Baldurs Gate 3 - Release is now 3rd August 2023

[alt3rn1ty]

My CPU (12700K) is getting quite a workout. The game runs without stutters but I wonder what all the CPU usage is about.

BG3 is heavy on CPU use, apparently there is a lot of math going on in real time for all characters on screen/near vicinity as the game is constantly calculating effects of NPCs traits and abilities, magic effects and adjustments depending on what you have each character equipped with, and whatever else is in the local environment your characters abilities can detect or traps you can walk into etcetera .. all constantly being calculated. I have seen people mention turning off things like Ambient occlusion can help with a machine that is on the hairy edge of its limits, but really its not graphics related (unless there is some CPU involvement in processing some of the graphics, maybe turning off some of the elements may help like anything using volumetric calculations, God Rays etcetera).
Its unusual for a 3D isometric game to be so CPU intense, but it is what it is.
My laptop spec (see signature) handles it quite comfortably without overheating. If you have an NVidia RTX GPU enabling DLSS may help too, along with using the Vulkan version of the game.

[alt3rn1ty]

Disregard this post .. Confused whats going on right now, had an update but no idea whats what.

[chew-ie]

Hotfix #16 is public, cant find it yet on the official forum, so here's a copy from steam :

Was about to post the same but got ninja'd

The Hotfix #16 seems to have some very bad side effects as the game is not recognizing items and quest items in the characters inventory anymore. Someone @reddit compiled a list - even main quest items seem to be affected: https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/c ... _you_have/

[alt3rn1ty]

I edited my post, pretty sure we are expecting a Hotfix #16, but what I quoted was from the Early access Hotfix #16, and not the current string of Hotfixes for the public release version .. Confused.com.
Thanks for finding that post.

[chew-ie]

I edited my post, pretty sure we are expecting a Hotfix #16, but what I quoted was from the Early access Hotfix #16, and not the current string of Hotfixes for the public release version .. Confused.com.
Thanks for finding that post.

Huh? Hotfix 16 indeed went live - I even got in on GOG already:
Changelog at Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1086940/ ... 982758100/

[alt3rn1ty]

Dont mind the other me drinking polymorph potions
Indeed I was very confused, there was a Hotfix #16 for Early Access (back in 2021, thats the one I quoted), aswell as this much more up to date Hotfix #16 you linked ..

Hotfix #16 Now Live!
Version Number: 4.1.1.4425968
Hello everyone,

Happy New Year! We’re kicking off 2024 with a sizeable hotfix, handling multiple bugs, issues, and blockers. Have your party members been hoarding trinkets? Did you accidentally send Minthara’s lute to your camp supplies, thinking nobody could possibly need a lute in this day and age? In this hotfix, you will now be able to access certain quest-related items on the spot - even if they’re not held by your current party! How’s that for magic pockets?

Mac players, we're currently restructuring to ensure that future updates on Mac will arrive alongside their PC versions. It'll take a bit of time but once finished, there shouldn't be delays anymore. For the time being, we expect a delay for updates of a maximum of two weeks. We're sorry for the inconvenience and understand this is frustrating. Thank you for your patience.

Please note that with new patches and hotfixes, some installed mods may become temporarily incompatible. If you experience any issues after installing the latest update, please check if the issue persists with all mods uninstalled. If it persists, please reach out to our support team with your report.

Thank you for taking the time to submit these issues to us. If you have any bugs to report, please reach out to our support team. Thank you for playing Baldur’s Gate 3!


HIGHLIGHTS

The cross-save functionality will no longer sync modded saves, as they cannot be accessed by console players.
Added categories to the Waypoints list, grouping Waypoints by location.
You will now be able to access certain quest-related items on the spot, even if they are currently in the camp chest or in the inventory of a companion who is waiting at camp.
Added a couple of
to the Epilogue.
Karlach will now get her scene in
regardless of whether she's an avatar or a companion.
Wyll will now follow Karlach
correctly.
Fixed the Hide Helmet option resetting for companions after saving and loading.
Cazador now has
of his Legendary Action depending on
. The more
he has, the more

Fixed several issues with low resolution textures appearing after extended playtimes.
Fixed a visual bug where certain doors would reappear briefly when destroyed.
Fixed Gale's dialogue ending abruptly when asking him for a kiss. Enjoy the moment.



