It’s been a busy few weeks here at Larian HQ. In between finalizing our transmogrification spells, sourcing cows for experimentation, and training them to sign extensive liability waivers with their hooves, we’ve been hard at work putting the finishing touches on Patch 4.

After much anticipation, today we awoke to the holy noise of bells chiming. It was our QA team in the hallowed Larian belfry, each of them clutching a bell rope in their face-tentacles to ring in the good news: Patch 4 ready to go live!

Before we get into it, a quick shoutout to everyone who helped Divinity: Original Sin 2 reach 100,000 reviews on Steam, where it sits with a 95% positive rating. What better way to celebrate that, than with a hefty patch for Baldur’s Gate 3!

If you watched the Panel From Hell 2 last week, you’ll know that this is our biggest Baldur’s Gate 3 patch yet. Thank you to everyone who tuned in. It was a big success, and that means we can think about doing more. (Alternatively, if you missed the livestream, or just fancy seeing Swen in armour again, you can watch it in full just below:)

Coming in at a whopping eight pages, Patch 4: Nature’s Power contains a juicy number of fixes, updates, and one particularly major addition: Druids are now a playable class.

You may have spotted us subtly teasing the Druid class in the lead-up to PFH2 with one or two strategically placed references to…cows, as well as vines!. “Will cows be coming to Baldur’s Gate 3?” wondered many a bewildered reader. Well, no. Instead, we would hire a Professional Cow Actor (Stephanie) to appear live on the stream, and through the power of Movie Magic have her use the Wild Shape ability to transform from bovine beauty into an actual Druid.

Druid Cow

This is Stephanie the Cow, and she is ready for her close-up.

RIP Stephanie.

Just kidding, she’s fine. Nick on the other hand has grown udders.

With Patch 4: Nature’s Power, Druid characters will be able to use the Wild Shape ability to transform into a variety of different animals, each of which has their own unique abilities. Dire Wolf, Deep Rothe, Aberrant Shape, and Polar Bear forms offer new heavy attack options in combat, while Cat, Raven, Spider, and Badger provide additional strategic and defensive maneuvers – through stealth, flight, web-spinning, and burrowing, respectively.

Like their D&D equivalents, Druids in Baldur's Gate 3 will be able to choose one of two Druid Circle subclasses which impacts interactions in the game: Circle of the Land or Circle of the Moon. The former offers Druids additional perks as a caster, allowing you to pick a specific biome for which you are connected and then grants you additional spells. The latter allows players to boost the combative power of their Wild Shapes and gives you access to the mighty Polar Bear shape.

Druids can speak with their animal kin while in their Wild Shape forms, which provides an alternative to combat encounters via diplomacy. You saw a bit of this in action during the livestream, where we showed a Druid use their Wild Shape ability to transform into a bear and convince a fellow bear to quit blocking a previously impassable entryway. Previously this encounter would have kicked off a combat scenario. Now with the Druid class, players have the option to trigger an adorably non-lethal tête-à-tête.

Loaded dice: toggle for sanity, or disable for purity

Another new feature in this patch is Loaded Dice. The aim here is to smooth out the extremes of the dice-rolling bell curve that might otherwise see players roll a series of unlucky Natural 1s or all-too-lucky D20s in a row. We’ve been considering this for some time, but it’s really a matter of taste and therefore is an optional feature. If you prefer the purity of RNG rolls, those are still available to you. But if you are easily prone to dice-related headaches or if you have angered the algorithm and are now cursed with randomly-generated bad luck, then it's worth a toggle.

Cinematic speak with dead - spooky AND immersive

The Speak with the Dead ability now includes many new corpses to hunker down with for a chat. This means lots of new dialogue and, naturally, new accompanying cinematics. And yes, there is method to our gothic madness. To quote from Swen during the livestream: "If you killed everybody like an idiot and you didn't pay attention to the story and don't know what to do anymore, you can just go talk to their bodies!" Speaking of cinematics, Patch 4 comes with vastly improved lighting and animation and with over 25,000 cinematic nodes throughout Act 1, the game is looking better than ever. Not that we’re done yet. There’s still loads of improvements coming.

