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Baldur's Gate 3 custom campaign mod Path to Menzoberranzan breaks silence with update on development re-think and character reveal tease
Game Updates

Baldur’s Gate 3 custom campaign mod Path to Menzoberranzan breaks silence with update on development re-think and character reveal tease

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The modders behind a Baldur’s Gate 3 custom campaign dubbed Path to Menzoberranzan have put out their first progress update in a few months, having gone silent just after getting their first build working around June. The reason for that quiet spell, according to the group, has been a “wild” summer in which they’ve had to revamp their development pipeline to better fit the scale they’re aiming for with the mod.

They’ve also teased full reveals of three characters who’ll be playing roles in what the Path to Menzoberranzan team have thus far pitched as a custom adventure through some returning locations from previous games in the series to the Drow city that serves as the mod’s namesake.

“It’s been a while since our last progress update, but rest assured that we’ve been working hard behind the scenes,” Path to Menzoberranzan community manager Andrew Simone wrote in this latest announcement on the mod’s Discord server. “We promise the silence has been for a very good reason.”

“The past few months have been wild: what started as a rebuild of one area of Baldur’s Gate II has grown into a full-scale campaign,” he explained. “That leap has meant re-thinking a lot of our processes, from how we collaborate to how we build content. Our summer was spent tightening up our production pipeline so we can deliver something truly special!”

Simone went to on the add that the mod’s team “is kicking back into high gear, more so than ever before”, before teasing full reveals of “some unique individuals” including “a Drow cleric of Eilistraee, a swashbuckling human, a man resembling Frankenstein’s monster, and more!”

There’s no mention of the demo which the modders looked close to releasing around the time of their June update, with a Q and A section of the mod’s Discord that was last updated in June reading: “The team is working towards the first playable demo. At this time, the timeline for this demo is under review.” So, it’d seem the need for these few months of rejigging has led the group to move away from their original plan of aiming to release said demo around 2025’s midpoint.

Those sorts of changes or delays understandably always lead to folks wondering whether the project’s in danger of fizzling out, given how many ambitious mods have suffered that fate. Though, it’s worth noting that there have also been plenty of big mods which’ve still delivered despite certain elements taking longer than originally expected. While it’s a mod that’s been in development much longer than Path to Menzoberranzan, Fallout: London developers Team FOLON have only just released their first DLC, announced all the way back in December 2024. Some extra work on future save compatibility was acknowledged as part of the reason why that ended up being the time it took.

This latest Path to Menzoberranzan update concluded with an announcement that the modders are recruiting for six roles across their technical, user experience and design departments. These gigs are for a systems programmer, an integration programmer, a UX designer, a systems UX lead, an emotional UX lead, and game designer. If you’re interested, more details can be found via the recruiting channel of the mod’s Discord server.



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Gemini Gems Share
Gaming Gear

How to share your Gemini Gems custom AI experts with all your friends

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AI chatbots with a specific focus are a great way to skip having to explain what you want to do with an AI chatbot. Google created the Gemini Gems setup so that you’d be able to make and reuse those specialized chatbots whenever you want. Now, you can share your custom-made Gems with friends, family, or anyone else you share a link with.

All you have to do is hit the “Share” button on your custom Gem. That way, you can share, say, your toddler sleep schedule assistant or meal planner for someone in a rush, in the same way you’d share a Google Doc. They can view it, clone it, or even tweak it with your permission, as it’s basically Google Drive for AI assistants.

The Gems are otherwise the same, but they’re now portable. Consider how much of your digital life runs on shared docs, and then imagine if your AI helpers could do the same.


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“This makes Gemini way more collaborative,” Google noted in its announcement, “turning your favorite Gems into a shared resource so you can prompt less and create more.” It’s a tagline with startup energy, but it’s not wrong.

And for organizations using Google Workspace, administrators can control how and where Gems can be shared, restricting sharing outside the domain if needed. The permissions map one-to-one with existing Drive policies, which means most people won’t have to learn anything new to use the feature.

Shared Gems

Functionally, this could reduce time spent retyping or re-explaining how to use AI to do a task. It might also surface use cases that people wouldn’t have built themselves.

