Being tracked by Wolves carrying one cooked meat

[curtmantle]

I generally play on Stalker and have noticed for some time now that carrying just one 1kg of cooked meat (in one slot of the backpack) is enough to alert nearby wolves and get them tracking me even though the 'stink meter' is at zero. It's the same if I carry one of the stews I have cooked.

Is this expected behaviour? I assumed that they'd only smell me if I had at least one bar on the meter - is that wrong?

[ajb1978]

This is normal. One piece won't trigger the visible scent line on the UI, but it is enough to attract their attention from farther away. Go to Mystery Lake or CH, or anyplace with wide open swaths of ice where you can see wolves way before they can see you. Carry a piece of meat and start sneaking towards a wolf. Eventually you'll notice it start to head towards you, even though you don't have a stink line. If you immediately drop that piece of meat before the wolf actually SEES you, the wolf will resume its normal patrol. Pick the meat up off the ground again, it immediately locks back on to you.

[curtmantle]

Ah ok - I thought it was safe to carry two pieces of meat before the scent attracted wolves but clearly not. Thank you.

[Mistral]

Yeah, the UI is misleading.

[James Hickok]

17 hours ago, curtmantle said:

I generally play on Stalker and have noticed for some time now that carrying just one 1kg of cooked meat (in one slot of the backpack) is enough to alert nearby wolves and get them tracking me even though the 'stink meter' is at zero. It's the same if I carry one of the stews I have cooked.

Is this expected behaviour? I assumed that they'd only smell me if I had at least one bar on the meter - is that wrong?

Also cooked meat attracts more than uncooked. It doesnt show in the interface but this is true. 

[AdamvR]

4 hours ago, Mistral said:

Yeah, the UI is misleading.

Yep. I would not mind some finetuning to the UI, to clearly show even tiny amount of smell, especially since the new cooked items usually do not show, while apparently still attract wildlife.

1 hour ago, James Hickok said:

Also cooked meat attracts more than uncooked. It doesn't show in the interface but this is true. 

Really? I've always thought they attract them less, than raw meat/guts - an assumption drawn from the UI not marking them...
Also, on a slightly (but not really) unrelated note: fish bait (which does also smell) is the only thing currently that is not dropped as decoy when pressing 3.
I would not mind this to be consistent with the rest (i.e.: make it act as a decoy, and be droppable...)

[James Hickok]

35 minutes ago, AdamvR said:

Yep. I would not mind some finetuning to the UI, to clearly show even tiny amount of smell, especially since the new cooked items usually do not show, while apparently still attract wildlife.

Really? I've always thought they attract them less, than raw meat/guts - an assumption drawn from the UI not marking them...
Also, on a slightly (but not really) unrelated note: fish bait (which does also smell) is the only thing currently that is not dropped as decoy when pressing 3.
I would not mind this to be consistent with the rest (i.e.: make it act as a decoy, and be droppable...)

New items does not show and shouldnt -=> They are not intended to give smell (pies with meat and stews) so im guessing its a bug. 

Fish bait should produce scent and it does - it just doesnt show on interface and like you said you cant drop the bait with drop decoy button. - This almost killed me on one of my run - i thought i dropped everything and poped on a wolf behind the slope that was going to me bcoz of the fish bait. 

The scent mechanic has been a thing of debate for years now ( i have found statements from 2017 that said raw is more smelly) - from my personal experience i will state that cooked meat attracts more scent than raw since i remember. When i pick up one raw fish and i have wolves in the distance nothing happens. When i drop the raw fish and take the same one but raw (it can be even half a fish) the wolves will turn in my direction. 

I even heard @Zaknafein notice something similar and talked about it in his videos - i dont remember which one there are so many now and i watched them all at least one time (NOGOA series my fav i have watched 3 times). 

The system needs some work to be done but its not "game breaking" just have to take mind what you are doing - whick is the core essence of the game especially on harder difficulties. 

TBH i dont see any game breaking bug in the game currently (Xbox) other than annoying SILENT BLIZZARD..... yes maybe not so often but i got it twice yesterday on my run. Its just annoying nut not game breaking and maybe the quantity with cooking items bug (0,1 is actually 0,099)

[AdamvR]

5 hours ago, James Hickok said:

from my personal experience i will state that cooked meat attracts more scent than raw since i remember. When i pick up one raw fish and i have wolves in the distance nothing happens. When i drop the raw fish and take the same one but raw (it can be even half a fish) the wolves will turn in my direction. 

Wow. I’ve never compared them before with this technique. Until now:)

it may have changed, or there might be some other factors playing a role too:

- using a cooked and raw piece of fish I found them to be attracting / releasing the doggie from about the same distance first.

- but then I thought both pieces being at 0% might be influencing it, so caught some fresh (white lake fish) and cooked one of them. At near 100% state the _raw_ fish was attracting it from a certain distance, while the cooked one not.

So I’m speculating, that maybe the freshness also plays a role, and could have influenced the previous tests (ie the cooked one being in a worse state than the fresh one?) or it might have changed in the meantime. Or I did the test wrong:)

 

5 hours ago, James Hickok said:

New items does not show and shouldnt -=> They are not intended to give smell (pies with meat and stews) so im guessing its a bug. 