Quality of life and user experience tweaks and changes a happier player maketh

A number of quality-of-life changes are included in this patch as well. Targeting allies and enemies will now be easier, and you can do so just by clicking on their portraits - A nice little UI upgrade that means no more blindly clicking your way between characters within the world to find them. Additionally, for those who enjoy playing BG3 with other human beings, you'll now be able to see other players' full Equipment, Spells, Inventory, and Character Sheets. Darker areas of the game have also been improved with a newly dedicated torch button, while a long awaited flee button is now available in the game for easier escapes from combat. Annoy your friends by leaving them to fend for themselves with a tactical retreat!

Sharp-Eye now pees from the “correct approximate bodily area”, which is an example of a quality of life improvement for specifically one NPC, and whoever may be responsible for their laundry.

You can also expect to find stability fixes galore in this update. Here are a few favourites, hot off the patch notes:

- Baelan’s wig was removed and he is now correctly bald, as stated in Derryth’s dialogue.

- Sharp-Eye now pees from the correct bodily area (previously too high up).

- Fixed not being able to shove characters off the skiffs in the Underdark. Happy shoving!

Razer

We’ve also been working with Razer to bring Chroma support to the game, including support for Philips Hue bulbs, so you can match your entire abode to Baldur’s Gate 3’s vibe, if you’re so inclined. If you’ve got a Chroma connected laptop or peripheral, you may notice a little extra flair when you launch the game having downloaded Patch 4.

We grow, our patches become smaller.

With so many updates to the game - and many more to come as we continue to build toward launch - it isn't surprising that we've expanded our development team. As announced last week, Larian has opened two new studios in Guildford, England and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That brings us to a total of six studios spanning Belgium, Ireland, Russia, Canada, England, and Malaysia, working together to bring Baldur's Gate 3 to life.

And good news for your computers: In the future you can expect our patches to be smaller in download and install size, regardless of how hefty they may be. The short version is, we've split large pak files into smaller chunks. To put that in Wild Shape terms, our patches will go from chonky badger to svelte feline.

That just about covers today’s major points!

BEHOLD THE HEFT. The appropriate way to read the following patch notes is by putting on an epic soundtrack, pouring yourself a nice glass of Caprisun, and blitzing through like one of those cool robot secretaries from Ghost in the Shell.

New

Added the Druid class, with two unique subclasses - The Circle of the Moon and the Circle of the Land.
- Circle of the Moon - Transformation is no problem for most Druids, but those who keep the ways of the moon gain the ability to morph into more powerful combative Wild Shapes - like the Polar Bear.
- Circle of the Land - Keepers of the Old Faith, these Druids gain additional power based on the region and what type of geography they’re connected to.
Wild Shape:
Embodying nature's adaptability, Druids can assume the shape of a host of distinct and potent creatures using the power of their magic. Oftentimes during Baldur's Gate 3's journey you'll be called upon by your party to destroy opponents. For such occasions, the Druid enlarges, gaining the killing form of a Dire Wolf or, in the case of Druids of the Circle of the Moon, a Polar Bear. Combat could also be affected if the Druid were to transform into a sinuous Spider, entrapping enemies in their sticky webbing. In traversing Faerun, the party may rely on their Druid to scout the surrounding countryside or cityscape as a Cat, from beneath as a Badger, or from the soaring skies as a Raven. Lastly, in truly desperate circumstances, the Druid may decide to embrace the tadpole - implanted in their brain by the Mind Flayers. In doing so, the Druid transforms into the mysterious Aberrant Shape, and reaps the terrible and powerful consequence.
- Wild Shapes included: Deep Rothe, Dire Wolf, Badger, Spider, Polar Bear, Raven, Cat & an Aberrant Intellect Devourer form
Druidic Spells being added:
- Entangle - Animate vines, weeds and creeping roots to snare and restrain your foes in a specific area.
- Flame Blade - Summon a scimitar of flame, shedding bright light around you and swinging it to scorch enemies.
- Moonbeam - Create a damaging pillar of radiant moonlight.
- Produce Flame - Light dark areas with this flickering flame in your palm, illuminate torches, and immolate patches of flammable liquid.
- Shillelagh - When more powerful spells fail the Druid, this Cantrip imbues a melee weapon like a club or staff with glowing energy and makes it hit much harder.
- Thorn Whip - This prickly vine lasso cuts your enemies and yanks them closer to you.
- Barkskin - The Druid turns their skin, or an ally’s, as hard as the bole of an oak tree.
- Destroy Water - Remove damaging fog or hazardous puddles in your path.
- Enhance Ability - Give an ally or yourself Bear’s Endurance, Bull’s Strength, Cat’s Grace, Eagle’s Splendor, Fox’s Cunning or Owl’s Wisdom.
- Flaming Sphere - A ball of fire that sticks around, Druid’s can keep this blazing orb rolling into the path of their foes.
- Goodberry - These berries grant some healing that can be carried in your inventory or eaten right away.
- Heat Metal - Superheating metal can have harmful - or even deadly - effects, especially if an opponent of yours is wearing that metal.
- Protection From Poison - This spell neutralises toxins in the blood and also acts as a silver bullet against all known forms of poison.
- Spike Growth - Druids can transform nearby terrain into a nest of barbs that slows and damages their foes.
Added reactivity for Druids
- Additional paths in multiple dialogues that reflect your druidic training and history.
- There are now big additions to the Druids grove, where Druid players can gain additional options and insights into the activities and challenges there.
- Gain powerful new magic items and depending on your actions become the Faithwarden.
- New reactivity and options for talking to animals while in a Wild shape form.
Rebuilt and refined combat encounters. Druid NPC’s are now true druids; following the same ruleset as the player character. All potential combats within the Druid’s Grove have been rebuilt to reflect the new abilities and spells these NPC’s can use.

