If Following Orders is not spawning its notes or contraband, replay the mission and clear the first house completely before you speak to the couple. The game checks four specific contraband pickups, not just the notes you read. Collect the heart medicine, MP3 player, Western novel and rations, read the Baekseolgi-tteok recipe note, open the red toolbox with code 214 (or shoot its lock), then use the peaceful interrogation choices. In the third house, bring the hidden woman out through the kitchen floor hatch and take Note From Mom from the crawlspace.
Following Orders is mission 3 of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, set in a North Korean village during a search for a defector. Its No Stone Unturned achievement requires four notes and four contraband items. A single missed first-house pickup can leave the notes counter short even when every visible note has been read.
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What the game is checking
The apparent spawning bug is usually a sequence problem. The first house is a required search area, and the contraband found there affects both the interrogation dialogue and the achievement state. Reading a note without confiscating every item does not complete the hidden counter.
| Requirement | What must be completed | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| First-house contraband | Heart medicine, MP3 player, Western novel and rations | These four pickups feed the contraband counter and unlock the dialogue route used by the achievement checks. |
| Recipe note | Read the Baekseolgi-tteok recipe note | It supplies the toolbox combination and is part of the first-house sweep. |
| Toolbox | Open the red toolbox | The lock can be opened with the combination or destroyed by shooting it. |
| Interrogation | Use the non-violent responses | Threats or force can prevent No Harm Done, even if the collectibles are correct. |
| Third-house crawlspace | Free the hidden woman and collect Note From Mom | This is the final note and is required for the four-note total. |
The target state is NOTES FOUND: 4/4. If that counter does not appear after the crawlspace note, the game still considers one of the four first-house contraband items or the final note missing.
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Replay the mission in the correct order
1. Treat the first house as a mandatory full sweep
When the mission brings you to the first house, do not go directly to the couple. Search every room, cabinet and interactable surface first. The order is important because speaking to the couple advances the interrogation sequence before you have secured the items that enable its required responses.
- Enter the first house and search all accessible rooms.
- Take the heart medicine.
- Take the MP3 player.
- Take the Western novel.
- Take the rations.
- Read the Baekseolgi-tteok recipe note.
- Check that each pickup registered before leaving the house.
Do not assume that a read prompt equals a confiscated item. The achievement logic distinguishes the four physical contraband objects from the notes. If one cabinet was skipped, backtrack before starting the conversation rather than hoping the item will count later.
2. Open the red toolbox
The toolbox combination is 214. It is derived from the quantities listed on the recipe in flour, water, raisins order while skipping salt. Enter the three digits on the red toolbox and confirm the lock. If the keypad does not respond or you want the fastest route, shoot the lock instead; the game allows the toolbox to be forced open.
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3. Complete the interrogation peacefully
After the first-house search is complete, speak to the couple and follow the non-violent branch exactly. Select “Please join your husband”, then select “I will not ask again”. When asked about the South Korean medicine, choose “Give up the defector. Now.”
Do not use threats or physical force if you are trying to unlock No Harm Done. The contraband provides the dialogue options, but the achievement also evaluates how the interrogation is handled. If you chose an aggressive response, the safest recovery is to reload an earlier checkpoint or restart the mission and repeat the peaceful route.
4. Search the third house and expose the crawlspace
The last note is not sitting in an obvious room. In the third house, locate and read A Note From Your Neighbor, then take the key it reveals. Use that key on the kitchen floor hatch. The hatch leads to the crawlspace where a woman is hidden.
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- Read A Note From Your Neighbor.
- Pick up the key.
- Unlock the kitchen floor hatch.
- Use GRAB twice to bring the hidden woman out. This is the quickest extraction sequence.
- Enter the crawlspace and collect Note From Mom.
Leaving the woman hidden can prevent the final note from becoming available. The note in the crawlspace is therefore both a collectible and a progression trigger: rescue the woman first, then search the space again for the document.
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5. Confirm the completion counters
After taking Note From Mom, check the collectible display. It should read NOTES FOUND: 4/4. If all four contraband items were confiscated, No Stone Unturned should appear after the final note is collected.
Allow the game a moment to update the counter before leaving the area. If the display remains at 3/4, the missing item is generally one of the first-house objects rather than a note that failed to render. If it reaches 4/4 but the achievement does not appear, reload from an earlier checkpoint and replay the final interactions without changing the dialogue route.
Exact collectible route
First house: four contraband items
The first house is the most common source of an incomplete counter. Use a slow room-by-room sweep and keep a manual record of each item as you collect it:
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- Heart medicine: take the medicine pickup and verify that the interaction completes.
- MP3 player: collect the player rather than merely examining the nearby note or furniture.
- Western novel: take the book; reading another document in the room does not count as this object.
- Rations: collect the food item before leaving the house.
The recipe note is separate from these four objects. Read it for the toolbox clue, then continue searching until all four physical items are in the mission inventory or confiscation tally.
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Third house: two-note sequence
The third-house sequence has two documents with different roles. A Note From Your Neighbor supplies the key needed to open the kitchen hatch. Note From Mom is the final collectible in the crawlspace. Reading the first without freeing the woman does not make the second count; complete the hatch interaction and extraction before searching the crawlspace.
