Allow all biome terrain paints for all zoos, please?

[MarieBear]

I'm currently working on a temperate zoo and am trying to include all animals in the game in one zoo. However I am running into an issue where enclosures for, for example, the Plains Zebra and the Giraffe look very strange as the rocks are a brownish savannah color whereas the terrain is lush and green. I think it would be nice if you would enable all terrain paints in all biome zoos. Now I heard that that's unlikely due to performance issues but I think we are taking performance hits from many other things and I think if you put it behind an option in the menu that warns players of performance decrease this should avoid complaints.

Alternatively my idea was to add a humidifier/dehumidifier that, just like the heater and cooler, will have a range that you can set. Depending on how high the humidity is set grass could become more light and brown like savannah grass or more dark and lush like tropical grass. This will prevent african or tropical areas from looking out of place in colder climate zoos and will prevent people from having to make a different zoo for each and every biome.

Thank you for your consideration!

 

[LN]

Now I heard that that's unlikely due to performance issues.

That's correct, and due to that won't happen.

We might get an option to select our own textures, but all textures in one map isn't happening.

 

[NL_Mutso]

Now I heard that that's unlikely due to performance issues but I think we are taking performance hits from many other things and I think if you put it behind an option in the menu that warns players of performance decrease this should avoid complaints

That's not going to avoid complaints.
It's memory/performance issues, but that's a broad statement.
To pick an example/assumption: If you would add a warning "if you use this function, you might risk corrupting your save game", maybe better to exclude that function.

The original quote:

Hayo all! Thank you for posting your suggestions on this topic here.
As some of you will be aware, our voxel terrain is limited to 8 textures - this is due to memory and/or performance, which suffers when more textures are applied.
In Planet Coaster, we do allow you to select your own set of textures for a Custom Biome, however this is not an easy fit into Planet Zoo because the animals require specific terrain paints to be used to conform to their requirements.
We are aware this is an often requested feature but due to its complexity, we don't want to make any promises regarding its inclusion.

 

[MarieBear]

Would the humidifier/dehumidifier be includable without sacrificing too much performance? Just making the textures look dryer or wetter depending on the settings?

 

[NL_Mutso]

Would the humidifier/dehumidifier be includable without sacrificing too much performance? Just making the textures look dryer or wetter depending on the settings?

Don't know but the way I read your suggestion, that sounds like an overhaul of the way terrain works.
Heater/coolers/weather don't affect the actual terrain like that, like grass/dirt doesn't change when it rains
(only applies to snow, which is a different terrain paint and more of a coating imo)

Btw, not against the suggestion

 

[MarieBear]

It would be like an overlay texture that changed the warmth/saturation of the terrain underground, that way there wouldn't have to be more textures aside from that overlay.

 

[markun]

Given what they have said about not being able to have all biome textures available I think the best option would be for us to be able to select 8 of our own choosing.

It's something I really, really hope will be possible. If I could change only one thing in the game it would be that.

 

[ElectricMonk]

Moots of the above comments are correct, but another point Is that there is absolutely no reason to use biome-specific rocks for species - unlike plants, the animals won’t even notice the difference - you’re generally best-off using the base biome (or the new artificial-looking) rocks.

 

[MarieBear]

True but biome specific rocks bring color and atmosphere into the Zoo. I have removed the savannah rocks and am using temperate rocks for the time being.

 

[Danny_zoo]

That's correct, and due to that won't happen.

We might get an option to select our own textures, but all textures in one map isn't happening.

I think that if they could include the custom terrain feature from Planet Coaster, that would be more than enough, and a great addition.

 

[LN]

I think that if they could include the custom terrain feature from Planet Coaster, that would be more than enough, and a great addition.

I fully agree. The scenario editor is also something I'm still hoping for.

 

[NL_Mutso]

I think the best option would be for us to be able to select 8 of our own choosing

Do you mean before you start a new zoo or during the game ?

New zoo - locked choices - this means you really need to think what zoo you want beforehand.
During the game - you can switch but if you alter 1 choice you'd already used - the already used area will automatically change?

 

[markun]

Do you mean before you start a new zoo or during the game ?

New zoo - locked choices - this means you really need to think what zoo you want beforehand.
During the game - you can switch but if you alter 1 choice you'd already used - the already used area will automatically change?

I would be fine with deciding before you start the game if that was the only way to make it possible.

 

[LN]

I would be fine with deciding before you start the game if that was the only way to make it possible.

I'm fully into this.

