Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Technical & Gameplay Problems Ladders can’t be climbed

Enjoying patch 9 so far, but haven’t been able to climb any ladder. (This includes vines; haven’t tried the rock face variant of ladders).

The character gets halfway up, then is set back down at the foot of the ladder. Luckily, the game refunds the movement cost.

Characters can still get up by using jump: select a landing target that will make the auto-pather climb up the ladder before jumping. The glitch will still happen, but somehow the jump overrides it: the PC will teleport from the base of the ladder to the landing spot.

Hmm.. I will have to try that. BUT, it is a kludge since you be forced to use a bonus action which can really FUBAR things.

The correct way to use them is not click the item but the ground at the top

Yes they are busted especially during combat where pathfinding is 1/2

Glad to see I’m not alone with this issue. For what it’s worth, clicking the ground at the top doesn’t work for me.

Haven’t installed the hotfix yet, but the notes make no mention of ladders.

Notable oddity: one vine in the harpy arena *can* be climbed normaly.

Yes, there’s been a problem with ladders for ages. But your issue sounds to be different, or at least worse. Normally my characters will go all the way up, and then sometimes some of them climb back down again.

its not that its really hard but just that the code is part of the base game which Larian isn't able to change while every different bubble is working on their own part of the project... once every team working on classes, races etc gets their parts in THEN the base code can be fixed which will be a case of manually fix one by one

@Flooter i'd be interested to know what system you are playing on because it sounds like your experience is worse than most people and certainly worse than mine... i found 3 busted in my last run which is down to combat having less pathfinding i.e, they break in combat but work outside it

I've got the same problem, and clicking the ground at the top doesn't work for me either.

Hotfix didn't fix it. Sent a bug report, but not sure how to send Larian a save for them to test.

On the plus side, my run took on a whole new flavor: The party is now a team of contractors running around Faerun to see if the ladders are up to code. "Step back, citizen. This vine is an insurance liability."

More notes:

• The AI can't climb up ladders either; when it attempts to do so, there's a good chance it ends up inside the world geometry.
• Climbing down ladders is usually fine, though PCs sometimes take falling damage on their way down. Gale once reacted as though I'd attacked him, saying we're not enemies (yet).
• Climbing up ladders also deals falling damage occasionally. If this happens on a wooden ladder, the ladder is destroyed.
• Tested rock ladders; they're no better than the other kinds.
• The issue exists in and out of combat.
• I get the feeling that the ladders are the wrong size, if that makes any sense? It's as though PCs try to get off at the top, but aren't quite at the right z-level to transition from the ladder to the upper floor. Just a guess, but what do I know? I'm just a simple paladin who took the oath of Workplace Safety.

Here's a stab at providing relevant information (feel free to ask for more specifics):
CPU Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8665U CPU @ 1.90GHz
Speed: 2112 Mhz
RAM: 16194 MB
DirectX Card: Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620
Primary VRAM: 1024 MB
Operating System Version: Windows 10 (64 bit)

This genuinely made me laugh out loud

You can attach files to your bug reports if you use the form via the “Feedback” option on the launcher or the contact support option on Larian’s website. Or is the problem that you don’t know where to find the save files on your drive? They have moved around.

Thanks! ^^

As for the feedback, I don't know where to find the files on my drive. Any ideas?

For me they're in C:\Users\[MyUser]\AppData\Local\Larian Studios\Baldur's Gate 3\PlayerProfiles\Public\Savegames\Story

Each save is in a folder with the savegame and a thumbnail. I've seen some posters here mention that it's helpful if you zip and send the whole folder, including the thumbnail, rather than just the save.

I have the same problem I've had since day one... the party climbs up then immediately turn around and climb back down. Ladders, vines, rock walls, anything they can climb. You can stop it if you click on a location away from the ladder, but you have to do it very quickly and you have to make enough space for everyone, otherwise the one or two party members will still go back down.

I'm assuming this is a fairly difficult technical issue to fix. Again, this has been happening since day one. There are literally thousands of reports. You can't convince me Larian employees haven't seen it in their own play testing. This issue effects many aspects of the game. From immersion to combat. I've lost fights and had to reload because my characters waste half their movement climbing up and down then end up on the wrong level. The is a great example.

Please, for the love of Selune, get it fixed before the full release. I've defended this game from day one... I really don't want to still hear people complaining about this after the supposedly full and polished game is released.

I’ve had that problem too, but this isn’t that. PCs aren’t "going up and then back down", they’re not going up at all.

Edit: Finally sent Larian a save file. Thanks @The_Red_Queen!

Sorry to say I've had to uninstall BG3. It's deceptively hard to make in-game progress while avoiding ladders. Playing the full game will require a substantial upgrade to my rig, which may never happen. Womp womp.

Yeah, that Video card is below the minimum system specs by a significant margin, is this a laptop? Also the Intel UHD 620 is notorious for having compatibility issues - it works on less than 60% of games.

I am actually shocked it could even start the game and get to character creation. Those cards are made to save laptop battery power.


You don't need to go nuts with the upgrade. It depends on what your rig is - do you have a tower or a laptop here? Laptop graphic cards cannot be upgraded anymore for the most part.

integrated graphics = mystery solved mate

Thanks for the replies, it’s nice to get a picture of where my system stands.

It’s a laptop, yes, in fact it’s my work computer. Six months into EA, I installed BG3 there because I’m not a trustworthy employee and performance was too rough on my gaming laptop, eg load times of about 30 mins. For the record, things ran fine (by my low standards) on the work PC up to patch 9, and even then it’s just the ladders that are broken.

I’m looking into getting a tower, but it’s a “want” rather than a “need”, so it may not happen right away. In any case, I feel like I got my money’s worth out of EA: It’s been an interesting journey, and patch 7 was a satisfying experience in its own right.

when the time comes , loading time = Cpu + Ram i.e, an Intel 3 with 8G Ram will take at least 5 mins to unpack some areas where as a Ryzen + 12G will do it in a 3rd the time
your issue here with the ladders boils down to having zero Vram which means there is no buffer for working out pathes or rendors and thats why others are having zero issues in places where you get stuck... personally i'd look into a W10 laptop with at least a Gpu chip for better bang for $ as towers are great until you need to find a GPU card that isn't ex-minner or just over priced and a laptop runs just fine as long as you keep it cool

anyway good luck