Mode by clicking on the Photo Mode icon on the HUD minimap.
Exploring Camera Settings
When you’re adventuring with your party, you’ll be able to alter their positioning and try different facial expressions and poses, while making the most of the camera, lens, and scene settings, even during combat encounters.
While you won’t be able to change the position of your party or camera angle during dialogues and cinematic scenes, you will still be able to enjoy a range of post-processing effects, including colour-grading settings, frames, and stickers.
Photo Mode & Modding
Speaking of stickers, Photo Mode already includes more than 300 stickers, but keen modders out there will be able to create and upload their own via the BG3 Toolkit!
Your Photo Mode Creations
We’ve been loving the Photo Mode shots you’ve been submitting during the stress test, and thought they deserved to be shared!
Submitted by Yve Flynn in the Larian Studios Discord Server.
Submitted by Nyxxy in the Larian Studios Discord Server.
Submitted by Daz in the Larian Studios Discord Server.
Submitted by bg3ishwondergoth in the Larian Studios Discord Server.
Submitted by red_dragon_bish in the Larian Studios Discord Server.
Submitted by Puriti in the Larian Studios Discord Server.
Finding Your Screenshots
Capture your favourite moments forever and find them saved in your respective media galleries for Xbox and PlayStation, and in C:\Users[username]\Documents\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\Screenshots for PC, or ~/Pictures/Larian Studios/Baldur's Gate 3/Screenshots for Mac.
We know budding photographers will already be plotting the ways in which you can take photos of your companions in compromising positions, so if you’re looking for some tips and tricks to get started using Photo Mode, check out the video below!
https://youtu.be/4yi2vSeU054?si=mTzYIX_PXWRPIv-K
New Subclasses
One new subclass for each playable class is now available, featuring new abilities, animations, VFX, unique summons, powerful cantrips, and voiced dialogue for the Oathbreaker Knight for those playing as the Oath of the Crown Paladin subclass!
Packed with new ways for you to play, whether you want to roleplay the God of Thunder by using Elemental Cleaver, imbuing your Path of the Giant Barbarian’s hammer with shocking damage and flinging it out for it to come back to you, or as a drunken monk, with truly homebrewed abilities that will enhance your next playthrough, there’s surely a subclass for you!
- Path of the Giant Barbarian
- College of Glamour Bard
- Death Domain Cleric
- Circle of Stars Druid
- Arcane Archer Fighter
- Way of the Drunken Master Monk
- Oath of the Crown Paladin
- Swarmkeeper Ranger
- Swashbuckler Rogue
- Shadow Magic Sorcerer
- Hexblade Warlock
- Bladesinging Wizard
Unlocking The New Subclasses
Each new subclass can be selected once you have reached the level required to unlock it. This varies depending on your chosen class. Check out the table below to see when subclass selection becomes available for each class!
Level
Class
Level 1
Cleric, Sorcerer, Paladin, Warlock
Level 2
Druid, Wizard
Level 3
Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Monk, Ranger, Rogue
Larian: Channel From Hell
For a more detailed breakdown of each subclass and to help you settle into Patch 8, check out the videos in the below playlist. While this might be our final major patch, it’s certainly not the last time you’re going to hear from us! Tune into Twitch tomorrow to watch our first live stream hosted by Aoife Wilson, featuring a guest appearance from Senior Systems Designer, Ross Stephens, where we’ll be taking a closer look at Patch 8, including the new subclasses!
There will be more to come as we welcome you behind the scenes of Baldur’s Gate 3, sharing some secrets and introducing the developers who helped make it, with a new stream every Wednesday from 1pm UTC. Hopefully that’ll keep you occupied until we can reveal what comes next… we promise we’ll share more on that when we can.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Modding
Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit
As well as Patch 8, the Baldur’s Gate 3 Modding Toolkit is receiving an update, which means mod authors will now be able to explore partial level editing! Whether you fancy creating your own NPC, dropping a metric ton of carrots across every existing level just for the sake of it, pledging your undying love to Shadowheart by turning all wolves into bunny rabbits or by moving them to the House of Hope, you’ll now be able to use the Toolkit to add or override certain template types in existing levels.
Partial level editing means that what you won’t be able to do with the official Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit is add dialogues or change the static parts of the world like buildings, scenery or terrain. You can, however, create your own interactive objects like a chest that teleports away every time you get close to it - no one will touch your belongings ever again! Including you. Or you could make a salami statue that you can put in your pocket. The world truly is yours.
