Modding:Tutorials

Common Mod Tutorials

Creating Hair Mods | Creating Head Mods | Creating Armor Mods | Creating Race Mods

Tutorials

Tutorials for BG3 Modding encompass a few categories that we are trying to put together by their category.

• BG3 Community Library
  • To quote the page "The Community Library is a collaborative effort among members of the modding community to create a common collection of Spells, Scripts, Items, Races, Passives, and more, with the goal of assisting modders in creating new content and keeping their content compatible with similar mods."

• Sample Templates - Sample templates for several types of mods that should help alongside the below listed tutorials.

General Tutorials

General tutorials for modding BG3, or tutorials that encompass multiple categories.

First and foremost you want to unpack the game files to start modding. Most modding involves making use of the game's existing files.

• Unpacking and Converting Files
  • This page goes through the process of unpacking the game files and converting them for you to use in your mods.

Creating PAK mods

• Understanding Mod Folder Structure
  • before going into making pak mods it is good to know how their structure works.
• Working with LSX files ( example with Progressions.lsx )
  • a good guide to get use to the setup of the lsx files the game uses.
• Creating your Meta.lsx by Padme4000
  • This tutorial goes through the process of making your meta.lsx which pak mods use to tell the game their name, their identifier and what version of the mod it is. For mod managers these allow you to move the mod around in the load order. Generally most mods will need one to be able to be installed and work.
• Dependencies
  • This is only really required if you need to reference assets in another mod, or when you have trouble loading in a vanilla asset.
• Hotloading
  • This is really good to know whether you can hotload to check edits to your mod while the game is still running.
• Packaging Mods for install
  • When your mod is ready to go, you will want to pack your mod for your users to install it.
• Modding:Editing Equipment.txt
  • Want to change the equipment that your classes spawn in with? Here's how to do it.

Mesh Related

• Install GR2 plugin then Import and Export example
  • This tutorial shows how to setup blender to be able to import assets. The example does show importing a head mesh but is the steps used to import any mesh into blender.

Learning Blender

These tutorials are not directly BG3-related, but are a great stepping stone into using Blender and working with meshes.

• Donut Tutorial (Blender 3.0) by Blender Guru
• Donut Tutorial (Blender 4.0) by Blender Guru
• Learn Shape Keys In Under 5 Mins by PIXXO 3D
• Fix your SHAPE KEYS! - Blender 2.8 tutorial by Danny Mac 3D

Other Tutorials

Ones that don't currently fit a specific category yet or encompass several.

• Custom Polymorphing
• Padme4000's YouTube tutorials
• Tiefling Horn Replacement Tips by Nathahniel

Character Creation Tutorials

Character creation tutorials touch on things that edit things to do with characters, either Tavs or NPCs.

• Editing an NPC by Padme4000
• Modding:Editing a Character Creation Preset

Creating Hair Mods

• Visualizing a BG3 Hair Texture in Blender by EmeraldTechno
  • Very useful for editing hairs in Blender, as it allows you to see how the hair is going to look in game without actually paking it and loading into the Character Creator.
• Creating Hairs Post Patch 9
  • Shows editing a custom mesh, but works with in game assets as well. The file editing is mostly the same, but Padme's updated tutorial here will show the most up to date information.
• Joining Different Meshes Into One
  • With some hair meshes, as long as they share the same texture, you might want to join the meshes together for simplicity. This is how you would go about that. If the hair parts use different materials and you want to keep them as such, do not use this method. You can also use this method to join other types of meshes.
• Custom Hair Highlights
  • BG3's vanilla hairs have highlights applied using vertex paint. This guide will show you how to adjust or add your own highlights to your custom hair.
• Hair Thinning Begone by mocia
  • If your hair seems thin in CC (showing too much light or background through the hair), this tutorial can help you fix that.
• Making Custom Hair for Baldur's Gate 3 using Hair Tool for Blender by EmeraldTechno

Adding your hair as a new asset to the game

Once you have your meshes set up, these guides will help you add it to the game as a new asset.

• Hair Mod File Setup
  • This is an in-depth guide for those who might want to understand the process more thoroughly, or who are very new to BG3 modding.
• Add your custom hair to BG3 in 10 minutes or less by EmeraldTechno
  • This is a fast-paced guide with an included template to help you quickly add your hair to BG3. However, it does not include many details.

Creating Head Mods

• Editing Head Meshes by Padme4000
  • A video tutorial on editing Ears, Neck, Teeth, Forehead, Scalp on Head Meshes
• Converting BG3 Heads from Small to Tall Body by Weeviljester
• Making a custom skeleton for your head by Jerinski
  • Required when you have edited a head extensively or converted a head from shorter bodies to taller ones or vice versa.
  • note this is the final step for your custom heads or head conversions

Fixing Issues with your Heads

• Fixing neck seams
  • A neck seam is either a gap or a visible line between the neck of a head and the body. This tutorial should help you fix those issues.
• Fixing UV errors
• Fixing bone errors
• Fixing a Neck Gap that Shows in Game but not in Blender
  • sometimes in blender it will look like there are no gaps, but once in game we might get some. this video is to show you how to fix that issue.
• Head Troubleshooting
  • This page shows you how to:
    • Apply Transformations
    • How to fix Ears missing/on the floor in Game
    • To check if your ears have weights and how to add them
    • Head Disappearing when zooming out
    • Heterochromia not working for your head
    • Wrinkles being too extreme

Tav Specific Character Creation Tutorials

• Adding New Colours to Character Creation by Padme4000

Creating Armour/Outfit Mods

• Making Custom Armor - Part 1 by Druundev
• Making Custom Armor - Part 2 by Druundev
• Making Custom Armor - Part 3 by Druundev
  • This 3-part series by Druundev explains from start to finish how to use in-game assets to create your own custom armor.
• Custom Dye Mod Guide by AstralSprout
  • A detailed guide on how to make custom dyes that can be applied to any dye-enabled clothing or armor.
• Add Cloth Physics To Any Armor by ReallyLazyIcarus

Adding your new asset to the game

• How to code an custom mesh item and texture so it shows up in the game

Fixing issues with your armour/outfit

Fix dark areas/patches on the mesh in blender

Texture-Related Tutorials

Texturing is usually applied on top of a mesh to make it appear a certain way.

• Texture Formatting

VFX-Related Tutorials

Visual Effects-related tutorials.

Creating Custom Visual Effects in-depth guide by ImmortalRDI

Scripting Tutorials

• Getting Started with Scripting