• The developers of Baldur’s Gate 3 have revealed that they are working to bring official mod support via a toolkit.
• The toolkit will allow modders to access internal developer assets and test mods in-game.
• Through the Mod.io software, modders will even be able to upload mods for console players to install.

After seeing unprecedented success for a classic role-playing game since launching in August last year, Baldur’s Gate 3’s frequent patch rollout and community support have only aided the near-perfect experience to reach new heights.

The latest sees Larian Studios reveal that official support for making mods for Baldur’s Gate 3 is coming in the latest patch – Patch 7.

According to a statement published to Steam, Larian says that Patch 7 will bring “our first iteration of modding tools, evil endings, plus a whole bunch of fixes, quality of life improvements, and more that we’ll go into detail about in a future Community Update!”

Larian says that it is working on actively developing an official modding toolkit for the game, which has an active modding community already, with thousands of mods listed on its Nexus page. These mods were all made without an official toolkit, which usually makes it much easier for modders to create content.

This is exciting, as we could see really cool stuff coming from the modding community after the official mods toolkit drops with Patch 7, including new locations, characters, and more emerging from Baldur’s Gate 3’s passionate community of players.

Larian says that the official toolkit will allow mods to be more stable, but they will be more script-focused since the toolkit uses the Mod.io infrastructure. Mod.io will also allow mods to come to console, as it allows for upload and download management from the game client.

Unfortunately, only PC players will be able to use the modding toolkit, and already some top modders from the Steam community page have been invited by Larian to test out the toolkit.

“We want to support as much creative freedom as possible,” said the developers.

“Our goal with mod.io and our partners is to strike a balance that allows for extensive modding while keeping the guidelines in mind, and to open the door for mods to reach as many players as possible while ensuring they work seamlessly across different platforms. While some NSFW mods and certain script-heavy modifications may not be supported through the official pipeline, modding outside of our pipeline will still be an option,” it further explained.

The upcoming official toolkit to build mods for Baldur’s Gate 3 includes:

• “Access the editor to create your own mods,
• Upload mods directly to mod.io servers,
• Load levels read-only to look at all the local entities, as well as the setup, and test your mods in-game while creating them,
• Get access to our internal editors for supported asset types such as textures and visual models, allowing you to override them directly in your mod through the developer interface,
• Publish your mod via the editor where it will be moderated and made visible in the in-game browser, or pack your mod locally to upload to a third-party site,
• Mod UIs through file editing. We will provide documentation that will explain how our internals are set up to solve mod loading/compatibility issues,
• Within Baldur’s Gate 3 itself, you’ll be able to: Download and manage your mods directly and manage multiplayer and save game files through a verification UI.”

All in all, this sounds like a powerful modding toolkit, and the community will surely be excited about the upcoming support. However, you will need to create a Mod.io account to use the toolkit, and the fact that moderation will be enforced might drive users away to third-party services, but the fact that Larian is okay with that and won’t be enforcing any exclusivity is a good thing.

We’re hoping that, since Larian will not be doing any DLC or direct sequel to Baldur’s Gate 3, the community will be able to keep the game alive for the next several years through mods. Classic RPGs have always benefitted from good mod support.

The Morrowind-bundled modding toolkit from Bethesda, although from 2002, has seen some excellent things in the past (and today), including Tamriel Rebuilt, a community initiative that has run for more than a decade to see the world of Tamriel made into Morrowind with professional care and quality.