Need further conformation of what i am seeing with zones

[Geronimo]

since first coming to yukon, I have been experimenting with need zones and spawning questions we have all wondered about.

Firstly i have been trying to avoid killing an animal as soon as i spot it and tag a zone through it.

My understanding is that if there is only one animal connected to that zone, as soon as it is killed the zone is no longer applicable and will not spawn further animals, not even the one you just killed. That animal will just respawn at another unlocked zone or wherever the devs have their natural spawning zones at near that area.

Now to this OP,

Has anyone else noticed in the Yukon that there seem to be alot of single zones like this with no other animals attached to them.

I have been hoping that if left alone that a zone would be build in numbers which would allow you to hunt them without deleting them. And I have seen this on the other reserves.

I think we have a problem in this regard here in the yukon.

Today I decided to track a moose from a drink zone i attached to it on one lake inlet in bankside forest. As i followed the tracks i noticed that all the way up through the forst, up the hill into the red crimson, back into the forst again after coming to another lake some mile and half away, that all along the way there were drinking disturbed tracks. right from one lakes inlet to another the entire distance, and not broken by any distance, i mean every few steps all the way through.

What i have been noticing is that these situations have resulted in one zone extending through out the entire pathway of that animal so that not other zones can be opened for it to attach to, and maybe there is also another issue where other animals cannot attach to it.

That moose should have left that first drink zone behind, had some grazing elsewhere and then when we got to that other lake and drank again would create a different drink zone.

I have noticed this before where hrazing and drinking would seem to follow a trail for a long way but i never actually folllowed them far enough before to associate that they remained tied to places far enough away that they should be new zones.

Now I dont know the tech-speak for this, but I am sure it is not just happening on my console. So i would like to know if anyone else has picked up on this so it can be properly reported to the devs and actually confirmed so it doesnt wast their time.

Note- Zones where drinking should end, and-or turn into grazing or resting, or vice-versa, are continuing endlessly causing zones to connect in far away places where new zones should be unlocking and now cant because they are being seen as the same zone.

Are these the result of a dev not changing the indicators for grazing resting drinking along a path, OR is it a matter of an animals path being programmed so that it shows a disturbed veg too often along the way without any change from one type to another.

i have noticed this on other reserves as well like Fernando where one animal would show graze trails for a very unnaturally long way. So it may not just be a yukon thing, and it might just be something i missed because i was not experimenting with trying to open a new map and allow time for animal population to grow.

this population benefit will not be seen if this issue continues, as there will only ever be one animal connected to a zone, which also happens to extend throughout the map where there should have been many other zones instead.

I will try to post this bug on the right thread with some actual map coordinates, but i would like to know if anyone else has realized this [problem, which could have a great deal to do with why alot of people are not seeing as many animals as they should be.

If you kill everything you see, than you should expect the population to be scant, but if what i am suggesting as a bug here is actually present, than population is certainly going to be affected.

[❄️The Last Frontier 😊]

Well there is more then one animal associated with a need zone I think it's when you claim the zone as I checked the map and it didn't show it there but I think when you claim the zone the info panel that pops up tells you how many animals the zone will handle before it's gone so you might have 4 or 5 say and when you kill those the zone moves or disappears I think.

[cc]

Originally posted by dc2dixon:

I don't fully understand zone numbers as I had one the other day that said 1 moose yet there were 2 males and 3 females resting there. Had another bison feed zone that said 1 but I counted 6 or more there so I wouldn't take the numbers as a reference tbh. I've had zones that have said 1 and killed the animal and its gone next time I play and others that are still there so don't know how they work fully.

Would imagine this is a case where there is more than a single "herd" (herd meaning any group, even if its a single animal) is assigned to the need zone. Pretty common to see in Europe as Roe deer are almost never in herds of more than 1 as-per the information from any track-type need zone displays, yet you can commonly find 2-3 at a need zone.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by ❄️The Last Frontier 😊:

Well there is more then one animal associated with a need zone I think it's when you claim the zone as I checked the map and it didn't show it there but I think when you claim the zone the info panel that pops up tells you how many animals the zone will handle before it's gone so you might have 4 or 5 say and when you kill those the zone moves or disappears I think.

as noted, the more animals that get to use a zone, the higher the number will show. when all of those particular animals are killed the zone will no longer function. for a zone to exist it has to be attached to an animal which has used it.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by dc2dixon:

I don't fully understand zone numbers as I had one the other day that said 1 moose yet there were 2 males and 3 females resting there. Had another bison feed zone that said 1 but I counted 6 or more there so I wouldn't take the numbers as a reference tbh. I've had zones that have said 1 and killed the animal and its gone next time I play and others that are still there so don't know how they work fully.

