Baldur's Gate 3's first full patch is fixed and live

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Update: The patch was rolled back almost immediately after it launched yesterday because of a bug that was causing errors with savegames. That issue has now been solved, and the update is once again live.

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Original story:

Larian has already put out three small updates for Baldur's Gate 3 since its release on Steam Early Access a week ago. Larian also explained how the most popular options in the character editor came together to create the most generic dude possible. Now it's time for the first full-scale patch, which includes a significant number of bug fixes and gameplay improvements, and an interesting look at some other data points, including the ominous-sounding "Map of Death."

"All feedback, positive or negative, is extremely helpful and important to us. We're really grateful to everyone who organizes their thoughts and talks to us on Steam, or the forums, or the feedback form. For us, that's a big part of what Early Access is about. Keep the feedback flowing, and we'll keep shooting out those updates," Larian wrote.

"Under the hood we're starting to get our first look at data, and decisions players are making, which teaches us how you're playing the game. Before you launch a game, you're making a lot of assumptions about what people will do, and why they'll do it. When you launch, you can start to see if you were right."

To illustrate the point, the update includes a heat map of player deaths—the "*map of death*," as Larian described it, asterisks and all. 

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

(You can find the digital remains of my party amidst the bright yellow areas just below Chapel Forest. Several times.)

Amusing name notwithstanding, the studio said it can combine that data with player feedback and bug reports to determine why people are dying in particular areas, and more importantly, whether it's normal that it's happening. Lots of people appear to be dying when they first meet Gale, for instance, which Larian said seems "strange," and as we alluded to in our recent rundown of whether you should wait to buy Baldur's Gate 3, there's also a surprising amount of death happening in camp. (I won't spoil anything, but I will say I'm not surprised.)

Some other interesting data points:

  • Gale died 333757 times, giving him a party-member kill rate four times higher than any other NPC in the game.
  • 5717 players died trying to tame the owlbear cub.
  • 3753 players died trying to tame a mind flayer. (Why would you try this?)
  • 4000 people died as a result of the thing with the ogre and the bugbear. (You can google that if you want to know more.)
  • Shadowheart is the only companion who's actually managed to die more than the player character.

Baldur's Gate 3 companion Shadowheart

(Image credit: Larian Studios)

Larian said it will continue to share "data and insights" throughout the Early Access period, and encouraged players to continue horsing around in whatever ways they want, saying, "The results of this make the game better." It also said that public multiplayer lobbies will soon be switched on, and Discord integration is coming, although there's no date for either at the moment. The patch notes for today's big update are below.

Improvements:

  • Added polish and bug fixes to several in-game cinematics, such as Shadow Heart recruitment, Astarion recruitment and Volo's Poem. (These will be ongoing throughout EA).
  • Added minor text tweaks to various bits and bobs.
  • Altered certain dialogue choices for different NPCs.
  • Added extra combat tutorial messages to better explain the basics (let us know how you get on).
  • Astarion no longer thinks Lae'zel inspected you at camp when she is not in your party. Quite rightly.
Gather your party with these Baldur's Gate 3 guides

(Image credit: Larian)

Baldur's Gate 3 review: Our Early Access verdict
Baldur's Gate 3: Everything we know
Baldur's Gate 3 tips: Start smart
Baldur's Gate 3 classes: Find your perfect profession
Baldur's Gate 3 races: Pick your favorite face
Baldur's Gate 3 companions: Learn who's who

Bug fixes:

  • Fixed a crash related to having the level up screen open while in a dialog.
  • Fixed a crash related to dropping items from inventory.
  • Fixed a rare crash that could happen at the start of combat.
  • Fixed a possible blocking issue when using the transponder at the end of the tutorial twice.
  • Fixed black screen issue when ending tutorial if the transponder was used by any character that is not the main player avatar.
  • Fixed a possible blocking issue when reassigning characters to others players while in combat.
  • Fixed an issue with lip sync not working correctly.
  • Fixed several localization issues.
  • Fixed combat UI not updating correctly when someone joined during combat.
  • Fixed party shared gold and items not always working in dialog checks.
  • Fixed summons from NPC’s getting stuck in combat.
  • Fixed levelled up characters having duplicated racial and class features.
  • Fixed not being able to level up to level 4 on a Zariel Tiefling Cleric of Light due to cantrip selection.
  • Fixed text cut-off issues in several interfaces.
  • Fixed party members getting stuck trying to open doors they run past.
  • Fixed listening in to dialogs getting stuck in multiplayer, also causing players not being able to save.
  • Fixed camp button being broken after closing the camp window with escape key.
  • Fixed "end the day" multiplayer message being broken if a player closed it with an escape key.
  • Fixed certain quests not having map markers.
  • Fixed certain secret entrances incorrectly showing up on the map.
  • Fixed incorrect player portraits in the lobby screen as more people joined.
  • Fixed Cambion wings and Tiefling tail animations.
  • Fixed map not centering correctly on player characters in smaller subregions.
  • Fixed health values not being synced correctly to the Baldur's Gate 3 twitch extension.
  • Fixed superiority die not showing actual values when using abilities such as Menacing attack.
  • Fixed minor issues with hair, skinning and textures on several models.
  • Fixed lighting issue in owlbear cave.
  • Fixed not being able to walk over corpses.
  • Tweaked ragdolls to reduce the possibility of models exploding (or glitching. Idk how to explain it, but it’s spooky).
Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.