CRASHES AND BLOCKERS

Fixed a potential crash related to quickloading.
Fixed a crash that would occur when unloading and then loading a region.
Fixed a crash when changing VSync settings.
Fixed a crash when destroying the spiderweb under the Spider Matriarch.
Fixed the potential cause of not being able to save the game (Error 701, crashing the game).
Fixed a crash that could happen when showing a pop-up message after lockpicking an item.
Fixed an issue that was causing
to bypass Turn-Based Mode and deploy
in real-time, which could result in a crash. We call that cheating.
Fixed a crash that would occur when removing condition-based auras from modded savegames.
Fixed a possible crash when getting the available party gold during a trade.
Fixed some issues that could prevent savegames made under rare conditions from loading up.



COMBAT AND BALANCE

The Spectral Form passive is no longer hidden.
Fixed Balthazar's Spectral Form not triggering when Balthazar succeeded in a Saving Throw but still got damaged.
Fixed Auntie Ethel not using Weird Magic Surge when struck by Repelling Blast in Honour Mode.
Fixed the scrying eyes' damage mitigation mechanic in Tactician Mode not working the first time they are damaged.
In Tactician difficulty,
now transforms into a unique mist form that threatens his foes with a necrotic aura.
Ability Drain will not be able to reduce a target's ability below 1.
Improved the way Legendary Resistance works, now only triggering when it is actually useful.



GAMEPLAY

Fixed Astarion not being available through the companion menu at camp if you sent him directly to camp during the recruitment dialogue.
In Honour Mode, the Eggbearer condition is now also applied when
is dead but
is alive.
Fixed an issue in Honour Mode where the damage from Smite spells wouldn't trigger items that activate when damaged.
You can no longer trade with Grukkoh the bugbear via the dialogue button before you've, uh, caught his attention.
Using a weapon that uses your Spellcasting Ability Modifier instead of the normal Ability Modifier will now choose the Spellcasting Ability with the highest value.
Fixed Group Hide not working properly when a party character is Downed.
Myrmidons' weapons cannot be looted from their bodies after Long Rest anymore.
Fixed the Elemental Weapon, Magic Weapon, Heat Metal, and Daylight conditions persisting on the weapon after a Long Rest.
Fixed an issue that would affect some players controlling more than one avatar, which caused several naked characters to appear over them after the first Dream Visitor dream.
Fixed an issue where reconnecting to a multiplayer session would assign a player an avatar in Withers' Wardrobe without taking said avatar out of the wardrobe. They don't open from the inside!
Stealing a couple hundred items in one go no longer results in the game becoming unresponsive for quite some time afterwards while it deals with your kleptomaniac overindulgence. It may still freeze for a short period while processing the inventory transfer, though.
NPCs on the floor below you, can no longer 'see' you looting corpses up there.
When handing back stackable stolen items (such as healing potions), you will no longer lose all of them, but only the number you stole.



FLOW AND SCRIPTING

Fixed an issue preventing some players from advancing into Act III, looping them back to Act II.
Barcus Wroot should now show up correctly
if you have saved him from his previous predicaments.
Fixed avatar Karlach being able to initiate the first romance scene with Lae'zel after proving her worth to Lae'zel, which should not be possible for her due to her engine still not being upgraded.
Tweaked the trigger conditions for Lae'zel's initial romance dialogue after proving your worth to her so that it only triggers if the player controlling her has a single avatar. This is to avoid accidentally triggering the dialogue with an unintended avatar in case you have multiple.
Fixed some wrong character behaviours likely introduced in Patch 4.
Fixed an issue preventing some dialogue options with Alfira and Nadira from showing up.
Fixed
prematurely teleporting to Act III if you pick up her corpse in Act I.
Gale is now less likely to lie to you about
when making his decision in the endgame.
will no longer make a surprise appearance during the Epilogue if you
and then decided to kill him.
Wyll will now appear during the initial Epilogue scene if he's the
and does not have a partner.
Fixed a couple of issues with Mizora's dialogue getting stuck.
Fixed a blocker in the House of Hope in which Raphael wouldn't appear if he was Silenced in Sharess' Caress.
Fixed a blocker where you were able to banish Hope while she's chained, preventing you from saving her.
The avatar dismissal dialogue will now be closed if the user rejoins the session while it is still active.
Duke Ravengard will now correctly
instead of staying idle, seemingly unbothered by everything going on.
Characters that are attacked while disappearing out of sight will now resume their disappearing after combat ends. Back to the shadows with you.


