People disappearing has become an annoyance; and searching the many threads for refs, as well. Most often I'm seeing mention of deaths in Megaton, like Lucy West, from falling damage. Sometimes it seems to be a path-finding/waypoint error, and others may be a collision between passersby near a sharp edge. Some disappearances may also be due to portal errors. Here are some I've seen:

1) Nathan is missing and his wife asks me to send him home if I've seen him. My first pc is, after 15 months, a level 27 Herald of Tranquility. Sometime around level 10-15, I saw Nathan outside Megaton- I now forget where, but I think it was an interior or a "town". I thought it was strange at the time. Now I wonder if he is lost, eaten, or glitched, having been allowed in the wasteland through the Megaton gate portal even though he probably shouldn't be. Perhaps he can legally leave but ended up inside a different portal by error. Some games do let NPC's/WMs pass level boundaries- the first time I saw it was Half-Life; (a head-crab followed my character in three levels- scared the crap out of me at the time). Many F3 NPCs (all??) can travel through portals, too; most seen is in Rivet City, but I've seen customers bump through at Moira's (I mean on their own business, not just quest-scripted transfers) and other places. In fact I thought Sister has disappeared when I later saw him walking downriver toward Rivet City near the other side of the Jefferson Memorial; obviously out on his own business.

On the other hand a Tenpenny refugee got to the Megaton gate- bumped right up to it like he wanted in- he didn't get in , or not while I watched or even when I went in and out; I never saw him again.

2) After the Holy Water quest- and everyone from the door guy to the Son of Atom in the "cellar" are notches on the gunstock at this point- I noticed certain doors, including my own house, still get the holy note appearing and re-appearing on it, even though there should be no one left to post that. A bug- it should cease posting when that quest ended; but just in case there was a sequel I decided to consult confessor Cromwell. Cromwell has disappeared, and his wife is giving me grief about something that I did. For months she and Cromwell didn't seem to notice what everyone else knew- that I defused the bomb. This could be a belated ref, but the first time she used this response I wondered if they thought I offed Cromwell. After the Arefu/Family hostility glitch I wondered if he got dead in the radiation pool and I was blamed- but that's clearly wrong since this time there is no real hostility. Still, something is amiss. I never use mods or cheats with the exception of the no clip cheat to get out of several "stuck" positions (usually in debris boundaries)- but I used it this time to fly under the Megaton infrastructure looking for Cromwell's corpse- no joy there. He has been gone over half a year now.

3) Some characters seem to disappear, as at bedtime (does anyone know where scribe Rothschild sleeps, for example?) but are only hard to find at some times of day and back at a standard position in business hours, but often can be found with long searching- the Citadel is the worst in this respect. I know Lucas Simms can be lost or fall, but once I spent half a local day tracking him down. NPCs are capable of a sort of Fast Travel at times, and when it is legal for them to do this may be bugged, especially in places like the Citadel and Megaton which, though "interior" to the wasteland "exterior" both allow player FT (outward from the Citadel and both in and out at Megaton). Anyone have insight onto this? Crossover: New Vegas- also these problems or fixed by then? Thread refs. if so, please?

4) Some NPCs disappearances are scripted, like Zimmer, who one thinks went back to the Commonwealth when the Replicated man quest completes- but he still has a room assigned in Rivet City; his stuff shows red (i.e. don't touch or it's stealing!), and you can't use his bed (I know- why would you want to, but I'm just saying). Among other examples: a whole set of Paradise dead still own their beds too. HUH? Glitch or design flaw?

I'm saving a disappearing deathclaw for another thread as I think thats a different bug,