Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 2 is Out Now; Brings Additional Story for Karlach, Bug Fixes, and More

Larian Studios has announced that the second major patch for Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on PC. The much-awaited patch brings fixes for a number of different issues plaguing the game, as well as some quality of life features.

One of the key new features as part of the update is the ability for players to now dismiss co-op party members in their campaign. This allows for players who may have started off playing through the game with friends, but have since had to continue alone. Since a solo playthrough benefits more from having the game’s Origin characters present in the party rather than a bunch of custom characters, this change now allows players to continue their campaign without having to start over.

The update also brings with it a host of smaller changes, including performance optimizations across the board through various behind-the-scenes tweaks. Save file sizes have also been reduced, with the game now offering players more options to help manage their save games.

Check out the complete patch notes below, but be aware that there will definitely be some spoilers, since the update also affects some story elements in Baldur’s Gate 3.

HIGHLIGHTS

Features

Introducing Withers’ Wardrobe of Wayward Friends! You can now dismiss co-op party members from your campaign.
Performance optimisations across the board.
Reduced the size of savegames.

Karlach

This patch brings an additional scene to conclude the ending in which Karlach decides to travel to Avernus.
If Karlach is in your party at the end of the game and the Blade of Avernus offers to go to the Hells with her, you can now decide whether to go with them, go alone with Karlach, or let them go by themselves.
Added new moments for companion and avatar Karlach to reflect on the state of her engine between acts.
Added a new moment for avatar Karlach to reflect on the possibility of her engine burning out after getting her second upgrade.

Blockers

Fixed potentially getting stuck in combat because a player character cannot be selected to end their turn.
Fixed an issue causing you to get stuck in dialogue with Angry Mar’hyah and Oyster Boy Dringo by the Sword Coast Couriers.

UI Improvements

Added a ‘Delete all but latest’ option for each campaign, so you can regain a little storage space wiggle room.
Added new icons for equipped items! It’s easier to tell if they’re equipped by the selected character, one of your characters, or another player’s character. (Who’s hoarding all the interesting equipment?)
Added item rarity filters to the inventory.
Your Turn notification now lists which character’s turn it is.
The character summary on Level Up will now update to reflect changes in ability scores.
The Active Search list now persists after being opened and is more informative.
Action Radial now creates containers for spells created by other spells, making them easier to manage.

CRASHES AND BLOCKERS

Fixed an issue blocking saving.
Fixed a crash when finishing Character Creation.
Fixed a crash when generating loot that can’t be picked up.
Fixed a crash when switching between controller and keyboard while scrolling up and down the credits.
Fixed a crash when assigning an action to a slot in the radial menu.
Fixed a crash when loading a savegame.
Fixed a crash when selecting ‘Pick Up and Add to Wares’ on a multiselection that included a corpse.
Fixed potentially getting stuck in combat because a player character cannot be selected to end their turn.
Fixed an issue with picking up corpses within containers.
Putting a dead character in a container and then yeeting that container into a chasm will no longer permanently destroy the character – they will now float around as a resurrectable Soul Echo as expected.
You will no longer get stuck in dialogue if you disconnect during an active roll and then reconnect.
You’ll no longer get stuck or die beneath the platform at the Adamantine Forge if you go to camp, use the platform, and then return from camp.
Fixed an issue causing you to get stuck in dialogue with Angry Mar’hyah and Oyster Boy Dringo by the Sword Coast Couriers.
Fixed a crash on venturing forth while the passives tab is selected.

PERFORMANCE AND OPTIMISATION

Improved performance and made optimisations across the game.
Improved CPU load.
Made performance improvements related to controller movement.
Made optimisations for when moving around the world on controller.
Moved surface texture and decal creation to worker threads.
Moved loading shroud textures to worker threads.
When AI can use a nearby AI hint, limit AI flooding.
Improved minimap performance.
Optimised the controller map by removing some duplicate items.
Reduced the size of savegames.
Made changes to make loading savegames made in older patch versions significantly faster. These changes will continue to make loading old savegames speedier in any patches and hotfixes to come.
Removed some unnecessary calls for the hotbar to update to improve on stuttering.
Slightly delayed when tooltips pop up when hovering over things like actions, items, and spells. This prevents the game from unnecessarily loading and unloading tooltips. The delay is now set to 200 milliseconds. Still reactive, more performant.
Made optimisations for selectable elements on controller.
Removed an irrelevant sound analytics event for optimisation.
Fixed a memory leak when opening the inventory with a controller connected.
Fixed a memory leak when streaming textures.
Wrote velocity vectors to help with overall visual quality (e.g. when using TAA, to reducing visual aliasing).

