The closed beta for the big Patch 7 should have started already. But there are technical problems. At least Larian is sharing the first patch notes as a consolation
Wait a minute, did I read the calendar wrong?If you successfully applied for the Closed Beta of Patch 7 forBaldur’s Gate 3you might be surprised when you wake up today – it was supposed to start already! But Larian has postponed the test phase at the last minute because technical problems need to be fixed first.
When will the Closed Beta of Patch 7 take place? There is no exact date yet, but it should start this week, i.e. before July 28, 2024. Registrationvia Steamis still open.
This is in the first patch notes
We won’t repeat that there will be new bad endings and modding tools, as we reported on that just a few days ago. These changes, on the other hand, were previously unknown or less well known:
Honour Mode Light:You can activate special mechanics from the most difficult game mode in your custom difficulty level without having to accept perma-death. For example, if you just want to make fights harder, you can give many bosses new legendary actions.
UI improvements:The video options are to be made clearer, and improvements are also being made to the game itself. For example, soap is now called “Use” and no longer “Consume”. You no longer have to laboriously deactivate reactions, you simply select the one you want to perform
Gameplay:
- A certain clan of scaly creatures from Act 1 now appears in the finale and will help you if you make friends with them.
- The Gondians will now also help you with a special gift in the final battle if you are allies.
- You can no longer bypass a challenge in Shar’s Temple using auto-finding.
- When you select supplies for the long rest, the game will now only take as many from a pile as are actually needed.
Other:
- Astarion no longer stands reading in the camp all the time, but gets other animations.
- Minsc has also learned something new and sometimes demonstrates his Tai Chi.
- Some details in the companions’ personal stories have been adjusted,read this part (under the heading “Writing and Flow”) in the patch notes only if you don’t mind spoilers!
As already mentioned, you can find the complete patch notes released so far on the next page. Despite the postponed Closed Beta, the release of Patch 7 in September 2024 will not change for the time being. An exact release date was not yet known anyway, so Larian has some leeway until the end of the month
The first patch notes for patch 7
HIGHLIGHTS
- Introduction of ‘Evil Endings’: Brand new cinematic endings for the truly villainous sections of the game.
- Added our own mod manager, allowing you to browse, install and use mods created by the community.
- Split screen gameplay has been reworked: When playing in split-screen, the two halves of the screen will now dynamically merge when player characters approach each other in-game, and dynamically separate again when characters move apart. This overhaul comes along with many other improvements and optimizations to enhance the overall splitscreen experience.
Honor Mode Battle
- When Dror Ragzlin finds himself in the spider pit, he’ll do his best to befriend the spiders living there with a new spell called Arachnid Compulsion so they can band together to fight the real enemy – you.
- The Bulette has a new condition called Diamond Scale and a new legendary action called Shredding Scale.
- Malus Thorm has a new legendary action called Grab Appendage.
- A new aura and a new spell for spectators have been added: Panicked Guardian and Eye Nightmare, respectively.
- Ch’r’ai Tska’an, the leader of the Githyanki ambush in Act II, has a new legendary action called Soul Sacrifice.
- Ch’r’ai Har’rak, the githyanki leader of the Knights of the Shield hideout, has a new legendary action called Tu’narath’s Embrace.
- Ptaris has a new legendary action called Ptarian Dogma.
UI
- The in-game video options have been reworked and reorganized to be more logical and robust. There is now an upscaling type dropdown menu, an upscaling mode dropdown menu, and an upscaling sharpness slider immediately followed by the options it affects.
- The user interface for reactions has been updated so that you only need to select the desired reactions and then confirm. (This means you no longer have to select “Do not react” multiple times).
- A new menu for equipment options has been added to the character sheet on the controller.
- The window that opens to donate magic items to Gale now also shows the items in the traveler’s chest. It also now shows which items are currently equipped.
- We’ve noticed that some of you have hiccup bubbles, so the action that lets you wash with soap and sponges is now called ‘Use’ instead of ‘Consume’.
- The name of your player character has been reset to ‘Custom’ during character creation when you went to create your Dream Guardian and then went back to edit the player character again.
- When selecting an ability during level up, the wrong spell ability was displayed.
Type
- Added a new loading screen in Act III showing the bustling streets of Baldur’s Gate.
- Fixed the missing skirt part of the adamantine rail armor for female dwarves.
- Fixed the adamantine scale armor cutting off on large male characters.
Gameplay
- You can now start games in custom mode with the honor mode mechanic when you start a new playthrough. You can do this via the “Ruleset” dropdown menu.
- The Kuo-Toa who promised to build you an army will now support you in the final battle. Unless they all died in the first act.
- The help the Gondians promised for the final battle will now arrive in the form of a friendly Steel Guardian. Apologies from Zanner Toobin for the delay.
- The hair color options in character creation will now remain accessible after choosing baldness, so you can continue to play around with eyebrow colors.
- Overhead dialogs that support multiple player characters can now include characters assigned to different players. (Previously they were limited to characters controlled by a single player). This means there will be more banter between player characters in multiplayer games.
- Group Hide will no longer affect summons that are not associated with the party in the Party Line.