Modding Guidelines Update
To support the new realm of possibilities with the latest Toolkit update, we have now updated the modding guidelines with new information, and will continue curating mods for console. As part of this update, we have reviewed technical requirements, and unfortunately, mods that introduce new playable races are unable to be curated for console. If you’re a mod author, we suggest giving the guidelines a read by clicking here.
UI Functionality Improvements
We have been continuing to work closely with mod authors to ensure there are fewer conflicts between game mods and new patches, particularly for those that have ImpUI as a dependency. While the ImpUI mod isn’t currently being maintained, to help keep things running smoothly and to support the creative passion of those in the modding community, we’ve introduced minor changes to how some functionalities are handled in the Toolkit. Now, mod authors will be able to make changes directly for mods that rely on UI tweaks during Character Creation.
The changes now supported natively in the Toolkit include:
- Action Resources
- Racial spells at LevelUp
- Race passives
- UI scrolling for Heads, Passives, Equipment, Class, Subclass, and Origin selection
- Feat passives
- Radial customisation and descriptions
Thank you to Djmr for their incredible work on this mod and for keeping in contact with us while we resolved the conflicts and introduced this functionality, as well as Caites, both who have been particularly helpful, and whose names now lie firmly in the Baldur’s Gate 3 game credits, along with the mod authors who have been helping us test Toolkit functionality!
Mods In Patch 8
As Patch 8 begins to roll out, please remain patient and respectful of those in the community who put work into creating their mods. Some things might not work immediately after a new update and it might take a little while before a mod can be updated. If you can’t wait to dive in but are worried about your mod list, we recommend starting a new playthrough to enjoy the new subclasses and to try out photo mode.
Patch Notes
Along with the new additions, Patch 8 also tackles a range of bugs, like fixing Shadowheart’s penchant for hair dye while skinny dipping, Cerys will stop getting involved in combats with Minthara from across the region, and we’ve resolved an issue with the moving platform in the Gauntlet of Shar that has accidentally proven harder to survive than, well, the actual Gauntlet of Shar.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Photo Mode
- 12 brand new subclasses – one for each class, including: Path of the Giant Barbarian, College of Glamour Bard, Death Domain Cleric, Circle of Stars Druid, Arcane Archer Fighter, Way of the Drunken Master Monk, Oath of the Crown Paladin, Swarmkeeper Ranger, Swashbuckler Rogue, Shadow Magic Sorcerer, Hexblade Warlock, and Bladesinging Wizard
- Cross-play
- Xbox Series S split screen
Gameplay
- Fixed containers inside inventories not scattering their contents when they get destroyed, which could potentially lead to key quest items getting lost for good.
- Fixed an issue where picking up items from the ground in multiplayer could then block movement via the controller stick.
- Fixed the Wild Shape: Panther's Prowl action and Prowling condition not working correctly.
- When you succeed a Perception check, the spotted item will now ping on the minimap and be listed in the combat log.
- Fixed an issue where the special abilities of some of your allies weren't properly provided at the end of the dialogue with them at High Hall.
- Scrolls and potions inside unlocked containers in your party inventory can now be used when rolling in dialogues.
- Neutral and friendly NPCs will no longer become hostile when, outside of combat, they walk into surfaces created during combat that trigger passives (like electrified surfaces triggering Thunderbolt Strike). Take it easy, lads.
- Fixed Freecast being reset when any condition is applied.
- Fixed characters getting stuck when pathfinding via a ladder that's already in use by another companion.
- Fixed a bug with the moving platform in the Gauntlet of Shar that would sometimes leave you behind, causing you to plummet to your death.
- The Self-Same Trial in the Gauntlet of Shar will now offer a proper challenge to those using modded classes.
- Fixed an error when joining a game via a friend invite on Xbox.
- Fixed War Magic being active before Extra Attack, forcing the player to use a bonus action before getting access to other Extra Attacks.
- Eldritch Knights now properly use free Extra Attacks before their War Magic attack.
- Fixed Valiant Damage not triggering properly.
- Fixed an issue with Shadow Blade spells and the Knife of the Undermountain King dagger not granting Advantage against an obscured target.
- Fixed a bug where moving the controller sticks in specific directions wouldn't register any input.
- Fixed Jhannyl's Gloves not correctly triggering the Defy Villainy passive that casts Lesser Restoration.
- Updated Elemental Weapon to allow all damage types at all spell levels and include upcast benefits at Levels 5 and 6.
- Examining in-world surfaces with the 'Pin Tooltip' keybind now correctly displays the tooltip.
- Fixed a bug causing keyboard input to block if you spam the Level Up button and the Esc key.
- Fixed a potential blocker causing mouse input to get disabled when clicking an enemy's portrait as they die.
