It might be New Year's Eve, but Larian Studios still has an update for us on the Baldur's Gate 3 deleted saves issue for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S! In a nutshell, work is still continuing, but we do also have a potential workaround.
The developer has once again confirmed that it's a firmware issue on Xbox's side, and apparently the problem is that the game thinks the save has been successful, but it hasn't been "fully committed to disk yet".
So, while work continues to try and fix this, Larian Studios has offered the following workaround:
1. Create a Larian account at https://larian.com/account.
2. Go to the options menu from the main menu. Under gameplay, activate cross-saves, linking your Larian and Xbox accounts.
3. From now on, your last 5 saves will automatically be uploaded to the Larian servers. It is important that you do not exit the game before the upload is finished. The upload is finished when the message “Syncing cloud save” is no longer visible.
4. If the firmware bug occurs, you will need to re-activate the cross-save functionality in the options screen. This will give you access to the save games that were successfully uploaded.
"We will make this process more fluid and extend the number of save games that get uploaded in the coming days."
It's still early days so we don't know how successful this workaround will prove - we're seeing mixed reports from the Baldur's Gate 3 community so far. Still, it's probably worth a try if you're concerned about losing progress in BG3!
Alongside this, Larian has addressed the issue as being "frustrating" and "unacceptable", and has confirmed that everyone is working extremely hard to try and get it resolved as quickly as possible. Hopefully we're almost there now!
"Microsoft is aware of the issue and is working on it but obviously during the holidays everyone is working at lower capacity so it may take a while before a proper fix becomes available."
"We completely understand that losing progress is frustrating, and unacceptable. We’re doing everything we can to ensure this problem - which we understand is unique - is resolved as quickly as possible, and we’ll keep you up to date with progress."
Have you tried this workaround? Let us know if you've been successful down in the comments below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 23
I’ll just wait for my physical copy.
I wonder how widespread this issue is. BG3 shot up Xbox's most played list and has stayed on it since release so there's certainly alot of people still playing with this bug around.
@oopsiezz This an Xbox level issue. Ben around since the Xbox One released. Microsoft just refused to do anything about it until Baldur's Gate 3. I've personally experienced it on multiple games.
@Ocat waiting on it as well. Though with how long this has been an issue I'll be surprised if it is fixed by then.
Game of the year right here, today's most celebrated developer. Odd how polarizing responses are, most developers would get crucified for this sort of problem.
I have the Steam version, still it would be helpful to know the specifics of this bug. Sounds like it could occur in any game, yet somehow has not been an issue. Does it affect a single save or all saves for BG3 on the account? What about local save files? The Cloud backups?
I typically keep 5-10 manual saves plus quick save and autosave in any title that supports them. Would all of these be wiped out in the bug scenario?
I'm wondering now if this problem is the same as I encountered while playing NieR Replicant.
@JayJ You need to read the problem better. Its Microsofts Operating System thats the flakey code here, not the games.
The devs are not getting any flak as people clearly understand its not their bug...
Why would Larian be crucified for a problem that is not of their making, @JayJ? It is well documented that this is an Xbox issue, not a game specific issue, and certainly not down to Larian. The issue, as I understand it, is that the saves for games of this scale are so large, that the Xbox servers don't fully save them properly, and thus the saves are lost instead. It is down to Microsoft to fix this longstanding problem, not Larian. Indeed, I'm not sure Larian can do much about it.
So yes, it is the Game of the Year right there, and deservedly so.
apparently the problem is that the game thinks the save has been successful, but it hasn't been "fully committed to disk yet"
Game of the century right there.... unless played on Xbox platforms 😅.
@JayJ so is it Larians fault it also happened in games like Starfield (as you can see in the forums on this very site?)
Sadly some people can’t just accept that something may have gone wrong on their plastic box.
I do like that Larian are open honest and transparent and are doing everything they can on their side, be it with this or other fast fixes.
Love my Series X, but my fix is buying this on my PS5 for $62.99 without any game saving issues.
The game released on PS5 with a critical saving issue also (error 544) and a huge list of issues. The game released on PC with an entire encyclopedia of issues. So I don't think Larian are as squeaky clean on this as some on here are trying to make out.
People have such short memories
@Sakai Yeah they have apparently attracted some very defensive fans already who are quick to blame anything/anyone else.
@Ocat
I haven't purchased BG3 yet because I'm hoping it will eventually get a physical release.
Of course there is also the fact I've never finished Divinity Original Sin and haven't even started my copy of DoS2.
So I can certainly wait a long time.
@JayJ it will certainly be interesting to see how the save issue is fixed in the end.
On PS5 the error 544 issue was a game issue, fixed by Larian eventually. Also one of their updates deleted peoples saves and had to be rolled back....
It's difficult to see a studio with so many issues on every single platform, get nothing but praise. It's why they get away with launching games in such a poor state, and people deserve it to be honest, because they just blindly defend it.
@LuciaThicc It has happened with more than 2 or 3 games.
Multiple versions of Football Manager Console, Wartales, Starfield, The Lamplighters League, and others.
It seems to be particularly bad in BG3, but it's definitely happened in a bunch of other games. I know that some of those less high profile ones like FM and Wartales have had major issues with it.
@Sakai Yeah I think that's why I stopped caring about what the internet thinks about video games, it's become so polarizing depending upon what attracts the most fanboys on gaming sites. Stuff that's popular with them has all sorts of issues brushed off or ignored, games that they don't like for whatever reason get constantly nitpicked and criticized. I am tired of the mob mentality trying to rule over everything these days.
It's like I'm just going to go off what I see and think, couldn't care less anymore if anyone has a problem with that. I am tired of trying to get along with people who can't get along with others. Everyone has gotta be so cliquish and extreme these days.
@LuciaThicc The BG3 issue is pretty widespread, yeah. I see many reports per-day about it. It's obviously not happening to everyone, but it's happening enough to be a big problem for Xbox and Larian Studios.
It tends to happen in Football Manager when someone has played multiple seasons. If you look at some of the most recent FM reviews on the Xbox Store you'll see people talking about this same problem where their files are being deleted.
It's much rarer with Starfield, but there were quite a lot of reports about it back at launch. Since then, Microsoft seems to have fixed it for the vast majority of people, although it does still get mentioned occasionally.
The common trend here is that all of these games seem to use large save files, and Xbox's cloud saving system doesn't like it.
@Titntin It's absolutely not an Xbox problem, and it's genuinely disconcerting hearing it addressed as such. I've encountered error 544 on PS5 and I haven't been able to save since Dec 23rd and it's also deleting saves. There are threads elsewhere about this issue on PS5.
@Sakai No, it's definitely not fixed. I'm here right now because I'm trying to research the problem - I'm on PS5 and error 544 has been deleting saves and preventing me from saving at all since December 23rd.
@Romans12 I'm on PS5 and right now it has the exact same problem: error 544, unable to save at all and saves being deleted. Haven't been able to play the game since Dec 23rd.
@LeroyJenkem Just because Xbox has a specific issue with this game doesnt mean there are not other issues too, and Im sorry you are affected by them. But there is definately a specific issue relating to the game and Xboxs OS, which is affecting many more players.
Unless you are somehow propossing that Xbox themselves are putting their hand up to problem thats not theres and have their team working hard on this for no reason?
The world is bigger than your personnel experience, and microsoft are working on this because they have conceeded they have an issue with large saves, one thats been present for some time and particlarly shows up with BG3.
@LeroyJenkem Oh crap. OK, thanks for the heads up. I'll hold out. Sorry you're experiencing this. That does suck.
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