Improvements:

Dice rolls are now weighted to avoid streaks of success or failure. This affects attack rolls and saving throws, as well as active rolls within dialogues.
Updated speak with dead cinematic dialogs with VFX and animations.
Added more polish to overall cinematics.
Added a dedicated button that allows party members to escape a combat encounter. To use it, a character needs to be 27m away from the nearest enemy.
Several new custom animations were added for animals during cinematic scenes.
NPCs now react more aggressively when being attacked by summoned creatures.
Added Razer Chroma support.
Improved lighting in several key locations and in specific cutscenes.
Split large pak files into smaller chunks. This will allow future patches to be smaller in download and install size.
- This does mean that this patch will be a much larger initial download.
Reskinned several interface screens:
- Character Tooltips
- Main Menu and Profile Menu
- Surface and cloud tooltips
- Death saving throw
- Container UIs
- Notifications
Improved performance in the Options UI and restructured it.
Improved pathfinding around other characters.
Gith now have proper Gith weapons.
The Flaming Fist now have a shield with their coat of arms.
Improved navigation around the village windmill.
Added Cross Play through direct connect with Mac version.

Usability:

Made trading and bartering prices clearer, showing both the original value and adjusted trade price in the item tooltips.
Added tooltips to conditions in the combat log.
Players can now disable traps by double-clicking on them if they have a trap disarm toolkit.
Players can now see all other players' inventories in multiplayer.
In combat, your current player character will be outlined in blue if it's not their turn
Added support to drag-and-drop attackable items.
“Show on Map” in the journal will now centre the map on the selected quest marker.
Fixed not being able to correctly see the updated state of Steam Cloud savegames.
Long rest is now applied to all recruited characters, not just current party members.
In multiplayer, made selecting characters with F1 through F4 more intuitive for clients.

Balancing Changes:

Locked Selûne’s fort supply room door. The key can now be found in <REDACTED>
Removed bonus action costs from herbs and mushrooms.
Bumped Devil's Sight to 24m to match Superior Darkvision.
Added Searing Smite to Zariel tieflings at level 3.
Stinking Cloud no longer affects items.
Metal doors are no longer vulnerable to slashing damage.
You can now apply multiple Hunter’s Marks to targets.
Damage against resistance now deals a minimum of 1.
Hellish Rebuke can no longer be blocked by terrain.
Allowed Dash to double stack.
Level 2 Jump no longer costs a level 2 spell slot.
Removed cooldown from Dash and Disengage.
Witch Bolt now electrifies any surfaces the target is standing in.
Devil Sight now grants immunity to the Blinded condition from darkness,
Can no longer use Armour of Shadows with armour equipped,
Players can no longer summon a companion or a familiar on top of another character,
Sunwalker's Gift now gifts Darkvision,
Arcane Ward now gives 2 times wizard level + intelligence modifier temp HP.
Hook Horror can now be silenced.
Improved Harpy flight and casting.
Sazza is now tougher.
Ogres can now target enemies on the wall with their javelin.
Using nautiloid restoration item now uses an action point.
Colossus Slayer now properly only triggers when target is not at full health.
Level 2 Charm Person is now an AOE spell that targets up to 2 creatures.
Fire surface created by fallen chandelier now disappears after a while.
Mindflayer's Enthrall is now bound by concentration.
Imps and Quasit now have Darkvision
Increased Phase Spider Queen weight (to large creature)
Improved consistency of all Phase Spider bites.
Imps drop light crossbows instead of heavy ones.
Created specific treasure for the Bulette.
Decreased amount of water around Wood Woads, moved NPCs behind the tree, and reduced mud surfaces.
Reduce weight of Scale Mail

