The Commonwealth can be extremely perilous, so having a companion can be crucial to your success. They can be an extra gun when you need it, draw fire, and be your very own pack mule, so you can continue sweeping the wasteland clean of all it’s glorious junk.
There are some people who have been having problems with companions mysteriously vanishing from their last known settlement. I ran into this when I sent my beloved Dogmeat to the Sanctuary, only to have him disappear next time I travelled back to collect him.
Not my Dogmeat!
If you are experiencing this issue, you’re in luck. There are a couple things you can try that will help you track them down. PC users have the option of using the console commands to achieve this, but today I’ll be focusing on how to fix this in-game.
There’s a bug (wait… WHAT? A bug!?) in the game that ignores where you last sent your companions and instead has them return to where you initially found them. For instance, Piper will wander back to Diamond City, Dogmeat will go back to Red Rocket station or Cait back to the fighting pits of the Combat Zone. When you send them off, they tend to walk at a sluggish pace, so allow some time for them to travel or just sleep in a bed to forward time.
It helps to send your team mates to smaller settlements such as Greentop Nursery because it’s easier to find them when needed. Every base has access to a workshop that allows you to customize it to your pleasing. Travel to the last location you sent your follower, head into workshop mode and construct a bell pole. When you ring it, you will gather all the local settlers including your missing companions. It can take a while to collect everyone so you can also build a chair and use the wait feature for a couple hours to speed up the process.
This method won’t work for Dogmeat because he doesn’t respond to the bell. Dogmeat can instead be found in his dog house, doing dog things. Build a dog house and it will allow your trusty mutt to spawn where ever you want. If you sent him to Sanctuary, you will find four dog houses located throughout the area where he can appear. Build a dog house, then scrap the remaining ones and this will force Dogmeat to show up at your house.
Hopefully these tips were able to help you find your missing pals. Fallout 4 is a great game and a technical achievement, but it’s not without flaws. I have faith that the good folks at Bethesda will take notice and patch these issues soon.