Concept art for new companions Bairdotr (left) and Wolgraff

Larian Studios has released a major free update for Divinity: Original Sin, introducing two new companion characters, various improvements, and fixes for a number of issues.

The two new companions are the obvious highlight of the update. There is Bairdotr, a female ranger, and Wolgraff, a male rogue who can’t speak. Bairdotr is found in the Legion barracks, while Wolgraff is located in the Cyseal hinterlands, which you can access through the graveyard tunnel.

Unfortunately, in order to encounter either one of these characters so that they can be added to your party, you’ll have to start a new file once your game is updated. (You’ll get the new content automatically, despite there being a listing for a DLC pack called “The Bear and the Burglar” on Steam.) Given the number of ways you can approach playing the game, starting over isn’t such a terrible thing, but undoubtedly some fans will be disappointed that they’ll need to abandon their existing progress to check out the new characters.

In addition to the companions, a long list of improvements and fixes have gone live in today’s 1.0.169 update. Perhaps most notably, Larian has reworked the co-op dialogue system. Previously, it was a real chore to follow a conversation that a co-op partner was having with an NPC, but you’ll now have your own dialogue box (pictured below) with which to do so.

There are also fixes to certain events, quests, and NPCs in the game’s story, a “limited” number of which require players to start a new game. Larian did not indicate which fixes this is true for.

You can check out the full changelist from the new patch below. For more on the game, check out our review, as well as our recent interview with Larian.

Code

• Added listening functionality to dialogs. Now you can listen to ongoing dialogs and see the complete history to better follow what is being said.
• Fixed issue with logging for cooperative dialogs
• A lot of fixes for savegames that refused to load
• Sheath/Unsheath fixed timing of attachment of shields.
• Rare crash fix in specific script calls
• Rare crash fix in extinguish surface action
• Fading objects and fog triggers now work for all players instead of just the local player.
• Fixed issue where rotation on objects could get corrupted, resulting in huge objects
• Bugfix in character movement while mouse is pressed
• Fixed some UI’s that were always loaded in memory. Now they are loaded when needed.
• Fixed issue when swapping character during a rock-paper-scissor minigame.
• Fixed some doors that were blocking after they were destroyed
• Added text bubble effect above characters in dialog
• Dragging action will cancel when going into trade
• Fixed rare crash with attachments on objects
• Fixed rare issue where the mouse cursor could become corrupted
• Weight can no longer become negative
• Character should slide less when arriving at their target position
• Dragging an item onto a container will put it in the inventory now
• Correctly substract money when hiring henchman
• Correctly delete item when adding to an inventory fails.
• Fixed exclamation mark sometimes being attached wrong.
• Fixed rare crashes when going to and coming from the Homestead
• Fixed double spaces in combat log
• Changed requirement from Crafing to Tenebrium to craft tenebrium weapons
• Fixed issue with sheath/unsheat after sitting or sleeping
• Fixed issue with wrong resurrecting event
• Skillbar items in a container no longer get removed
• Fix for surface sound underflow
• Skill are reloaded when switching mods
• Remove blackrot status when you have tenebrium ability
• Added “Additional Content” menu to the main menu
• Fixed issue where characters in combat could sometimes take characters out of the combat into account
• Fixed issue with disconnected during the rock-paper-scissor minigame
• Fixed issue where character sometimes don’t follow after a load

Story

• War of the Bloodstones, some mountain men could be neutral during the war
• Quest blocker in Nadia quest when you talk to Lawrence
• Arhu thinks that everything you drop in his house is his property, is fixed
• Issue with killing the Trife with companions without starting the end fight
• Imps were not appearing on Mac version
• AI mesh fixes at Baron of Bones house, now the player can teleport the chest in the southern room
• Items on some graves drop under the ground when dug out
• You could start a conversation with Lurrean while he was walking away
• You could ask William to teleport you to Wally once the quest was solved, this is removed
• Incorrect log entry on mushroom barrier removal
• Couldn’t select enemies that were inside click through bushes
• Zou could talk to Yox while Frederick was approaching and the quest would hang
• How to handle Tenebrium quest book had been increased to unlimited uses
• Cyseal burning ship got a sound event, so you can hear it burn now
• The Lawrence vs miners situation used to get blocked but that is fixed now
• Teleport Mirror in Luculla Mines doesn’t want to teleport companions

Note: a limited amount of these story fixes require you to start a new game

Effects

• Battering Ram
• Crushing Fist
• Cure Wounds
• Divine Light
• Dust Devil/Whirlwind
• Encourage
• Power Stance
• Precision Stance
• Power Stance
• Precision Stance
• Minor Heal
• Slow Current
• Bitter Cold
• Headvice

Audio

• Overall audio balance has been updated.
• The burning ship in Cyseal had sound (burning & sinking) which did not work, this has been fixed now.
• Player weapons such as Two Handed Sword and Magic Staff got new dedicated sounds when sheathing their weapon.
• The Orcs in the game now have extra foley sounds including a huge roar, a sobbing orc and a really gross ‘buttscratch’…
• For the new area, dedicated ambient sounds have been added, as well as custom sounds for a very loathsome druid and some really disgusting fx for certain pigs

Mac-specific

This update brings all Mac tweaking options into a single place. In order to use it you have to hold ‘Command’ key on game startup.

The new launcher has options to:

• Don’t show any OS X notification popups while in game. They won’t even blink.
• Disable Touch Support if you feel like it
• Quickly click on OS X Path control to discover your saves directory
• Temporarily switch game to windowed mode
• Precisely track mouse and trackpad gestures and taps
• Disable hardware fade and gamma effects
• Enable OpenGL performance tweaks and a heap of assorted workarounds

Divinity Engine Editor

• Fixed some problems that existed when loading mods
• Fixed some memory leaks
• Added info when trying to save terrain that is not editable
• Fixed saving new story items
• Fixed story editor crash
• Fixed crash when entering game mode
• Fixed position of camera when switching between cameras