You say zones are in a large area? That is usually the case as the zone is active up to a 150-200M area. The animals will often be in different places around the zone area, I often come across zones that are 4 or more spots in a small area as that's just the active area for the zone. Haven't had any stretch a bigger area like you mention tho, I even tracked a lvl 5 caribou from his rest zone to a drinking zone last night so not sure what bug you getting there.

when i say these zones are in a large area i am referring to the fact that the animals trail that they are showing as disturbed tracks on follows that animal throuighout its entire pathway across the globe.

I often see in these zones various disturbed veg patches attached to different animals, in the same zone if you click one patch, you will still see a couple others that are not the same color and attached to different animals, maybe even different species at times. every patch in a zone does not have to be aligned with one individual animal. This is why when you are checking a zone for numbers, dont just assume that when you see one listed, that one of those other disturbed patches wont show a different animal and often show multiples of a species. this is the way to accurately tell if a zone is connected to more than one animal so you know you can hunt it without deleting it.

But what I saying here is that there is an issue where one specific animal that shows a drinking track sign, disturbed vegetation drinking sign, should be connected to any of those zones that it goes through, and maybe it is, BUT, when it leaves that zone there should be no more drinking signs, it should leave that zone and show only its tracks, until it starts feeding or resting, or drinking somewhere else. In this case this moose is continuously showing a drinking disturbed vegetation sign every second track it makes for a distance of 2 miles plus, even though it has crossed through multiple other zones where it should have unlocked another zone if none were there or at least become connected to one that was already there.

the problem is that in this case there is no way to know about connecting to other zones, and it is definitely not opening up other zones when it gets to those drinking areas. Because it has been continuously showing a drinking zone throughout its entire journey.

It does not show any rest sign any feed sign, and not any droppings period. only the drink sign every second step.

Is anyone getting this lol, i know i make it confusing trying to explain it.

Here is something for consideration, somewhere along the way i noticed the devs have made the zones for different animals to have the same time of day usage. For example moose always drink from 9 to 3.

I dont think that used to be the case, i think every zone had its own time-frame and was not attached to specific species usage.

maybe since they made that change, it created situations where certain animals could not possisbly be in each of the zones listed in its pathway at those times. for example if moose A takes 5 hours to travel from point c to point d, then there will be a time when it cannot reach a zone within a 4 hour period. maybe that has created some sort of conflict......anyone...

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by SuperDeep:

Trick with need zones is to pull the animal away from the need zone so they are not "using" it when you kill them, i've had the same need zones for over a year now i just keep pulling animals away from them then killing them. Ignore how many it says use it often a zone that says 1 will often have 3-4 animals at it.

well i havent tried that and thanks that will be very helpful to my gameplay style, i will try that right now,,,but that really doesnt speak to the issue this OP makes...the point is that an animal should be able to drink in one area and create a chance for you to tag it and unlock a zone there for spawning.

then that same animal should be able to travel to a different area and feed or rest creating yet another opportunity for us to unlock another zone in that location.

and that same animal if traveling form one drinking spot where it has been tagged to a zone, and gone across the map to another area, coming to a different lake to drink again, should allow for the unlocking of another new zone.

Two Points here.

first, because the animal is continuously showing the drinkling disturbed vegetation patches every second step, it does not allow for the unlocking of new zones, and it doesnt even show any feeding or resting at all, or droppings.

secondly, no animal in here should be showing disturbed vegetation at every second track, let alone all of those being the exact same type of action.

[Geronimo]

i noticed this problem on fernando too. i would come across tracks that showed an animal leaving a disturbed vegetation track, usually feeding, but it wasnt just in a zone area, it would go on for a long ways, every few steps would be a veg track, and as i hunted further away i would come aacross that track again far from where i had seen it earlier and it would be the same continuation of a long track of disturbed veg sign.

