Can't dismiss companions

[Aspherion]

Hi guys,

 

I have a little issue with companions, namely that I cannot dismiss them for some reason - the dialogue is there, I can choose which settlement to send them to, but once confimed, they will make few steps as if they were about to leave as expected, but then turn around and come running back to me.

 

Here's few observations I made:

 

- After dismissal the companion will always run after me, never walk.

- I can easily recruit them back at any time and they will behave like a normal follower again

- When following while dismissed, they will never engage in combat with anything even if being attacked themselves

- If I try to recruit a new follower when the old one is in the 'running' state, I will have two followers - the new one will be active as normal and the other will keep running after me (never tried recruiting anyone new after this step to check if I can have 3, though)

 

I had 2 instances of this bug occuring for different companions. First time I detected the bug early and reverted to an earlier save, which solved the issue. Second time I noticed it occured again too late and all previous saves I could go back to were already affected. However, the second time it happened, I noticed it was during the Silver Shroud quest - at some point I had to dismiss my companion so that I could recruit Hancock to get past the bug related to having completed the 'Big Dig' earlier. I'm pretty sure the issue appeared after that.

 

I don't use any multiple follower mods or the 'Welcome to Goodneighbor' one, which I read is notorious for messing with companions. The only thing closest to a multiple follower mod I use is probably Heather Casdin (you can have her independently to your normal followers, if I'm not mistaken).

 

So far I tried the following solutions found on this forum:

 

1. Looking for any followersscript.pex files to delete (didn't have any)

2. cf "actor.setcompanion" false false (didn't work)

3. Dismissing by recruiting a different companion (somewhat two companions after that)

4. setconsolescopequest followers -> emptyrefalias companion -> setplayerteammate 0 (didn't work)

5. Recycle, kill, reset, resetai console commands (nothing worked)

 

I'm out of ideas at this point. Does anyone know of any other methods I didn't try so far? Could it be related to the Heather mod?

 

Thanks in advance!

[jones177]

I had the issue a long time ago.

 

It went away when I started using "Better Companions - No Conflicts" and "Unlimited Companion Framework"

 

The only bug I get with Heather is that on some character saves her recruitment dialog does not come up. I does later in the game for some strange reason.

 

 

Edit

 

I am revisiting all the character save I created in 1015 and 2016. The bug does not seem to trash the saves since none have the issue now but they did when I stopped playing them.

[StormWolf01]

Hiya Apathel!

 

I've had this happen to me before too. However since I have to play on a ps4, I thought that my options were pretty bad, and I ended up just starting up a new character.

Later on, I did find out what's causing the issue.

There is a script that is triggered, when you go to dismiss a companion. The script is SUPPOSED to do it's job, and then DELETE ITSELF. However, there's a bug in the game where every now and then, that script doesn't do the last part of it's job, and doesn't delete. Which is what causes the problem. It essentially leaves the companion half way between still following you, and NOT still following you.

 

I have good news, and I have bad news. (After hunting around for about half an hour). It CAN be fixed. I had it happen to me, TWICE.

There is a mod called Basic Companion Helper, that can do a bunch of stuff for companions, including actually force them to go ahead and complete that script. That's the good news.

Bad news- it's only for PS4 ! :( The author hasn't released it for PC! :(

https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/4087275

 

I did some hunting, and i couldn't find anything like it on the beth site, and really not so much on here either. I'm sure that there's console commands that might do it, but I dunno anything about those. Somebody else might know?

[Aspherion]

I had the issue a long time ago.

 

It went away when I started using "Better Companions - No Conflicts" and "Unlimited Companion Framework"

 

The only bug I get with Heather is that on some character saves her recruitment dialog does not come up. I does later in the game for some strange reason.

 

 

Edit

 

I am revisiting all the character save I created in 1015 and 2016. The bug does not seem to trash the saves since none have the issue now but they did when I stopped playing them.

 

Thanks for the tips - I'll try those two mods out and see if that will fix the issue :)

Hiya Apathel!