Recovery options compared
| Approach | Completeness | Achievement safety | Speed | When to use it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full replay with a first-house checklist | Highest; verifies every contraband item and note | Highest when paired with peaceful dialogue | Moderate | Use when the counter is below 4/4 or you are unsure what was collected. |
| Reload an earlier checkpoint | Depends on how early the checkpoint is | Good if it precedes the missed pickup or aggressive dialogue | Usually faster than a complete replay | Use immediately after discovering a missed item or wrong response. |
| Shoot the toolbox lock | Does not affect the contraband count | Safe for the collectible route | Fastest way to open the box | Use when you know the combination but want to skip keypad entry. |
| Use code 214 | Does not affect the contraband count | Safe for the collectible route | Fast; no combat noise | Use when you want to follow the recipe clue exactly. |
| Continue after an incomplete counter | Low; the missing pickup may not retroactively register | Unsafe for No Stone Unturned | Appears fastest but often leads to another replay | Only use if the counter already shows 4/4 and you are checking the achievement trigger. |
The published walkthrough route supports a complete replay and the peaceful dialogue choices. A claim that a later patch fixed this mission-specific spawning behavior is not confirmed by the official August 2026 patch-note page, so replaying with the correct sequence remains the dependable recovery method.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Troubleshooting by symptom
The notes counter is 3/4
Start with the third house. Confirm that you read A Note From Your Neighbor, took its key, opened the kitchen hatch, brought the hidden woman out and collected Note From Mom. If the crawlspace note is present, replay the first house and deliberately collect all four contraband objects. Reading every document is not enough when one physical item was skipped.
The contraband count is incomplete
Return to the first house rather than searching the later buildings. The four required objects are the heart medicine, MP3 player, Western novel and rations. Check each room and cabinet again. The recipe note and toolbox are useful landmarks, but neither substitutes for an uncollected contraband object.
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The couple will not offer the required dialogue
This usually means the conversation began before the first-house sweep was complete. Reload a checkpoint before speaking to them, collect all four objects, read the recipe and start the interrogation again. Select “Please join your husband,” followed by “I will not ask again,” and then use “Give up the defector. Now.”
No Harm Done did not unlock
Check whether you used a threat or physical force. The achievement requires the peaceful interrogation route, not merely the correct collectibles. Reload before the conversation if possible; otherwise replay the mission and keep every response non-violent.
The toolbox will not open
Enter 214, using the recipe’s flour, water, raisins order and omitting salt. If the keypad still fails, shoot the lock. The toolbox workaround solves access to the box but will not repair a missing contraband pickup, so verify the four-item list separately.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe final note never appears
Read A Note From Your Neighbor, take the key, unlock the kitchen hatch and remove the hidden woman. Then return to the crawlspace and search for Note From Mom. If she remains hidden, the note can remain unavailable. Use GRAB twice for the quickest extraction.
A fast, low-risk replay plan
- Restart Following Orders from the mission menu or reload a checkpoint before the first-house conversation.
- Search the first house methodically, taking the heart medicine, MP3 player, Western novel and rations.
- Read the Baekseolgi-tteok recipe note and open the red toolbox with the recipe-derived combination or by shooting the lock.
- Only after the sweep is complete, speak to the couple.
- Choose “Please join your husband,” then “I will not ask again,” and answer the medicine question with “Give up the defector. Now.”
- At the third house, read A Note From Your Neighbor, take the key and unlock the kitchen hatch.
- Use GRAB twice to extract the hidden woman, then collect Note From Mom in the crawlspace.
- Wait for NOTES FOUND: 4/4 and the No Stone Unturned trigger before ending the mission.
This route prioritizes the checks that are easiest to miss: the first-house physical pickups, the non-violent conversation and the crawlspace rescue. It is more reliable than advancing quickly after reading only the visible notes.
Common mistakes that look like a spawning bug
- Speaking to the couple too soon: the first-house contraband should be collected before the interrogation.
- Counting documents instead of objects: the four contraband items are a separate requirement from the four notes.
- Leaving one cabinet untouched: a single missed pickup can hold the counter below completion.
- Using an aggressive dialogue option: this can invalidate No Harm Done.
- Opening the hatch but not rescuing the woman: the crawlspace note may not become available.
- Assuming the toolbox code is the achievement trigger: opening the box does not replace the contraband checklist.
- Continuing after a 3/4 counter: replaying from an earlier checkpoint is usually faster than hoping the missing item appears later.
What is known about a patch fix
Guides updated on October 16–17, 2026 identify missed first-house pickups and the crawlspace note as the usual causes of the problem. The official Activision patch-note page dated August 2026 does not confirm a dedicated fix for Following Orders collectible spawning. That means the practical solution is still to replay the mission with the required order and verify the counter, rather than relying on an unconfirmed patch change.
If a clean replay produces all four contraband items, the peaceful dialogue branch, the rescued woman and a 4/4 notes counter but the achievement remains absent, reload an earlier checkpoint and repeat the final note interaction. This preserves the known-good route without changing any collectible or dialogue conditions.
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