I cant believe that noone else has picked up on this.

this is probably why so many are coming across animals in spots where when they tag them with the scope or binos it doesnt open a zone up.

sometimes its because they were already attached to a zone there which you have not gotten to yet, but if you go there and find that there are no other tracks except the ones left behind by the one you tried to tag then you know you have a problem. especially if that animal is leaving behind a long trail of veg sign along its path.

[jimco]

I have had 2 instances that involved Red Fox need zones close to each other with 1 animal at each zone. As soon as I harvested each animal the need zone disappeared and has not returned. Yes there are single animal need zones out in Yukon.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by dc2dixon:

What do you both mean disturbed veg tho? The ones that tell you the fur type and how old it is (the skill) or the need zone bedding, rest and drink icons? Cant say I have ever come across having problems getting zones and I'm just under 700hrs.

when i say disturbed vegetation i am talking about the track sign that designates either feeding or drinking, feeding being the little grass patches, two different types from what i can see, and drinking being the spots where it shows a thousand footprints together in one little spot.

In rest areas you will sometimes see these patches, more often the feeding because rest areas are usually not situated in the same area that they use for drinking, they are usually up in the woods nearby.

Now, these disturbed veg signs have usually been found as the animal walked along, but not continuously every second step. you would see them appear once in awhile as the animal traveled, and usually when you came across them you could click on them and open a zone. Sometimes it would not, maybe because it was not an actual need zone. but usually seeing those tracks would allow for the opportunity to unlock a zone from which animals could now spawn and other animals would use and them become attached to.

U never saw those tracks being placed every two steps, and certainly not the entire length of the animals journey through the neighborhood.

Because this is now happening, on my console anyway, that animal does not create another opportunity for other zones to unlocked in different areas when it reaches another drinking or feeding area, because it is constantly showing that one type of disturbed vegetation throughout its entire course.

when it travels to another lake, where it drinks or feeds again, you cannot click on it and unlock another zone. as well that animal caught in that glitch if thats what it is, does not leave any droppings to use a freshness guide.

so the problem is that you can follow it forever, see no droppings at all, and never be able to unlock another zone where it feeds, drinks or rests.

and if many of the animals are caught up in this glitch, or program, that you can see how it would affect the entire map.

we are seeing many animal zones where there is only one animal attached, and trails that show no sign except a continuous line pf the one disturbed vegetation sign that it is leaving for its entire journey.

Now i will say that yesterday i was relentless in tracking down that one particular moose, just a 1036 weight, and after hours of following nothing but drinking sign patches every two steps, and no droppings period, or any other sign of feeding or resting, 7 miles of traveling, from three or four different lakes and different biomes, every zone we crossed belonged to a different species, certainly not him, i finally did catch up to him, where at that very spot where he was actually feeding at the time right as i got there, finally there appeared a feeding disturbed veg sign from him with that same tracking color.

no droppings yet but at least the drinking sign had finally disappeared.

i killed him, but i should have left him to see if now that feeding sign would follow him everywhere he went after that.

so is anyone getting this at all...

from what i can make of this, it is not the way that sign has been left by animals in this game before, this is more recent. and problematic for those reason i have already pointed out, no new zones to unlock, less spawning, no other animals can attach to a zone, meaning less spawning, and no way to find fresh droppings.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by jimco:

I have had 2 instances that involved Red Fox need zones close to each other with 1 animal at each zone. As soon as I harvested each animal the need zone disappeared and has not returned. Yes there are single animal need zones out in Yukon.

i realize there are zones and patches with only one animal attached. but there used to be opportunities for other animals to become attached to a zone unlocked by one animal so that the zone would acquire higher numbers using it and not be deleted once that one animal was killed.

And as i stated these instances are occurring in such a way that is more about how the drinking or feeding sign appears throughout the entire journey of that animal every second step, never allowing for the unlocking or attaching to a new zone elsewhere.

and if every animal creates only one zone, which is always a one animal zone in numbers, deleted as soon as it is killed, than you can see how the populations would be affected.

anyways that is my effort to try to get this out there.

on someone else shoulders now. i tried my best..

