[Fixed - persists in 3.61] Tracks being modified by overlapping

[Míriel]

  Hi Sami, since it's time for a tracking related update I thought I should report a minor nuisance.
  Sometimes when animal tracks overlap the size and freshness of the track is altered instead of displaying the mixed tracks message, it's a nuisance in the animal in the forest cover quest

Spoiler: show

that usually spawns a predator who can pass through the searched animal tracks and create a false freshest one

and when chasing an individual in a herd of reindeers of different sizes through a track filled terrain.
  I don't have a save right now but can find an example in one if needed.

[Sami]

I believe what you describe might be an intended feature. Especially heavier creature walking over old tracks can "erase" the existing tracks. The logic of how new tracks vs. old existing tracks in certain location gets marked is quite complex, but I don't immediately see a bug here.

[Míriel]

  Hi, I attached an image to this post to exemplify the modification.
  At first, a small reindeer left the south to north tracks, later, a big wolf passed through some of them, in the intersection (directly northeast of the character) the wolf tracks were modified to small ones since the reindeer was a small one while the usual tracks (directly southeast of the character) remain the same. I don't know if that could be considered a feature since wolf and reindeer tracks are so different and the most recent track was the one modified not the older one. Also, I don't have an example of the renewed freshness yet but I'll try to find one soon.

  Just found an example of renewed freshness so I'm editing this post.
  The older tracks here are the elk's,  after being overlapped by the small wolf's tracks they returned to the very fresh state. I have the save file if needed.

[Sami]

Ah, now I got it! Thanks for clarifying.
Will check, and fix.

[Sami]

Took a while to figure things out codewise as many factors came into play but I believe I got all of this fixed now.

Fixed - persists in 3.61.

[PALU]

Just checking: Is time one of the things modified? I'm currently failing at the bull lost in spirit cover quest because the bull didn't appear when I burned the hour old track leading just ending (and the ones around for good measure, after a while).
Trying to search further after sleeping, I follow a lot of half day old tracks that disappear into day old overlapping tracks and seem to reappear at some other side (with so many overlapping tracks and half day old tracks it's really not possible to tell which exiting tracks are continuations of which entering ones).

[Sami]

Just checking: Is time one of the things modified? I'm currently failing at the bull lost in spirit cover quest because the bull didn't appear when I burned the hour old track leading just ending (and the ones around for good measure, after a while).
Trying to search further after sleeping, I follow a lot of half day old tracks that disappear into day old overlapping tracks and seem to reappear at some other side (with so many overlapping tracks and half day old tracks it's really not possible to tell which exiting tracks are continuations of which entering ones).

In general the newer tracks should replace the older ones, I don't recall this rule being modified in the fix. But it's also possible that if the old tracks are much stronger than the new ones (for a reason or another) the old ones will stay as the visible ones.
I would need to check out your savegame to get a good idea of how it's happening there, and if it's okay or not. Feel free to e-mail it, have the character located somewhere at lost the bull site. Preferably by the confusing tracks, eg. half day old tracks disappearing into day old overlapping tracks. I'll try to check it out as soon as possible.

[PALU]

I'm sorry, Sami, but I can't find my way back to those tracks: all tracks I find now are either a day old or an hour fresh (and I did find the bull in a save I branched off when I encountered the fresh tracks). However, I saw the tracks switched from bull tracks to cow tracks as I loaded the save (where my character was standing on them).

I suspect the older tracks were stronger in that they were probably overlapping in the old state, so the new tracks would make fresh marks with an unclear direction on top of the old ones which already had an unclear direction. When it comes to strength, even bird tracks are capable of making you unable to determine the direction of an elk (or bull) you're tracking.

I'll keep my eyes open should I encounter the situation again.