- Fixed a blocker when a follower or summon used the Scrying Eyes in the Iron Throne.
- Fixed a blocker when you tried to use any item while your character was Knocked Down.
- Fixed the game freezing when dragging items while trading or bartering.
- Fixed a multiplayer issue where the host would get a black screen for 15 seconds when transitioning to a crime dialogue.
- Fixed an Honour Mode issue at High Hall where all party members would die when reaching the top of the stem if anyone in the party was being dominated by an enemy, causing a Game Over.
- Fixed the skiff at the Morphic Pool sometimes appearing in the wrong spot or floating in the air.
- Fixed body type 1 duergar incorrectly receiving halfling stats instead of dwarf stats.
- Fixed Gimblebock getting stuck if his attack triggered a Reaction.
- Fixed characters not being able to pick up any items if an invalid pickup request was, somehow, stored in the savegame.
- Fixed a bug causing non-Dark-Urge avatars to say Dark Urge lines. You're not all obliged to be wretched things with headaches.
- Fixed a bug where difficulty and game settings wouldn't save properly when adjusted after experiencing a Game Over in Honour Mode.
Combat
- Fixed an issue causing neutral NPCs to trigger combat for seemingly no reason.
- Cerys will stop getting involved in combats with Minthara from across the region. An eager beaver no longer.
- Fixed a bug causing damage riders to be added multiple times in Honour Mode.
- Fixed Sneak Attack not activating for actions that spawn additional projectiles, like Curving Shot.
Modding
- Fixed an issue causing you to get stuck at a 0% loading screen when attempting to join a multiplayer session that uses mods.
- The Mod Verification window will now trigger regardless of where the request to connect to a multiplayer game is coming from.
- Replaced the third-party mod warning with clearer messaging.
- Fixed a mod issue preventing some modded classes and subclasses from levelling up.
- Fixed a bug causing the Mod Verification window to appear empty and preventing you from closing it if you get a warning about insufficient storage before it opens.
- You can now navigate between the left and right columns of the Installed tab in the Mod Manager with a controller.
- Improved Character Creation functionality for modded games.
- The Mod Verification window will now also appear on PC for console-related mod issues to account for cross-play.
Performance and Options
- The Steam Deck's default FSR setting is now FSR 2.2 on 'Quality'.
- Fixed the ruleset selector not appearing on the 'Alter Custom Mode' screen when accessing the ruleset settings via the multiplayer lobby.
- Improved server performance in the Adamantine Forge.
Scripting and Flow
- With 12 new subclasses arriving in Patch 8, we’ve rechecked some achievements, including ensuring the armed version of Stunning Strike no longer counts as an unarmed attack for the Fists of Fury achievement, and its unarmed variant now does.
- Monks' Unarmed Strike bonus action now also correctly counts toward the Action Surge achievement.
- Fixed an issue where you could tell Astarion that Gandrel has been looking for him even if Gandrel refused to tell you the name of his prey.
- Fixed a savegame issue where you wouldn't get the appropriate amount of Umbral Gems for the Gauntlet of Shar.
- Halsin will now show up to your camp in Act II as long as you saved him, even if you happened to skip the celebration with the tieflings at camp.
- Minthara now comments on the Emperor's reveal.
- Reminded Minthara that 'knocked out' does not mean 'dead', so she'll more reliably appear in Moonrise Towers.
- You can no longer teleport out of Moonrise while controlling Minthara unless you tell her to stay put.
- Minthara is now willing to talk to you after you tell her to wait in the torture chamber.
- Minthara no longer gets stuck babysitting Thaniel in Act II.
- Fixed an issue where you could talk about Art Cullagh as though he's alive even if he isn't.
- Your character will no longer think Shadowheart is dead if she isn't when talking to Viconia.
- Characters who were in a relationship with Gale when he sacrifices himself in the endgame to defeat the Netherbrain will now receive a tonally appropriate (read: lovey-dovey) letter that was missing.
- Fixed a dialogue issue preventing Avatar Gale from talking about the orb to Lae'zel after consuming a magic item.
- You should no longer be able to ask Shadowheart about her Shar worship after recruiting her at the Goblin Camp if you don't know about her faith.
- Shadowheart's wound flare during the Arabella scene in the Emerald Grove will not be considered to have triggered when Shadowheart wasn't present in the dialogue.
- Fixed various Background Goals that weren't triggering.
Animation
- Added dance animations for some creatures that didn't have it, like ettercaps, kobolds, and harpies.
Art
- Fixed an issue causing the Flaming Fist armour to clip and generally freak out a bit.
- Fixed some clipping and textural issues with the Barbarian starting armour when worn by body type 1 gnomes.
