Okay so yesterday I got totally stuck trying to figure out when different mod tools for Baldur’s Gate 3 actually dropped. Felt like pulling teeth. Here’s exactly how my messy afternoon went.
Started simple enough. Wanted to mod my BG3 save, heard you need tools, right? Googled “bg3 mod tools release”. Big mistake.
- Saw some Reddit posts from months ago talking about “BG3 Mod Fixer” like it was essential. Clicked around… turns out it got bundled into something else ages ago. Old info. Dead end.
- Then found a Discord server. Someone mentioned “BG3 Mod Manager”. Cool! But then five different people started arguing about “Vortex” vs “Manual” installs. Chaos. Dates mentioned… some said early access, some said full release. Which was it?!
- Tried the Larian forums. Buried deep in some technical thread, a modder casually drops “Script Extender” got a major update “sometime last patch”. When was the last patch? Sigh.
By this point, my coffee was cold and I was seriously annoyed. Why was finding a simple release date so damn hard? Everyone just assumed you knew.
Then I remembered seeing something called a “Release Tracker”. Dug deeper. Finally found it – probably on Nexus or some mod site. This was the game changer. It listed the big ones, side-by-side:
- BG3 Mod Manager: Out way back when BG3 first hit Early Access. Like, the OG tool.
- Norbyte’s Script Extender (BG3SE): Oh man, this one tricked me. Early versions leaked during EA? But the big, stable release everyone uses now? Hit shortly after the full game launch. Not before!
- Mod Fixer: Yeah, was important… for a hot minute during EA and launch week. Then basically merged with Script Extender or became obsolete.
- BG3 Mod Fixer: Different beast! This guy? Showed up months later to fix Patch 4 & 5 crashes. Totally separate timeline.
Seeing them all listed like that, with their actual relevant release points? Pure relief. Felt stupid for wasting hours chasing ghosts. The timeline suddenly made sense:
Early Access Days: Basically just Mod Manager doing its thing.
Full Launch Chaos: Mod Fixer pops up fast to plug holes. Script Extender sneaks out usable versions.
Post-Launch Stabilization: Script Extender matures, Mod Fixer (original) fades. Months later, BG3 Mod Fixer appears for later patch issues.
The punchline? I went down this rabbit hole trying to use a mod requiring Script Extender. If I’d just known the SE wasn’t truly ready until after launch, I wouldn’t have wasted time trying to make it work on an old EA save! Lesson learned: gotta know when the tools actually arrived. That tracker saved my sanity.