Update: And just like that, the first Baldur's Gate 3 update is live on Steam, and will follow on GOG soon and Stadia "a little later." Larian said it's still working on some issues, but this should take care of a number of immediate problems that have been reported.
"As a general message, if you’re having difficulty getting the game running, or are experiencing crashes, switch the game to DX11 mode (in the launcher, click the gear), and make sure you have the most up to date graphics drivers," Larian said. "We also recommend in some cases disabling the Steam / Discord overlays, if you experience slowdowns while activated."
The full list of fixes is below:
- Fixed a crash related to using rush-type actions
- Fixed a crash related to the target camera
- Fixed a crash in character creation
- Fixed a crash during dialogs
- Fixed overlapping items inside the inventory views
- Fixed "Pickup" and "Pickup And Add To Wares" inside containers
- Fixed a player assignment issue when someone would leave from a full multiplayer party. The leftover character can now be assigned correctly.
- Fixed an issue with summons showing up as regular companions
- Fixed an issue where players could not ready up when other players joined the lobby
- Fixed being able to move immovable objects
Original story:
We suggested yesterday that unless you're really committed to jumping into Baldur's Gate 3 as soon as possible, you hold off on it for now, in part (a large part) because of all the bugs and roughness. It's Early Access, and it shows—even Larian warned that "there are still plenty of issues and it will take us time to fix them."
The good news for intrepid early adventurers is that the first hotfix is on the way: Larian said on Steam that it is currently investigating issues with multiplayer and has a fix in the works. It also suggested a few workarounds for other issues, including switching the game from Vulkan to DX11 (which we've found can help with stuttering and pauses), and strongly recommended that players do not exit the tutorial level by activating the transponder at the Nautiloid helm while the PC is downed in combat, because doing so will crash the game.
Other suggestions: Don't save multiplayer games during cinematics, don't listen in to conversations in co-op that have ended (I'm not even sure how you would do that), and "save with caution in multiplayer": It's prone to crashing if the host saves the game directly after combat.
"This is the start of the Early Access journey and we are hugely appreciative of those who have so far provided feedback. Please continue to do so," Larian said. "Several of the issues mentioned are in the progress of being fixed and we’ll try to release a hotfix as soon as possible. This feedback from so many people is extremely important to us, and we appreciate your patience. We hope you’re having fun!"
Despite the issues and our recommendation to wait, Fraser said in his Baldur's Gate 3 Early Access review that "it's very promising and seems to be heading in the right direction," which at this stage is about all your can ask for. We've also got some thoughts on how it compares to the first two games in the series.
