Crusader Kings 3 is fixing same-sex relationship mods, plans to support marriages in future

Last month, a Crusader Kings 3 update accidentally broke a popular loophole used to allow same-sex concubine mods. Now, Paradox aims to fix that with a big modding update, with plans to support proper same-sex marriage mods in a later update.

In a recent dev diary, Paradox detail a number of modding overhauls coming in a future 1.3.X patch (the studio isn't quite ready to give the update an exact version number). There's a good list of technical changes that might interest modders, but of particular interest are changes to how the game supports potential queer relationship mods.

In an oversight while fixing issues relating to concubinage, Paradox unintentionally made it impossible to mod in same-sex consorts. Considering CK3 doesn't allow for full-on gay marriages, adding consorts was a compromise some players made to bring a queer element to their CK3 playthroughs.

"Before 1.3, same-sex concubinage was unintentionally possible to mod in, but had the potential to cause a variety of errors," Paradox explained. "In 1.3 we explicitly restricted it in code as part of fixing a concubine-related bug, believing it’d never been possible at all. Since then, we’ve made changes to properly support same-sex concubinage, and it will come alongside other modding improvements in 1.3.X."

There's better news down the line, too. Paradox explain that support for same-sex marriages is planned in a prospective 1.4 update—the work needed to ensure such a fundamental change doesn't break the game pushing it well past the planned 1.3.X update.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.