If it sounds like a familiar idea, that’s because it’s not dissimilar to what ChatGPT offers with custom GPTs, except those get published to the whole world.

It’s more efficient than the manual approach, wherein people take long prompts from Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity and share them on Reddit or other social media platforms. The difference is that Gems are persistent and can hold files, rules, and settings you’d typically have to reconfigure every session.

There are limits. Some Gems aren’t eligible for sharing, especially if they contain private uploads or link to sensitive data sources. And even when you do share a Gem, the recipient may need access to the files inside, like if it uses a personal Google Doc. The system mostly warns you when this might be a problem, but not always with excellent specificity.

And while sharing Custom GPTs has been an option for a while, sharing Gems is less tied to one platform and offers Drive-style collaboration settings. Gemini’s ability to piggyback on the infrastructure millions already use could give it an edge in that regard.

Mostly, though, it means those who enjoy making Gemini Gems can share them with whoever they wish, and those who like using them but don’t want to make them might find some new favorites without having to ask what people wrote to get Gemini to perform.

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No Man's Sky's Voyagers Update Adds Custom Ship Building And More
Game Updates

No Man’s Sky’s Voyagers Update Adds Custom Ship Building And More

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Every time Hello Games is readying an update for No Man’s Sky, studio founder Sean Murray tweets out cryptic emoji that send the community’s head spinning. For the Voyagers update, he posted a waving emoji, followed by a group of three waving emoji to hint at the major feature of the update: ships big enough to travel around in with your friends.

The Voyagers update brings Corvette-class ships to the galaxy. Where the one-seater ships we’ve piloted thus far are pretty limited in customization, you’ll build your Corvette “piece by piece” with full customization, meaning that your ship will be truly unique. You’ll be able to customize both the inside and outside, designing the ship through a ship-designer menu that doesn’t seem that different from Starfield’s version. The update even includes different interior styles and cockpits, so that you can make your ship feel like the Millennium Falcon, filled with readouts and switches, or go for something more streamlined like Star Trek. There are a bunch of working ship modules that will enhance the functionality and stats of your ship, too, so this isn’t purely cosmetic.

Once built, you can get out of your chair and walk around the inside. If you hop on with friends, you can travel the galaxy together, all in one ship.

There’s even a new spacewalking mechanic to let you step out the airlock of your Corvette, to float around in space or jump from your Corvette to your friend’s.

The update also adds graphical enhancements to glass, to player lighting, and more, along with DLSS 4 compatibility.

And of course, Hello Games also saw fit to add an Expedition to the game to speed up initial ship building.

No Man’s Sky Voyagers Update Patch Notes

Corvette-class Starships

  • Added a new class of starship, the Corvette. Corvettes are large, fully bespoke ships with furnished interiors, capable of accommodating multiple passengers.
  • A lightweight tutorial for assembling your first Corvette will activate upon first collecting a Corvette module or interacting with the Corvette Workshop.
  • A large catalogue of snappable structural and decorative modules is available for Corvette assembly, including habitation modules, hulls, wings, engines, windows, accessways, weapons, reactors, shield generators, connectors and decorative peripherals.
  • Corvette modules can be unearthed from salvage containers buried on worlds across the universe, as well as discovered in Derelict Freighters.
  • Modules can also sometimes be retrieved from defeated pirates, freighter cargo pods, crashed freighter crates, frigate expeditions, or received as rewards for completing missions.
  • Structural Corvette modules are collected individually in the inventory and spent directly when assembling a Corvette.
  • While standing within a Corvette, specialised furnishings and a selection of base decorations can be installed in the ship’s interior. Internal modules can be installed without limitation, but require resources to construct.
  • Habitation modules (“habs”) form the main living area for Corvette-class starships. Habs are available in three distinct classes: Titan, Thunderbird, and Ambassador, each with its own sci-fi aesthetic. Installed furnishings reflect the style of their hab, and multiple habs placed adjacently are automatically linked with doorways.
  • Multi-storey Corvettes can be assembled with the installation of internal stairways.
  • Several installable Corvette modules have practical functionality, such as the Living Wall, Nutrition Unit, Refiner Unit and Mission Radar.
  • A number of Corvette modules are linked to technology upgrades, automatically improving the Corvette’s stats alongside its appearance.
  • Corvette Workshop terminals can be found aboard the Space Station. These terminals provide an interface through which collected Corvette modules can be assembled into a pilotable, habitable starship.
  • The terminal also provides access to a shop for purchasing basic Corvette modules, and a barter interface for trading advanced Corvette modules.
  • The Corvette Workshop can store a draft Corvette, allowing work-in-progress edits to be saved and returned to at a later time.
  • A nearby cache will collect any overflow of refunded Corvette modules if there are too many to store in the player’s inventory.
  • The Corvette benefits from an especially powerful pulse drive, which moves faster than single-occupancy ships.
  • Corvettes can autopilot to space stations, discovered planets, and mission destinations.
  • Corvettes can also be set to autopilot along the current flightpath.
  • Corvette accessways are accompanied by a specialised teleporter, allowing the ship to hover above especially mountainous or difficult terrain, while passengers beam themselves to and from the planetary surface.
  • Added support for multiple physics worlds, enabling players to travel stably and walk on foot around fast-moving Corvettes.
  • Spacewalking is now a fully supported mode of navigation, allowing players to leave their ships (or freighters) and use their jetpack to fly among the stars.
  • Added a number of Corvette-specific visual effects for engines and landing.
  • Added new audio effects and ambient environments for Corvettes.
  • Added specialised camera handling for piloting Corvettes and navigating their interiors.

