At which point in the game are the savegames saved?
At the very beginning of the nautiloid tutorial area. Once the first cutscene is done, you'll have 4 Origin characters in your party. You can then watch the other 3 cutscenes by clicking on their portraits.
Are the Origin characters in the savegame files vanilla or changed/modded?
They all just use the default stats and options. Even spell selections weren't changed.
Does this mean that all of them have the same look for their Dream Guardians?
No, Dream Guardians are the only semi-customization I made. Durge got the default femme drow guardian but I felt it necessary to differentiate the others' guardians a little--default femme elf for Astarion, default masc githyanki for Lae'zel, default femme human for Gale, default masc half-elf for Shadowheart, default femme tiefling for Wyll, and default strong masc tiefling for Karlach.
Well that's disappointing. Is there a way to customize the Origin characters and their Dream Guardians in the middle of a playthrough?
I believe you can use Appearance Edit Enhanced for the Origins, not sure about the Dream Guardians, though. If anyone knows the answer(s) please post a comment below.
There are 7 Origin companions to choose 4 from so there should be 35 savegame files, but there's only 25. Why?
Because Karlach and Wyll can't both be selected on the same playthrough. For story reasons.
Can Origin characters romance each other?
No, because they're all under your control. They can romance the other non-Origin companions as normal, though, so you can potentially have 4 couples.
Do the Origin characters still engage in party banter?
Yes, they say their usual lines as normal.
Does having 4 Origin characters mean I get to play 4 simultaneous Origin storylines?
Yes. Even the Dark Urge arc.
Why choose Honour Mode for these savegames?
This was a tough decision. On one hand, the game has been out for 1-1/2 years now so I expect most players wouldn't mind the challenge. On the other hand, a player might choose this mod precisely because they'd just want to roleplay the Companions. Ultimately I went with Honour Mode because we can't change to that difficulty from the other modes, but we can change to other diffiulties from Honour (it does require a TPK so I apologize in advance if this breaks your immersion).
Can you make a savegame with a Tav instead?
I'd really rather not. But there are instructions below on how to make your own multiplayer game and create up to 4 Tavs. .
How to Create 2 or More Characters per Playthrough
As with all instruction manuals, please read through the steps first before actually doing the thing.
First, a disclaimer. If your PC barely passes BG3's system requirements, do NOT try this. This method will require you to open multiple instances of the game which will push your PC beyond its limits, possibly damaging your graphics card and/or power supply unit. Close all unnecessary programs and tasks running in the background regardless of how good your PC build is.
Note 1: Before doing the multiplayer steps below, do a preliminary character creation and write down your choices. That way you won't have to spend a lot of time with character creation while 2 or more active game instances are open, which could be taxing on system resources. Then restart your PC before proceeding.
1. Don't use the Larian Launcher when opening the game for the next steps. Instead, open your <Baldur's Gate 3/bin> folder and look for bg3.exe (if you use Vulcan) or bg3_dx11.exe (if you use DirectX). Create a desktop shortcut for your exe file and close Windows Explorer.
2. Open the game using the shortcut. Go to video settings and select windowed mode, then the lowest resolution, and the lowest settings possible.
3. Go to Multiplayer and create a lobby. Select the difficulty level you want and click on Direct Connections--this will generate a Server ID below it. Click on Copy to Clipboard. Minimize the window.
Note 2: To prevent a system hang, always minimize a game window to Taskbar when not using it. Apparently, Vulcan and DirectX don't like working on 2 separate windows with heavy graphics.
4. Launch a second instance of the game and go to Multiplayer. Click on Direct Connect and paste the connection ID using the button on the right of the empty field.
5. Click on Connect. A message will appear telling you that the host is waiting to accept the request to join. Minimize this window and switch back to the first window. Click on Yes to approve the request. Minimize the window.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 if you want a third player character. And repeat again for a fourth character. The game does not support more than 4 player characters, however.
7. Return to your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th windows and click on Ready. (Be sure to minimize and then restore as needed only.)
8. Go back to the 1st window, verify that each profile is on Ready, check the settings you want, and click on Launch.
9. Create your characters. Do this as quickly as possible. Use the first window to Venture Forth into the game.
Note 3: Resist the urge to watch the opening cutscenes! If you're not on Honour Mode you can watch each of the characters' cutscenes later through the first autosave.
10. Once the cutscenes are done, close the windows one by one except for the first one. You can just use the X button on the upper right, you don't have to go through the menu.
11. With just one window left open, make a proper "big girl save" and exit to the main menu. Restore your original video settings and exit the game. Restart your PC.
Quick question, how does the epilogue play out? Does each origin cutscene play out? Who gets to make the decisions regarding the non-origin companions?
