I've recently started playing Fallout 4, and I've acquired Dogmeat. Long story short, I told him to stay in a small building so I could down a few raiders quietly but I forgot about him and I can't find him. Is there a way to call Dogmeat back or do I have to retrace my steps until I'm reunited with him?

• When Freedom Calls Glitch

When Freedom Calls Glitch

Like thousands of other gamers out there, I have been playing a lot of as of late. After receiving the game as a Christmas present, I proceeded to get lost in its virtual post-apocalyptic take on the Massachusetts Commonwealth (a surreal adventure to be sure considering I grew up in Massachusetts). Only just recently, I finally finished the game’s engrossing main storyline, after which I decided to pursue more mundane secondary tasks like tracking down Bobbleheads and finding all of the game’s recruitable companions.However, I quickly discovered that one companion was proving more elusive than usual, which was especially worrying since it was a companion I had already recruited. This is the story of how I lost and eventually found Dogmeat, and how said rediscovery opened my eyes to some of Fallout 4’s more minor (yet still noticeable) flaws.

Strange Circumstances. I’m going to explain how I lost Dogmeat in as spoiler-free a way as possible, so don’t worry if you have yet to play Fallout 4 or beat its main questline.

Early in the game, you receive a quest which involves following Dogmeat as he sniffs out the scent of a person you’re looking for. You first encounter Dogmeat even earlier than that, guaranteeing that he’s a potential companion by the time you get this quest.However, the exact nature of how you utilize Dogmeat in this quest is unique, since you can bring him along even if you already have another companion with you (the game usually restricts you to one companion at a time).When I got the quest, I was still relatively new to Fallout 4, so I didn’t give much thought to these unique circumstances which basically allowed me to have two companions at once. I followed Dogmeat on a lengthy journey through the outdoors up to our final destination, where I was promptly forced to deal with hostile forces (as Fallout 4 players often are when finding a new location).Here’s where my lack of foresight betrayed me. I felt bad about abandoning my loyal friend, but I also found some comfort in the knowledge that he had to be somewhere in the world (I was willing to bet that the game wouldn’t simply despawn such an important NPC out of the game entirely), I just had to find him.

I tried checking popular outposts like Sanctuary and The Castle, I tried retracing my steps from the tracking quest, I tried looking around the structure Dogmeat had led me to, I took the internet’s advice and checked both the location where you initially find Dogmeat as well as nearby dog houses, and every time I turned up nothing.Then, finally, after I had just about given up, I discovered one more user-suggested trick I could try. I have no proof of whether or not this trick actually worked, but one internet user suggested destroying every dog house in every outpost until only one was left, thereby leaving only one place for Dogmeat to potentially return to.I knew from previous experience that there were already several dog houses spread around Sanctuary, so I went about finding them and scrapping them one by one. I found the first one, then the second, then a third, and as I approached the fourth and final Sanctuary dog house, I stopped dead in my tracks. There, lying in the dog house and wagging his tongue without a care in the world, was Dogmeat.My theory is that destroying the other dog houses allowed the game to finally pick a definitive spot for Dogmeat to return to, and that beforehand he had simply been lost in some sort of world-spawning limbo.

I’ve come to this conclusion because I recall ringing the bell I built in Sanctuary (a device which gathers all of the outpost’s settlers when rung) before dismantling the dog houses and never seeing Dog Meat, I’m also quite sure that I checked the exact dog house where Dogmeat was during an earlier visit and he wasn’t there (though it’s possible he was simply wandering around at the time and that he doesn’t respond to the bell). Chinks In The Power Armor. While my long journey to track down my missing digital dog ended in success, it still highlights a few glaring oversights Bethesda made when designing the outpost and companion recruitment systems. The whole ordeal would not have been necessary if there was a way to track which companions are stationed at which outposts, or if there was a way to see detailed information about a particular outpost at a glance, including which settlers and companions are stationed there. I remember at one point deciding it might be best to simply wait for a modder to create a mod with companion-tracking functionality and pray the mod was eventually ported over to consoles (I play on PlayStation 4).Of course, I doubt it’d be terribly hard for Bethesda to patch such functionality into the game itself. Maybe one of the game’s planned DLC packs will include some sort of in-game method for tracking and locating companions, allowing future players to avoid the trials and tribulations I had to endure just to find my lost dog.prove that losing companions is a widespread issue for the Fallout 4 community, and one which doesn’t just affect Dogmeat.

Hopefully a future DLC pack or mod will nullify this issue, but in the meantime, be sure to keep a close eye on your companions if you too decide to venture into Fallout 4’s unforgiving wasteland.

If you really want to change your game, check out our guide to the.You summon any item or NPC from thin air, or make yourself immortal with a few Fallout 4 console commands and cheats. By pressing the tilde key , you can unlock the console, a gateway that lets you give yourself superpowers, spawn weapons and monsters, change your stats and attributes, speed up time, and complete the game with one tap of the Enter key.Simply activate the console in-game, type the command you want, press enter and then close the console again and watch your command take effect. If the tilde button (left of the 1 key) doesn't work, try the apostrophe key. It seems to vary depending on the nationality of your keyboard settings.Fallout 4 cheats and console commandstgm — Good old god mode.tcl — No collision. Walk through walls.

