Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Multiplayer Discussion Deactivate forced Split Screen?

It is a pity that they left the co-op experience behind after such a long and expensive early access for anyone to participate. I hope they look after it in the next patch tomorrow or at least announce plans soon.

Let's trust Larian, given the size of the problem and the many threads discussing it here and on Reddit.

Wow. My people!

My wife and I loved DOS 1+2 and were eagerly anticipating BG3. Imagine our horror when we hit the first battle... We seriously thought it was a bug.

The split screen battle interface fundamentally breaks the experience for us. What used to be a fun, collaborative, very social way to spend an evening together is now a frustrating activity with much less teamwork. We might as well be playing the game separately.

Losing half the screen real estate is also a major bummer. We never had to zoom in and out in DOS 1+2, but we have to do that in BG3 in order to just see what's happening.

I get that they're trying to push this quasi-real-time two-go-at-once mechanic but we don't care. We don't want to go at once. Our very best moments in DOS were when we disagreed on the next action and would sit and debate what to do next. We were really hoping BG3 would deliver more of that. We'll just have to play DOS 1+2 again!!

So glad that quite possibly the biggest request based on feedback from multiple platforms got fixed with this patch. Thanks a lot Larian for once again forgetting how couch co-op is supposed to work.

Is there any communication from Larian on this? I bought BG3 for PS5 just for split screen co-op and expected it to be like in DOS2. Should I wait for shared screen implementation (not forced split screen)?

No fix with patch 3 and no answer for when or if the problem will be fixed. We tried everything to have our voice heard here and on Reddit, but nothing happened.
Just uninstalled the game.

At this point I'm just going to wait for them to allow PC/PS5 Cross multiplayer. At least they said they would work on that unlike the split screen issue.

Bummed out they fixed several hundred things but didn't even address this.

That being said we've been enjoying the game on PS5 following this Reddit thread. Essentially you play without splitscreen but with two player made characters and assist controller enabled in accessibility settings (it is no longer in beta like in the thread, this feature is now available to all).

Pros: you get beautiful game, combat works exactly like in Divinity, dialogues are immersive, romances etc. still work for both characters

Cons: you have to take turns with who is exploring etc. BUT you both hold a controller and can switch to your characters with just two clicks.

I know it might sound crazy... and it is definitely no excuse for not having a proper split screen.. but we already played 35 hours like this and we're finally having fun. Is it perfect? No. Is it hundred times better than the botched split screen? Hell yes.

What’s going on? Why won’t they acknowledge this is a major issue? It’s really frustrating that they won’t even say something as simple as “we hear you”

Thanks for the idea. For some reason I didn't think of it

Cool idea and is definitely better than what they have given us. I just hope they (Larian) don't realize this and decide they don't have to give us a proper couch co-op like in the Divinity games.

That said, while tempting to try, I don't think my wife or I will enjoy this. Having one person go up to a certain point, only for the other to then take over and follow won't feel right. Part of the enjoyment was exploring together and searching different areas within the one fullscreen. If one person goes at a time, they will just clear out the area before the other goes. Kinda defeats the purpose.

Give it a try. You're still together as a group, you show up in all the cutscenes (unlike in split screen where half the time only the person who initiated the dialogue is) etc. I too thought it must be terrible when I first read that thread, but the two controllers make all the difference as it feels like you're both playing all the time.

Thank you for your suggestion and for your help, it is much appreciated. We tried it in the past and it's a small step forward, but unfortunately, it's still far from the DOS real co-op experience, where the beauty of it lies in doing different tasks at the same time. I consider myself already out since I uninstalled the game, but I'm still curious to know why Larian didn't say a word about it. Furthermore, they recently updated the Dual Sense key command guide in BGIII by deleting the indication of the down arrow as the command for merging the camera, like this function was somehow to be included but now it is completely deleted.

Gave it a try, but it's not for us. We honestly don't feel like we are playing together. It feels like one takes a turn and then the other goes. That's perfect for combat, but it's clunky during exploration.

I too read this about the down button at one point was reported to do what it did in Divinity. It clearly can be done and was slated to be in there, but now we deserve to know why it was taken out.

How do you start a single player campaign with 2 custom characters?

You simply start a new game as a split-screen game, both of you create your characters at the same time, you go through the intro cinematic etc. and then you disconnect the second controller – both characters are now controlled by player 1 but they both function as player characters. We already tested romance, I successfully romanced one character and my girlfriend another – it tracks approval etc. based on who's the active character that initiated a dialogue etc.

You can obviously use any older split-screen save as well, just load in without Player 2 joining.

It's not perfect and sometimes I wish my girlfriend wasn't looting every god damned barrel... But being able to enjoy combat like in Divinity and never miss a dialogue is worth it for us.

We tried that approach but we couldn't quite get used to it. Instead we've adopted a different method now. We have the assistant controller occasionally log out allowing us to enjoy the atmosphere or explore without interruption. When it's time to get back into the split-screen action we simply reactivate the second controller and we're immediately back in the game. Fortunately we don't have to reassign the party every time; the game remembers which characters were in use which is quite convenient

Ah gotcha didn't think of disconnecting from split screen. Hopefully PS5 will let me choose that the same account is using the second controller as the assist controller when I reconnect it. I'm definitely for full screen gameplay. Thanks!

I gotta say, for a company that's gotten such praises for listening to player feedback, the lack of simple options like "create a single player campaign with multiple custom characters" or "make dynamic split screen" or "allow camera inversion" and them not even acknowledging it is just baffling.

You need to enable assist controller on PS5 here: Settings > Accessibility > Controllers > Use Second Controller for Assistance

Also reconnecting the second controller for an occasional split screen like @BG3NF suggested sounds like a good idea.

I agree the lack of communication from Larian on this topic is ridiculous. I understand there's a lot of bugs to iron but they could at least say whether it's something that's ever getting a solution.

Is this issue not inherently tied to the addition of a 3rd person camera to BG3?

Like how would shared splitscreen work if either character went to over-the-shoulder?