Difference between それなのに and ところが?

Japanese
#1

I keep confusing それなのに and ところが when it comes to reviews and judging from their grammar pages, they seem to be pretty close in meaning.

From what I understand they work like this:

This is what was expected, それなのに/ところが, but this actually happened.

Since BP isn’t giving me the usual “Nice guess” answer and is outright marking the whole thing wrong, I’m assuming there’s a bigger difference that I’m not grasping, right?

Right now, I’m only getting these things right because if the hint contains “ideal situation or place” = ところが, otherwise それなのに. This isn’t a way I want to study, though, because it clearly shows that I don’t know the actual grammar at hand.

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#2

ところが contains the idea of something being contrary to expectations whilst それなのに contains the idea of something happening despite some other factor.

ところが definitely feels closer to しかし・だが・けれども whilst それなのに feels like a way to tag the previous thought/sentence with のに either for emphasis or because you didn’t say it but decided you want to. I believe you can also begin the answer to a question with ところが whereas using それなのに in that instance would come across like an interjection rather than an answer.

I think Bunpro always translates それなのに as “Despite this” or something whilst ところが is always “However” so it should be possible to tell the difference in reviews.

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