Corvette Multiplayer Missions

  • Added a Corvette-based mission board, allowing players on board the Corvette to register as mission crew to co-operatively complete objectives in the local system and earn rewards and standing.

Corvette Expedition

  • Expedition Nineteen, Corvette, will begin shortly and run for approximately six weeks.
  • Rewards include new posters, decals and titles, the vigilant jetpack trail and plasma starship trail, an exclusive deadeye cannon module for Corvettes, and the unique Mecha-Mouse robotic companion.

Skyborn Exosuit and Jetpack

  • Added the 5-piece Skyborn Exosuit to the Appearance Modifier, including armour, gloves, boots, legs and torso customisations.
  • Added the Skyborn Jetpack to the Appearance Modifier.

Twitch Drops

  • A new package of Twitch drops will begin shortly. Sign up and connect your platform accounts on the Twitch Drops page, then tune in to Twitch to earn exotic base parts, high-tech starships, fireworks, appearance modifications, and more.

Gameplay and Quality of Life

  • Implemented support for rebinding controls on console.
  • Rearranged a number of input bindings in the controls menu for improved usability.
  • Added a graphics option to adjust the strength of blurring / light scattering on distant objects in underwater environments.
  • On PC and MacOS, added text translations for system-level dialog boxes (for example, when the operating system reports a graphics driver error).
  • Improved the visibility of the “Switch Base” control, for selecting which base to edit while within the perimeter of multiple planetary bases, or within both a planetary base and a Corvette.
  • Added the ability to copy and paste No Man’s Sky Friend Codes on PC and MacOS.
  • Improved the appearance of several dialog boxes on the boot and pause screens.
  • Added “scroll on hover” functionality to a number of UI buttons that could overspill in non-English languages.
  • Improved the mouse scroll speed in the base building menu.
  • Increased the number of planets featuring buried ancient bones.
  • Increased the number of planets featuring buried salvageable scrap.
  • Salvageable scrap containers are no longer guarded by corrupt Sentinels.
  • Prevented Echo Locator hint notifications from appearing when a harmonic camp was already locally marked, or while within the perimeter of a camp.
  • Improved the system for displaying the estimated remaining time to a destination on HUD markers, resulting in much more accurate time estimates and tick-down speed.
  • The landing pad readout at the Space Anomaly now indicates where your ship is docked, and accurately reflects landing space availability.
  • Robotic creatures now lay metal eggs.

