On that note, it is with great pleasure that Aether has agreed to be our first mod author interviewee, and we couldn’t be more thankful for her taking the time to speak with us. She is known for a serious variety of some of BG3’s best mods, including Aether’s No Party Limits, Aether's Black Dye, and the Item Shipment Framework she made with Volitio, which allows mod authors to directly ship modded or vanilla items into the camp chest or inventory.
We hope you enjoy this interview with this incredibly deserving mod author.
Hello Aether! Thanks for agreeing to talk to us. Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hello! Thanks for having me. My name is Willow (she/her). I'm a voice actor living in the southern United States (though I'm hoping to change that soon), and I'm very passionate about photography, gaming, and tabletop games!
How about your journey to being a mod author? What brought you to gaming and then modding, and what attracted you to Baldur’s Gate 3?
One of my first memories is of my father introducing me to Halo 2 on the original Xbox. He worked at an old game store repairing consoles, and with the spare parts he'd accumulated, he would put together functioning consoles for my siblings and me to play games on. I had access to every major game console as a kid, so gaming has always been a significant part of my life.
My favourite games growing up were always RPGs—Fallout 3, the Mass Effect series, Skyrim, etc. I remember constantly watching Lets Plays of them to see other people's opinions about these games I held so dearly. Sometimes, I would notice these videos linking to strange things called "mods" in their descriptions. Those mods led me to find the Nexus back in 2014, and since then, I haven't gone a month without checking the latest mod releases for my favourite games.
Once I got to high school, I stumbled upon Critical Role, a series in which a bunch of famous voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons together. It introduced me to D&D, which has been a large part of my life since then. Naturally, Baldur's Gate 3 is a perfect fit for me, as it combines two of the things I love most: RPGs and D&D.
When I first installed Baldur's Gate 3 and realised it has a system that allows you to dye your armour and clothing, I scoured the game looking for a black dye. Once I found out that dye didn't exist, I knew I had to be the one to create it. After just a few days of the game being out, I started looking into modding, and I was able to reverse engineer how dyes worked, creating one of the game's first dye mods, Aether's Black Dye.
Since that first mod, I've released almost 70, with even more coming soon. But if I were to pick the one mod that I'm most proud of, it would be the Item Shipment Framework that I worked with another modder, Volitio to create. It enables mod authors to ship items directly to their users and supersedes the need to use the Tutorial Chest or vendor inventories to send items to players.
How has the modding scene changed with the success of BG3 in your opinion?
After almost a year, Baldur's Gate 3 is still one of the most-played games on Steam. The game's success bolstered the number of mod authors who came into the scene, wanting to create new mods and showcase their ideas to the world. Recently, BG3 even overtook The Witcher 3 in total mod downloads and mods published here on the Nexus. Baldur's Gate 3's success allowed the modding community to thrive, and community Discord servers such as the BG3 Modding Community have hundreds of mod authors talking to each other and collaborating on projects. I don't think any of these things would have happened if the game wasn't as successful.
Baldur’s Gate 3 recently announced a modding toolkit to come out in a July patch. How do you think this will affect the modding scene?
Those of us in the Baldur’s Gate 3 modding scene are hopeful about what the toolkit will allow us to achieve. Up to this point, creating mods for the game requires an author to reverse engineer specific mechanics or features and to get familiar with the game’s coding languages. Everything is manual, from creating new dyes or outfits to changing a character’s visuals or even making entire new races or dialogue trees. Nothing is automated, and certain mods can be difficult or even impossible to create without proper mod support from Larian. However, the modding community has released fantastic guides and resources to help people learn how to create mods, and there are even entire wikis dedicated to the subject, such as the BG3 Modding Community Wiki.
Modding this game can have a high barrier to entry for folks just getting into it. So, we’re all hopeful that the new official tools will lower that barrier to entry and allow for easier and more automated modding processes. I’d even be happy if I could make a new dye without having to spend 10 minutes writing code for it to appear in-game and then another couple of hours dialling in RGB colour values for it. Any amount of mod support is better than none, and being provided with a set of internal tools from Larian Studios for creating mods is certainly an exciting prospect.
Personally? I’m cautiously optimistic about the future of BG3 modding, and I can’t wait to see what we can all create moving forward.
What ideas or plans do you have for any new BG3 mods?
I’ve got quite a few! I have a planned update for the Item Shipment Framework, which will add a brand-new shop interface to the game, accessible from anywhere. It will allow other authors to list modded items for sale so vanilla vendor inventories won’t become cluttered with non-vanilla items. Other than that, I’m in the process of developing a mod that will give Shadowheart the ability to transform into a werewolf, and another mod that adds a new spell to the game, allowing players to turn into a vampiric swarm of bats to fly around the game world.
Additionally, I’ve been working with two mod authors to expand the Transgender Companions series of mods. Aimryax and Magnetuning have been helping me develop updates for each companion to give them unique stylised top surgery scars, trans-masculine versions of Karlach and Lae’zel using custom bodies, and updating each mod to be compatible with the Unique Companion Assets framework!
You have quite a range of games that you’ve modded. Are there any in particular you are interested in playing or modding next?
After releasing this current batch of mods and updates, I'd actually like to take a break from modding. It's taken up much of my free time over the past year, and I want to get back into playing games rather than messing with their code. After some time has passed, though, I am interested in getting into the Cyberpunk 2077 modding scene.
As for which games I'm looking forward to playing next? I only recently played through the Dragon Age series and utterly adored them (Sera is the best character). So I can't wait for the fourth game, Dragon Age:
Thanks again for talking to us. Is there anything you’d like to say to the community before you go?
Modding games have led me to find some truly wonderful people and make some of my best friends. It’s had a really positive impact on my life, and I would recommend everybody try and find a hobby like this one.
If you want to make mods for Baldur’s Gate 3, I’d highly recommend checking out the Community Wiki and BG3 Modding Community Discord server. The folks who run them are very inclusive and kind, and the community is extraordinarily helpful and knowledgeable about modding the game.
Thank you again for having me, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!
That’s Aether, folks. Be sure to check out her mods or the Baldur’s Gate 3 modding scene if you haven’t already. I highly recommend it. If there are any other games you’d like to see interviewed for or be featured in our Mods of the Month videos, DM Happybara.
30 comments
Comments locked
A moderator has closed this comment topic for the time beingI've seen a few but I'm sure with the talent you seem to have, that wouldn't be beyond your scope of great skills.
I usually make graphical mods that apply to the entirety of the game, but I do like any mod that can make the variety of characters look better for whichever preference.
Respect from one author to another, takes alot of work to do what you do.
THANK YOU for all the time and work you put into all your hella awesome mods---you rock! \o/ ♥
Hella nice interview (good read!), THANKS for this, Happybara! ♥
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall
Some hand in hand
Some gather together in bands
The bleeding hearts and artists make their stand
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall
For it's not easy banging your heart up against some mad buggers wall
~Roger Waters
Thank you for gracing the art form with your talent.