Guide · Baldur's Gate 3 · Game

Baldur’s Gate 3 mods: how to find and install them

Baldur's Gate 3 mods two ways: Larian's in-game Mod Manager on mod.io, or third-party mods with the Script Extender. What each allows and how to install.

· tamaBaldur's Gate 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 has two ways to mod it. The official way is the Mod Manager inside the game, added by Larian in Patch 7 and fed by mod.io. The other way is the older one: mods from third-party sites, often with the Script Extender, set up by hand or with a community tool. Larian supports the first and allows the second. In its own words: “We will never prevent modding outside of our own official pipeline.”

Everything below comes from Larian’s own patch notes and community updates on Steam, plus the GitHub pages of the community tools named here, and was checked on October 16, 2026. No mods are rated.

The official route: the in-game Mod Manager

Patch 7 went live on PC on September 5, 2024 and added “our very own Mod Manager, which lets you browse, install, and use mods created by the community.” Mac and console players got it on October 1, 2024, and by December 2025 Larian counted 10,000 mods uploaded to mod.io and more than 350 million mod downloads.

How to install mods in the game

  1. Start Baldur’s Gate 3 and open the Mod Manager.
  2. On the Browse tab, use the filters to find a mod.
  3. Read the mod’s description. Larian warns that some mods need extra steps, such as a second mod or a change in the game settings.
  4. Press the download button and wait for the download to finish.
  5. Open the Installed tab. Tick the box next to a mod to enable it, or clear it to disable it.

Be careful with step 5 in a running playthrough. Larian notes that “disabling some mods might affect your existing saves”.

Saves, multiplayer and cross-play

Mods must match. Everyone in a session needs the same mods at the same version, so when you load a modded save or join a modded game, the game opens a Verification Window. It offers to download, enable, update or downgrade each mod so that your list matches. Mods that are not from the in-game browser show up as Third-Party.

Patch 8, released on April 15, 2025, added cross-play, and mods work there too. Two limits apply: consoles allow at most 100 mods, and third-party mods cannot be used on consoles. On PC, the “Available on Console & Mac” tag in the browser shows which mods your console friends can load.

Achievements

Larian’s October 2024 modding guide is direct: “Achievements are automatically disabled when you’re using mods.” Chasing achievements? Keep one playthrough without mods.

What official mods cannot do

Larian’s modding FAQ is open about the limits, starting with moderation: some NSFW mods and some script-heavy mods will not pass it. For mods that should reach consoles, “direct level editing and changes to core game elements (like story, cinematics, dialogues, quests, and local gameplay adjustments)” are ruled out.

Patch 8 widened this a little: the Toolkit gained partial level editing, so a mod can now add or override certain objects in existing levels, such as a new NPC or an interactive chest. It still cannot add dialogue or change buildings, scenery or terrain. Larian also said that mods adding new playable races cannot be curated for console.

The third-party route on PC

Mods from outside mod.io still work. Larian’s FAQ says the in-game browser will “recognise them and allow you to manage them in the mod load order”. You lose three things: automatic update checks, syncing with other players in multiplayer, and Larian’s technical support if the game crashes.

Two community tools are worth knowing here:

  • BG3 Script Extender “adds Lua/Osiris scripting support to the game”. Larian notes that many third-party mods use it. To install it, download the release from GitHub and extract DWrite.dll into the game’s bin folder. The extender updates itself when you start the game, and it only supports the latest game version. Larian thanked its author, Norbyte, in the Patch 7 notes.
  • BG3 Mod Manager sets the load order by drag and drop and writes it to the game’s modsettings.lsx file. Its README asks you to run the game once first, install the .NET 8 desktop runtime, extract the app to a normal folder (not Program Files), and use Export Load Order to Game when you are done. Its last release came out over a year ago.

Mods themselves live in the Mods folder under AppData\Local\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3. Larian’s Steam Deck notes show the same folder inside Proton’s copy of the Windows file system.

One warning from Larian is easy to miss: uninstalling and reinstalling the game “will not remove all mod files”. If you want a clean game, remove third-party mods by hand.

When a patch or a mod breaks something

Larian gives the same advice in its patch notes and its modding guide: disable your mods and check whether the problem stays.

  1. Open the Mod Manager and clear the tick next to each installed mod.
  2. If the problem goes away, turn mods back on one at a time to find the one that causes it. Then leave a comment for its author on the mod page.
  3. If the problem stays without mods, report it to Larian’s support team.

Larian lists typical signs of a mod problem: a load that stops at a set percentage, a crash on launch, and shader issues such as missing face textures. After a big patch, be patient with mod authors. For Patch 8, Larian even suggested a fresh playthrough for anyone worried about their mod list.

Steam Deck

Hotfix #34, in September 2025, moved the Steam Deck to a native version of the game. If your Larian account is linked to mod.io, your subscribed mods download again on their own. If not, download them from the Mod Manager again, or copy the Mods folder by hand to its new place under /home/deck/.local/share/Larian Studios/Baldur's Gate 3/. Our Steam Deck mods guide covers the handheld more widely.

Making your own mods

The Baldur’s Gate 3 Toolkit is a free, separate app on Steam, and it is only for PC. If you own the game it should already be in your Steam library under Tools. You also need the Toolkit Data DLC: right-click the game, open Properties, then DLC, and tick it. Mods you publish from the Toolkit go through Larian’s checks before they appear in the in-game browser.

Looking for a manager for other games? Our Mod Organizer 2 review covers Skyrim, Fallout 4 and the other games it supports.

Sources

Related reviews

All Baldur's Gate 3 reviews