Hotbar and HUD

Made the hotbar icons for the number of unlocked and available Spell Slots you have more intuitive.
Fixed hotbar sliders disappearing when changing the selected character while sliding them.
Fixed the portraits of summons not fitting in their frames in the Party Line.

Inventory

Improved the Light Source tooltip to clarify the purpose of the slot.
Removed duplicate ‘close’ prompts when the equipment slot pop-up is open. We got it the first time, thanks.
Tweaked the layout for equipment slots in the Character Sheet on splitscreen.
If you’re carrying a character in your inventory and the weight of that character’s inventory changes, that character’s weight will now update too.

Combat

Fixed portraits in the Turn Order UI sometimes disappearing under certain conditions.
Fixed the Combat Log not always showing attack damage rolls after loading a savegame.
Fixed advantage and disadvantage indicators sometimes showing up in the Active Roll UI in dialogue even if you didn’t have any available.
The Combat Log will now have entries for all items looted from corpses.
Fixed the health bar animation.
Fixed the Unbreakable Will of the Netherbrain missing its portrait and character model in its Examine panel.
Fixed the Saving Throw overhead icon appearing over very-much-dead characters.
Fixed Attack Roll bonuses sometimes being duplicated as penalties beneath the Turn Order UI in combat.
Added information to reaction tooltips about whether the reaction is enabled and whether it’s set to ask you before triggering or not. Also made sure the resource type (‘Reaction’) appears at the bottom of the tooltips.
The ‘Ask’ icon for reactions will now only be editable when a reaction is enabled.

Spells

Fixed the Learn More Spells button opening the window for the currently selected character instead of the character whose Character Sheet you clicked it on.
Fixed hardcoded text saying ‘Manage powers’ so that it can be translated.

Journal

If there were lots of speakers in a dialogue, the list of their names will no longer be cut off in the Dialogue History UI.
Quest categories and entries in the Journal will now remember whether you’ve expanded or collapsed them.

Trading

Added a mouse-over label to the Balance Offer button in the Barter UI for clarity.

Tooltips

Fixed conditions on nested tooltips not showing on pinned tooltips.
Added Agonising Blast’s Charisma modifier bonus to the damage on the Eldritch Blast tooltip.

Saves

Added the difficulty setting to the savegame information.
Savegames will now save under your character’s name even if you’re polymorphed. No more savegames called ‘Sheep’… unless, of course, that’s your character’s name.
Updated text to fit a button in the Load/Save window.

Options

Organised the Keybinds menu into categories to make it more user-friendly.
Reordered and reworked the Options menus to make them more intuitive.
The Options menu now closes when you enter a dialogue while it’s open.
Fixed the Reset Tutorials button in the Options menu not working as expected.

Character Creation, Level Up

You can skip the Level Up animation.
Fixed the class icon overlapping the Level Up banner.
Fixed the Level Up UI sometimes disappearing when levelling up.

Miscellaneous

Fixed an issue causing the UI to disappear after speaking to Blurg.
Made sure some non-player-facing conditions and passives don’t rear their heads.
Made the context menu animation snappier and tweaked the background for a brighter, neater appearance.
Brightened up the tutorial pop-ups and improved the alignment.
Fixed the Change Difficulty screen fading a little too late and appearing briefly on the Main Menu.
Fixed overlapping text for bonus names in the Active Roll UI.
Fixed some text being cut off in the Alchemy UI for translated languages.
Fixed the ping action prompt saying ’empty’ when targeting containers.

