Baldur’s Gate 3 has been indicted with updates since its release, and while each new version of the game has improved upon the D&D inspired RPG’s performance, things still aren’t perfect in the world of Faerûn. Most notably, a version of the game for Xbox Series S players has been in works for a while, but a series of performance issues have stopped the game from making its way outside the realm of PC, and consoles like the PlayStation 5. However, it seems as though developers have found a way to optimize Baldur’s Gate 3 for Xbox console owners, which could also benefit PC players in the long run.
Since its original launch, the notorious Act Three of the Baldur’s Gate 3 has taken a toll on PC gaming setups with even the best gaming CPUs in their midst. The third part of the game involves your party being in amongst a plethora of NPCs, each with their own actions and agendas, which was always bound to cause trouble for any hardware. While these issues doesn’t negate Baldur’s Gate 3 from being one of the best PC games of 2023, it has meant that the game’s existence on consoles hasn’t been ideal. However, a new decrease in the RAM usage, as revealed by the game’s developers, may change things for the better, regardless of the platform.
Swen Vincke, CEO of Larian Studios, took to X (Twitter) to share two screenshots of a graph, displaying Baldur’s Gate 3’s ‘Top RAM’ usage over the past few months. The first image shows that, at the beginning of September, the game utilized more than 5.5GB of RAM, which was later brought down to a more reasonable 4.7GB as of the end of October. With the VRAM usage, as represented in the second image, going from 3.2GB, all the way down to 2.2GB, through what we can only assume to be some top tier ingenuity (or wizardry).
“Ensuring memory is well under control and having buffer for peaks was the main thing holding us back”, Swen Vincke iterated on X (Twitter), while providing this insight into these recent optimizations. Although these drops in RAM usage are primarily to help with the Xbox Series S port of Baldur’s Gate 3, Vincke also stated that this optimization should benefit other platforms too.
As it stands, the PC version of Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t especially demanding when it comes to RAM or VRAM usage. However, any benefits to the overall performance of the game are always going to be well warranted, especially if it can help with the notorious third act, and create a better performance for all who want to give Baldur’s Gate 3 a go for themselves.
If you still haven’t delved into the world Faerûn, the Baldur’s Gate 3 system requirements has all the specs you need to ensure your PC has what it takes to run the D&D inspired RPG. It also plays great on the go, being, what we consider to be, one of the best Steam Deck games available today.