Walk into the sky. Be free.tfc — Activates free camera.tfc 1 — Same as above, but freezes all animations. Great for screenshots.tm — Toggles menus and UI on and off. It even stops you from seeing the console, so you'll have to press tilde and type tm again blind to get the UI back.csb — Resets blood and damage effects.fov first-person FOV third-person FOV — Change the FOV.set timescale to insert number here — Speeds up or slows down time. The default setting is 16. 1 is realtime, 10,000 is crazy spectacular timelapse.

Be sure to look when time's on fast forward because the sun and the moon actually bounce across the sky.coc cell id – Teleports the player to an area. Example: coc RedRocketExtFinding item and NPC IDsFor a lot of these commands, you'll need to know how to get the IDs of items, NPCs, as well as the names of locations and factions.

With the console open, clicking on a character or item will show its ID. Additionally, many commands act on the targeted character—so, whoever you clicked on. Sometimes it can be tricky to get the right ID to pop up (it's easy to select yourself accidentally), so using free cam (tfc) can help. You can also look up commands and IDs.help item name 0-4 — Searches items, characters, commands, and more.

Use Page Up and Page Down to scroll. 0 searches for everything.

Example: help 'attack dog' 0 would let you know that there's an NPC called 'attack dog' with the ID 000B2BF2. Make sure to use quotes when searching for two or more words.coc qasmoke — This teleports you to a room with a number of boxes that contain every single item in the game. Surreal, but a good way to find item IDs. You can find an item ID by entering the console and clicking on the item in the game world with your mouse.

It turns out that Dogmeat's real name is 0001d162. How to change your character with Fallout 4 console commandsshowlooksmenu player 1 — Reopens the character customization menu so you can change your look. You'll want to have your character's face centered on screen for this one.player.setrace race id — Change your race (e.g.

Ghoul, mutant). Find race IDs with the help function, but beware of adverse side effects (most races just make it crash). Example: player.setrace GhoulRaceplayer.resethealth — Resets your health.setgs fJumpHeightMin insert number here — Modifies your jump. Set it really high to vault over buildings like the Incredible Hulk. Warning, if you don't turn on god mode, the falling damage from your own jump will kill you.tdetect — The AI won't detect you anymore. Steal to your heart's content.player.modav skill number — Boost a skill by a numerical amount of your choosing. Player.modav strength 10 will boost your strength by ten points.

If there's a terminal you'd love to hack or an NPC you'd love to persuade, use this. However, if you want to unlock perks, use the next command.player.setav character variable number — Sets a character trait to a new value. Unlike modav, this will unlock perks when you change your stats.player.setav speedmult insert number here — The number you type in adds multiplier to your running speed, with hilarious consequences. Use in combination with god mode and the next command to go full superhero.player.setlevel insert number — Boost your level to the number specified.player/additem 0000000f insert number here — Adds bottlecaps equal to the number you specify.player/additem 0000000a insert number here — Adds bobbypins equal to the number you specify.player.additem item ID number — You may have noticed a pattern in the last two commands. Yes, you can add ANY item to your inventory this way as long as you know the item ID (see above for instructions for finding IDs).

How to manipulate NPCs with Fallout 4 console commandstai — Turns AI off and causes everyone to stand still with a vacant look on their face.tcai — Turns combat AI off. Brings peace to the world. Boring, boring peace.killall — Kills everyone in the vicinity, apart from companions and any other characters deemed too vital to die.

In that case they will slump down injured until you give them a stimpack.kill insert ID — Kills the creature with the ID you supply. Type kill (0017fda3) now and wherever they are, the feral ghoul I tested this on will drop dead.

Alternatively, click on an NPC with the console open and just type 'kill.' Resurrect insert ID — Brings the creature with the ID you supply back to life.

Type resurrect (0017fda3) to bring the feral ghoul I tested this on back to life! He's having a torrid day. Alternatively, select a dead NPC with the console open and just type 'resurrect.' If you resurrect a headless NPC, be aware that they're going to remain headless.recycleactor — Resets a character.setscale number from 1 to 10 — Makes you or your target HUGE. See the results in the picture at the top of the article.sexchange — You'll never guess.

Works on whoever is selected, though it may not have good results with unique characters.getav CAaffinity — Get the affinity level of your current companion.setav CAaffinity number — Sets your companion's affinity level to a number.modav CAaffinity number – Adds a number to your companion's affinity level. Haven't noticed an effect.unequipall — Unequip all items from the selected NPC. How to change factions with Fallout 4 console commandsplayer.AddToFaction faction id 0 or 1 — Become allied with a faction. Alternatively, remove the 'player' prefix and this will affect the targeted NPC. 0 is friendly, 1 is allied. Example: player.AddToFaction 00028670 1 to become allied with bugs.player.RemoveFromFaction faction id — Remove yourself from a faction.

Alternatively, remove the 'player' prefix and this will affect the targeted NPC.removefromallfactions — Removes the target from all factions.setally faction id faction id 0 or 1 0 or 1 — Make two factions friendly (0) or allied (1).setenemy faction id faction id 0 or 1 0 or 1 —Make two factions neutral (0) or enemies (1). How to complete the game with Fallout 4 console commandscompleteallobjectives Quest ID — Complete all current objectives in a quest.resetquest Quest ID – Reset a quest.completequest Quest ID — Complete a quest.caqs — This completes every step of the primary quest, effectively completing the game for you. WARNING: Don't use it if you want to avoid spoiling the entire game for yourself.