Another day, another Baldur’s Gate 3 hotfix, this one being number 34, or version 4.1.1.6931813 of the game if you really want to be specific. There’s a number of fixes we’ll get to in a minute, but first the thing you’re probably most excited to hear: it has a native Steam Deck build now! Developer Larian Studios shared word of this change in a Steam news post today, and what exactly it means for you.
The big things you should now notice while playing on Steam Deck is that the RPG has a more stable framerate, that loading times won’t be quite as long, and just generally smoother gameplay. As explained in the news post, this hotfix has made some changes to how game models are streamed in, meaning across all platforms areas like the Lower City in Act 3 that are known for their framerate spikes will work better too.
In turns of the big difference between the previous version of Baldur’s Gate 3 and this one for Steam Deck users, before it was a Proton version that ran on the Steam Deck via a Proton compatibility layer. This meant it was more intensive on the handheld’s CPU, but now that it runs natively it’ll need less CPU usage and memory consumption overall!”
There’s some details on where to find your saves in both versions of the game, and if you use Steam Cloud saves, you’ll find your saves post-update anyway. As long as you’re logged into your Larian account, all mods you’re subscribed to should be downloaded when the game transitions into the native build.
Now, some of the other more general fixes! On the gameplay side, the Hound of Ill Omen and the Accursed Spectre’s HP will no longer be affected by difficulty modifiers for enemy characters. An annoying bug that caused the Apostle of Myrkul to gain HP every time you would load a save mid-combat in Tactician and Honour Mode has also been fixed.
There are a bunch of audio fixes in this one too, like an issue where it sounded like smokepowder explosions going off on the floor above on the ground floor of Felogyr’s Fireworks would send like they’re happening next to you instead.
Perhaps my favourite fix is in the cinematics section, which simply reads, “Told one of the imps on the nautiloid to stop looking in the wrong direction.” You tell ’em, patch notes writer. You can read the full list of patch notes here.
