Biggest Tip regarding Weather Changes.


Fuarian

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So for those who don't know the weather can turn on you very quickly. But you may also not know that often times you can predict that. I'm not sure if clouds in the distance mean anything in particular (they should!) but I do know that crows flying overhead do.

If you see crows flying overheard in a straight direction it means that the weather will change soon. I knew this for the longest of times but recently I also learned you can use that to tell how much time you have until. Essentially the number of crows flying overheard can tell the hours you have until it changes. 4 crows = 4 hours until  a weather change. This is approximate and not exact but every time I've seen this it seems to work. 

There can be up to 3-5 crows at a time from what I've seen. 

Also protip; blizzards last 4 hours in transition regions only.

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1 hour ago, Fuarian said:

recently I also learned you can use that to tell how much time you have until. Essentially the number of crows flying overheard can tell the hours you have until it changes. 4 crows = 4 hours until  a weather change. This is approximate and not exact but every time I've seen this it seems to work. 

Interesting.. I'll keep a closer eye on this, to see if my experiences agree.

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2 hours ago, Fuarian said:

If you see crows flying overheard in a straight direction it means that the weather will change soon. I knew this for the longest of times but recently I also learned you can use that to tell how much time you have until. Essentially the number of crows flying overheard can tell the hours you have until it changes. 4 crows = 4 hours until  a weather change. This is approximate and not exact but every time I've seen this it seems to work. 

This has been discussed before.  In my opinion, I don't think there is a direct connection between the crows and weather changes.

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1 hour ago, Fuarian said:

No, that's bear crows. They're different.

bear crows?  LMAO!  please enlighten us.  I'm with @Timber Wolf on this. The weather in this game RARELY maintains any particular type for more than 5 or 6 hours except blizzards, so saying the weather will change in x number of hours if you see crows... well, its gonna change in x number of hours even if you dont see crows.  I guess it depends on how many types of different weather you are able to differentiate. If you are the type that recognizes subtle changes, or if youre the type that classifies it as good or bad.  

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50 minutes ago, TROY said:

bear crows?  LMAO!  please enlighten us.  I'm with @Timber Wolf on this. The weather in this game RARELY maintains any particular type for more than 5 or 6 hours except blizzards, so saying the weather will change in x number of hours if you see crows... well, its gonna change in x number of hours even if you dont see crows.  I guess it depends on how many types of different weather you are able to differentiate. If you are the type that recognizes subtle changes, or if youre the type that classifies it as good or bad.  

Bear crows are just crows that make a different cawing sound when a bear is around. Like a warning. You can hear a difference if you listen closely. 

And I'm not saying crows guarantee a change in weather. I'm just saying they SHOW a change in weather is coming. Hinterland has said in the past many times that there are signs for weather change before it happens. So far observing the clouds doesn't seem to mean anything.

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Well, I can honestly say that in over 600 hours in this game, I have never paid close enough attention to notice a different cawing sound from the crows when bears are around. Generally, I find that if I listen closely, I hear the bear. :)   

I'm not dissing you for your theory about this, and you may well be right, but what I'm telling you is that any given time the weather is 90% likely to change in the next 3-6 hours.  Either from cloudy to foggy, or foggy to clear, or sunny to snowing, snowing to windy and snowing to blizzard, back to just cloudy, to clear and cold to clear and warm to foggy and cold... there are a multitude of weather "possibilities" in the game, and it changes 4 or 5 times a day not including the general temperature variations. 

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They were an announced feature to help players determine where on the map a bear was. The player was supposed to hear crows when a bear was nearby. However, I haven't played the game nearly enough recently to comment on how well this feature functions. 

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5 hours ago, TROY said:

Well, I can honestly say that in over 600 hours in this game, I have never paid close enough attention to notice a different cawing sound from the crows when bears are around. Generally, I find that if I listen closely, I hear the bear. :)   

1 hour ago, cullam said:

I've heard the term "Bear crows" a bunch recently, but they are not a phenomenon I've EVER observed. Am I missing something? 

"Bear crows" are a real phenomenon.. but FC reduced their effectiveness to the point that you have to be both lucky and paying attention, to hear them.

Essentially, if a bear is nearby, (unseen) crows and other birds will become agitated, and their calls will change accordingly (they sound stressed out and angry). They used to be quite a lifesaver, so in FC, both the volume of their calls, and the range around the bear at which they occurred was reduced. Now, you have to be almost on top of the bear to hear them, and if there's much other noise, from the wind, for example, you may not even notice them. Personally, I think Hinterland overdid the nerfing, to the point where they might as well remove it altogether, it's so bad.

(Oh yeah.. at the same time, the volume of the noises the bear itself makes was reduced as well.. and you need to be closer now, before you will hear it.)

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I can concur. Bear crows used to be noticeable from a long long way away. It was distracting and weird. There were no physical crows. It was just this ambient, looping noise that was centred on the Bear. 

I thought they had been removed entirely, to be honest. Now I hear the bear's snorts and grumbles and use that for pinpointing and evading/locating them. 