PERFORMANCE AND OPTIMISATION

Fixed an issue where switching between party members would cause performance to drop.
Fixed a texture issue in Character Creation at Low and Medium settings.



UI

The proficiency bonuses on Explorer difficulty are now correctly accounted for in Character Creation.
Fixed an issue causing the Level Up screen to display the incorrect HP gain when increasing Constitution.
Fixed some instances where incorrect items would be selected when dragging them in the Trade menu.
Fixed an issue that prevented respeccing into a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer if you chose a spell that was already available from the Draconic Bloodline.
The values in the Skill tooltips on the Level Up screen will now update when you add Expertise.
Fixed the 'Can't control' warning not disappearing under certain circumstances.
Fixed an issue that briefly prevented you from interacting with an item in the inventory if it had been unequipped or equipped previously with the X button.
When a tutorial pop-up refers to an option in the shortcuts radial menu on controller, the option will now be highlighted.
Fixed '(Empty)' sometimes briefly appearing next to an item's name when highlighting it on Xbox.
Added descriptions for the different difficulty levels in the Additional Combat Mechanics options on Custom Mode.
Fixed a caching issue in the radial menus. This could, for instance, cause some Disguise Self options to not appear after cancelling and returning to the spell.
The lovely dark veins you get on your face when you become part-illithid now show up correctly in the Magic Mirror.
Fixed surface names sometimes appearing above characters on controller.
Increased the opacity of certain text boxes in the Reactions UI on controller to improve visibility.
Fixed a blocker where UI pop-ups wouldn't close if the window behind them was closed first. This could happen, for example, when a cinematic dialogue triggered and closed the map while you were still naming a custom marker.
Fixed the loading screen not showing an image when joining a multiplayer session.
Fixed the damage type in the Crushing Fist spell tooltip.
The Legendary Resistance: Incapacitation tooltip now mentions that it can only be used 3 times.
Made sure the grid shown in inventories is correctly drawn if the grid becomes smaller.
Removed a low resolution version of one of the loading screen images.
Fixed an issue that caused some Video Settings like VSync and Refresh Rate to reset back upon starting the game.
Removed the option to confirm or reset options in the Alter Custom Mode menu for players who are not the host of a session.
Total party gold is no longer seen in barter mode.
Fixed an issue with the radial menus on controller causing the same items to get re-added to the same submenu and the Action radial menu to sometimes appear empty.



LEVEL DESIGN

Removed some world labels that were showing up for a pair of dice in Withers' chapel in the Epilogue camp that made it look like they could be picked up. Also swapped out a cutting board.



ART

Optimised the appearance of platforms with chains in Grymforge.
Fixed some minor visual issues with weapons.
Fixed impact VFX/SFX not working for some projectiles.



ANIMATION

Fixed a zombie that would T-pose when dragged from your inventory.
Fixed some destruction animations that weren't working properly.



SOUND

Fixed the wrong ambience sounds playing in the Last Light region and Wyrm's Rock Fortress.


WRITING

Wyll is now appropriately celebratory upon
defeat.
Added text to the tooltip for
Misty Escape ability on Tactician Mode.
Fixed
Sublimation ability tooltip incorrectly stating that it should kill the target instantly.
Wyll now has a line during the ending scene
.
Added an extra dialogue option when talking to Shadowheart in the Epilogue to fix a path that only gave you one choice.
Fixed the Wrathful Spirits condition saying the affected entity is Immune to all damage instead of Vulnerable to all damage.

[chew-ie]

Phew - you got me confused there, too With that out of the way, let's hope for a hotfix for the hotfix. I stopped playing for now as the item bugs are too severe. Ah well, back to SW:Tor

[alt3rn1ty]

There's now a Hotfix #17

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.ph ... ber=932790

Its not a big one, but progressing as usual.

[alt3rn1ty]

Patch #6 is live, I'm not going to bother trying list it all here the changelog is huuuuge!

