BG3 Shovel Not Working Fix

If your shovel is not working in BG3, you should know that you are definitely not alone. Almost half a year has passed since the release of Baldur’s Gate 3. The 2023 GOTY is a fantastic experience, with a vast world to explore, intricate and interconnected storylines, multifaceted characters, and complex class and combat systems. However, the sheer scale of the game means that there are still many bugs to be stamped out. In this guide, we explain what you need to do if you can’t use a shovel in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Shovel Not Working Bug Fix

Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the few new games I’m not actually angry at for having a few odd bugs here and there. It’s rare to see projects of such massive and ambitious scale to be executed this well. Honestly, for a layman such as me, crafting this kind of complex world with myriads of branching and interconnected stories, characters and factions (while giving players almost complete freedom of actions and choices) is almost like an act of magic. With that in mind, it’s understandable that some bugs still wait to be fixed. Among them, one of the longest-standing bugs in BG3 is the “Shovel Not Working” issue.

Namely, many players are having trouble equipping their shovels when they want to dig up some hidden treasure. “No matter what I do, I can’t manually use my shovel,” says Reddit user Zenerra. Luckily, if you are having the same issue, there’s a rather easy, albeit tedious, solution; namely, whenever you experience this bug, what you need to do is drop the shovel on the ground from your inventory and then pick it up again. Your character will then register that they have a shovel, and you will be able to use it. Unfortunately, you will need to repeat this procedure whenever it happens. But hey, at least it works! So there you have it, a temporary solution for the “BG3 Shovel Not Working” bug. Hopefully, Larian will fix this issue in one of their new hotfix updates.