CONTROLLER

Radials

The shortcut menu and character selection are now accessible from the Action Radial menu.
Added Fast Travel to the character radial menu.
Added shortcut prompts to the Jump and Hide actions on the Action Radial menu.
Added a short delay to stick input after selecting an Action in the radial menus to avoid accidentally selecting something immediately after that or moving the camera.
Limited the maximum number of radial menus.
Fixed ritual spells not being marked as such on the Action Radial menu. We promise, they don’t cost a spell slot!
Fixed tooltips showing up in the Action Radial menu even if you have nothing selected.
Added additional error messages for the radial menus.
Added more detailed warning messages on controller to indicate why you can’t perform a certain spell or action.
Spell variants will now be placed at the top of the Action Radial menu instead of in the next available free slot, making it more consistent and user-friendly.
Added a missing icon for Heal in the radial menu.

Character Sheet

Made several improvements to the Character Sheet, for example by adding zoom capability; updating the style of lists, the XP bar, and equipment slots; and adding an indicator for the character’s main Ability.
Fixed the Light Source menu not filtering light sources properly.
Added a brief description of what reactions are.
Fixed the abbreviations for Abilities not fitting properly in Russian.
Fixed some clipping and overlapping in the Character Sheet.
Moved the Consume action to the context menu and restored the Equip action as the default in the inventory panel.
Fixed the prompt to toggle tooltips showing in the Character Sheet filters, and fixed the background of the slots increasing if the text on them is long.
Fixed Character Sheet navigation issues when using filters.
Equipping an item via the equipment slot pop-up in the Character Sheet will no longer close the pop-up immediately.
Repositioned tooltips slightly when checking equipment slots.
Fixed some missing tooltips in the Character Sheet.

World Interaction

Added information about the state of containers (e.g. if they’re empty) to the Active Search menu.
Fixed a small issue in cursor error messages.
Fixed the ping action not exiting the ping state on Left Stick Press.
Fixed the Examine panel on objects or characters with multiple resistances not scrolling properly.
Made it possible to select and inspect more items in the Examine panel, like item descriptions and conditions.
Fixed some portraits missing in the Examine panel and polished the selector.
Fixed the context menu not being navigable using the D-pad.

HUD

Fixed issues with overlapping text and UI fading in the Party Line and the Resource Bar.
Fixed an issue preventing you from grouping or splitting summons when you only have one party member available.
Removed arrow icons from D-pad button prompts.
Updated button prompts and made them look consistent.
Added a background image for Luck Points to match the other resources.
Fixed the Long Rest button prompts falling off the edge of the screen or overlapping other button prompts, particularly in translated languages.
Fixed the button prompts overlapping the Resource Bar in Turn-Based Mode.
Cleaned up button prompts at the bottom of the screen to make them more consistent.
Made improvements to the action resource bar, such as position and colour changes. Also reworked the movement indicator to account for larger numbers, and increased icon width to avoid stretching.

Spells

Fixed not being able to cast a spell with variants from a spell scroll.
Fixed some overflowing text in the Spellbook for translated languages.
Tweaked the appearance of default spells in the Prepared Spells section of the Spellbook so they don’t look inaccessible.
Added more information to the Spellbook about when you can and cannot change your spells, even if you’re not a spellcasting class.

Combat

Made it more obvious if you’re low on health at the start of your turn in combat.
Fixed not being able to attack stalactites with ranged spells.

Tweaked the Reactions UI.

Added surface information to the cursor on controller, rearranged some of the cursor target details, added a new overlay for surfaces when D-pad is pressed down, and added the Actions prompt in combat.
Improved readability in the Combat Log by reducing empty space and tightening up the list.
Made reactions that are turned off still readable and gave them a greyed out icon.

Tooltips

Adjusted some margins and sizes in tooltips to avoid issues like damage text getting cut off.
Improved the tooltips: added new icons; tidied them up with new font sizes and placement; fixed the Inspect prompt; added the right colour and icon for the Equipped line; and added a new frame, footer, and header style.
Tooltip prompts now show if they’re enabled or not.
Tweaked the placement of tooltips for open containers.
Fixed tooltips showing up in dialogue while the dialogue options are still hidden.
Fixed the width of pinned tooltips changing when selected.

