Baldur’s Gate III Pre-patch Announcement

Larian Studios will soon be launching a new early access patch for Baldur’s Gate III. And seeing how this patch will be breaking the current saves, we now get this Steam announcement that opens the beta branch for those who would like to continue their early access playthroughs.

Here’s how this new branch will work:

Hello everyone!
Patch 3 (which hasn’t been named yet) is just around the corner, and with it comes the first changes that affect story. Unfortunately, this means Patch 3 will introduce the first save incompatibility, transitioning to the new version.
Fret not, however! Each patch will come alongside a secondary branch which will allow you to continue playing the previous version with your existing savegames, until you decide you’re ready to play on the latest version. Maybe you’d like to wait for a few patches to pass, for example, before you re-roll. Totally up to you!
It’ll work like this:
The secondary branch will be the previous version, but the primary branch (default download) will be the latest version. To access the secondary branch, do the following:
Right click on the game in your Steam library
Select properties
Click the BETAS tab
In the list under “Select the beta you would like to opt in to”, select patch2
Close the properties menu
If you do the above steps, you are all set to continue your current playthrough.
If you are unsure whether you want to update to the new patch, we recommend disabling automatic updates now, so that you have the choice to manually update to the new patch or opt-in to the secondary branch once the patch arrives. To disable automatic updates follow the below steps:
Right click on the game in your Steam library
Select properties
Click the Updates tab
Select “only update the game when I launch it” in the drop down menu
You can already move to the beta branch now, if you’d like to protect your save file and continue on the current version. Note: save files are not ‘deleted’ from your computer; they’ll remain in your folder, but you’ll only be able to load saves specific to their respective versions.
We know that having to switch branches may be annoying, but this is part of early access. All the feedback we’ve been gathering from your adventures and posts will go right into these patches, so next time you play it’ll feel like an experience you’ve helped to create.
Note: Branching unfortunately won’t be available on Stadia for the moment.