Larian suggests workaround for Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox save issues

Larian Studios has suggested a potential workaround for players affected by Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox save issues.

Since Baldur’s Gate 3 shadowdropped on Xbox consoles following The Game Awards on Dec. 7, several players on Microsoft consoles have encountered an issue that sees them losing their save file. In an X (formerly known as Twitter) post published on Dec. 31, the developer acknowledged the Xbox save issue is still lingering and occurs when players exit the BG3 after saving due to a firmware issue.

“Microsoft is aware of the issue and is working on it but obviously during the holidays everyone is working at lower capacity so it may take a while before a proper fix becomes available,” Larian wrote in the post.

While we wait for a permanent fix, the developer has suggested a “workaround” involving the Larian cross-save feature. By enabling cross-platform saves, players may be able to avoid losing their save files on Xbox. Here are the steps Larian suggests in its post:

“1. Create a Larian account at https://larian.com/account.

2. Go to the options menu from the main menu. Under gameplay, activate cross-saves, linking your Larian and Xbox accounts.

3. From now on, your last 5 saves will automatically be uploaded to the larian servers. It is important that you do not exit the game before the upload is finished. The upload is finished when the message “Syncing cloud save” is no longer visible.

4. If the firmware bug occurs, you will need to re-activate the cross-save functionality in the options screen. This will give you access to the save games that were successfully uploaded.”

This is just a temporary workaround, however, and I’d advise holding off on playing Baldur’s Gate 3 on Xbox until the issue has been permanently fixed if you don’t want to risk losing your save file.

But don’t expect that fix anytime soon. Larian itself has said that the fix could take “a while” due to the holidays and, as this is a firmware issue, it seems the burden of fixing it falls on Microsoft’s shoulders. The Xbox X account has suggested its own potential fixes for the issue, which include not unplugging your Xbox and saving to Quick Resume. The company also rolled out a console patch in Dec, 2023 that was meant to address the save problem, but players are continuing to report losing their save files.

It’s definitely worth trying these suggested fixes but if you want to avoid losing your save file, and don’t mind holding off on your BG3 debauchery for a while, it’s probably best to wait for that permanent fix—whenever it may arrive.