Fish bait should produce scent and it does - it just doesnt show on interface and like you said you cant drop the bait with drop decoy button

It would be really great to have some consistency on this, and maybe HL is already addressing it in the December update…

I’m wondering where the info about the meat pies comes from? If they are indeed not meant to smell, that would be a game changer… atm I’m not really using them, at least not while on the go, _because_ they attract wildlife…

Edited November 27, 2023 by AdamvR
Typo

[ajb1978]

I've tested it pretty extensively and raw meat does indeed contribute less to your detection radius than cooked meat, but the effect is really only noticeable when carrying multiple pieces. A single piece of meat attracts attention equally, even if it's not showing a scent line on your screen. But it takes multiple pieces of cooked meat to reach two scent lines, so if you're going to carry any meat at all you may as well carry several pieces. Based on my tests, carrying 3 pieces of raw venison attracts predators from the same distance as 6 pieces of cooked venison. The weight of the pieces doesn't matter, it's quantity. So you're better off carrying full 1kg chunks than multiple tiny pieces. Same with fish, a single scrap of cooked trout smells as much as a full raw salmon, when carried by itself.

I suspect the idea that raw meat contributes less scent may be more due to the fact that cooked meat is kind of deceptive with its scent. You're generally not gonna be lugging around 6kg of cooked meat with you, you're going to be carrying 1 or 2 cooked pieces that don't trigger a scent line. But they still attract predators same as a piece of raw meat, because 1 line is the minimum whether you see it or not.

[AdamvR]

Hm.., maybe I get it wrong, can you please elaborate:

4 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

raw meat does indeed contribute less to your detection radius than cooked meat,

1) does this mean, that when carrying raw meat, your detection radius is smaller; i.e. the doggies need to be closer to you, to detect you = they can detect you with cooked meat from a longer distance already? >> "cooked is more smelly"
AND

4 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

carrying 3 pieces of raw venison attracts predators from the same distance as 6 pieces of cooked venison

2) This one I would read as 6 pieces of cooked venison smell the same as 3 raw >> "raw is more smelly"

Also, have you tested the impact (or lack thereof) of the freshness of the pieces?
Thanks!

[ajb1978]

7 hours ago, AdamvR said:

1) does this mean, that when carrying raw meat, your detection radius is smaller; i.e. the doggies need to be closer to you, to detect you = they can detect you with cooked meat from a longer distance already? >> "cooked is more smelly"

Having a small detection radius is desirable because it means distant wolves remain unaware of your presence. The more meat you carry, the greater your detection radius, and raw meat increases that radius faster than cooked meat. Having a bleeding injury also contributes.

7 hours ago, AdamvR said:

Also, have you tested the impact (or lack thereof) of the freshness of the pieces?
Thanks!

Not as extensively but only because the results were quickly and readily apparent: condition doesn't affect scent at all, only cooked vs. raw.

Edited November 28, 2023 by ajb1978
clarity

[AdamvR]

14 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

raw meat does indeed contribute less to your detection radius than cooked meat,

Thanks for the elaboration. so the above sentence actually means raw meat contributes less more to the detection radius.
I guess this got me confused

I'm still finding it curious that various people get to different results using the same methods...

[ajb1978]

3 hours ago, AdamvR said:

Thanks for the elaboration. so the above sentence actually means raw meat contributes less more to the detection radius.
I guess this got me confused

I'm still finding it curious that various people get to different results using the same methods...

I use mods to create controlled scenarios whenever possible. In this case I manually spawned a bear (they move slow, easier to keep tabs on) and observed its behavior as I picked up and dropped various bits of meat.

[Semple Fi]

To be fair, which would draw YOU more? A piece of raw meat,

or a fat cooked steak slathered in butter and salt and…. Anyways… 🤤

IRL the scent of meat cooking will fill a room and be detectable faster than a raw steak on the counter.  

[Leeanda]

But wolves prefer live food ,so should be attracted by the fresh meat and blood.

[ajb1978]

14 minutes ago, Leeanda said:

But wolves prefer live food ,so should be attracted by the fresh meat and blood.

Actually cooking does attract more wildlife than raw meat, by virtue of the fact that the cooking process releases more compounds into the air, which generates a LOT more scent. Cooked or not, meat is meat, and carnivores know meat is food.

(Edit: That's real life, not in-game.)

Edited December 1, 2023 by ajb1978

[Semple Fi]

1 hour ago, Leeanda said:

But wolves prefer live food ,so should be attracted by the fresh meat and blood.

[Leeanda]

5 hours ago, Semple Fi said:

Lol...   I do wish he'd catch that bird 😁

7 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

Actually cooking does attract more wildlife than raw meat, by virtue of the fact that the cooking process releases more compounds into the air, which generates a LOT more scent. Cooked or not, meat is meat, and carnivores know meat is food.

(Edit: That's real life, not in-game.)

I've heard of plenty of bears being attracted to campsites ,or wherever people cook but very rarely wolves.and they're usually lone desperate ones.. .

I didn't mean the smell was stronger though,, just thinking of a wolves preference for fresh food..