Stability:

Fixed a crash related to sound events.
Fixed a crash when reloading several times in a row after autosaving.
Fixed a crash related to a long rest getting interrupted.
Fixed a rare crash when triggering a follower jump shortly after adding a summon.
Fixed a crash related to AI logic not having enemy targets to select from.
Fixed a crash when saving in between requesting a roll and it completing.
Fixed a crash related to saving right after a summon killed a character.
Fixed a crash when killing multiple entities in the same frame.
Fixed a crash in multiplayer when trying to access a character that's being destroyed.
Fixed a crash when having a dismissed/dead familiar in the Examine panel.
Fixed a crash when a summon kills Gale.
Fixed crash when loading a game while triggering traps.
Fixed a crash when clicking on “Personal Gold Carried”.
Fixed a crash when swapping characters during dialogue.
Fixed a crash on closing the inventory with context menu still open.
Fixed a crash when a party member leaves the party while the player is still dragging their portrait.
Fixed a crash when swapping to another party member after giving Mayrina away to Auntie Ethel.
Fixed a crash related to joining surfaces.
Fixed a rare crash in multiplayer when loading into the tutorial.
Fixed a rare crash when players would initiate resting at camp.
Fixed a crash related to multiplayer and multiple summons.
Fixed a crash related to projectiles and movable objects.

Fixes:

Fixed several issues with (incorrectly) targeting invisible characters.
Fixed projectiles not hitting invisible characters.
Fixed spell casting requirements not always being checked when casting a spell from an item.
It’s now possible to self-cast spells when invisible.
Fixed equipment colours changing when invisibility ends.
Fixed not being able to take all equipment from corpses.
Fixed not being able to drag items from a corpse into the world.
Fixed picking up items from containers not breaking invisibility.
Fixed being able to see sneaking circle when a target is invisible.
Fixed invisible characters not being capable of detecting sneaking characters.
Fixed passives from previous levels disappearing from hotbar on level up.
Fixed summons incorrectly receiving XP and levelling up in the background.
Fixed summons sometimes blocking short rest.
Fixed summons being able to initiate and participate in certain dialogues.
Fixed approval rating incorrectly appearing for your main player avatar.
Fixed sometimes getting stuck in long rest in multiplayer.
Fixed followers sometimes jumping on moving platforms and missing jumps.
During combat, downed characters now skip their turns at the front of the group.
Fixed some characters automatically opening doors that aren't on their path.
Fixed Undead Guardians moving when it's not their turn.
Fixed characters standing too far away after melee attacks, so that their attacks of opportunity would not trigger.
Fixed some thrown objects not doing any damage.
Fixed a camera sharing view problem when levelling up a party member at the wrong time, causing the screen to flicker.
Fixed some enemies not being properly surprised when attacking from stealth.
Fixed combat not ending when only invisible enemies remain.
Fixed slow combat AI when using spells next to groups of exploding items.
Fixed combat being stuck when the player tries to run away from the bulette while being in a prone state.
Fixed several text issues with tooltips.
Fixed misleading calculations in combat log for skill checks.
Fixed spells and action tooltips in the combat log.
Fixed several translated strings being cut off.
Fixed an issue that caused "Can't Reach Destination" error messages at valid positions.
Fixed force attack (using CTRL and hovering over targets) getting lower priority than most other actions.
When pathfinding,characters will no longer check for dangerous surfaces on different floors.
Color changing in character creation no longer reloads the entire model.
Fixed Warlock and Ranger level up passives selection issue.
Fixed swapping control of characters during combat resulting in followers being unable to end their turn.
Fixed characters standing on top of nearby objects when standing too close to them after loading
Fixed not being able to progress when the player denounces Kagha. Nettie will now remain in her default state correctly.
Added crime behaviors for Myconids.
Fixed several item names.
Fixed javelin attack roll type.
Player characters controlled by AI will no longer use dip spell.
Frog can now use Reflective Mucous more than once.
Frog won't use Reflective Mucous when buff is already active.
Raiding Party Gloves trigger on damage now (not attack).
Rally no longer targets the caster.
False Life no longer affects nearby characters.
Can no longer cast Speak with Dead in combat.
Hold Person is now considered a hostile spell.
Fixed Thunderwave scroll.
Fixed some classes' missing weapon proficiencies.
Fixed Weapon Master feat missing some weapon proficiencies.
Removed Detect Thoughts from Magic Initiate: Warlock spell list.
Fixed Raven's beak attack icon
Made gas pits in the Dank Crypt invulnerable.
Blast mine in the Chapel can no longer be moved.
Spiders will no longer regard web surfaces as difficult terrain.
Added Selûne's Seal status icon.
Sitting status now has an icon.
Fixed Crippling Pinch spell description and icon.
Added Bugbear Assassin sneaking icon.
Fixed combat fallback dialogue; spiders no longer "roar".
Mud Mephits no longer perform ranged attacks of opportunity.
Wood Woads properly heal from twisted vine surfaces.
Fixed Wood Woad mace visuals
Addled Frog will no longer hurt itself jumping.
NPCs can no longer cast Smash and Slash more than once per fight.
Fixed not being able to see in the dark on certain characters when using the Darkvision spell.
Fixed an issue with NPCs not being able to pass through certain doors.
Fixed characters sleeping right next to their beds on the floor.
Fixed surfaces not updating correctly during turn ticks, causing issues like NPCs not taking fire damage in certain cases.
Fixed characters getting stuck in the prone condition when shoved off objects in Force Turn-Based mode.
Fixed being stuck in Force Turn-Based mode after saving Benryn.
Force Turn-Based mode is cancelled when entering long rest and is now blocked during rest.
Spell containers now also get greyed out on the hotbar when all spells within are unavailable.
Fixed an issue with poor character members. Trading when having 0 gold now behaves correctly when pressing the balance gold button.
Fixed Life Cleric's Bless only affecting 3 characters instead of 4 when upcast at spell level 2.
Chill Touch now properly applies Disadvantage.
Fixed Mage Armour stacking with shield.
Fixed Level 2 Ensnaring Strike not dealing damage.
Magic Initiate spells now use correct modifier to calculate saving throw difficulty check
Fixed several nodes in camp related to Astarion’s reactions to events.
Updated text of Halsin's Shadowcursed research journal to remove references to killing Isobel.
Volo now reacts correctly when you save him.
Added and updated several crime reactionary behaviors.
Fixed several looping dialogues and incorrect greeting nodes.
Fixed several timing issues with Lae’zel’s recruitment dialogue.
Fixed glowing bulbs not having a destruction effect.
Added glowing effect to certain potions and flasks.
Sharp-Eye now pees from the correct bodily area (previously too high up).
Added more destruction VFX to several items.
