Good news, everyone! It’s January. The world has finished another lazy rotation around the Sun, and as you’re gazing into the murky horizon of 2025 like a groundhog in search of Spring, we’re hard at work to bring you your next excuse to return to Faerûn.

Patch 8 is still moving along nicely, but before we let you in on the upcoming stress test to try your hand at breaking things, we’re adding some finishing touches and working with our partners to ensure you can fully test cross-play. We hope to let you into the Patch 8 stress test towards the end of this month. 

Today’s community update is here to remind you of what’s arriving in our final major patch and uses the upcoming photo mode to celebrate some of the creations you’ve shared with us during our journey together. Someone grab the tissue, it can’t really be the end, can it?

Try Out Cross-Play With The Patch 8 Stress Test

Imagine a world, healed from all its pain, where Xbox, PlayStation, and PC gamers can finally be free of the barriers that once separated them. Finally, in Patch 8, no matter what platform, we can all come together in BG3 and unite in what matters: kissing weird guys and heaving goblins off cliffs.

During the Patch 8 stress test, registered Xbox, PlayStation, and PC players will be able to test out cross-play by either creating or joining a lobby and inviting friends through the Larian Network. With such a large technical feature being implemented, we’re keen to see how you get on with cross-play during the stress test so that we can make any small changes before Patch 8 is released!

While cross-play with Mac will be available from launch, unfortunately, Mac players won’t be able to take part in the stress test this time.

Register Now

If you’ve not yet signed up to take part in the Patch 8 stress test to help test things out, you can still register your interest by clicking on the banner with the handsome feller below!

Want to join the stress test from an Xbox? You’ll need to download the Xbox Insider Hub App to become an Xbox Insider and join the playtest from the app once the stress test begins to go live.
 

 

Arriving With Patch 8 

The final major patch for Baldur’s Gate 3 is right around the corner and will deliver several hotly anticipated features, including cross-play, photo mode, and 12 new subclasses, which you can read more about in Community Update #30.

Incoming Bug Fixes 

Along with the new features, we’re continuing to clean up animation pops, clipping, and have fixed bugs, including the likes of:

• Fixed a savegame issue where you wouldn't get the appropriate amount of Umbral Gems for the Gauntlet of Shar.
• Fixed an issue causing you to get stuck at a 0% loading screen when attempting to join a multiplayer session that uses mods.
• Your character will no longer think Shadowheart is dead if she isn't when talking to [spoiler]Viconia.[/spoiler]
• Halsin will now show up to your camp in Act II as long as you save him, even if you happen to skip the celebration with the tieflings at camp.
• Improved performance in the Adamantine Forge.
• Minthara will now comment on [spoiler]the Emperor's[/spoiler] reveal.
• Cerys will stop getting involved in combats with Minthara from across the region. An eager beaver no longer.
• We’ve also reminded Minthara that 'knocked out' does not mean 'dead', so she'll more reliably appear in Moonrise Towers.
• Fixed companions' lines getting cut off prematurely after Gale [spoiler]sacrifices himself alone[/spoiler] at the end of the game.
• Fixed a bug preventing Wyll from commenting on Astarion holding a blade to your throat during Astarion's recruitment dialogue by the beach.
• Barcus is no longer Mike Wazowski'd by various items like cauldrons and bottles blocking him off from view when you talk to him at Last Light.

In-Game Mod Manager Improvements

• Removed the third-party mods warning and replaced it with clearer messaging.
• The Mod Verification window will now trigger regardless of where the request to connect to a multiplayer game is coming from.

With plenty more fixes to be included! And don’t worry, this isn’t the end of our bug fixing. 

New Subclasses

Soon there will be 12 new ways to experience Baldur’s Gate 3 - a new subclass is being added for each of the 12 classes in the game, complete with new VFX and animations that we teased in Community Update #31.

You’ve got to try out all of them, right?

When they tell me not to touch the uranium.

Photo Mode

Patch 8 also introduces photo mode, so get ready to smile for the camera, or if you’re like Karlach, stare into the middle-distance as you contemplate all your past mistakes.

While you’re adventuring around the Sword Coast, you’ll be able to toggle photo mode on or off and play around with a multitude of options for the party you’ve brought along with you, including during combat encounters. Position them to your liking, change facial expressions to fit the scene, and play around with the camera, lens, and scene settings.

During dialogues and cinematic scenes, you won’t be able to alter the camera or position your party, but you will have access to a whole bunch of post-processing effects, such as colour-grading settings, frames, and stickers, that can be used whether you’re tottering around Baldur’s Gate, or kissing your beloved.

To give you a taste of the poses available in photo mode, we’re paying homage to some of your finest memes, moments, and masterpieces. Check them out below, and be sure to drop by the original creator’s work to show your appreciation!
 

Get you a druid who can do both. Posted on Reddit by u/bwubwerr.

Blade of Frontiers by day, nap enthusiast by initiative order. Posted on Reddit by u/Sporshie.

Even the Astral Plane can’t save you from the midweek grind. Artwork illustrated by mintcrows on X.

This will look great over the fireplace in our pocket dimension. Posted on Reddit by u/NightwingMage.
 

Sweet dreams and all that. Posted to Tumblr by quacaserous.

While Patch 8 won’t allow you to romance a water elemental, you can do whatever is happening here. 

The bearer of bad news. Posted to Tumblr by cyberth0t.

Thanks, Elminster. Posted to Reddit by u/grellskendyr.

Don’t worry, they’ll jump down as soon as you head on back up. Posted to Reddit by u/nyesther7.

But at least she looked cute doing it, right? Posted to Reddit by u/urielopos

A true critical success. A frame from the iconic animation created by 예이헴yayhem.

We’re looking forward to seeing the creativity you’ll bring once you get your hands on Patch 8!

Minimum Specifications

With Patch 7 introducing more features to Baldur’s Gate 3, and now with Patch 8 on the horizon, we have adjusted our minimum specification for Mac players. For your game to run smoothly, we recommend updating to macOS 14 (version 14.7.1) or later. If you’re running a system that cannot update to these specifications, you can continue playing Baldur’s Gate 3 up to Patch 6, by changing which game version you’re loading.

To do this:  

1. Right Click on Baldur’s Gate 3 from your Steam Library and select Properties
2. From the left-hand side menu, select Betas
3. Use the Beta Participation drop-down option to change the beta branch to release_patch6_hf9

You will be able to continue playing saves made on Patch 6.

100 Million Mod Downloads

We’re entering 2025 with more than 100 million mods downloaded! Give yourselves a pat on the back, because that is a very nice number.

The team is also back to our regular cadence of curating mods for console, so be on the lookout for more mods being approved soon!