- The behavior when selecting stockpiles for a long rest has been changed. When selecting stockpiles that are stacked, the game now only takes what it needs from the stack.
- The Leap of Faith trial at Shar’s gauntlet can no longer be cleared by simply clicking on the last platform and letting your character find their way there. Shar has threatened to destroy us if we don’t fix this bug.
- Fixed a bug where resurrecting Lae’zel on the beach in Act I would cause her to appear in the party line but not in the world, making it impossible to leave Act I.
- Corrected some scores where Gale still had his Necrotic Aura even though he wasn’t supposed to have it when loading.
- Minthara’s body sometimes became invisible in the level-up screen. (We kinda liked the floating head and hands, but hey.)
Animation
- Astarion now has idle animations in stock that don’t just consist of reading a book.
- Minsc has a new idle animation at camp – Boo may or may not have taught him Tai Chi.
- Karlach no longer brushes the shaved side of her head.
- The appearance of neck kisses in infatuation scenes with Shadowheart on the Sharran Path has been improved for characters with large bodies and for Dragonborn.
Writing and Flow
- Some dialog options and spoken lines have been added to the game’s dialogs to increase overall responsiveness, especially to accommodate the flow of edge cases.
- Added more responsiveness for the dark urge (dialog options and narrator lines) in dialogs throughout the game.
- Fixed an issue that caused some romance party banter to be inaccessible during the adventure.
- Avatar Lae’zel can now decide what she wants to do at the end of the game, even if she was not the avatar who made the decisions in the main dialog.
- A dialog option asking for a kiss has been added to several paths of Wyll’s epilogue dialog.
- When in holographic form in the Epilogue, Wyll no longer automatically assumes he is talking to Lae’zel.
- Wyll has been given a new greeting for lovers in Act III and characters with very low approval ratings.
- Companions should now be more understanding of Astarion on the run from the sun.
- Added new dialog where Karlach will respond to Dammon when she finds him dead after he tells her he can help her.
- Minthara now reacts when you knock her out in the first act.
Scripting
- Fixed several issues (related to resurrecting characters via Withers, party reorganization at night, and automatic night scenes in camp) that caused you to be trapped in an eternal slumber and unable to complete a Long Rest.
- Fixed a bug that caused Shadowheart to keep repeating a line when talking to her after she was revived by Withers from the Shadowfell.
- Fixed a minor game flow issue that prevented you from commenting on Gale’s last name.
- Fixed some instances where Wyll still had an exclamation mark over his head even though he had already said everything he needed to say.
- When playing as Dark Urge, Minthara no longer behaves as if you have accepted Bhaal
- Fixed a broken kiss scene after giving Shadowheart the idol of Shar.
- Fixed an issue where Jaheira would stop following the party after spending a night away from the party.
- Fixed an issue where the rune panels on the nautiloid would sometimes not trigger the narrator’s lines.
- Clerics of Lathander should now recognize his symbol on a Lathander amulet.
- Made sure that the Avatar is favored as the main narrator in dialogue related to the Witch’s surrender in Act One.
- Minthara now actually has something to say after you kill her.
- The nighttime love scene with Wyll in Act III can no longer be skipped when triggered to avoid accidentally skipping it and not being able to finish the love scene.
- When Avatar Karlach and Wyll are partners and walking together, he now behaves accordingly during the epilogue.
- Fixed Karlach’s scene not playing when choosing to go with her as Wyll.
- Fixed a bug so that Wyll will now speak to his father if the pact with Mizora is broken and Ravengard is saved anyway to decide his title.
- Lae’zel will now wait a little longer for you at her recruitment location when you tell her you’re coming back.
- Lae’zel’s idle behavior has been improved to better match that of the other companions.
- Fixed the crossfade after Karlach’s scene at the end of the game where you could take a quick look at the Game Developer Land.
- When you break up with Karlach by talking to another companion you’re with the morning after their love scene, their dialog will no longer be blocked.
- Reinstated Gale’s last line in his detailed explanation of ceremorphosis and adjusted a dialog option in response.
- Now that you can give Gale magic items from the traveler’s chest, he will leave again if you refuse to do so.
- Fixed some game saves that had a bug that prevented the dialog between Gale and the end of the game from triggering.
- Fixed a bug that allowed Gale to be kissed even if he was in a disguised form before the confrontation. Also fixed the dialog where he would break off before you could give him a kiss.
- The script that determines if a character is too busy to speak has been reworked. This prevents bugs such as Minthara’s dialog not triggering after her rescue in Moonrise Towers, and knock-on effects such as the inability to rest or fast travel.
Power
- Continued performance and stability optimizations throughout the game and many code fixes under the hood.
- Optimized performance. This will be especially noticeable in areas with a large number of NPCs (such as the Undercity) and will reduce peak memory usage when loading levels for the first time. It will also be noticeable when managing a lot of loot (e.g. when transferring everything from a storage chest to a character’s inventory).
Cinematics
- The cutscene that plays when you interact with has been reworked and polished.
- Facial expressions and emotions in companion dialog have been reworked, including the character’s facial animations during some kiss cinematics, including with the Astarion.
Note: Please keep in mind that these are just some highlights from Patch 7 and we will release the full patch notes once Patch 7 is available for everyone.
