Mystery Lake Missing Bears

[lupineways]

I started a new voyager game immediately following v.321 and have continued playing through all of the hot fixes. I am now on day 89 I believe. I haven't seen a bear for a long time. I saw a bear I'm guessing within the first 30 days roaming around the cave near the Trappers Homestead. I was messing around and shot an arrow next to him, scaring him off. 

Since then I have been trying to find him or any other bear. I have pretty much base my daily routines around trying to check 1 or 2 of the common bear locations I know of. I check by the unnamed pond, trappers Homestead, mystery lake and all of the surrounding areas in my rounds.

It's probably been at least 50 days maybe more since I've seen a bear. Am I just unlucky?

[RJ_Dalton]

Are you unlucky for not seeing a bear?  Quite the opposite, I'd say.  Those things are killers and really hard to take down.

But I do know a bear will spawn in the clearcut area at the base of the mountain going up to the forestry lookout if you really want to see one.

[cekivi]

I would argue lucky unless you're planning to hunt them

If you want to see more bears I'd recommend the Coastal Highway or Pleasant Valley. Both have more bear caves. If you really want to find one in mystery lake just learn the bear cave locations and check them each day. If you find one with bones inside you have successfully found the bear! Or at least know for sure that one is around. Hopefully the bear won't realise you're around 

[lupineways]

Thanks for the input.

The bones have been in the cave by Trappers Homestead since the scenario I explained where I scared him away with an arrow shot. I am quite familiar with the spawn points which is why i am surprised I haven't found one. I am starting to think the bear bugged out when I shot the arrow and scared him, but I guess that really depends on how exactly the spawning works.

I was sort of playing around with idea of playing as long as I could without leaving ML which is why I was stubbornly staying in the region looking for a bear instead of seeking one elsewhere, but at this point I am considering leaving so I can kill a few for their hides. Not that I need the bedroll particularly bad, but it was something to do to besides the normal survival grind.

Maybe I am just "unlucky" but I have never had an issue like this in past games.

[Pillock]

Don't bears return to their caves at night to sleep? You could pay him a visit.

I got into running argument with the bear that lives above the Coastal Townsite - we just didn't get on. So I decided to go round his house one day and have it out. He wasn't there, so I just climbed a rock overlooking his front door and waited. Eventually he turned up, towards the end of the day.

Because you're moving around and he's moving around, you might just be missing each other.

[lupineways]

9 hours ago, Pillock said:

Don't bears return to their caves at night to sleep? You could pay him a visit.

I got into running argument with the bear that lives above the Coastal Townsite - we just didn't get on. So I decided to go round his house one day and have it out. He wasn't there, so I just climbed a rock overlooking his front door and waited. Eventually he turned up, towards the end of the day.

Because you're moving around and he's moving around, you might just be missing each other.

I did camp the cave for a good half a day, maybe I'll go camping for a few days straight weather permitting.

[cekivi]

Interesting. I suppose the bear's tracks have long since faded otherwise you could track the bear directly...

I know in the past wildlife would sometimes have pathing errors and get stuck in or on obstacles. Maybe that's what happened here with your bear?

[lupineways]

30 minutes ago, cekivi said:

Interesting. I suppose the bear's tracks have long since faded otherwise you could track the bear directly...

I know in the past wildlife would sometimes have pathing errors and get stuck in or on obstacles. Maybe that's what happened here with your bear?

Could be...and I'm just stubborn enough to keep looking for this fellow lol. Does anyone have knowledge of how bears spawn (does the same bear stay spawned until killed, for example)? That would be helpful in figuring out if this is actually a bug. 

[cekivi]

That I don't know. I'm usually not on a map long enough to find out. I tend to be a nomad when playing the Long Dark

[Pillock]

2 hours ago, lupineways said:

 (does the same bear stay spawned until killed, for example)? 

I don't think so.

I don't kill bears often, but I do tend to see them appearing in different places on the same map. I'm pretty certain the Unnamed Pond bear was there at the start of my current ML game (I heard him snuffling about seemingly very close to me while I was there picking cattails in thick fog, and I nearly shat my pants), but I later saw one outside the fishing hut towards the back end of Mystery Lake. I don't think it's the same one, but I have no idea where the Lake bear actually 'lives'.

[Scyzara]

Bears can respawn in the same place where they were killed, but they don't have to. I think it's just random in which of the potential caves exactly the respawn takes place.

I've never noticed a bear changing locations without being shot, but I'm usually either killing them within a few days or not caring much for them alltogether, so I'm not entirely sure about that, sorry. It's possible that they can change their spawnpoints every X  days and I just haven't noticed it so far.

The bones at the cave entrances, however, should always indicate where they currently live.

[lupineways]

Thanks, the bones haven't moved and I have spent the night camping in his cave. Maybe it's time to spend a few nights in a row without moving. I'm starting to think Mr Bear fell through the ground and isn't respawning because I can't kill him. Maybe we should move this to bug reports so a dev can at least review.

[Scyzara]

Sure, I can move the thread if you like. Which platform are you playing on?

[lupineways]

22 minutes ago, Scyzara said:

Sure, I can move the thread if you like. Which platform are you playing on?

Thanks, I'm playing on PC.

[Scyzara]

You're welcome. 

[Support]

Thanks for reporting this - We're looking into the spawn rate on our end. 

[lupineways]

43 minutes ago, Support said:

Thanks for reporting this - We're looking into the spawn rate on our end. 

Thanks, I'm not sure if this helps any, but the bones have been in that same cave near the Trappers Homestead since the bear disappeared on me after running like a coward from my arrow!

[lupineways]

I camped 3 nights straight in the cave with the bones near where I originally found the bear all those in game "months" ago. No bear grunts or close encounters. Hope the screenshot is helpful.

[cekivi]

If you had the fire going all night that may have the the bear away...

[lupineways]

I didn't I used it for 1 hour at one point to make water.

[cekivi]

Weird. The mystery of the missing bear continues...