Hotfix 2 for Baldur’s Gate 3 is now live, and it has unfortunately caused some problems, despite its attempt to fix them. A lot of users are complaining about the game no longer launching, and a few fans on Reddit have come up with solutions that have worked to bypass the issue.
Baldur’s Gate 3 spent years in Early Access, but the game still has several bugs at launch. From my own experiences, these include key items vanishing, T-posing, and repeated scenes, though none of them are game-breaking (yet.) There is also Baldur’s Gate 3’s encumbrance glitch, which forces characters into a state where they are permanently encumbered, though there is a way around it.
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How To Fix Baldur’s Gate 3’s Hotfix 2 Crashing Issue On Launch
It seems that Larian Studios needs to release a patch for its patch, as users on the official Baldur’s Gate 3 Reddit page are complaining that game will no longer launch for them. This has resulted in several workarounds, though there is no uniform way to fix the issue. Your best bet is to try all of them and hope one works for you.
These methods include going to the Baldur’s Gate 3 exe and launcher files and setting them to “Run as Administrator” in the file editor by right-clicking them and selecting Properties, then Compatibility.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to fix the crash:
- Open Steam
- Right-click on Baldur’s Gate 3
- Select Manage and then “Browse Local Files”
- Open Launcher folder and Right-click on LariLauncher application
- Select Properties
- Under Compatibility, select Run this program as administrator
- Click apply and then OK
- Go back to the Baldur’s Gate 3 folder and open the bin folder
- Right-click on bg3 application and repeat the steps above
- Do the same for bg3_dx11
This should allow you to launch the game as normal, avoiding any further crashes on startup.
Additional crash fixes for Baldur’s Gate 3
The method above seems to be the most reliable fix, and hopefully, it will work for you on the first go. It also bears mentioning that Nvidia recently released an updated Graphics Driver specifically for Baldur’s Gate 3; downloading this could be the key to solving your problem.
Another option is to skip the Larian Launcher altogether and run Baldur’s Gate 3 from its local files. If the Larian Launcher is the problem, then this will skip it. There’s also a potential DirectX 11 issue, so go to the BG3_DirectX_11 exe and the main exe for the game and turn off the “Run as Administrator” tab to see if this works.
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If these fixes don’t work, then a fresh install might be the case; though this might be grueling for those with a slow Internet speed, it might be worth them holding on for another Hotfix. Hopefully, Larian can get another update out soon, so fans don’t have to resort to good old fashioned file tinkering to get Baldur’s Gate 3 running.