Quick question, how does the epilogue play out? Does each origin cutscene play out?
Yes, all the epilogue cutscenes happen as expected for each origin character. (Same thing if you have custom Tavs and/or whether you're using the Polyamory mod, in case you're curious.)
Who gets to make the decisions regarding the non-origin companions?
Ever since I started playing with multiple PCs (Origins and Tavs) I've made sure to assign just one to each non-Origin who will act as that non-Origin's "contact person." That is, the PC who recruited the NPC companion will be the only one to talk to them throughout the game (and the only one to try to romance them). This ensures that most of the Approval points the companion grants would go to the one assigned to them and, as far as I can tell, also ensures that cutscenes for that companion will always include the partnered PC.
This isn't 100% reliable, however. There are times when another PC will appear in a cutscene for a companion they're not partnered with (and it's usually PC #1). The one scene that this always happens for me is the one where Karlach confonts that certain group of people right after her she joins the party; so I move all the other PCs in the adjacent room just to make sure that the cutscene happens with the one I assigned to partner with her.
The only extreme example of an incorrectly partnered cutscene that I encountered would be Lae'zel's "romantic sunrise" scene in Act 3. For some reason it's always PC #1. So in one playthrough I had to temporarily kill my Durge (who was PC #1) and in another I placed Tav #1 in Withers' cabinet.
Gotcha, sounds good. Will have to give it a try! One last question, in the epilogue itself, does each origin get to choose their ending? Like for example, say Durge romances Karlach and Astarion romances Lae'Zel. When the epilogue plays out, would Astarion be able to choose to got to the astral plane with Lae'Zel, or would the decision fall down to Durge (since they would be the PC #1 I'd assume)?
In one playthrough I had Origin Shadowheart romance Lae'zel, and it was Shadowheart who made the decision for them. So it should be the same with Astarion+Lae'zel.
Thanks for this excellent idea to play in the new game! Everything is in order, but a mistake with sleep, when the heroes cannot wake up after a night scene, it is a little annoying, but nothing, I found a way to fix it from the console, I made me start a day. Other ways, so that everyone wakes up, simply does not work.I use a mod to increase the number of satellites to 16,Perhaps this mistake will not arise with another mod, I will test.
Hi! This is a common bug in the game. Usually I just cycle through all the party members on the left panel and see which character is causing the issue (it's usually Lae'zel). This works for me but some people have reported being soft-locked by the game. If this persists I recommend checking out the discussions in the Long Rest Bugfix mod and then download it if needed.
I was really stuck on what to do for my Patch 8 run, and here you are with the perfect solution. It's brilliant!! Thank you so much! I can only imagine how long this took...
I have a question about the Durge-included saves. I'm one of those weirdos who barely ever plays Durge so with a multiple Origin run, how does the story work? Does the narration more or less get railroaded by the Durge-specific storyline stuff or does it just depend on who you happen to be controlling at the time?
Hi! I'm in Act 3 of a Durge-Gale-Shadowheart-Wyll playthrough and so far none of the other storylines have been overshadowed by the Dark Urge. I have yet to get to the real heavy stuff, however, but as far as I can tell all their individual events have occured as intended.
It definitely helps if you're already familiar with each character's arc so you'll know who to front when speaking to an NPC, but it won't ruin the storyline if you don't.
And another tip I'd give is to get more long rests than usual, especially in Act 1, just to make sure that all of the camp cutscenes do happen.
11 comments
At the very beginning of the nautiloid tutorial area. Once the first cutscene is done, you'll have 4 Origin characters in your party. You can then watch the other 3 cutscenes by clicking on their portraits.
They all just use the default stats and options. Even spell selections weren't changed.
No, Dream Guardians are the only semi-customization I made. Durge got the default femme drow guardian but I felt it necessary to differentiate the others' guardians a little--default femme elf for Astarion, default masc githyanki for Lae'zel, default femme human for Gale, default masc half-elf for Shadowheart, default femme tiefling for Wyll, and default strong masc tiefling for Karlach.
I believe you can use Appearance Edit Enhanced for the Origins, not sure about the Dream Guardians, though. If anyone knows the answer(s) please post a comment below.
Because Karlach and Wyll can't both be selected on the same playthrough. For story reasons.
No, because they're all under your control. They can romance the other non-Origin companions as normal, though, so you can potentially have 4 couples.
Yes, they say their usual lines as normal.
Yes. Even the Dark Urge arc.
This was a tough decision. On one hand, the game has been out for 1-1/2 years now so I expect most players wouldn't mind the challenge. On the other hand, a player might choose this mod precisely because they'd just want to roleplay the Companions. Ultimately I went with Honour Mode because we can't change to that difficulty from the other modes, but we can change to other diffiulties from Honour (it does require a TPK so I apologize in advance if this breaks your immersion).