Trading

Pressing your cancel button will now close the filter pop-up in the Trade UI.
Fixed the trade button prompts overlapping the split item button prompts.
Fixed the trader attitude not showing up in the Trade window.

Character Creation, Level Up

You can now rotate and zoom in and out on your character in Character Creation when you’re choosing a name.
You can now access multiplayer settings during Character Creation as well.
Fixed scrolling with controller in the Prepare Spells section of Level Up.
Fixed characters in Character Creation sometimes getting obscured by tooltips on controller.
Added a grid icon and button prompt on Character Creation options that open up a grid for selection (like when choosing colours) on controller.
On splitscreen, if one player is watching an Origin character’s introduction and another is zooming in and out and spinning their character around in Character Creation, that second person’s
button prompts will no longer affect the Origin character’s introduction.
Spell tooltips in Character Creation will now always show up in the same horizontal alignment.
Fixed the alignment of chevrons in the Character Creator.

Miscellaneous

Fixed the Enter Invite Code textbox for Direct Connect getting cleared when you deselect it.
Made general visual improvements to the controller UI.
Fixed scrolling and cropped text in the Journal.
Added information about how long you need to press-and-hold.
Fixed some issues with navigating the Dialogue History UI.
Updated the layout of the Save/Load window, added in-game locations for quicksaves and autosaves, and made it possible to see longer savegame names.
Adjusted line heights in the multiplayer lobby and Options menus to save space and reduce the need to scroll.

MULTIPLAYER UI

Fixed secondary local players not having quest, location, and secret map markers unlocked until saving or loading.
Fixed some host error messages appearing on client screens.
Dialogue interface settings (such as font size) will now be applied to both players in splitscreen.
Enabled the Combat Feed on splitscreen.
Fixed some of the UI getting cut off on splitscreen when a player is in the multiplayer settings.
Fixed tooltips overlapping the party line on splitscreen.
Fixed button prompts being mirrored when connecting a secondary local player.
Fixed an empty notification when another player starts their turn in splitscreen.
Fixed multiselection for containers in splitscreen.
Fixed splitscreen not hiding when a fullscreen UI (like the Save window) is opened, causing you to see things like tooltips in the fullscreen UI.
Fixed the alignment of the Turn Order UI in split screen, when two players are in different combats at the same time.

GAMEPLAY

If you dismiss your companion to camp and shove them into a chasm, Withers will now be able to resurrect them… so you can shove them into a chasm again, probably.
Clicking a party member’s portrait on the map or minimap will now select that character and focus on them.
Fixed client–server inconsistencies for Attack of Opportunity, causing the client to incorrectly indicate that an entity will react to you even if it can’t (e.g. if it’s Prone or Unconscious).
Fixed characters’ Soul Echoes sometimes teleporting away from where the character died.
Fixed projectiles not waiting for items to leave inventories.
Fixed the ‘Hide during dialogues’ option for helmets sometimes causing your character to lose their hair after a dialogue.
The portal to the House of Hope will no longer decide to become invisible.
Fixed complex idle animations sometimes not starting.
Falling items will now leave Turn-Based Mode and then re-enter after falling to fix them remaining suspended in the air.
Removed the examine option from some objects that shouldn’t be examinable.
Fixed knocked-down entities always playing their knocked-down animation when loaded into frame.
Fixed the Falling damage number preview when preparing to Jump not always matching how much damage will actually be dealt.
Fixed edge panning not working correctly when the camera is locked on a party member.
Fixed reactions not always triggering if you Sneak and then cast Silence, or when using Astarion’s Vampire Bite action.
Active Search: the starting search radius is increased, the camera moves to the selected item, and you now get a button hint for Active Search after every combat until Level 3.
The tutorial pop-up for trapped items won’t trigger anymore when coming near certain destroyed traps.
Fixed the option to pickpocket your companions sometimes disappearing in single player.
Prevented you from being able to multiselect and then drop other players’ items.
Fixed not being able to split item stacks outside of your turn.
Fixed not being able to enter Turn-Based Mode with a Downed character.
Fixed items briefly appearing beneath your feet when you pick them up.
Fixed being able to see characters turn towards you briefly before a dialogue starts.
Fixed the lava VFX disappearing if you load a game that was saved during the combat with Grym.

