While Baldur’s Gate 3 is certainly enjoying deserved praise from both critics and fans, some major technical issues seem to be souring the experience for many players. From the high CPU/GPU usage issue to the Halsin quest bug, the number of issues in the game has only been increasing with each passing day. However, Larian is a competent studio, and so far it has released four hotfixes for the game that dealt with many such issues. Now, there’s a new bug reported by many: the error code 516 “save error”.
As the name itself suggests, this is an error related to game saving. And it’s a big one because the majority of BG3 players perform a lot of savescumming. Plus, losing your progress because of some stupid bug is not ideal. So, are there any fixes for this issue? Let’s find out!
Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) Error Code 516 “Save Error“: Is there any fix yet
Well, as of now, no official fix exists. So, until Larian releases an official fix for this error, players can try out the following workarounds and check if any of them fix the issue:
Ensure that you have enough space on the installation drive –
Due to this being a save issue, players should see to it that the installation drive has enough free space. If you have done a default installation of the game, then it must be on the C drive. So, check the C drive of your system and ensure that it has at least 50 GB of free space. Free up that amount of space in case it’s low on free storage. Players who did a custom installation should do the same too.
Check the installation drive –
A failing HDD/SSD can also trigger this issue. So, you need to ensure that the drives on which the game is installed and the saves are located are functioning properly. If it is not, you will have to install the game on a different drive and change its save directory as well.
Change the save directory –
Some players have found that changing the save directory of BG3 solves the issue. If you don’t know the save file location of BG3, check out this guide. Now, to change the save directory, all you need to do is:
- Move the save directory from the C drive to another drive. For this guide, we will be using “C:\Users\[Usernamefolder]\AppData\Local\LarianStudios\…” as the original location and “E:\Games\LarianStudios\..” as the new location. Copy the contents of the first directory into the second one.
- Once you have shifted the save directory, open the command prompt. Make sure that you are launching CMD with administrative rights.
- After opening the command prompt, type in the following command:
- mklink /d “C:\Users\[Usernamefolder]\AppData\Local\LarianStudios\…” “E:\Games\LarianStudios\..”
- Following this, a directory junction will be created, and the game will now use the newly created directory as its default save file location.
- Once done, launch the game and check whether the issue persists.
Get rid of some of the saves –
A quick workaround for this error is to just delete some of the saved files of BG3. The game is known for savescumming methods, which, while certainly helpful, will also result in a lot of saved files getting accumulated over time. What you should do is delete all the unnecessary ones and, if possible, keep only a few. Any number of saves under 30 is a good starting point.
Disable third-party antivirus software –
The Larian support page specifically mentions that a few third-party antiviruses “block the game from being able to create files and folders,..”. The simple solution to fixing this save error is to disable any third-party antivirus program running on your system before starting the game.
Add the game as an exception in Windows Defender –
Windows Defender isn’t innocent either. It is notorious for falsely flagging files and folders, resulting in errors and issues like this. Thankfully, there’s a way to ensure that it never happens again. Open Windows settings, and then click on Update & Security. Select Windows Security > Virus & Threat Protection > Virus & Threat Protection Settings > Add or remove exclusions. You can add BG3 as an exclusion here.
Delete the contents of the LevelCache folder –
It seems that corrupt files inside the LevelCache folder can trigger save errors as well. Deleting the folder will most likely solve the problem. If you are unable to locate the folder, copy and paste the following path into the address bar of the File Explorer: %LocalAppData%\Larian Studios\Baldur’s Gate 3\LevelCache
Disable Steam Cloud –
One of the reasons you are encountering this error could be due to interference from Steam Cloud. To fix it, you can disable Steam Cloud for the time being. You can do so by navigating to the Steam Library and right-clicking on Baldur’s Gate 3. After this, select Properties > General. Here, find the Enable Steam Cloud option and make sure it is toggled off.
Launch the game with admin rights –
If you have been launching the game via Steam, or its shortcut, then try doing the same via its .exe file and running it as an administrator. Players can go to the following location to find the .exe file of BG3: [installation directory of Steam]\Steam\steamapps\common\Baldurs Gate 3\bin. Vulkan users can start the game through bg3.exe and DirectX11 users can do the same using bg3_dx11.exe. So, right-click on any of the .exe file, and select the Run as Administrator option.
Repair game –
Another workaround you can try is repairing the game. To do so, open Steam and then head to Library. From there, right-click on Baldur’s Gate 3 and select Properties > Installed Files > Verify Integrity of Game Files. Now let Steam do the rest of the work. Once the process is complete, check if the issue persists. You can do the same via GOG Galaxy.
Perform a clean boot –
We suggest you do a clean boot if other workarounds prove useless. Press the Windows + R keys together to open the Run box. Type in msconfig and press the enter key. From the General tab, select the Selective Startup option. Under it, you will find the following three sub-options:
- Load system services
- Load startup items
- Use the original boot configuration
Uncheck the Load startup items option and checkmark the rest. Now switch to the Services tab. Below, you will see an option titled: Hide all Microsoft services. Checkmark the box for this option. Following that, click on the Disable All button. Click on OK and close the system configuration. Reboot your PC. After the reboot is complete, open the System Configuration menu again and switch to the normal boot configuration.
That said, we hope the provided workarounds fix the issue in BG3 for good. For more guides on Baldur’s Gate 3, follow DigiStatement. Also, read: Baldur’s Gate 3 (BG3) Bag of Holding: How to Get & Find?