I'd really rather not. But there are instructions below on how to make your own multiplayer game and create up to 4 Tavs.
.
As with all instruction manuals, please read through the steps first before actually doing the thing.
First, a disclaimer. If your PC barely passes BG3's system requirements, do NOT try this. This method will require you to open multiple instances of the game which will push your PC beyond its limits, possibly damaging your graphics card and/or power supply unit. Close all unnecessary programs and tasks running in the background regardless of how good your PC build is.
Note 1: Before doing the multiplayer steps below, do a preliminary character creation and write down your choices. That way you won't have to spend a lot of time with character creation while 2 or more active game instances are open, which could be taxing on system resources. Then restart your PC before proceeding.
1. Don't use the Larian Launcher when opening the game for the next steps. Instead, open your <Baldur's Gate 3/bin> folder and look for bg3.exe (if you use Vulcan) or bg3_dx11.exe (if you use DirectX). Create a desktop shortcut for your exe file and close Windows Explorer.
2. Open the game using the shortcut. Go to video settings and select windowed mode, then the lowest resolution, and the lowest settings possible.
3. Go to Multiplayer and create a lobby. Select the difficulty level you want and click on Direct Connections--this will generate a Server ID below it. Click on Copy to Clipboard. Minimize the window.
Note 2: To prevent a system hang, always minimize a game window to Taskbar when not using it. Apparently, Vulcan and DirectX don't like working on 2 separate windows with heavy graphics.
4. Launch a second instance of the game and go to Multiplayer. Click on Direct Connect and paste the connection ID using the button on the right of the empty field.
5. Click on Connect. A message will appear telling you that the host is waiting to accept the request to join. Minimize this window and switch back to the first window. Click on Yes to approve the request. Minimize the window.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 if you want a third player character. And repeat again for a fourth character. The game does not support more than 4 player characters, however.
7. Return to your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th windows and click on Ready. (Be sure to minimize and then restore as needed only.)
8. Go back to the 1st window, verify that each profile is on Ready, check the settings you want, and click on Launch.
9. Create your characters. Do this as quickly as possible. Use the first window to Venture Forth into the game.
Note 3: Resist the urge to watch the opening cutscenes! If you're not on Honour Mode you can watch each of the characters' cutscenes later through the first autosave.
10. Once the cutscenes are done, close the windows one by one except for the first one. You can just use the X button on the upper right, you don't have to go through the menu.
11. With just one window left open, make a proper "big girl save" and exit to the main menu. Restore your original video settings and exit the game. Restart your PC.
12. Relaunch the game as normal and enjoy!
.
Yes, all the epilogue cutscenes happen as expected for each origin character. (Same thing if you have custom Tavs and/or whether you're using the Polyamory mod, in case you're curious.)
Ever since I started playing with multiple PCs (Origins and Tavs) I've made sure to assign just one to each non-Origin who will act as that non-Origin's "contact person." That is, the PC who recruited the NPC companion will be the only one to talk to them throughout the game (and the only one to try to romance them). This ensures that most of the Approval points the companion grants would go to the one assigned to them and, as far as I can tell, also ensures that cutscenes for that companion will always include the partnered PC.
This isn't 100% reliable, however. There are times when another PC will appear in a cutscene for a companion they're not partnered with (and it's usually PC #1). The one scene that this always happens for me is the one where Karlach confonts that certain group of people right after her she joins the party; so I move all the other PCs in the adjacent room just to make sure that the cutscene happens with the one I assigned to partner with her.
The only extreme example of an incorrectly partnered cutscene that I encountered would be Lae'zel's "romantic sunrise" scene in Act 3. For some reason it's always PC #1. So in one playthrough I had to temporarily kill my Durge (who was PC #1) and in another I placed Tav #1 in Withers' cabinet.
One last question, in the epilogue itself, does each origin get to choose their ending?
Like for example, say Durge romances Karlach and Astarion romances Lae'Zel. When the epilogue plays out, would Astarion be able to choose to got to the astral plane with Lae'Zel, or would the decision fall down to Durge (since they would be the PC #1 I'd assume)?
I have a question about the Durge-included saves. I'm one of those weirdos who barely ever plays Durge so with a multiple Origin run, how does the story work? Does the narration more or less get railroaded by the Durge-specific storyline stuff or does it just depend on who you happen to be controlling at the time?
It definitely helps if you're already familiar with each character's arc so you'll know who to front when speaking to an NPC, but it won't ruin the storyline if you don't.
And another tip I'd give is to get more long rests than usual, especially in Act 1, just to make sure that all of the camp cutscenes do happen.