Have a look .. https://baldursgate3.game/news/patch-6-now-live_108

[chew-ie]

I'm not going to bother trying list it all here

... but I will! 26 fixes for Minthara!

Along with the previous fixes which enabled the recruitment of Minthara for non-evil playthroughs this really is tempting for a new playthrough. So here they are - all 26 Minthara fixes (beware of spoilers, of course)

Added new idle animations for some companions at camp, including:
- Minthara: Contemplating a skull, tending to mushrooms, expressing violence, adjusting her armour, plotting her future, and being bothered by the sun.

Flow and Scripting
- Increased the number of valid methods of knocking Minthara out to recruit her.

Writing
- Added some new lines to Minthara's epilogue dialogue to account for different paths where the player character has partnered up with her.
- Added some new lines in Minthara's epilogue dialogue to cover characters who are partnered with her and left to fight in Avernus or the Astral Plane.

Across Acts
- Minthara now has the appropriate HP for the game's difficulty level.
- Minthara's now a little more open to talking after you recruit her.
- Minthara no longer repeats herself when you disappoint her by keeping things platonic.
- Minthara no longer speaks more about Shadowheart than Shadowheart does about herself.
- Karlach can no longer have sex with Minthara if she hasn't had the proper upgrades to her heart yet.
- You can now loot Minthara after the post-coital neck-snapping as the Dark Urge.
- Added lines for Minsc, Jaheira, Minthara, and Halsin when they perceive traps in the environment.
- Added a line for Karlach after she flies into a rage about the paladins in Act I to account for the possibility that she'd spent some alone time with Minthara.

Act I
- An enemy ogre during Minthara's camp ambush now has fewer hit points in Explorer Mode.
- Fixed Minthara not being able to use Weapon Actions after being recruited.
- Fixed the owlbear cub being present in the Goblin Camp after all the goblins have left with Minthara in the case that it was kidnapped by the goblins after its mother died.
- Reading Minthara's map after leaving the Wilderness now correctly reveals the location it's supposed to reveal after you return.
- Fixed an issue where Wyll leaving the party during Minthara's raid on the Emerald Grove would lock you in dialogue.

Act II
- Shadowheart and Minthara will now interject with comments when confronting Balthazar in the Shadowfell.
- You no longer need to talk to Minthara to make sure she goes to your camp when you leave the Shadow-Cursed Lands.
- Fixed Minthara and Halsin's dialogues when leaving the Shadow-Cursed Lands repeating.
- Halsin and Minthara will actually let you leave the Shadow-Cursed Lands when you want to.
- Fixed Minthara being teleported to the prison when she was in your party once the assault on Moonrise Towers started after freeing Nightsong.

Act III
- Minthara's inventory is now available to you when she is invited to camp after being freed from Moonrise.

Cinematics
- If you become the Absolute at the end of the game after being encouraged to do so by Minthara or Astarion if either one of them is your partner, you'll no longer enthral them.
- Polished one of Minthara's dialogues at the end of the game, particularly for halflings and gnomes.
- Polished Wyll's facial expressions when Minthara sits on Ketheric's throne.

[alt3rn1ty]

Yeah Larian really have got there ears to the ground refining this game for everyone.
Minthara in my last two roles has been just one of the many targets, not now though.
Replay value in BG3 is awesome, and I still find new things/interactions to do.

[alt3rn1ty]

Hotfix #18
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.ph ... Post936530

Hotfix #19
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.ph ... Post936999

I think Patch #6 was quite an overhaul of some underlying mechanics, and caused a few things to go wonky (I haven't noticed personally but there are plenty of posts around the various forums). Hotfixes are now starting to address the problems Patch #6 caused, but also fixing more older issues.

The way its gone so far has been good, at least they are proving to be good at polishing what is already a fine attempt at a D&D5e game. Larian did the Early access which had many patches and hotfixes, but in the background they were developing Act 2 and Act 3. BG3 went public out of Early Access, and for the first time had the world looking at the game beyond Act 1, which resulted again in many patches and hotfixes. Since then they have added Tactician and Honour modes plus a Mac verion, which further generated heaps of issues and feedback, and they are now making good on refining the game as a whole.
I'm hoping once they get to a good place in development, that a DLC to expand it somewhat comes out. Can't get enough of this game , its brilliant.

