Unfortunately it is not working with patch 3, so yeah; my save is completely broken.
It is SO frustrating to not be able to play the game how I/we want to play it....
As many people have said: this should have been in the game to begin with; the simple ability to create as many custom companions as you like, and have the party size that you like (with some limitations ofc). Because: why not? It doesn't matter what other people do in their game, as long as each person has fun with playing the game however they want.
I would rather have a party of 5-6 and then not use/abuse speed potions, haste, ridiculously OP builds etc. With 8 partymembers, I would probably still have less actions in a round than most people playing vanilla has with 4. Meaning that difficulty problems are actually not tied THAT closely to party-size, but other mechanisms/exploits.
My point being: Each to his/her/their own. Shouldn't we all have our pick of fun (within reason and based on what most other RPG's offer) in the highest rated CRPG of all time? According to Larian: No. Truly baffling.
(And don't even get me started on the completely stupid hireling system)
I am not starting a new playthrough before I know for a fact that I can play this game the way I want to.
And this is exactly why we players should never have to depend on a mod for some fundamental aspect of the game, for any game. Mods should be only for some superficial or aesthetic change or addition to the game or for user-created optional content.