 

I've had this happen to me before too. However since I have to play on a ps4, I thought that my options were pretty bad, and I ended up just starting up a new character.

Later on, I did find out what's causing the issue.

There is a script that is triggered, when you go to dismiss a companion. The script is SUPPOSED to do it's job, and then DELETE ITSELF. However, there's a bug in the game where every now and then, that script doesn't do the last part of it's job, and doesn't delete. Which is what causes the problem. It essentially leaves the companion half way between still following you, and NOT still following you.

 

I have good news, and I have bad news. (After hunting around for about half an hour). It CAN be fixed. I had it happen to me, TWICE.

There is a mod called Basic Companion Helper, that can do a bunch of stuff for companions, including actually force them to go ahead and complete that script. That's the good news.

Bad news- it's only for PS4 ! :sad: The author hasn't released it for PC! :sad:

https://bethesda.net/en/mods/fallout4/mod-detail/4087275

 

I did some hunting, and i couldn't find anything like it on the beth site, and really not so much on here either. I'm sure that there's console commands that might do it, but I dunno anything about those. Somebody else might know?

Ouch, that's a bummer the mod is not available for PC :( Would you happen to know what's the name of that script file that fails to get deleted? Maybe if I found it in my installation and deleted it manually it would fix the problem?

 

Unless that file's name is followersscript.pex - I checked for that one already and it's not present :)

[Aspherion]

I had the issue a long time ago.

 

It went away when I started using "Better Companions - No Conflicts" and "Unlimited Companion Framework"

 

The only bug I get with Heather is that on some character saves her recruitment dialog does not come up. I does later in the game for some strange reason.

 

 

Edit

 

I am revisiting all the character save I created in 1015 and 2016. The bug does not seem to trash the saves since none have the issue now but they did when I stopped playing them.

So I installed both of these mods and tried to dismiss again. It didn't work :( Same behaviour.

 

Did it work for you normally - you just dismissed the companion the normal way or have you used any of the mods' special functionalities?

[StormWolf01]

Sorry for the long wait on the response.

I'm trying to find that info about it again.

 

I havent found it yet. But this is basically what happens. I'm posting it from my own experience, how it happened when it broke on me the two times it happened.

 

Recruit new companion/bring somebody new along.

Dialog opens to where to send current companion to.

Choose location.

Click to send them to that location.

It acknowledges and starts to send them there.

Script that chooses their location BREAKS (I think)

They walk away, but show up again, now stuck in limbo.

 

I found something that MIGHT Work, but I haven't tried it. (Can't use console on PS4).

 

After some heavy duty in depth research, I figured out a fix!

Simply put, I found console command instructions for dismissing companions recruited through the method I used initially. Can't provide the link unfortunately.

Since I can't provide the link and allow anyone to read through that article, I'll post the steps below:

1. open console and click on Cait (or any follower you may have this problem with) and enter the following commands:
2. setconsolescopequest followers
3. emptyrefalias companion
4. setplayerteammate 0

After doing so, Cait was force-dismissed, and I was able to re-hire her and dismiss her again to a location of my choosing. Also, there doesn't seem to be any side effects (at least none present yet) and my affinity level with her is intact.

https://bethesda.net/community/topic/60976/solved-can-t-dismiss-companion-recruited-via-console-commands-please-help/5

 

I'll keep looking. In the meantime, I hope that helps.

[StormWolf01]

OH!!!

Sorry to double post. But I just remembered WHY that holotape for the ps4 works!!

 

It has the ability to reset the location they are sent to at 0 (zero) That's the part that breaks. If you can find another way to reset that setting to 0, or a way to alter that, it should fix it.

I dunno if the mod "send companion home" may work or not. If it can manually reset their destination, I believe it would.

Console would also fix it, IF there's a command that lets you wipe it, or reset it to something different. Again, sorry I dunno about console, but I have to play on the ps4 cuz my laptop is too wimpy to run this game very well.