Started a new playthrough recently multiclassing, A Rogue/Ranger, Shadowheart Cleric/Paladin, Lae'zel Fighter/Paladin and Wyll Warlock/Sorceror. Its proving to be a very nice party. Only had one problem they couldn't handle, the Wyrm under Wyrms Rock, had to swap out Wyll for Karlack who's a Barbarian/Paladin .. Much heavy smiting from 3 Paladins brought him down fairly quickly, my Rogue/Ranger finished him off with dual wielding Hand crossbows.

[alt3rn1ty]

Hotfix #20
https://baldursgate3.game/news/hotfix-20-now-live_111
Hotfix #21
https://baldursgate3.game/news/hotfix-2 ... w-live_112
Hotfix #22
https://baldursgate3.game/news/hotfix-22-now-live_113

Dont know when the next big Patch is, but I think a lot of it will be about Act III again when it arrives.

[Golden_Gonads]

I've started playing the original (well, Enhanced Edition) for the first time in 20-odd years as part of a slow build up to getting BG3 and the game is both better and worse than I remember. Better in that I didn't die to a single wolf in the opening area like I remember doing way back when, and in that the areas flow better than my poor, poor memory, but worse in that my minions don't chime in regarding... Anything. I know they did in BG2, but I was sure they interacted at least a little in BG1. I've played for about 20 hours and other than their standard click, move or reputation barks, they've stayed stubbornly mute.

[alt3rn1ty]

BG3 Party members do have many unsolicited (ie out of direct conversation) dialogues, but they are I think restricted by events / triggers around you. Walking around slowly with no imminent ambushes or magical effect triggers, the characters will have occasional snipes at each other (for example Shadowheart and Lae'zel have quite a few catty moments), or mentions of local features/history/religion. There's also a sentient amulet you can get which has some funny comments about your current location. I think it also depends on your characters level point in traits such as survival/perception/arcana/religion etcetera.
So they are supposed to happen, if you are going through the landscape/area quickly and having quick successions of encounters then I would imgine the opportunity for those to trigger would be reduced.
Or .. its not unreasonable to consider maybe the latest patch introduced a bug which is a knock on effect of fixing other problems (happens quite a lot in the continuing development of this game).

[alt3rn1ty]

Hotfix #23 went public today ..

https://forums.larian.com/ubbthreads.ph ... Post940924

CRASHES AND BLOCKERS
Fixed a bug causing you to get stuck in Lae'zel's recruitment dialogue if you saved halfway through the dialogue and then loaded that savegame.
Fixed a potential rare crash related to our particle system.
Fixed a crash when throwing the Black Pudding Platter.
Fixed a crash during Character Creation.
Fixed a crash that could occur when selling a container with items in it, buying it again, and then selling it again.
Fixed a rare crash related to VFX material loading.
Fixed a bug preventing you from equipping items and using spells because an item kept being equipped.
Optimised Poltergeist auras to reduce memory usage and prevent an out-of-memory crash.

UI
Fixed an issue where selling all wares didn't remove the proper gold amount from the trader inventory.
Fixed a bug letting you generate gold by buying multiple items but only paying for one of them if you dragged the items into a container.
Fixed a bug letting you 'buy' a stack of items for free when dragging the stack into a container and using the item splitter.
Fixed equipped items blocked by shapeshifting being tradable, allowing you to get paid even if the items don't transfer to the trader's inventory.

SCRIPTING
Fixed clubs from the Moonrise Towers Prison getting automatically equipped when you picked them up.
Fixed a bug causing Nightsong to continuously gain and lose the Soul Caged condition if she had a condition that provided Immunity to being Incapacitated.
Fixed Balthazar not finishing his turn when he is too far from the Colony ritual spot to reach it in one turn.
Fixed a bug where a civilian would call for help and a group of Flaming Fists would appear, but instead of moving to the crime scene, they would just stand where they were spawned.

CODE AND GAMEPLAY
Fixed a bug causing party members to be wrongly ungrouped and fixed savegames in this broken state.
Fixed randomly occurring issues with dialogues, like repeating lines and options not showing up correctly.
Fixed some characters missing their spell SFX when going from camp to the world.
Fixed the bulette getting permanently stuck under the ground when you passed by in Turn-Based Mode.