Midway through September, modder SquallyDaBeanz released a solo-developed custom campaign for Baldur's Gate 3 in beta, adding an extra chapter to the RPG's main story. Neatly nestled between the RPG's second and third acts, the mod sends you and your party on a trip through The Chionthar Wilds while the Absolute's Army marches on towards the city the series is named after. SquallyDaBeanz has now offered a bit more explanation as to why they reckon the second section of BG3's established story benefits from having a few more forks in the road before the serious business of the final act begins.
"I wanted to keep the narrative structure more or less the same as the base game," SquallyDaBeanz explained in an interview with Nexus Mods. "Moonrise is definitely a narrative high point, and it was never the goal of the mod to compete with it in that regard. Entering Rivington in Act 3 can already feel a bit like a detour (like visiting the circus) despite the looming threats, but it serves as a needed release of tension and a change in pace after the climax of Act 2, in my opinion.
So, their mod aims to accomplish something similar, but in a manner more reminiscent of BG3's opening act. It's about "letting the player explore a large area where not everything is necessarily critical to the main quest but still ties in to it", the modder said. "You know the army is on the march, but getting sidetracked doesn’t feel too unnatural." They made sure to have "things pick up again in terms of urgency for the finale of the mod", so that by the time you come out the other side into the third act, you're back in the right mindset to go fight some brains once you've had your fill of Rivington's clowns.
As for the practical side of putting a custom campaign together, SquallyDaBeanz suggested the BG3 modding community are still far from being masters of all the RPG's technical nuances a couple of years on from Larian first releasing official modding tools. "There were many toolkit bugs that made development difficult, but it's hard to complain since many of the features were also made by the community and modders for free," they said. "There are many bugs that are out of my control, unfortunately. A huge hurdle for the project is that much had to be learned by trial and error or by seeing how Larian did it in the base game. There was little documentation and still is, but there are more resources being created thanks to community members like Lizardphunk!"
Despite having some previous modding experience to lean on in terms of new lands and dungeons time spent as part of the team making Skyrim Morrowind remake project Skywind, SquallyDaBeanz also had to learn a lot of new skills as part of making their second act expansion. "Before this, I had largely only done level design and set dressing, so it’s been quite a learning experience," they noted. "Things like scripts, enemy behaviours, new items, cutscenes, and more are all new to me, and I recognise they could still use some work."
For now, they're busy preparing for an eventual 1.0 version and said they've "already got tons of fixes and balance changes coming in the next patch thanks to the community reporting bugs and sharing their gameplay of the mod".
If you fancy giving Act Two Expansion a go, you'll need to head to Nexus Mods and install either its main download or quickstart version. The former'll let you get to it as part of a full new playthrough, while the latter warps you straight to The Chionthar Wilds so you can dive straight into the mod. If you choose to replay the game, the mod's description has instructions on how to get to the new region after handling your business at Moonrise.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/getting-sidetracked-doesnt-feel-too-unnatural-baldurs-gate-3-act-two-expansion-modder-on-how-they-seamlessly-fit-a-detour-to-fight-an-army-into-the-rpgs-plot