[Conan of Oz]

I can confirm. For me, it was a feed zone, but it triggered while I was tracking an animal I'd shot and was following its blood trail. It started out blood - track - blood - track.... But then suddenly it changed to feed - track - feed - track.... and it went on for a very long distance before the tracks simply ended abruptly. I scouted, but never found the continuation of the tracks.

I believe it's just a glitch.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by Conan of Oz:

I can confirm. For me, it was a feed zone, but it triggered while I was tracking an animal I'd shot and was following its blood trail. It started out blood - track - blood - track.... But then suddenly it changed to feed - track - feed - track.... and it went on for a very long distance before the tracks simply ended abruptly. I scouted, but never found the continuation of the tracks.

I believe it's just a glitch.

I tracked a moose this morning, just like old times, just moose tracks for awhile and than started feeding at which point i tagged the track and unlocked a feed zone, followed further and once out of that zone area the tracks were just footprint tracks, followed those for a bit to a cove where it drank a bit, and when i tagged those drinking patches it unlocked a drinking zone this time.

there was only one of those tracks and then changed back to footprints-only again..just footprints until i finally caught up to him. and oh yes there were also droppings which told me when i was closing in.

after harvesting him, i spotted more moose tracks nearby and started to follow and immediately realized it was another of those glitch paths, which is what i am calling them now, and they were just like the ones i am trying to bring to everyones attention, a footprint track than a feed patch, a footprint track, then feed patch, and so on all the way for a mile or more, no more droppings, no drink even at the lake inlet coves, and no rest stop.

just step, feed patch, over and over, nothing else.


now i have never before followed tracks that went that far before using a zone for something whether it was drink food or rest, but to go that far, eating with every second track step, and never drinking at some point in all that time,,

somethings fishy... and if so it is going to affect the populations, because no other animals are respawning at the zones unlocked by and connected to that one glitched animal... that zone will be gone as soon as it dies,,, it might also be the case that other animals are using the glitched zone as well, maybe being infected, or maybe not, but maybe they are not creating new zones after that because of the same thing that happened to the glitched animal which spawned that zone....

too many variables and no way to check droppings, and unable to unlock any more zones with that animal means numbers way down....

[Geronimo]

has anyone else noticed a bit of an increase in populations or is it just because i have opened alot of zones..i am still seeing those glitched tracks spoken of in the OP here, and i am certain they are causing other spawning issues, but i have been on rusty ridge alot lately and seem to be finding alot of zones and animals despite seeing those glitched tracks here and there.

[Geronimo]

Originally posted by dc2dixon:

I don't really know if having more zones will increase the population as the zones are there anyway, you just need to find them to be shown on the map. It does seem when you first play maps the population is less but I still discover new zones now after 700hrs so I don't know how they work fully. I've been on multiplayer servers where no zones are discovered but the animals are there so I just think its if a animal uses the zone they will be there whether you have the zone or not tbh. Maybe having loads of zones increases the population of the zone but the animals are there even without having discovered the zone.

hey dixon, how r ya, multiplayer uses a completely different spawning setup which is why many guys go there to hunt diamonds...but in single player the more zones you have the more animals that will spawn around those zones meaning that instead of having the game engine spawn animals in anywhere on your map it spawns them in and around your unlocked zones. which is why guys can go into a map without zones and walk all day and never find where the game engine scattered the spawns.

[CaptainNebulous]

Originally posted by dc2dixon:

Ye what you said about them spawning in your unlocked zones makes sense but I still think the zones are there anyway its just up to the player to find them to be shown on the map so wouldn't agree fully with that statement. I wasn't aware of multiplayer having different spawns I always just thought its only because everyone's spawns/zones are different. It increases the chance of finding rares/diamonds as the map is different to you single player map but never heard of spawning setups on multiplayer working different to single player.

Btw not disagreeing with you on any of what your saying but never heard spawning working that way.

Yes the more zones you discover on your map the more animals there will be. Not only that but the need zones will "mature" over time if you don't despawn them with hunting pressure.... as in, they'll attract more and more animals. They do become more active once you interact with them, as has been well documented.

[wim1234]

lol it sobvious no one (except devs) knows how it exactly goes..which is fine to me.
some ppl want to control everything.