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6 hours ago, JAFO said:

Personally, I think Hinterland overdid the nerfing, to the point where they might as well remove it altogether, it's so bad.

The alternate crow sound for bears is most certainly real. And I for one, do not ever want that removed.  I've spent 100's of days in extended runs with The Old Bear and I absolutely rely on that audio cue.  

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6 minutes ago, JAFO said:

Nor do I.. I just want it made a touch more obvious.. as it stands, it's very easy to miss altogether.

I never noticed a change in volume, but that's probably because I've become so in tune with that sound, having heard it 1000's of times.  

I'd be fine with increasing the volume some, but not increasing the range for the cue.   It's more helpful for me to know if a bear is in my immediate area, as opposed to somewhere in my general area. 

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Audio and color correction seems to be the biggest indicator of weather changes for me, if the wind stops being steady and starts to sputter and change fequency of gusts, and the game subtly looks different in color, a weather change is about to occur. But Ive never been able to connect cues directly to a certain type of weather, just changes.

Although sometimes I'll get a "feeling" its about to blizzard and it does, so some subtle pattern might indicate one is coming and im not able to consciously pick up on what causes it yet but there must be some sort of cue.

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I often see crows flying overhead just when the weather cleared up, but I'll definitely pay attention to see if it may have something to do with weather changes. Never knew they could indicate the presence of a bear, I always just thought they flew in the direction of a carcass.

The light and hue changes are good indicators though, it gets just a little more pale and washed out before the weather turns bad. Then you notice a slight wind picking up and it's definitely time to seek shelter.

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On 8/17/2017 at 6:24 PM, TROY said:

Well, I can honestly say that in over 600 hours in this game, I have never paid close enough attention to notice a different cawing sound from the crows when bears are around. Generally, I find that if I listen closely, I hear the bear. :)   

I'm not dissing you for your theory about this, and you may well be right, but what I'm telling you is that any given time the weather is 90% likely to change in the next 3-6 hours.  Either from cloudy to foggy, or foggy to clear, or sunny to snowing, snowing to windy and snowing to blizzard, back to just cloudy, to clear and cold to clear and warm to foggy and cold... there are a multitude of weather "possibilities" in the game, and it changes 4 or 5 times a day not including the general temperature variations. 

If you've played The Hunted challenge, you've heard the bear crows as Old Bear comes barreling towards you from the distance.

Edit: Watch the first 30 seconds or so of this Let's Play of The Hunted challenge, you can hear the angry crow calls in the background: 

 

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On 8/17/2017 at 7:38 AM, Fuarian said:

So for those who don't know the weather can turn on you very quickly. But you may also not know that often times you can predict that. I'm not sure if clouds in the distance mean anything in particular (they should!) but I do know that crows flying overhead do.

If you see crows flying overheard in a straight direction it means that the weather will change soon. I knew this for the longest of times but recently I also learned you can use that to tell how much time you have until. Essentially the number of crows flying overheard can tell the hours you have until it changes. 4 crows = 4 hours until  a weather change. This is approximate and not exact but every time I've seen this it seems to work. 

There can be up to 3-5 crows at a time from what I've seen. 

Also protip; blizzards last 4 hours in transition regions only.

Either number, but 2 crows is a murder, 3 or more is mass murder.

 

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The only connection between crows and weather is that if there are no crows then the weather is poor, if crows fly overhead usually its because the weather has turned good again and the crows are moving towards a corpse that they spend a few hours circling. Your best cues for weather changes is the change in wind noise, gusts etc. When I am cooking on a fire outdoors and hear the wind gusts changing I will quickly do whatever it is I was going to do by the time I'd finished, either make some water or a cup of coffee etc.

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2 minutes ago, Renegade30 said:

The only connection between crows and weather is that if there are no crows then the weather is poor, if crows fly overhead usually its because the weather has turned good again and the crows are moving towards a corpse that they spend a few hours circling. Your best cues for weather changes is the change in wind noise, gusts etc. When I am cooking on a fire outdoors and hear the wind gusts changing I will quickly do whatever it is I was going to do by the time I'd finished, either make some water or a cup of coffee etc.

I would agree this is the most accurate. 

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48 minutes ago, Renegade30 said:

The only connection between crows and weather is that if there are no crows then the weather is poor, if crows fly overhead usually its because the weather has turned good again and the crows are moving towards a corpse that they spend a few hours circling. Your best cues for weather changes is the change in wind noise, gusts etc. When I am cooking on a fire outdoors and hear the wind gusts changing I will quickly do whatever it is I was going to do by the time I'd finished, either make some water or a cup of coffee etc.

 

45 minutes ago, Lrrr Ruler of OP8 said:

I would agree this is the most accurate. 

Same, I agree. If you're hanging out near crows circling a corpse/carcass and they suddenly disappear, get ready for some nasty weather.

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10 hours ago, Lrrr Ruler of OP8 said:

if crows fly overhead usually its because the weather has turned good again and the crows are moving towards a corpse that they spend a few hours circling.

Sorry, but Hinterland have specifically stated that the only thing this signals is that a change in weather, good or bad, is coming soon.

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