Issues with saves or new gamesErrors or crashes when loading savesCan you load older saves, if available?
If you start a new game, can you make a manual save and load it properly? Moving a bit from the initial character position can trigger an auto save, which might overwrite one from your current playthrough.
If a new game has a problem, if you create a new profile and start a new game, can you save and load?
Are you shutting down all non-essential programs before starting the game, especially anti-virus and any backup programs, etc, that may be monitoring disk activity?
For example, a few people have had BitDefender block the game from being able to create files and folders, which has caused errors when loading. In those cases, including both the game executables and Larian Studios local AppData folder in BitDefender's trusted app and directory sections would fix the problem (Advance Threat Defense, Ransomware Protection / Safe Files, Application Access).
Windows Defender has also caused issues (generally file system errors); in that case an exception for the game can be made in Start, Settings, Updates & Security, Windows Security, Virus & threat protection, Virus & threat protection settings, Add or remove exclusions.
At least in patch 6 Avast and AVG have caused various save issues by blocking the game's access to the My Documents folder (one person reported it was the launcher that was the issue for Avast, and adding LariLauncher.exe to the trusted apps list fixed the problem; another reported that AVG quarantined the launcher). This has been less of an issue since patch 7, with the change to save the profiles in the local AppData folder. See the help sites for
Avast or
AVG, if applicable.
Try browsing to the 'C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\LevelCache' folder and delete the contents. A corrupt file there can cause problems when saving or loading. The easiest way to get there would be to copy
%LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\LevelCache into the location bar in Explorer and hit Enter.
Try verifying local files: in the Steam library, right click on the game and select Properties, switch to the Local Files tab and then click on the 'Verify Integrity of Game Files...' button.
With the GOG version, in the (optional) Galaxy client, select the game, then the settings icon at the top right (beside the Play button) and under Manage Installation select 'Verify / Repair'.
Try exiting out of the Steam client, or Galaxy for the GOG version, and starting the game directly from the '..\SteamApps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\bin' folder, by right clicking the executable (bg3.exe for Vulkan, or bg3_dx11.exe) and running as administrator.
If applicable, disable Steam cloud support either globally (in the client click on the Steam menu and select Settings, and then Cloud) or just for this game (in the library right click BG3 and select Properties, then switch to the General tab and check the Steam Cloud section).
Alternately, exit out of the Steam client, or Galaxy for the GOG version, and just start the game directly from the executable when required.
Next, try browsing to the 'C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Larian Studios' folder and rename the 'Baldur's Gate 3' subfolder. The easiest way to get there would be to copy
%LocalAppData%\Larian Studios into the location bar in Explorer and hit Enter.
This folder contains the saved games, configuration files and a level cache folder. Deleting or renaming it will get the game to recreate it on startup; playing the game from a different Windows user account would effectively do the same thing. With Steam/Galaxy running and cloud support enabled, the client would just download the cloud copy of your existing profile.
If you played in patch 6 or earlier and still have those profiles and saves, also browse to the '..\Documents\Larian Studios' folder and rename the 'Baldur's Gate 3' subfolder there (or delete it if you don't want to keep the saves), so patch 8 does not copy the game's earlier Documents folder to the local AppData folder (as part of the startup procedure if there is no existing local AppData folder).
After that, start the game, create a new profile and maybe check that you can start a new game and save/load. If that works, exit and copy a couple saves from the renamed folder into the newly created profile's ..\Savegames\Story folder. If that continues to let you start the game and load the saves, move the rest of the saves over.
If loading still gives an error or crashes, delete the new BG3 folder and rename the original back again (as well as in the Documents folder, if applicable).
If a new game in a new profile also gives an error or crashes when loading:
Try doing a clean boot and then test the game. Click Start, or hit WinKey-R, type in msconfig and hit enter; in the General tab, click Selective Startup, uncheck Load startup items (if required) and leave Load system services and Use original boot configuration options checked. Next, click on the Services tab, check the box to Hide all Microsoft services, then click the Disable All button (maybe make a note of which are currently enabled/disabled), then click OK and reboot the computer.
Run msconfig again to switch back to the normal boot configuration.
Try creating a new Windows administrator user account, switch to that account and try starting the game from there, directly from the executable.
If a new game is fine but recent saves give an error or crash, please contact support with your latest save (or a Dropbox or Google drive link, etc), and if older saves are ok, the most recent save that you can load, and the oldest you can not.
In Explorer you can zip a file or folder by right clicking on it/them and selecting 'Send To | Compressed (zipped) Folder'.
Each save is a folder in the 'C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\PlayerProfiles\<ProfileName>\Savegames\Story' folder. The fastest way to get there would probably be to copy
%LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\PlayerProfiles into the location bar in Explorer and hit Enter, then browse down from there.
Certain classes or races not showing up in character creation as optionsDouble check the version number in the bottom centre of the main menu: patch 8 should be 4.1.1.1695932. If the Druid or Sorcerer classes are also missing, in addition to Bard, it probably isn't a case of not having the latest update.
This issue can be caused by mods (see above).
Try creating a new profile and then start a new game to test.
Try verifying local files: in the Steam library, right click on the game and select Properties, switch to the Local Files tab and then click on the 'Verify Integrity of Game Files...' button.
With the GOG version, in the (optional) Galaxy client, select the game, then the settings icon at the top right (beside the Play button) and under Manage Installation select 'Verify / Repair'.
If applicable, disable Steam cloud support either globally (in the client click on the Steam menu and select Settings, and then Cloud) or just for this game (in the library right click BG3 and select Properties, then switch to the General tab and check the Steam Cloud section).
Alternately, exit out of the Steam client, or Galaxy for the GOG version, and just start the game directly from the executable when required (bg3.exe or bg3_dx11.exe in the '..\SteamApps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\bin' folder, or similarly for the GOG install folder).
Next, try browsing to the 'C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Local\Larian Studios' folder and rename the 'Baldur's Gate 3' subfolder. The easiest way to get there would be to copy
%LocalAppData%\Larian Studios into the location bar in Explorer and hit Enter.
This folder contains the saved games, configuration files and a level cache folder. Deleting or renaming it will get the game to recreate it on startup; playing the game from a different Windows user account would effectively do the same thing. With Steam/Galaxy running and cloud support enabled, the client would just download the cloud copy of your existing profile.
If you played in patch 6 or earlier and still have those profiles and saves, also browse to the '..\Documents\Larian Studios' folder and rename the 'Baldur's Gate 3' subfolder there (or delete it if you don't want to keep the saves), so patch 8 does not copy the game's earlier Documents folder to the local AppData folder (as part of the startup procedure if there is no existing local AppData folder).
After that, start the game, create a new profile and check for Druid, Sorcerer and Bard in the Class section of character creation, as well as the Gnome race. If that gets everything to show up, when you are done that session and quit the game, you can optionally delete the renamed Documents BG3 folder, if there are no saves there you still want to have available. If you have existing patch 8 saves, create a different profile, exit and move them over from the renamed folder to the new profile's ..\Savegames\Story folder.
If that still doesn't help, delete the new BG3 folder and extract the replacement folder from
this download into your '..\Local\Larian Studios' folder to test.
The graphicSettings.lsx file is set to 1280x720 Windowed mode and Very Low quality preset, which you can change in the options (manually, or hit autodetect) if this gets the classes and races to show up (in that case you may wish to exit back to the main menu and create a new profile, as well).
