Gang members vanish from Red Dead Redemption 2’s camp without warning-bug or hidden mechanic? Pinpoint their locations and reclaim your crew before the trail runs cold.
- You are looking for a person in the wrong place in the camp or at the wrong time of the day.
- The person you are looking for is waiting for Arthur in the place where you can start a mission related to that particular character. This quest marker is almost always yellow. Only Strauss’ debt collecting missions can be white.
- The person you are looking for now has some other activity resulting from e.g. progress in the main plot.
- A person’s “disappearance” can be due to a bug. Sadly, this is the most probable scenario. The only solution is to wait for more patches for RDR2. Reverting back to your previous saves won’t help, and starting a new game means that you will lose all your progress.
Below we have listed the most popular solutions to the problem of “lost” gang members. It is worth checking all these methods. There is a chance that one of them will help you find the person you are looking for.
- Look around not only the central part of the current gang camp (the one with carts and tents), but also on the outskirts of the camp. The character you are looking for can spend your free time by the water or on the edge of the cliff. What’s more, some members of the gang act as camp guards. Walk through the forest near the camp, as this is where their posts are located.
- Try to change the time of day by using a bed. The person you are looking for may appear at a campfire after dark or in the morning when everyone arrives at the boiler to eat a meal.
- Complete a few side missions. Absence of a given person may be caused by the fact that as a result of previous events, e.g. he/she went to a nearby city or is busy with some other important tasks.
- Reach the fourth chapter. There is a chance that some of the gang members will reappear in the manor located on the swamps. As always, check the tents, wagons, the area around the camp AND the manor itself (check all the rooms on the ground and the upper floor).
How to permanently fix missing gang members bug in RDR2
No permanent fix exists for the missing gang members bug in Red Dead Redemption 2 beyond progressing to Chapter 4, where affected characters like Sadie, John, Abigail, and Jack automatically return to camp.
Prevention Steps
Load a save before the “Polite Society, Valentine Style” mission in Chapter 2 and complete it without using Retry Checkpoint. If you fail, abandon and restart the mission from that prior save to avoid triggering the glitch.
Temporary Workarounds
Power cycle your console or PC by shutting it down fully for 30 seconds, then relaunch the game while holding L1+R1 (on PlayStation) during the opening screens. Ensure the game is fully updated, sleep to change time of day, or complete side missions to potentially trigger appearances.
Long-Term Advice
Rockstar patched this issue years ago, so verify your game version is current. Reverting saves or starting over loses progress without guaranteeing a fix, as the bug ties to specific mission flags.
Steps to restore missing gang members without losing progress
Gang members in Red Dead Redemption 2 often vanish from camp due to a Chapter 2 bug tied to the “Polite Society, Valentine Style” mission, but no reliable steps exist to restore them without some risk of lost progress.
Search Camp Thoroughly
Check camp edges, forests for guards, water areas, cliff sides, and inside tents or wagons. Sleep in a bed to cycle time-members like Sadie appear at night campfires or morning meals. Complete nearby side missions, as story events may relocate them temporarily.
Progress Naturally
Advance to Chapter 4 (Shady Belle mansion); affected characters (Sadie, John, Abigail, Jack) return automatically during the party event after rescuing Jack. Avoid fast travel or mission retries, which can worsen glitches.
Riskier Workarounds
Clear game cache (console: power cycle fully; PC: verify files via launcher) or lure lawmen to camp with dynamite, lead them close, die, then set up camp immediately upon respawn-this has worked anecdotally but risks other bugs. Update the game fully, as Rockstar patched it years ago.
