Larian Account / Launcher are not Required

Extra Larian Account and Launcher to play? Not needed! Ignore and skip them without worries.

Limited Use of Larian Launcher

When you start Baldur's Gate 3 for the first time, you might feel pressured to sign up for a Larian Account to play the game. However, this is a surprisingly common misconception.

You do not need a Larian Account to enjoy the game

You do not need the Larian Launcher to play the game

You can simply skip the sign-up messages and such and start playing!

So what is the Larian Launcher good for?

Advertisement. Mainly.

Additionally, you can choose between launching the game with DirectX11 (recommended) or Vulkan (legacy feature). There are some few more "features", such as easy access to support-relevant options, but that's about it.





You can safely ignore and skip the Larian Launcher until you actually need those options.

When do I need a Larian Account?

A Larian Account and the usage of the Launcher will become necessary should you wish to make use of additional features, such as cross-platform save games, which are saved via that Larian Account.

Moreover, an account becomes relevant when you want to redeem items via Larian exclusive events, such as Twitch Drops.

Skip Larian Launcher Permanently

Method A: Launch Options

By adding

--skip-launcher

to the game's Launch Options, you can suppress the Larian Launcher from starting when launching the game from your Steam Library.

To do that, right-click on the game's entry in your Steam Library and select Properties



Add the launch option

--skip-launcher

(you can copy & paste) in the Launch Options on the first tab



That was it. That will surpress the Larian Launcher whenever you start the game from now. *
* this action might need to be repeated when the game comes with a Larian Launcher update

This method works and is preferred when using Steam Deck.

Method B: Launch via Executable / Shortcut

You can launch the game directly by launching the actual game's executable, rather than via the Steam Library entry. For that, you need to locate the executable.

Right-click on the game's entry in your Steam Library -> Manage -> Browse local files



Enter the subfolder bin (trivia: that is short for binary)



Select bg3_dx11.exe (recommended) OR bg3.exe and double-click or Enter



And that starts the game directly.

If you want it more comfortable you can right-click on bg3_dx11.exe / bg3.exe and select from the menu Send to -> Desktop (Shortcut)

With Hotfix#2, 8/8/2023, the issue which I have described here has been addressed:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3016984650
As a side effect of that, you can still use method B, but you have to do so by exiting the Steam app first.



I recommend using Method C instead.

Method C: Executable in Launch Options

By combining the methods A and B you can address the executables for the versions for DirectX 11 and Vulkan directly via Steam. For that you need the exact path to the executable and add

%command%

for me it looks like this

"G:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\bin\bg3_dx11.exe" %command%

or like this for the Vulkan version

"G:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\bin\bg.exe" %command%

How exactly the path looks like on your PC is depending on how you installed the game onto your PC. The absolute default path looks somewhat like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\bin\bg3_dx11.exe

Thanks for reading!

And happy adventuring!