Freefilesync did not detect .xml file changes

[GlenmorilTask]

See attachments for context. There are two files with the same name but different size and file time.

Freefilesync completely failed to pick up the difference/change in the files, despite detecting changes in other files.

The difference in the files is that the older version had

Path="D:\illusion\Mods"

and the newer version has

Path="..\Mods"

Even comparing based on file size yielded no results ("no files to synchronize").
It is not feasible for me to compare based on bitwise because my sync folder is 160GB in size.

This is very serious as it would lead to my system not working in the long run if such changes are not picked up.

Why is this happening? How can I troubleshoot?

[xCSxXenon]

So the newer version is in a different location?

[therube]

Older vs. Newer version, are just what?

In what file are these "Path=" paths located?
Why is the newer a relative path?

[GlenmorilTask]

They are both .xml files that contain settings. I updated the path setting inside the .xml from a static reference to a relative one because that's obviously more portable and then I saved the .xml.

The older version of the .xml had the static path and the newer .xml has the relative path. For whatever reason it kept keeping the .xml with the static path even after i did the sync job to write new > old.

I don't know why this is so hard to understand.

Anyway, I restarted to computer and re-synced and it synced correctly on the disk this time. Very strange behavior

[xCSxXenon]

I don't know why this is so hard to understand.

It's hard to understand because your original post conveys that the two versions of the files are in different locations, not that you changed a line of text in the file that contains the word 'PATH'. Seeing how the first and most basic troubleshooting step wasn't performed before the post, the confusing wording is not surprising. Glad it is working in the end