No matter how much time you've put into the game, Fallout 76 is a dangerous place that can put a sudden and surprising end to your life in a moment's notice. Unlike the other Fallout games where you only had to contend with mutants, radiated vermin and animals, and robots, Fallout 76 adds in the threat of other players as well. This multiplayer component only gets more complicated when it comes to saving, which no longer functions like it did in past installments. If you want to know when and if the game auto-saves, if you can save yourself, and how to properly log out, make sure to load up our guide on your Pip-Boy.
Fallout 76 Auto-Save
Auto-saving is going to be your most consistent way of backing up your progress in the former state of West Virginia. That sounds all well and good, except the game doesn't make it very clear at all when it decides to auto-save, or what exactly triggers a save. Fallout 76 saves based on certain conditions such as when you enter a new area, either on foot or via fast travel, as well as completing actions like finishing quests or challenges that result in progress or rewards.
Fallout 76 - How To Save
The first thing veteran fans of the Fallout games will likely notice when they pull up the menu in Fallout 76 is the lack of a save option. Again, due to the server-based nature of this title, saving is all done on the server side and not held on your own console or PC. This is to prevent people from cheating by manipulating their saves and taking them online.
For that reason, if you want to make sure your game is saved in Fallout 76, you only have a few options. Thankfully none are difficult, and while not as convenient as having a dedicated save option, they are still better than just hoping you don't lose a ton of progress.
The first, and easiest, way to trigger a save is to simply fast travel back to your Camp. Fast traveling will always trigger the server to save your progress, and your Camp is probably the safest place on the map, so being saved there is a good call.
While not nearly as easy or reliable, especially if you're in a rush and just looking to save before leaving the game, is to turn in a quest or challenge. These also trigger the game to save, but you're not always going to have a finished quest handy to turn in. It will only really apply to when you decide to call it quits as soon as you're done with whatever quest you're doing.
Finally, manually logging out of Fallout 76 will also start an auto-save, as long as you log out properly that is.
Manually Log Out - Fallout 76
Manually logging out of Fallout 76 is very simple and easy to do, but might take some getting used to if you're more familiar with single-player RPGs. All you need to do is open your menu and quit the game through here. Make sure to allow the game to load back into the main menu before shutting it down since it might be saving during that time, and never simply close the program or power off your machine while it is running. Quitting the game any other way could cause you to lose unknown amounts of progress.