Fixed a flickering issue with Gale’s aura when he dies.
Updated blood, water, oil and ooze footsteps visuals to better match each other.
Fixed positioning of the temporary hit point gauge.
Fixed incorrect number of movement points in the hotbar tooltip.
Fixed recurring Inspiration Point notifications when recruiting a new character or summoning a familiar.
Fixed visibility of dead characters in some UI panels.
Fixed an issue where you could not swap characters during trade after selecting a dead party member.
Fixed an issue with the target UI when cancelling a ranged attack
Fixed misaligned icons when dragging them.
Fixed incorrect selection when creating a new profile.
Fixed being able to permanently remove common actions from the hotbar.
Fixed a misalignment issue with the inventory background in multiplayer.
Fixed being able to open multiple spell level selection windows and not being able to close them.
Fixed level 2 spells not greying out when there are no available level 2 slots.
Fixed temporary HP being reset after loading.
Fixed lockpick progress bar not disappearing when the action is cancelled.
Fixed UI panels getting stuck when rapidly switching between them.
Fixed Strength requirement not being checked when equipping items or moving them to characters' inventories.
Fixed solo characters not having access to the Sort button in the inventory.
Fixed cut-off text in the "Current Game" details in the main menu.
Fixed Pickpocket text action displaying debug text.
Fixed Party level filter incorrectly going up to 25+ in the lobby.
Fixed being able to make save game files with illegal characters.
Fixed Armour Class stat going to 0 when previewing items.
Fixed bonuses to skills not appearing correctly in the character sheet.
Fixed bonuses not being updated when dragging items between characters.
Fixed sometimes getting a second confirmation box that asks if you want to go to bed in camp.
Fixed an issue where swapping players would disable all End Turn buttons when only having a summon in the turn order bar.
Fixed “Us” not having its Claw attack in the hotbar.
Fixed goblin kids not reacting to shoving the dead adventurer's corpse.
Fixed not being able to steal the antidote after Nettie poisons you.
Fixed Nettie being hostile after the player saved the grove.
Stealing the owlbear egg now results in the mother owlbear being killed by goblins.
Fixed Brynna and Andrick disappearing immediately upon dismissing and attacking them through Force Turn-Based mode.
Fixed several issues with Abdirak trying to start the penance scene.
Fixed Nymessa and Damays not responding in the event that Laezel dies while caged.
Fixed minor flow issues with Lae’zel’s recruitment dialogue.
Goblins at the goblin checkpoint now become hostile if the festivities area goes hostile.
Fixed an issue with returning from camp to difficult to reach locations, sometimes resulting in full party death.
Fixed being able to interrogate Fezzerk when he’s dead.
Fixed not being able to give Gale magic items while he's in camp.
Fixed being able to summon many Connors (undead from Second Marriage wand).
Fixed savegames at the start of the Zhent hideout causing the hideout characters to be aggressive to the player.
The masks no longer attack the player if the Hag is already dead.
Fixed the moon puzzle half moon symbols sometimes flipping as they rotate.
Fixed NPC reactions to killing Brem and other Zhent.
Fixed Gale no longer being recruitable after an initial refusal.
The hag’s masked victims now die if you remove their masks while they are still alive.
Fixed Ethel not starting combat if the player skips past her to her initial ambush range.
Fixed being able to shove Magro, leaving her head hanging in the air.
Fixed breaking the Bitter Divorce quest not updating the journal
Prevented Auntie Ethel from appearing in her lair if she's already dead.
Updated several outdated journal entries.
Fixed Sazza being reported as killed while she is still alive, after shoving the goblins into the spider pit.
Fixed an issue where the Myconid Circle would immediately turn hostile to players upon seeing Glut.
Fixed Lae'zel being hostile against the player even after choosing to attack the tieflings.
Improvements on Speak With Dead sounds to support new VFXs.
Fixed a bug that caused overhead dialogue to loop endlessly.
In multiplayer, you now don't hear other player sounds of leveling up or gaining personal XP.
Master volume now controls the volume of CGI videos as well.
New music track plays while resting in the camp.
Wood Woad should now creak and groan like a good sapling.
More sound objects for cinematics for a better 3D audio experience.
Fixed item drag-and-drop sounds being played in movement preview.
Fixed equip and unequip UI sounds from NPCs being heard.
Added missing sound events for certain containers.
Fixed sounds not playing correctly when picking up items similar to other items already in your inventory.
Fixed certain destruction sounds not playing correctly.
Camp music will now play correctly after loading a game and going straight to camp.
Fixed placement of several smaller sceneries and items to reduce pathfinding issues.
Fixed physics issues on village house roofs.
Baelan’s wig was removed, and he is now correctly bald, as stated in Derryth’s dialogue.
Fixed circlets not fitting correctly on Githyanki heads.
Added new icons and updated several existing ones for statuses, spells and tooltips.
Fixed some portraits of NPC’s not being centered correctly.
Fixed not being able to shove characters off the skiffs in the Underdark. Happy shoving!
Fixed several instances of helmet hair (hair disappearing in spots it should not, when equipping helmets on specific characters).
Fixed an issue with fire bowls not falling down after shooting the hinge.
Fixed missing tails on cambions.
Made it harder to accidentally jump off the ship in Avernus.
Added correct dog collar model.
Fixed several minor clipping issues.
Fixed a few item destruction models.

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