- Fixed the Cleric starting armour bouncing around a little too much when worn by body type 1 characters.
UI
- Discovered and available (non-hostile, alive, etc.) traders are now shown on the world map regardless of how far away you are from them.
- Fixed button or keyboard shortcut inputs in the UI sometimes not working.
- Fixed some Reaction tooltips like Divine Allegiance not showing some values correctly in the description.
- Fixed a bug causing the UI to lock up when rapidly switching between keyboard and mouse input and controller input.
- Fixed a bug where opening the Main Menu on controller wouldn't automatically select the 'Resume' option at the top of the menu.
- Fixed a bug where you'd have to deselect your current passive when respeccing a character before selecting a new one. Now, you can just click the new one.
- Mentioned the damage that Corrosive Spit deals in its condition tooltip.
- Updated the names of the condition tooltips for the Dilophosaurus wild shape's Corrosive Spray spell, adding 'Dissolving' and 'Dissolved' for clarity.
- The Tides of Chaos passive tooltip now correctly states that it only works for ability checks.
- Updated the Lifedrinker tooltip to match functionality; it does not require Pact of the Blade.
- Rephrased the Hexblade's Curse tooltip to prevent the technical text '+ProficiencyBonus' from appearing in Character Creation and Level Up.
- The Acolyte of Nature passive tooltip now shows up in the Character Sheet as
- Fixed the controller UI not accurately showing when you're logged into your Larian Account, which could cause cross-play connection issues.
- Fixed the multiplayer session manager panel not populating properly for players that connected while the panel was open.
- Fixed a bug where if a user tried to join your session while you were filling out a user report, cancelling the request would close the report window in the background instead of cancelling the request.
- Fixed the body type slider sometimes skipping through a choice on controller.
- Fixed the 'No savegames available.' message showing up in the background while the game is loading the list of saved games on controller.
- Updated the credits to include developers who have worked on the game since release, playtesters, moderators, and Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit testers. Also updated the order of the voice actor credits to prioritise larger roles at the top.
- Fixed a bug causing an empty text-input panel to pop up and block gameplay.
- Fixed an '%%% Empty' passive feature appearing for rogues during Character Creation.
- Fixed a 1-frame glitch where swapping between two party members' Inventories would briefly show the first character's equipment in the inventory of the second character.
- Fixed the tooltips for the combat log not consistently appearing on controller even if you have the tooltips toggled on.
- Fixed a bug preventing you from pasting special characters into the password form when logging into your Larian Account.
- The filters in the multiplayer lobby now filter properly.
- Fixed the generic icon for some passive features missing from their tooltips in the Character Sheet.
- Fixed visual issues with the white translucent VFX that appears over portraits in the Party Line, caused when dragging one character's portrait over another's.
- Fixed the character tooltips that appear beside character portraits on the Party Line not showing up correctly on hover.
- Fixed a tooltip bug while trading where hovering over any equipped item would display a faulty tooltip, but trying a second time would magically fix it. The tooltips now populate correctly the first time around.
- Fixed a bug causing the sliders in the Gameplay options to autoscroll continuously when the left stick is flicked to the left or right.
- Fixed an issue causing the game to freeze for a second when switching between two characters with the Character Sheet open.
- Fixed a bug on controller preventing you from scrolling through the spells in the Replace Spell UI when levelling up.
- Fixed the footwear slot in the Character Sheet deciding to just not show up.
- Fixed the ‘Venture Forth’ text shaking during Character Creation while the button is held down on controller.
Sound
- Added a new spot where the easter egg song plays. Happy hunting!
- Restored some of the original music from the scene with Ansur before its rework.
Cinematics
- Shadowheart has agreed to stop repeatedly changing her hair colour during certain intimate moments.
- Tidied up and improved some cinematic animations for characters of different heights if you kiss during the evil ending.
- Fixed the VO getting cut off prematurely for githyanki and drow characters entering the Shadow-Cursed Lands for the first time.
Writing
- Fixed a duplicated dialogue option and the wrong version of another dialogue option appearing in Minthara's main party dialogue.
Multiplayer
- Fixed a crash on the client's end when a local host attempts to start split screen.
- Fixed a bug preventing you from logging back into your Larian Account after losing internet connection.
- Fixed a bug preventing a host from inviting a client whose game is suspended to the multiplayer lobby. The client would instead get a persistent 'Please wait...' message.
- Fixed an issue causing random session time-outs and disconnects for multiplayer clients.
- Fixed a loop on PS5 that would keep taking you back to the PlayStation Plus upgrade screen if you try to join a lobby without permissions.
For the full patch notes, please click here.