Pets keep dying even though they're immortal

[ChillyTiger]

I'm playing a multiplayer crossplay game on Medium difficulty (I'm on PC, my friend is on console and hosts the game). We didn't touch any of the settings at any point during the game so the "pets can die" setting is off by default, meaning my pets SHOULD be immortal. I started out with a pet aphid and he lasted for a few days before he just randomly disappeared during a fight with a wolf spider. I figured maybe he fell through the map, so I just brushed it off, because I knew the spider couldn't have killed him and we were flat on the ground so nothing like fall damage could've killed him. The only other thing that may have killed him would be drowning, because we were fighting on the rocks near the pond, but I've played the pond area several times with pets attached to me and they never drowned.

After a few in-game days I picked up a new pet aphid. He lasted much longer than the original aphid, and I verified that he was immortal because we were fighting bees on the picnic table and the aphid body-blocked a sting attack (what a hero). My friend and I were exploring between the sandbox and the Haze (not the first time we'd gone there with this aphid) and all of a sudden, he's gone. I don't remember even doing anything "dangerous", maybe fighting a few black ants here or there. I'm going to mention that my friend also has a pet aphid, in case that matters, and that aphid has stayed alive the entire game and gone everywhere me and my aphids went, as we travel together and we don't have pet houses yet.

I'm asking this here because I've encountered quite a few bugs with this latest update (not getting achievements, no porch pumpkin, general glitches, etc) and I'm about fed up. I don't want to bother getting pets if they're just going to ignore the rules of the game and die anyway, even if they give me a buff.

[No exit]

The game is sadly just horrible at informing you that they can leave you if they are unhappy, so they need regular petting to prevent this

Only when you build a pet house will you be able to see how happy they are

Related: there is a "Game Repair" option to specifically fix pets, but I never tried it

Edit: After digging some more, it seems that this effect of "leaving when unhappy" has been removed from the game by patch 0.14.0 on August 25, 2022

Now I have no idea what is causing the pets to disappear because we also had 5 pets disappearing, but now that we have Pet Houses and Pet Attire (they make pets happier) and pet them often, we haven't had a single one disappear, so at this point I'm as clueless as you

[Terminal Desolation]

I've had a couple of issues with similar stuff. My first gnat, Gnastia, died after the patch from uncertain circumstances. My assumption is it has to do with loading in under the map or inside terrain in a way that it hits a kill box, so the fact that they don't take damage becomes irrelevant.

My second gnat, Gnathan, has done much better in terms of his survival.

[ChillyTiger]

Originally posted by No exit:

The game is sadly just horrible at informing you that they can leave you if they are unhappy, so they need regular petting to prevent this

Only when you build a pet house will you be able to see how happy they are

Related: there is a "Game Repair" option to specifically fix pets, but I never tried it

Edit: After digging some more, it seems that this effect of "leaving when unhappy" has been removed from the game by patch 0.14.0 on August 25, 2022

Now I have no idea what is causing the pets to disappear because we also had 5 pets disappearing, but now that we have Pet Houses and Pet Attire (they make pets happier) and pet them often, we haven't had a single one disappear, so at this point I'm as clueless as you

I'm sorry you're dealing with this, too. I've personally played up to the point where you get pet houses in a previous game, but the friend I'm playing with hadn't even completed the Hedge when we started, so I've been trying not to rush through anything for their sake. However, not having pet houses/etc is making having pets (at least for me) impossible, so I've found myself kind of rushing around trying to get to that point to see if it fixes it. I might just try regular petting (I did pet them fairly often before, but there were easily a few days I went without) just to see if it works despite the patch. I mean, I don't really have any other ways to prevent them disappearing.

[ChillyTiger]

Originally posted by Terminal Desolation:

I've had a couple of issues with similar stuff. My first gnat, Gnastia, died after the patch from uncertain circumstances. My assumption is it has to do with loading in under the map or inside terrain in a way that it hits a kill box, so the fact that they don't take damage becomes irrelevant.

My second gnat, Gnathan, has done much better in terms of his survival.

You have a wonderful taste in gnat names. I didn't realize Game Repair included an option for pets so along with regular petting just to be safe, I might just try to get Weener (my first aphid) back.