As Baldur's Gate 3 save issues on Xbox Series X/S continue, users are being told not to directly disconnect their consoles from the power.
This Monday, December 11, Baldur's Gate 3 users on Xbox consoles reported crashes which could unhelpfully delete some save game files (thanks, Eurogamer). Developer Larian dropped a hotfix which was meant to fix the issue entirely, but some problems persisted.
Now, Xbox has shared some advice of its own. In the tweet below, the console manufacturer kindly asks players not to directly disconnect their Xbox consoles from the power supply, and instead to go through the ordinary methods of quitting Baldur's Gate 3 and then turning their console off via the on-screen commands.
Xbox is aware of a problem that can cause players to lose saved progress in Baldur’s Gate 3. In order to avoid this issue players should save their game and then return to the Xbox dashboard and select “Quit Game” or “Save to Quick Resume” from the game menu (Home, Game, Select,…December 12, 2023
I'm not really sure who out there is unplugging their console as a way of turning it off, but apparently they're among us. This is some absolutely chaotic behavior, and it says a lot that the company even needs to remind players of this in the first place.
It's a little unclear whether this is actually linked to the save files being lost through crashes, which is what Larian tried to patch out earlier this week. Either way, this is still an issue to be aware of, even if you aren't turning your console off in the most unhinged way possible.
"I always quit the games I'm playing. This workaround did not and does not prevent the loss of save game files in Baldur's Gate 3," writes one Twitter user in response. The 'workaround,' like the patch from Larian Studios, may not have entirely eliminated the issue where save files up and vanish.
"Can't open the game. Stuck on 'Syncing data for Baldur's Gate 3,'" another user reports. It's hard to get a grasp on just how widespread this issue is among Baldur's Gate 3 players on Xbox, but with no massive alarm sounded, I'd wager it's relatively rare. But considering how long Baldur's Gate 3 is, it's sure to be a pretty big problem for those who do run into it.
In other news relating to Larian's gargantuan RPG, Baldur's Gate 3 players think they've found Karlach's epilogue forge - and it's hiding out in a prequel Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
Baldur's Gate 3 is our Game of the Year 2023, but you can check out all the runner-ups in our full best games 2023 writeup.