Rendering

  • Added support for NVIDIA DLSS4. Deep Learning Super Sampling is a revolutionary suite of neural rendering technologies that uses AI to boost FPS, reduce latency, and improve image quality.
  • Added support for PlayStation® Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), improving image clarity using AI-enhanced resolution, for ultra-high definition and incredible detail.
  • Added support for Intel Xe Super Sampling (XeSS) 2, which uses machine learning to deliver higher performance with exceptional image quality.
  • Implemented moment-based order-independent transparency (MBOIT), improving the appearance of translucent surfaces, especially when overlapping.
  • Added localised “hero lighting” for the player character, improving their appearance in darker environments.
  • Improved the rendering and lighting of 3D objects such as the player’s ship, Multi-Tool and jetpack on the inventory screen.
  • Improved the appearance of glowing distant objects.
  • Improved the rendering of semi-transparent mesh particles.
  • Improved the appearance of cloud shadows, making them denser and more dramatic.
  • Improved the visual stability of heavy air effects, resolving some flickering issues.

Bugfixes

  • Fixed an issue that could cause multiple NPC ships to land at the same dock.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause creatures to teleport onto terrain when navigating underground caverns.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause some sections of Autophage staffs to remain visible when the player entered a short-range teleporter.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the “Open Building” button on a Settlement building to be incorrectly greyed out, even when available.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause some frigate fleet log entries to be omitted from the final list if the frigate expedition was very long.
  • Fixed a rare timing-specific issue that could cause uploaded cross-platform saves to be displayed in the wrong UI style when backing out of the Cross-Save Manager.
  • Fixed an issue that caused some Station Core text to appear in the wrong dialog box style.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause terrain to appear visually corrupted on lower-end systems.
  • Fixed an issue that could cause distant objects to flicker in Virtual Reality.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented fishing lines from rendering correctly in multiplayer.
  • Fixed a rare issue that could cause player names to appear as “…” in multiplayer.
  • Fixed a number of rare multiplayer crashes.

Abandoned Mode

  • Added the Mech Hardframe parts to the technology research trees in Abandoned Mode.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented learning the Creature Pellets recipe in Abandoned Mode.

Optimisations

  • Implemented occlusion culling on Xbox Series, PS4, and PS5, significantly increasing framerate in indoor environments (such as in caves and planetary buildings).
  • Implemented multi-threaded rendering on PC, significantly improving CPU performance, notably in VR.
  • Implemented a significant performance optimisation on mature saves with a large number of completed or active missions.
  • Implemented a large number of performance optimisations across multiple game systems, including the handling of HUD markers, the physics of static objects such as buildings and rocks, audio, the Analysis Visor, particles, and components that trigger animations or state changes in response to player actions.
  • Improved the CPU performance of planetary creatures navigating across terrain.
  • Implemented several memory-saving optimisations related to large textures and data table loading.
  • Significantly improved load times when loading saves near large planetary bases.
  • Further reduced the number of shaders used by the game, improving load times.



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Baldur's Gate 3 custom campaign mod recreates the original Baldur's Gate's Candlekeep and prologue
Game Updates

Baldur’s Gate 3 custom campaign mod recreates the original Baldur’s Gate’s Candlekeep and prologue

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A new Baldur’s Gate 3 custom campaign mod has emerged onto the Nexus like Gale’s mitt through that portal, and it’s one you’ll likely want to check out if you fancy getting nostalgic for one of RPG’s classic siblings. Return to Candlekeep, as you might have gleaned from the title, aims to recreate the prologue of the original Baldur’s Gate, by taking you to a certain library fortress.

It’s not surprising someone’s given this a go. After all, daunting tasks as such things might be, a good number of the BG3 custom campaigns being put together with the Moonglasses toolkit have opted to try their hand at taking players to revamped versions of locations from the previous two games.

Enter catchily-named modder 786r786, who released Return to Candlekeep this weekend just gone. Re-creating the opening area from the first game, it’ll let you wander around everywhere from Candlekeep library, to the inn, and the pool/altar combo that makes up the Temple of Oghma.

You get a good look around these, plus a gander at the custom main menu, character creation screen and camp the modder’s included, in the over 20 minute-long tour video below. They don’t do much talking to NPCs in that, likely on account of the mod not having any voice acting at the moment, but write in the description that they’ve pulled across all of the quests and dialogue lines you’d expect from such a recreation. There should be enough to keep you occupied for “about an hour thirty at most”, which is why 786r786 has dubbed this a mini-campaign.

