Museum Issues and How-To Help

There are various threads that pop up about problems donating to the museum. While help has been offered on nearly every issue, the number of issues seems to keep people from finding the answer to the issue they're having at the moment. So, here is a comprehensive list. Please post other issues or fixes and i will try to add them to this post for easy reference.

A proactive precautionary strategy:

Whenever you have items to donate that you fear may cause an issue (chicken statue, or donating to the bottom rows), keep them in your inventory and go to bed. The next morning, head to the museum as soon as it opens (8:00am) before doing any other activities. This way, if you have any issues at the museum and need to exit the game, you will not lose a full day's work.​

Can't place items on the bottom rows?

Tips:

1. Scroll your inventory window to the left of the empty slots you want to fill, all the way down to the very bottom. Make sure you can see the empty slot between your inventory window and your energy bar.

2. Be careful of items already placed in slots. Clicking in your inventory window or on the "Ok" button can select items underneath the window.
3. Do not scroll the inventory window after picking up the item you are donating. Moving the window after selecting the item will keep you from being able to place it.
4. Try zooming out to be able to see more of the room on a smaller scale.​

Mod:

There is a mod available which allows you to rearrange the museum items. If you are comfortable with mods, this may help you. (I personally have never and would never use mods, but several people have recommended this one for the museum.) (Maybe someone can post a link to the mod below?)​

Getting stuck with a selected item when trying to donate?

This is an issue with accidentally selecting items below your inventory window. The inventory window and "Ok" button seem to have a transparency that will cause you to pick up an item below them.

You should try to replace the item you accidentally picked up back to the same slot it was in if possible. If not, try to place it in another empty slot.

Unfortunately, i personally do not have a clear fix to this. My experiences with it were solved with trying to set the item back down, sometimes with several failed attempts, before it finally let me set it back down somewhere. If you absolutely cannot get it set back down, you may have to force-quit the game.​

Not receiving your Chicken Statue furniture piece?

It is not really clear why this happens. It seems if you find the Chicken Statue artifact early in your game and donate it to Gunther, you do not get the furniture piece reward.

Tips:

1. If you haven't already donated at least 10 other items to the museum, and you find a Chicken Statue artifact, just ship it away for now. (If you want to, that is. Normally the Chicken Statue artifact is found several times from digging on your farm or fishing treasures, but it is up to you whether to ship it away or save it for later.)
2. If you find a Chicken Statue artifact, save it until tomorrow to donate first thing in the morning. As soon as you place the Chicken Statue artifact into a slot, you should see the reward text and sound. Go to Gunther and make sure you received the statue furniture piece. If not, exit the game without saving, and then ship that Chicken Statue artifact away.
3. If you have already donated the Chicken Statue artifact and saved the game, fear not. The next time you donate another item to the museum, pick up the Chicken Statue artifact and move it to a different slot. This should activate the reward.​

Not getting rewarded for completing the entire collection?

Make sure you have donated every item. Your collection panels will show every item that you have found, whether or not you actually donated one to Gunther. Some common missed donations are the prismatic shard (taken to the desert for the Galaxy Sword), dinosaur egg (hatched your first one and forgot to donate one later), and fire quartz, frozen tear, aquamarine, or earth stone (put your first one in the Community Center and forgot to donate the next one).

When the museum is complete, you will have 7 empty slots. Start by counting your empty slots. If you have more than seven, then look for what you're missing. This screenshot is a completed collection to use for quick comparison to your own collection.

​

Hope this helps someone. Please post other issues or fixes below.

Official Wiki Museum page for more information and details:
http://stardewvalleywiki.com/Museum

Related discussion links:
http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/pc-cant-donate-to-museum.128726/
http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/bugs-when-donating-to-museum.128318/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/413150/discussions/1/405693392915270724/
http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/museum-bug.125142/
http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/donating-to-museum-last-row-bugged.128048/
http://community.playstarbound.com/threads/museum-bug-cant-place-items-cant-do-anything.127581/

 

I'm having a museum donation issue that I don't see listed here. When I go to the museum to donate items, I can't talk/interact with Gunther or the counter that he stands behind. I approach the counter with items to donate, and press the action button, but nothing happens. I've tried donating many different items and tried interacting with every spot on and around the counter, but nothing works. I'm playing on xbox 1

 

I'm having a different issue on PC where I approach Gunther with a non donated artifact he acts like I have no donatable items.