Any help with troubleshooting mod compatibility?

[Féanor]

So i'm not a mod creator myself and have a very limited understanding of them aside from some of the basics that go into coding different parts of a game.
Usually I get along fine by using threads and modder platforms to figure out what mod is causing crashes and then I can most of the time fix an issue by changing the load order or finding a patch online or of course simply getting rid of said problem causer.

BG3 is the first game I decided not to mod until in-game mod support was released, now this is where my issue starts;
first of all I've never dived into BG3 files because I never modded BG3 manually and thus have no clue what to look for or where, some threads or mods give specific indications as to where which files are or what might be causing issues but I've noticed quite a lack of this with the official mods (maybe i'm looking in the wrong place).

Second i'm used to having a load order which if you read up and play around with is a big help in figuring out compatibility issues but since that doesn't exist I've been trying to read up on every single mod and the different issues within the mod community but can not seem to figure out what the game logic is in relation to conflicting mods.

I'm seriously considering throwing myself at modding just so i can get an understanding of what is causing different campaigns of mine to crash at such different intervals and sometimes with such minimal mods (to my view), I've always been interested in modding but never really found the time.


Any and all help is appreciated!!



Apologies in advance for my english and typing its not my first language and i don't always have time to proofread myself more than 3 times.

[Lëgënd]

It may not be a matter of the amount of mods you're running, but more of which mods. Basically your crashes may be caused by two mods trying to change/interact with the same files, that's a common reason for crashes. I use quite a few visual enhancement mods and other mods, and really have never had an issue with the game crashing or being unstable, just have to be aware of not getting multiple mods that change the same file as I said before.

[Wuorg]

If you are using just a couple of the popular mods you should be fine. Baldur's Gate 3 is very mod friendly in terms of them causing conflicts with each other. If there is nothing in the mod description for one of these mods about conflicts, it might be harder to find the issue. For instance, thanks to the structure of the game's files multiple mods can update the same file just fine (depending on the file), as long as they don't change the same "node" in that file.

It (edit: the crash) might be bespoke to your save, depending on if you've added/removed any mods mid campaign.

If you want to go digging yourself, I recommend using the BG3 Modder's Multitool: https://github.com/ShinyHobo/BG3-Modders-Multitool

I do everything manually myself, so someone else will have to tell you about the mod manager(s). Mind if I ask what mods you are using?

[Féanor]

Originally posted by Lëgënd:

It may not be a matter of the amount of mods you're running, but more of which mods. Basically your crashes may be caused by two mods trying to change/interact with the same files, that's a common reason for crashes. I use quite a few visual enhancement mods and other mods, and really have never had an issue with the game crashing or being unstable, just have to be aware of not getting multiple mods that change the same file as I said before.

Originally posted by Wuorg:

If you are using just a couple of the popular mods you should be fine. Baldur's Gate 3 is very mod friendly in terms of them causing conflicts with each other. If there is nothing in the mod description for one of these mods about conflicts, it might be harder to find the issue. It might be bespoke to your save, depending on if you've added/removed any mods mid campaign.

If you want to go digging yourself, I recommend using the BG3 Modder's Multitool: https://github.com/ShinyHobo/BG3-Modders-Multitool

I do everything manually myself, so someone else will have to tell you about the mod manager(s). Mind if I ask what mods you are using?

Thank you for the fast replies, so yes this is a more recent issue as my first modded playthrough was finished without a hitch, in my latest two campaigns ive been adding more class and subclass mods but also alot more cosmetics which seemed to be working fine at first.

I have to be honest here the modlist has grown a bit extensive, like almost to skyrim proportions.
first campaign had about 30-40 mods mostly cosmetic and visual 1 or 2 subclass mods, last long campaign was with about 90 mods alot more class stuff and sadly there was a scripting thing around lvl 11 that conflicted and i had to give that one up although it was fair timing i never thought it was gonna run so smooth on that first try but it did so it was still a little sad.

currently i have about a 170 mods installed but a good 1/3 is situational so only used for a specific idea i had for a campaign or to keep track of their development so they are inactive, then I would say about 50-60 mods that are like Lemons AOI packs different cosmetics and visuals, Poly mod and other quality of life things like Bag of Holding, ritual spells, Mystras etc, and lastly the race and class mods, like Owlin race Dnd Extended etc and some specific like artificer homebrew but also the dnd 5e subclasses.

I know not to run subclasses on the same stuff as a single mod (like 5e fighter subclasses together with Fighter Champion rework for instance) or a standalone that changed or uses the same scripts but ive had some trouble figuring out if its basic class stuf that could be conflicting like the above example or that is is maybe the mods like feats extended/ tashas feats that are causing issues with for instance a homebrew class, XP level curve or something that edits a similar level script (think level 2 feat from extended feats and a homebrew that adds a feat at lvl 2)

The campaign im mostly worried about is my new Durge which was running very smooth up until around level five-eight with the first crash being arounf lvl 8 but with the retry its been level 5, rn im just going trail and error and have started the same campaign with a minimum amount of mods and am trying to figure out if it was specifically the lvl up thats the issue or not by using instant lvl mod, but ofcourse that will only tell me about those specific scripts not if its any of the other 100 combinations haha.

when i get home i can try to make a list of the active mods and provide it here,
thanks alot already for the tips i should really check out githhub!

[Ghost]

To be clear - there are no official mods.
There's an in-game browser, and mods that don't break the rules can be hosted on it.
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As general compatibility - don't go adding things that do the same thing. An extra subclass for each class, fine. Multiple subclasses for a class from different mods and you might run into problems. Likewise with feats etc.

Also should go without saying, but don't remove mods that were enabled on existing playthroughs, and if you're adding mods, you're probably better off starting a new game.
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If it's consistently crashing on level up then it's something on that level up screen - feats, class/racial stuff, spells. ability score too high etc.
If it's happening earlier than before, look at most recently added mods.
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If you use the Baldur's Gate 3 Mod Manager, that can change the load order.
There's also a mod for it on the in-game browser, which requires another mod also on the browser.

[Wuorg]

Originally posted by Féanor:

snip

Oh yes, I can see now why you were looking for a tool to check for conflicts lol. I get it, mod fever is a curse. While the feature I mentioned above about multiple mods being able to modify the same file is nice, it can create a headache in situations like yours where you need to pinpoint a specific conflict.

If it is happening inconsistently on level up it could be a few things. As far as troubleshooting goes, I would probably check the following:

- Try leveling up without any buffs active. Some kinds of buffs interact oddly with leveling if they are poorly optimized.
- Use the mirror to change your character's visuals. Does simply going into that screen cause a crash? If it does, it might be a cosmetic mod conflict, just an inconsistent one.
- Use Withers to respec, multiple times if necessary. Does the same class/setup cause the crash? If so, it might have something to do with that class mod. If it doesn't, continue to respec and narrow down the possibilities (feats/spells/etc) until you get a consistent crash.

In your case, I would probably only go into the files as a last resort, just because of the volume.