Watch on YouTube

There are some teething issues it’s worth being aware of, not that such a thing’s that surprising given the testing ground advanced BG3 campaign mods still are at this point. Parts of buildings can appear unloaded, leaving roofs awkwardly floating with no supports, while NPC helmets can “disconnect from their head at a distance”. On the plus side, cases of long-term helmet hair affliction are likely lower among the residents of Candlekeep than those of the base game.

786r786 says there’s nothing they can do about these issues at the moment, and as for whether they’ll flesh out the mod more going forwards, they’ve a one word answer: “potentially”.

Regardless of whether they keep at it, this is a cool thing for them to have done, given Larian themselves considered working a return to Candlekeep into Baldur’s Gate 3 while they were weaving their development magic. The devs even got as far as coming up with ideas for a zany seer chilling in the basement, as our Edwin, former RPSer/BG3 lead writer Adam Smith, and keen journo/Larian CEO Swen Vincke chatted about last year.



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A spaceship landing on an alien planets
Product Reviews

No Man’s Sky adds buildable custom spaceships big enough to fit all your friends on board

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How many bases do you need in a single game? Ask someone who likes base-building, like me, and they’ll probably say “As many as you can give me.”

No Man’s Sky already has a few kinds of player bases. Base-building was added to the space sandbox in 2016, along with freighters that can be parked in orbit and customized. Settlements can also be built and managed, which is like making an entire alien town your base.

And in the new No Man’s Sky Voyagers update, you can build and customize huge new ships called Corvettes that are big enough to fly around the galaxy with your friends acting as crew. You can even get out of the cockpit while in flight, stroll around the ship, and edit the layout while you’re in transit.


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“These ships have real interiors, med-bays, sleeping quarters, war rooms, radars, teleporters. It comes with you everywhere, which totally changes how you play. Decorating it with your friends gives you a space that you share together,” Sean Murry said in an email sent to PC Gamer. “Having multiple Corvettes flying over a planet together is incredible, especially when you pop the hatch and spacewalk or skydive from one ship to the other!”

Yep, you can jump right out and float around in space, or if you’re in the atmosphere, do a bit of skydiving, as you can see in the Voyagers trailer below.

For those of you who were hoping this announcement from Murray would involve Light No Fire, well, the planet-sized fantasy sandbox did get a mention, too. The same ship-building tech will appear in Light No Fire, though there it’ll be for the boats you need to cross the realistically massive oceans.

Along with the trailer, you can watch a more in-depth video about Voyager below. The update is live right now, and includes a new expedition so you can get started building your new mobile spaceship base.



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Product Reviews

Spotify now lets you create seamless transitions between songs on your custom playlists

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Spotify routinely debuts new playlist features for its users, but the company’s latest update has the potential to dramatically alter custom mixes. Starting today, premium users will have access to a new tool for creating customized transitions within playlists. This will allow seamless progression from one track to the next, with natural-sounding changeovers and no awkward silence.

Once you’ve created a playlist, you’ll notice a Mix option on the toolbar. When selected, the tool gives you the option to pick Auto and allow Spotify to instantly make the transitions, or you can tap in further to customize things as you see fit. From there, you can choose presets like Fade or Rise to quickly apply transition styles or try specific changes to volume, EQ and effects. The app will display a waveform for the two songs, helping you select the best place to make the swap.

After making your transitions, you can save them for future use or for sharing with friends. And speaking of friends, the transition editor is available for collaboration on any playlists you build with your pals. Spotify allows you to toggle the Mix option on and off at any time, so you’re free to listen without any of that creative customization if needed.

To help you create a playlist that’s ready for mixing, Spotify will show you the tempo in BPMs (beats per minute) and Camelot keys for each song once you tap Mix. The company reminds users that the best options for this tool are songs that were created for seamless transitions, so genres like house and techno will provide the best results. Spotify also recommends using the Mix tool for making running playlists with consistent BPMs to help with pace or to create roadtrip playlists that can maintain “the vibe.” Lastly, you can create your own cover art for mixed playlists using Spotify’s built-in editor that debuted last fall.



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