Baldur’s Gate 3 Mod Profiles

This is not a mod manager! It is a collection of Bash scripts that can manage separate sets of mods in conjunction with a mod manager like BG3 Mod Manager or Lamp.

Well OK, at this point it’s kind of a mod-manager-like thing for loose files mods. Read on :)

Features

• Store an arbitrary amount of profiles. Each of them contains distinct
  • "Mods" folders
  • "Script Extender" folders
  • Mod settings files
  • Loose files mods
• Create and switch between your profiles via shell script.
• Mount loose files mods into your game folder at runtime via overlayfs
• Keep loose files mods separate! No more “which files did that add⁈” when you want to uninstall one of them.
• (Experimental) Manage BTRFS snapshots of the game’s installation folder; keep backups of old patches around!

Installation

The overlay script depends on fusermount/fuse-overlayfs, so you will probably want to install whatever package(s) provide(s) those for your distribution.

Now install the scripts via Basher:

basher install git.alterNERD.tv/alterNERDtive/bg3-mod-profiles

(Github mirror: basher install alterNERDtive/bg3-mod-profiles)

or manually:

1. Clone this repository or grab an archive and extract it somewhere.
2. Symlink or copy bg3overlay and bg3switch into your PATH.

Next you need to change Baldur’s Gate 3’s launch options in Steam:

1. Right Click → Properties → General → Launch Options
2. Set it to bg3overlay --enable && %command% ; bg3overlay --disable. If you already had launch options set, don’t forget to keep them. If you did not add the scripts to your PATH, you need to add the full /path/to/bg3overlay.

You might also have to disable Steam Cloud Sync for the game.

To get started, you need to create at least one mod profile using bg3switch --create PROFILE.

For the experimental snapshot support you will need to make sure beforehand that your game installation folder is a valid BTRFS snapshot, e.g.:

> mv Baldurs\ Gate\ 3 tmpdir
> sudo bfrs sub create Baldurs\ Gate\ 3
> mv tmpdir/* !$
> rmdir tmpdir

Set your game to only update on launch, and make sure that you have activated the snapshot of the current live version before you update your game. Otherwise you will run into issues and have to verify your game files.

Configuration

The configuration lives in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bg3-mod-profiles/config or ~/.config/bg3-mod-profiles/config.

option	default	description
BG3_DATA_DIR	auto-detected for Steam	The game’s “%APPDATA%” folder.
BG3_INSTALL_DIR	auto-detected for Steam	The game’s installation folder.

You can also create bg3overlay.pre and bg3overlay.post files in the configuration folder. They will be executed before mounting and after unmounting the overlay, respectively.

Installing / Updating Mods

To install or update mods in a certain profile, first switch to that profile if it isn’t already active: bg3switch PROFILE. Now you can use the mod manager of your choice to install, remove or update mods. Of course you can also still do it manually.

To install loose files mods, do not extract them into the game folder directly! We want to keep those separate per profile. Instead install them into the override subfolder of your profile. This not only means no accidental mixups between profiles, but also that uninstalling / reinstalling / verifying / updating the game files does not affect your loose files mods in any way.

Alternatively, you can put loose files mods in their own subfolder of profiles/<name>/modular-override:

> ls modular-override
'00-Visible Shields'           'Detailed Laezel'            'Karlach Vanilla Scars'  'Native Mod Loader'  'Shart Scars'
'Achievement Enabler'          'EA Loadscreens'             'Level 20'               'No Abs'
'Colorblind Spell Slots'       'Faster Rolls Quartered'     'More Detailed Halsin'    OIO
'Contextual Dialogue Buttons'  'Highlight Prepared Spells'  'Native Camera Tweaks'   'Script Extender'

Priority will be the override folder, then the modular overrides in alphabetical order. I use this e.g. to keep my “Native Camera Mod” configuration file in override and not have it overwritten by mod updates.

Profiles are stored under %AppData%/Local/Larian Studios within the game’s proton prefix. You can easily access it by running bg3switch --cd.

Usage

See Configuration, bg3switch --help, bg3overlay --help and bg3version --help.

How It Works

Mod Profiles

bg3switch creates mod profiles in the profiles folder. Each profile consists of a Mods folder, an override folder, and a modsettings.lsx file.

The Mods folder is straight up just what you would usually expect in the Baldur's Gate 3 subfolder and contains all the Mods’ .pak files.

The override folder contains all lose file mods that you would normally extract directly into the game’s installation folder. They are overlaid onto it at runtime.

The modular-override folder contains loose file mods, each in their own folder. They are each overlaid onto the game’s installation folder at runtime. The big advantage of using this approach is being able to keep each mod’s files separate.

Override priority is

1. The override folder. Put e.g. your settings file for the native camera mod here; it will have higher priority than the default file shipped with the mod then.
2. Modular overrides in alphabetical order.
3. Anything you manually change in the game’s installation folder. (Don’t do that, please.)

The modsettings.lsx file resides inside the same subfolder structure it would normally (PlayerProfiles/Public). This makes zipping up your Mods – including your modsettings file / load order – easier. Personally I use it for co-op setups to make updating the mod list easier for the other players. I update everything, I zip it up, they just extract it.

The Script Extender folder contains anything you would usually find in Baldur's Gate 3/Script Extender, e.g. the configuration file for Zerd's Rules As Written (RAW)

Switching Mod Profiles

Switching mod profiles is the most trivial thing here. The Mods folder and modsettings.lsx files are symbolically linked from current to the Baldur's Gate 3 folder.

current is just another symbolic link to the currently active profile. E.g. the link structure for the Mods folder looks like this:

> stat -c "%N" -- Baldur\'s\ Gate\ 3/Mods
"Baldur's Gate 3/Mods" -> '../current/Mods'
> stat -c "%N" -- current
'current' -> './profiles/solo'

Baldur's Gate 3/Mods → current/Mods → profile/<name>/Mods

When switching mod profiles, the current symbolic link is updated to point to the freshly activated / created profile. That’s it!

When you create your first profile, your current configuration is moved to the profile and the symbolic links are set up automatically.

Loading Loose File Mods at Runtime

bg3overlay --enable will mount an overlayfs to your game’s installation folder. The folder itself will be temporarily renamed to bg3base in order to be able to mount the overlay into Baldurs Gate 3, where Steam expects the game.

The working directory and newly created files (the “upper” directory in overlayfs terms) reside in /tmp/bg3/, which should usually be a RAM disk.

The benefit is that log files and crash dumps will not clutter your override folder. The downside (or additional benefit) is that the files will disappear on a reboot.

bg3overlay --disable will unmount the overlay and rename the game’s installation folder back to Baldurs Gate 3.

Troubleshooting

The game doesn’t start after changing the launch options

Double check the launch options match the example. Run bg3overlay --enable manually and see if it works.

If yes, run bg3overlay --disable and start looking elsewhere, because it’s not my fault :)

If not, feel free to file an issue and be sure to attach the output.