[Aspherion]

 

After some heavy duty in depth research, I figured out a fix!

Simply put, I found console command instructions for dismissing companions recruited through the method I used initially. Can't provide the link unfortunately.

Since I can't provide the link and allow anyone to read through that article, I'll post the steps below:

1. open console and click on Cait (or any follower you may have this problem with) and enter the following commands:
2. setconsolescopequest followers
3. emptyrefalias companion
4. setplayerteammate 0

After doing so, Cait was force-dismissed, and I was able to re-hire her and dismiss her again to a location of my choosing. Also, there doesn't seem to be any side effects (at least none present yet) and my affinity level with her is intact.

https://bethesda.net/community/topic/60976/solved-can-t-dismiss-companion-recruited-via-console-commands-please-help/5

 

I'll keep looking. In the meantime, I hope that helps.

 

I tried this method before and it didn't work :(

 

 

OH!!!

Sorry to double post. But I just remembered WHY that holotape for the ps4 works!!

 

It has the ability to reset the location they are sent to at 0 (zero) That's the part that breaks. If you can find another way to reset that setting to 0, or a way to alter that, it should fix it.

I dunno if the mod "send companion home" may work or not. If it can manually reset their destination, I believe it would.

Console would also fix it, IF there's a command that lets you wipe it, or reset it to something different. Again, sorry I dunno about console, but I have to play on the ps4 cuz my laptop is too wimpy to run this game very well.

I actually used this mod before but uninstalled it because I suspected it causing another issue with companions (had a companion stuck in one place permanently and not moving). Maybe some loose file remained after I removed it and it's screwing with the scripts. I'll try reinstalling it and see if I can fix the issue this way - thanks for the tip!

[StormWolf01]

Heyas Apathel I'm sorry for the late response. I haven't been back into the forums for a few days.

UGH. I was hoping that the de-activate/reactivate console thing would do it.

Yeah, that script is definitely broke but good :(

 

I don't know if these might help to track that script down or not.

 

https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/35853 SKK Script Lag Latency Detector.

 

This you MIGHT try. https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/22633 Script Cleaning and More. But backup your save files first!

 

I'm pretty sure that the cause of it is an issue with Bethesda. Something about it not deleting that script when it's supposed to. I KNOW I've got it bookmarked somewhere, but I've got FIVE browsers, and can't FIND IT!!!! Grrrr.

 

I wish I knew more about this. I really do. But hey, hopefully, the one that is stuck is not as bad as the one that first got stuck on me. STRONG. His continuous, nonstop idle banter nearly drove me insane! My roommate can attest, he got sick of hearing Me tell Him (Strong) to stfu! LOL.

Now granted, there's a HUGE difference between the consoles, and the PC, as far as what we can, and can't do. For me, I had the incidents when I was using a mod that gave you rings that you would give to different companions, to allow more than one to accompany you. (Yeah....Sony and their PS4 restrictions! :rolleyes: And after I stopped using that, I haven't had any other problems with this bug. But I've also been dismissing them before I recruit again, or take anybody else with, because of the lesson learned from this.

[StormWolf01]

Ok I found something else. Might give this a shot and see if it works.

 

Open the console, and then target the companion. Type in-

 

 

cqf FollowersExtension "EFF:CompanionManager.SetCompanion" RefID true true

and

cqf FollowersExtension "EFF:CompanionManager.SetCompanion" RefID False False

The place where it says "RefID" you put the RefID of the companion which you can find by clicking on them in console.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FalloutMods/comments/7h1ihj/fo4_broken_companion/

 

I shoulda mentioned this before, but I was really tired, and it slipped my mind. I am sooo sorry!

When this bug hits on the ps4, and from some of the other people I've read from with this or very similar problems, a reinstall does NOT solve the problem. It's not in the game files, the bug is written into the save files. I can verify that, as when I got stuck with Strong, I reinstalled, and he was still broken. I started another character, and had no problem with any of the companions.

Edited May 8, 2019 by StormWolf01