In Baldur's Gate series, players may choose to start a campaign as an imported character or by transferring data from previous saves.
Types of import
Character import
In the lower right corner of character generation screen, click Import, either from Saved Game or Character File. This will bring up a list of some pre-made characters plus the ones you exported, and the ones stored in save games from previous games in the series. The "Final Save" of a previous game may not appear at the top of the list, and you may need to scroll down to find it.
To manually export a character instead, load a game, go to the the character's Record screen, there's a Export option in the lower right portion, type in the file name (this won't change the character name) which will generate a typedname.chr file in the characters subfolder located in the main folder where .exe is. Each game will only read the .chr files in its own subfolder, so if you need to start Shadows of Amn with a BG1 character without importing from an existing save state, you need to manually copy paste the .chr files from BG1 to BG2 folder. You may only export the character(s) you created, companions won't be exported.
While you aren't allowed to change gender, race, class, alignment, abilities, or skills of an imported character, you can still change their appearance and name, and inherit the status (eg. exp level) at the time of export. You will need to manually copy the character's portraits (in L, M and S sizes) as well as their voice pack over into the corresponding folder. You can alter these at any point during regular gameplay from the character's profile if the game doesn't automatically detect them on import.
Depending on campaigns, you may even have all items the character themself was carrying except the containers. Beware though, acquiring key items this way may later cause bugs.
Save transfer
Some campaigns let you continue from previous chapters as a whole party, everything is transferred, including romances, this process happens automatically once you beat the previous chapters.
Classic versions
Chart
| Import to | Importables | Save transfer to | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carried items (except containers) |
Special | ||
 Baldur's Gate (1998)This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign. |
O | - |  Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999)This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign. |
| Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast (1999) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate: Tales of the Sword Coast campaign. |
O | - | Baldur's Gate (1998) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate campaign. |
 Baldur's Gate II:Shadows of Amn (2000) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn campaign. |
- | [Selected items (classic) 1] |  Baldur's Gate II:Throne of Bhaal (2001) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal campaign.[1] |
| Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal (2001) This icon indicates content from the original Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Bhaal campaign. |
O | [Extra items (classic) 1] | - |
To Shadows of Amn
- ↑ Golden Pantaloons are brought over to be recovered from a locked (49) wall painting (3093.2739) NW of your starting zone; then one item from each of the two lists below is brought, with the higher position in the list taking precedence over the lower. For example, a character who has both the Helm of Balduran and The Claw of Kazgaroth in inventory, will only have the helm recovered. Items tagged with [Default] is what is presented if the character either has none of the listed items, or if the player didn't use an imported character. #1 is worn by Ilyich at (1529, 448) and #2 is in a chest at (3748, 907) along with Air Elemental Statue in the same area.
Table #1:
Table #2:
To Throne of Bhaal
- ↑ Besides automatically continuing game which carries over everything from the Shadows of Amn campaign, click Single Player in Throne of Bhaal then Import Game will allow to player to start with the whole party from the save, excluding Imoen from the prologue. It's not recommended to do so however, as the only two extra items you'll receive are Amulet of Seldarine and BAG19, romance may not be inherited and the save file may be unstable due to conflicts.
- ↑ Extra items will be added to protagonist based on class if you start ToB by creating a new character or by importing instead of auto-continuing from SoA. Amulet of Seldarine will be added for all occasions.
^ Include subsequent class kits unless otherwise listed
Notes
- Rangers may choose a new type of racial enemy when importing
- Any characters dualed to Specialist Mage will have their spellbook rewritten, their proficiency points resigned to be a Generalist Mage
- Watcher's Keep state carries over from SoA to ToB
Enhanced editions
Chart
| Import to | Importables | Save transfer to | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carried items (except containers) |
Special | ||
 Baldur's Gate:Enhanced Edition (2012) This icon indicates content from the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition campaign. |
O | - |  Baldur's Gate:Siege of Dragonspear (2016) This icon indicates content from the Siege of Dragonspear campaign of the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. |
| Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear (2016) This icon indicates content from the Siege of Dragonspear campaign of the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. |
- | Key Ring given, preset companions based on alignments with midtier equipment; regain Bhaalspawn abilities based on alignment randomly for BP characters | - |
 The Black Pits (2012)This icon indicates content from the Black Pits campaign in the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. |
- | Bhaalspawn abilities and Find Familiar erased | - |
 Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition – Shadows of Amn (2013)This icon indicates content from the Shadows of Amn campaign of the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. |
- | [Selected items (EE) 1], [additional SoD items 1]; regain Bhaalspawn abilities based on alignment randomly for BP characters |  Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition – Throne of Bhaal (2013)This icon indicates content from the Throne of Bhaal campaign of the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. |
| Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition – Throne of Bhaal (2013) This icon indicates content from the Throne of Bhaal campaign of the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. |
O | [Extra items (EE) 1]; gain Slayer Form for BP characters | - |
 The Black Pits II:Gladiators of Thay (2013) This icon indicates content from the Black Pits II: Gladiators of Thay campaign in the Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. |
- | Bhaalspawn abilities erased | - |
To Shadows of Amn
- ↑ Golden Pantaloons are brought over to be recovered from a locked (49) wall painting (3093.2739) NW of your starting zone; then one item from each of the two lists below is brought, with the higher position in the list taking precedence over the lower. For example, a character who has both the Helm of Balduran and The Claw of Kazgaroth in inventory, will only have the helm recovered. Items tagged with [Default] is what is presented if the character either has none of the listed items, or if the player didn't use an imported character. #1 is worn by Ilyich at (1529, 448) and #2 is in a chest at (3748, 907) along with Air Elemental Statue in the same area.
