Larian released its modding tools for Baldur’s Gate 3 recently—and it's a damn impressive integration that the developer, technically-speaking, wasn't under any obligation to make. Granted it paid off, with head of publishing Michael Douse crediting mods for the game's physics-defying player numbers throughout 2024.
This integration also included mods for consoles (and Mac), which is a rare treat for our poor, underserved brethren across the digital pond. Though there are a lot of limitations, as explained by senior communications developer Aoife Wilson in the developer's latest video, seen below.
According to Wilson, authors who want to put their mods on consoles have to submit them to Larian's community team, who'll then proceed to test them personally—but there are a ton of potential barriers. There are the sensible things, like «Mods that crash the game», which I'd imagine would only be good in some kind of interactive horror mod where Swen can trap you in an Only Monika scene.
But then there are some hefty technical limitations. Mods that «add/modify/remove shaders» are a no-go, which immediately swipes a bevvy of graphical overhaul mods out of the hands of would-be downloaders. Likewise, «mods that increase the amount of nudity or violence already present in the game» are forbidden. That means that console players will, one assumes, never experience the beauty of big naturals Withers.
Of course, big sexy mods aren't likely to make their way onto the game's official mod support system on PC, either. Larian forbids «any element that can be considered discriminatory, racist, obscene, libellous, offensive»—but the studio literally cannot stop us from plugging these mods into our game the old fashioned way. I'd like to see them try (for legal purposes, this is a joke. I would lose in a fight with Swen Vincke, I think).
The studio also can't stop us from breaking our own save with 200 mods, turning our games into a Lovecraftian and non-euclydian nightmare of heaving
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