COMBAT AND BALANCE

Fixed an issue with auras causing NPCs to make inefficient choices like running towards you to Shove you, then running away again to make a ranged attack.
Fixed Ansur’s Stormheart Nova blasting right through the ice shields you can hide behind.
Aggressive beasts now enter combat instead of fleeing when attacked from afar. Additionally, when you attack an NPC from afar out of combat, they’re now more likely to sprint up to you (instead of getting stuck).
Fixed your resources not getting restored on your next turn if you join a combat late.
Viconia is no longer too stubborn to die. She will now go down at 0 HP or when knocked out.
The timer in the Chamber of Courage will now reflect the correct number of turns remaining.
Fixed certain spells not taking into account inherited conditions.
Updated the grace period for joining a combat late to be at the end of world items’ turn in the 1st round.

FLOW AND SCRIPTING

Fixed Silenced characters sometimes not being able to start story-critical dialogues, like with other party members or bosses at the end of a combat.
Fixed an issue causing party members to be Silenced after every dialogue.
If you break your oath as a paladin, the Oathbreaker Knight will now come back to your camp in later acts, despite how much you may have scandalised him.
Fixed companions sometimes not saying anything during dialogues where they are supposed to make comments.
Fixed an issue where only the character who accepted the quest from Lucretious to find Dribbles could talk to her after doing so.
Fixed Gale not reacting to you having The Annals of Karsus.
Fixed Gale’s dialogue force-closing when offering him The Annals of Karsus.
Fixed Gale’s romance scene not triggering in Act I.
Fixed Gale commenting on a deal with Raphael before it’s made.
If Orin’s abductee gets killed on the altar before they’re rescued in gameplay, they will now remain dead.
Kerri will no longer get stuck in the Atelier if the dialogue didn’t trigger after the portrait was destroyed.
Fixed enemies sometimes spawning outside of the Atelier at the Jannath Estate when hitting the portrait.
Prisoners rescued from Moonrise Towers that take the boat with you will no longer attempt to arrest you for trespassing upon arriving at Last Light.
Fixed a bug causing Astarion to be permanently knocked out by the vampire spawn during a camp night and disappearing after a Long Rest.
Fixed a bug where Gortash had a dialogue bubble over him after being knocked out, but clicking on him wouldn’t result in a dialogue – the bubble is no longer present and you can now loot him after knocking him out.
Fixed a bug where Ravengard would disappear from the camp after Mizora resurrected him.
Dark Urge players turning into the Slayer during dialogue will now have the appropriate level of the Slayer form during the duel with Orin.

CHARACTER CREATION AND LEVEL UP

You can skip the Level Up animation.
Fixed characters in Character Creation sometimes getting obscured by tooltips on controller.
Spell tooltips in Character Creation will now always show up in the same horizontal alignment.
Fixed the class icon overlapping the Level Up banner.
Added a grid icon and button prompt on Character Creation options that open up a grid for selection (like when choosing colours) on controller.
On splitscreen, if one player is watching an Origin character’s introduction and another is zooming in and out and spinning their character around in Character Creation, that second person’s button prompts will no longer affect the Origin character’s introduction.
The character summary on Level Up will now update to reflect changes in ability scores.
Fixed the alignment of chevrons in the Character Creator.

LEVEL DESIGN AND MAP

Fixed some artefacts appearing at the bottom right of the screen due to fog of war.
Fixed the map shroud not working correctly in one area of the Goblin Camp.
Fixed a bug preventing you from walking on certain items, like the fireplace in the Teahouse.

STEAM DECK

Reworked our system for default video options so that values are defined per platform. For example, the Steam Deck will now default to 16:9.
Settings now default to auto-rotate camera with speed set to max. This works better for a snappy handheld experience.

CINEMATICS

Cleaned up some mocap in dialogues across the game.
Fixed healing numbers appearing in the cinematic dialogue when you press the button in the Dank Crypt.
When taking the final Netherstone from Orin, dead Gortash is no longer floating in the air.
Fixed your head clipping into Wyll’s as you kiss on the ground.

OTHER