Why updates on PS5, Xbox and Mac can take months to arrive

[Yoonmoonsik]

TL;DR: Every update on PS5, Xbox and Mac has to pass Larian's approval before players there can download it. Every update has to go back through console testing and is a lower priority in the curation queue than new mods, so approval can take months. Until then, the version on PS5, Xbox and Mac stays behind the latest release, so a fix or a new subclass that has already been released may not have reached your platform yet.

Where the delay comes from

On PS5, Xbox and Mac, the mod is distributed through the in-game mod manager. I submit these updates myself, but players on those platforms can only download an update once it has passed Larian's approval.

Larian asks that only mods with no future updates planned be labelled for console curation, because every update has to go back through console testing, so updates are a lower priority in the curation queue than new mods. When Larian is told that an update is out, emergency or not, they try to get it back through testing; otherwise they pick updates up when they can. This mod keeps getting new content, so this wait can't be avoided.

The latest update is already in the queue, but there is no date for its testing yet, and it can take months. Until then, players on those platforms stay on the last approved version, and there is no way to install a newer version manually on console.

What this means for you

• When I answer a report with "fixed in " or "included since version X", that fix reaches PS5, Xbox and Mac only once version X or later has been approved there. Until then you may still see the old behavior, even though the report has been closed.
• The same goes for new content. A subclass added in a newer release does not appear in your game until that release has been approved on your platform.
• Where the bug report and Q&A forms refer to the latest or current mod version, on PS5, Xbox and Mac that means the latest version available to you in the in-game mod manager, which may be older than the newest release.

When an update arrives mid-campaign

Passives, boosts and spells are recorded in your save at the moment a character gains them. If an update arrives partway through a campaign and changes how one of them works, a character who already has it can keep the old version, so a fix may not show up in a campaign started before the update. And when an update changes a large number of features, a save made before it may no longer work after the update. Bug reports and questions about in-game behavior are only accepted when they come from a campaign created on the current mod version, which is what the last item in the bug report checklist asks you to confirm.

When you report something

• Select your platform in the bug report form, and fill in the mod version shown in the in-game mod manager.
• In the Q&A form, the Mod version and Platform fields are optional. If your question is about how something behaves in game, please fill in both.

With the version and platform, I can tell straight away whether what you're seeing has already been fixed in a release that hasn't reached your platform yet, instead of investigating it again from scratch.