How to Host Baldur’s Gate 3 Cross-Play With Friends or an Existing Save

Enable cross-play and add your friends

The game must already be linked to a Larian account before enabling cross-play. Friends are identified by their Larian account names. [1]

Steps

1. From the main menu, open Options > Gameplay, find Allow Cross-play and enable it. [1]
2. Add your friends to the Friends List using their Larian account names. [1]

Create and launch the cross-play lobby

Steps

1. Open Multiplayer from the main menu, select the Cross-Play tab and choose Create. Set the lobby options and use the + icons to add friends. [1]
2. Have each friend enable cross-play and accept the invitation. Once everyone is Ready, click Launch. [1]

Invite friends into an existing campaign

Steps

1. Open Load Game, select the save you want to use, select Enable CrossPlay and load that save. [1]
2. Inside the campaign, open Multiplayer and invite your friend. They also need cross-play enabled. [1]

Join a friend’s cross-play lobby

A player joining rather than hosting uses the same Multiplayer menu and Cross-Play tab. The available lobby is selected from the list on the left. An invitation received while already playing can also take the player directly to the cross-play lobby menu. Joining does not bypass the account link and cross-play setting required of each participant. [1]

Steps

1. To join, open Multiplayer > Cross-Play and select the intended lobby from the left-hand list, or use the invitation received from your friend. [1]

Synchronise the mod set before launching

The verification window compares installed and enabled mods with a save or multiplayer session. It can offer Download for a missing mod, Enable for an installed but disabled one, Update for a newer session version or Downgrade when the session uses an older version. Cross-play requires the same mods and versions across the whole lobby. [2] [1]

Steps

1. Use the verification window’s indicated action to reconcile a missing, disabled or mismatched mod with the session. [2]

Confirm everyone is ready and isolate a failed connection

Accepted invitations show the friend as In Party in the Friends List or Ready beneath their picture in the lobby. Once every player is ready, the host uses Launch. If connection problems continue, Larian recommends confirming that all players have cross-play enabled, then testing a modded session without mods to see whether the same problem occurs. [1]

Steps

1. Check that the invited players are Ready, then choose Launch as the host. [1]