But I suddenly recall a message from Frontier that you have to have a texture of every type (long grass, short grass, sand, dirt, stone) due to the terrain requirements of the animals or something like that and them being locked to fixed positions. But I'm not really sure.

I know in Planco you can select 4 different stone types (even for flat terrain) without it having consequences in the game.

Do you mean before you start a new zoo or during the game ?

New zoo - locked choices - this means you really need to think what zoo you want beforehand.
During the game - you can switch but if you alter 1 choice you'd already used - the already used area will automatically change?

In Planco, when loading saves, you also have the oppurtunity to change this if I recall correctly.

 

[markun]

But I suddenly recall a message from Frontier that you have to have a texture of every type (long grass, short grass, sand, dirt, stone) due to the terrain requirements of the animals or something like that and them being locked to fixed positions. But I'm not really sure.

Yes, they did say that but it isn't valid if you play in sandbox mode. They could make this only an option in sandbox and I would be happy with that.

Personally I don't need to use every biome brush there is. Really I just want to be able to use the temperate dirt and grass on other maps and occasionally use the tropical biome soil as I think that would look great as a bark mulch alternative for some enclosures and tropical buildings for example.

 

[LN]

Yes, they did say that but it isn't valid if you play in sandbox mode. They could make this only an option in sandbox and I would be happy with that.

Personally I don't need to use every biome brush there is. Really I just want to be able to use the temperate dirt and grass on other maps and occasionally use the tropical biome soil as I think that would look great as a bark mulch alternative for some enclosures and tropical buildings for example.

Yes, that's a good compromise.

 

[markun]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au3K6b2ecOU


Bumping this in the light of this video from @Leaf Productions and my general frustration with the game at the moment.

The wetlands pack gave me a real boost, useful animals that really help in making realistic smaller zoos. But I now feel stuck.

After a while away I am back in the game making a small Australian zoo. Below is the work in process on a cassowary enclosure.

I would really like to use the tropical soil texture as a forest floor similar to the picture from Taronga Zoo below but of course, I can't.

It's really, really frustrating. I feel using different biome textures - and having some simple, non-intrusive map backgrounds is absolutely crucial in making zoos that are more realistic.

That this is impossible is really limiting my creativity and engagement at the moment.

.

 

[FoxyDee]

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au3K6b2ecOU


Bumping this in the light of this video from @Leaf Productions and my general frustration with the game at the moment.

The wetlands pack gave me a real boost, useful animals that really help in making realistic smaller zoos. But I now feel stuck.

After a while away I am back in the game making a small Australian zoo. Below is the work in process on a cassowary enclosure.

I would really like to use the tropical soil texture as a forest floor similar to the picture from Taronga Zoo below but of course, I can't.

It's really, really frustrating. I feel using different biome textures - and having some simple, non-intrusive map backgrounds is absolutely crucial in making zoos that are more realistic.

That this is impossible is really limiting my creativity and engagement at the moment.

.View attachment 316333
View attachment 316334

+1, I understand the statement Frontier made regarding the map textures, I get it that the engine can only have like 7 (?) textures per map and that becuase of the animal welwere tied to them, it would not be possible to select random 7 textures, BUT at least make it this way: You would have to choose 1 long grass texture, 1 short grass texture, 1 sand texture, 1 soil texture etc. but we would choose from which map would those textures be, for example it would let us choose to swap the default temperate soil texture for a tropical soil texture.

 

[markun]

+1, I understand the statement Frontier made regarding the map textures, I get it that the engine can only have like 7 (?) textures per map and that becuase of the animal welwere tied to them, it would not be possible to select random 7 textures, BUT at least make it this way: You would have to choose 1 long grass texture, 1 short grass texture, 1 sand texture, 1 soil texture etc. but we would choose from which map would those textures be, for example it would let us choose to swap the default temperate soil texture for a tropical soil texture.

But animal welfare isn’t tied to textures in sandbox. And it isn’t tied in real life so I simply ignore it. So we should be able to select whatever combination we please in sandbox.

 

[FoxyDee]

But animal welfare isn’t tied to textures in sandbox. And it isn’t tied in real life so I simply ignore it. So we should be able to select whatever combination we please in sandbox.

Ideally, yea, but I see a potentional problem with selecting any combination of textures and then the option to turn welfare on in sandbox. They would have to make a work around for this, maybe disable the option to turn the welfare off if random textures were selected? Mybe even make seprate "Terrain welfare" (if that is not a thing already? No idea).

Anyway, I dont play in sandbox, but I would still like to swap textures as at least as I described above, for sandbox players, sure, make it selecting random textures if possible, but I would prefer if management modes could also benefit from such feature to some extend.