Baldur's Gate 3 level editor is cracked open by modders, bringing homebrew campaigns one step closer

rockpapershotgun.com:

Hack the planet, wizard fans. A modder has cracked open some previously disabled abilities in the official modding toolkit for Baldur's Gate 3, making it possible for folks to create their own levels or alter the game's existing environments. The toolkit (which was only made available last week) previously wouldn't let you do any of that, due to "technical constraints and platform-specific guidelines," according to developers Larian. But modders neither care nor sleep. It took them just two days to worm their way into the devkit's innards and make the impossible possible.

To give you some context, last week the developers released a hefty patch that added a bunch of new endings to the fantasy RPG. But included in that patch was official mod support and the modding toolkit. It was made available to help the usual sickos continue working on new hairstyles, customised weapons, and, uh, "other" material. The kit is essentially a watered-down version of what developers Larian would use in the studio, with some of the more powerful features disabled. You could view the game's levels in "read-only" mode, for instance, but you couldn't alter those environments, nor make your own levels. Until enterprising modder "Siegre" stuck a lockpick into the devkit and made everything possible, that is.

BG3 Toolkit Unlocked is available on Nexus Mods (at the time of writing, at least) and has a simple description: "This mod unlocks all the disabled features and enables write permissions for the BG3 Toolkit. Including level editing, save editing, and more." As a demonstration, some accompanying images include a level being filled with random environmental pieces like ruined columns, bell towers, and webs of glistening flesh. Mmmmmm, game development.

It's not 100% clear why Larian didn't include these features in the toolkit to begin with, but it may be a case of protecting certain copyrighted assets being scraped easily from the game, or from being altered in a way that is unpleasing