Table #1:
Table #2:
More importables from v1.3:
Malaaq in the Free the Djinn quest now grants one more weapon the character was carrying as stated in the patch notes page 7:
“ Simply visit the imprisoned genie and give him the freedom he seeks, and you will receive a weapon imported from your Baldur’s Gate game. If you have more than one weapon from the list to the right, the top-most weapon will be carried over.
Starting with a new character? No problem. The genie will still give you a weapon appropriate for your character based on your class and weapon proficiencies.
This replaces the Sword of Chaos +2 that the genie previously possessed, which has been moved to the Cambion just southeast of the genie’s planar prison.
The above-mentioned list, precedence lowers from the top to the bottom:” For example, if the character with grand-mastery in quarterstaves was carrying:
- Ashideena +2
- Aule's Staff
In the setup:
- Malaaq will grant you Ashideena
- But, if you drop it before importing, you should get some staff (because of your grandmastery), so the listed Staff Spear +2 will be given
- But if you have Staff Mace +2 in your inventory in addition to Ashideena (which will be dropped), you'll get the Staff Mace
- ↑ Additional Siege of Dragonspear items: In addition to the importable items mentioned above, the following items from SoD will be distributed among various locations if they are equipped on or in the inventory of the imported character.
Sod Item SoD Location BGIIEE Location Global Variable Archer's Eyes Loot from Shallen, an enthralled ranger fought in the Temple of Cyric located in the Forest of Wyrms Loot from Drow warrior in the Kuo-toa Lair portion of the Underdark, right before the door to the elven temple BD_SOD_IMPORT_05 Bard Hat Found in Crommus' grave in Dwarven Dig Site - can only be found by completing Ancient Menhirs Loot in Planar Prison BD_SOD_IMPORT_07 Belt of the Skillful Blade Sold by Waizahb at the Coalition Camp Sold by Drow Merchant at the top of the Ust Natha Bazaar platform BD_SOD_IMPORT_04 Biter Reward for completing Halfling Treasures by returning the treasures Sold by Jayes BD_SOD_IMPORT_08 Buckler of the Fist Sold by Belegarm Sold by Black Market Thief, who appears outside the Temple of Ilmater in the Slums at night BD_SOD_IMPORT_10 Dragon Blade Can be obtained from Rigah in the Underground River area in a number of ways Loot from Tazok BD_SOD_IMPORT_11 Helmet of Dumathoin Complete Dwarves of Dumathoin quest or loot from Auchlin Deepvein Loot from Tarnor the Hatchetman in the Sewers BD_SOD_IMPORT_06 Robe of Red Flames Quest reward from Edwin for killing Vichand Edwin's starting equipment BD_SOD_IMPORT_03 Tangled Strings Found in Crommus' grave in Dwarven Dig Site - can only be found by completing Ancient Menhirs Sold by Shopkeeper in Bridge District BD_SOD_IMPORT_09 Voidhammer Forged by Jegg using Voidstone Shards The pentagonal pool of blood in Bodhi's Hideout (Chapter 6 only) BD_SOD_IMPORT_02 Voidsword Forged by Jegg using Voidstone Shards The pentagonal pool of blood in Bodhi's Hideout (Chapter 6 only) BD_SOD_IMPORT_01 You can check ahead whether your SoD items have been successfully imported by checking the following Global Variables in your BGIIEE save using save editors:
BD_HAVE_SOD —Value is 1 BD_SOD_IMPORT_## —Value is 1, ## is number 01 to 11, refer to the table above
You can always add those values via EEkeeper or Console Commands if things not going as intended.
To Throne of Bhaal
- ↑ Extra items will be added to protagonist based on class if you start ToB by creating a new character or by importing instead of auto-continuing from SoA. Amulet of Seldarine will be added for all occasions.
^ Include subsequent class kits unless otherwise listed
Notes
- Rangers may choose a new type of racial enemy when importing
- When continuing a SoA save into ToB, Watcher's Keep state carries over
Exploits
- Gaining permanent stats increases such as from tomes or Tear of Bhaal, then starting over with the same character result in a very strong protagonist when done repeatedly
- It is possible to export all items into classic SoA and also gain other benefits through exploit