Is there a "fix my habitat" forum for very experienced players?

[sturmovik]

I've been an active player since the week after the game released, but I have a habitat I just can't solve. Massive immersive African habitat, with entry through an underground jeep station and guests coming up to the surface. Ever since I started putting animals in it, guests get off the jeep at the the underground station... and immediately flee straight into the entrance queue. No animal escape notifications. I've tried the standard tools (traversable area, sealing off possible void spaces with rocks, closing and re-starting the ride and such) with no effect. This has been going on for several days. Problem is, this habitat (complex of habitats) is so large and complex that words and screenshots really can't describe it in enough detail to be useful for problem-solving, and also too large for a blueprint. Only way I can see to make it available is to post the entire zoo file, which is gigantic.

Note: It is possible that this is just a glitch. My laptop is well below the recommended minimum spec, and even with Nvidia GeForce NOW it can barely keep up with a zoo the size of this. I've done everything I can with regards to this short of closing and reopening a zoo with 8500 guests, which I am hesitant to do because this has caused glitches in the past.

I am an experienced player, and know how to do anything that is suggested; just wondering if there is a place for advanced questions like this. Thank you all!

 

[Nioell]

Could it be that the jeep station is basically in the habitat (like the animals can walk on the ground over it) and you have animals in there that aren't suitable for walkthroughs? Even if they can't reach the guests it might register like they can and cause the guests to flee. If that's the case try to work with null fences around the path so it's no longer inside the habitat and see if that helps.

 

[iloveyourzoos]

Love this idea for an advanced help line!
I would think that if you posted the zoo file, there would be many who would be happy to take a look.

 

[Jaggid Edje]

I have recently had similiar issues in some habits of my zoos where there is a visitor viewing platform inside the habitat that uses underground tunnels to reach. Something is wrong with how the game is calculating where animals are vs. where the guests are when it comes to these underground/tunnel access systems. Used to work better, but appears to be glitchy currently.

 

[sturmovik]

Could it be that the jeep station is basically in the habitat (like the animals can walk on the ground over it) and you have animals in there that aren't suitable for walkthroughs? Even if they can't reach the guests it might register like they can and cause the guests to flee. If that's the case try to work with null fences around the path so it's no longer inside the habitat and see if that helps.

Yes, I suspect it is a barrier problem in some way- I do have dangerous animals in there. Hope that next time I play my null barriers actually work- last night they were glitched so that I couldn't make them non-perimeter. After I posted the thread I had an idea about placing another track airlock that may solve the problem. Will advise.

 

[sturmovik]

Love this idea for an advanced help line!
I would think that if you posted the zoo file, there would be many who would be happy to take a look.

I agree, you'd think there would be plenty of players who would enjoy the challenge of looking at a very large and complex build that almost-but-doesn't-quite-work and looking for that one little fix that even experienced players can overlook. That would almost be a new challenge scenario every time. Where do you suggest I post the zoo file? What forums/subreddits?

 

[sturmovik]

Another technical question for anyone who might know

When I do something that changes a habitat's traversable terrain in such a way as to make a guest path that was previously reachable by animals non-reachable, and there is a jeep track running through the habitat, do the guests on the jeeps inside the habitat at that moment immediately know that the path is now safe or will they continue to operate under the conditions that existed when they entered the habitat? If the latter, will guests then in the outside-habitat station queue figure it out or do I need to wait for new guests entirely to enter the queue and go all the way through? Thanks, anyone who knows this!

 

[JanH25R]

f I were you, I would move a group of guests who just arrived at your zoo to the appropriate path and wait for their response ...

 

[iloveyourzoos]

I agree, you'd think there would be plenty of players who would enjoy the challenge of looking at a very large and complex build that almost-but-doesn't-quite-work and looking for that one little fix that even experienced players can overlook. That would almost be a new challenge scenario every time. Where do you suggest I post the zoo file? What forums/subreddits?

I'd imagine you could post the link to your zoo right here in this thread.

 

[sturmovik]

f I were you, I would move a group of guests who just arrived at your zoo to the appropriate path and wait for their response ...

I did that last night. Brought random groups from all over the zoo into the path in question and several other parts of the surrounding build. All had the same reaction. They would all immediately show a status of "fleeing" and run straight for the jeep station to get out.

 

[sturmovik]

Solved it! Simple and obvious solution, as they so often are. Just had to add two more airlocks to the jeep track, and now this beauty is working perfectly. Thanks to everyone who chimed in with ideas, and read below the image for a technical description.

What I have is this building as the centerpiece of an immersive exhibit. Underground, beneath the central glass roof, is a swamp-themed caiman habitat with a jeep station that leads aboveground and out of the larger habitat in both directions. This is my first jeep ride in the game, and my first underground ride station. While I obviously knew to put airlocks on the entrance and exit from the main habitat, and also the entrance and exit from the caiman habitat, I hadn't realized until today that it would be necessary to airlock the topside entrances to the jeep tunnels to stop animals from simply walking down the tunnels. Without these, the tunnels and everything underground were traversable- and the habitat outside is so large (think one-third of the total map) that the traversable-area maps were glitching and showing two-thirds or more of the habitat as non-traversable, so they didn't show the tunnels like they should have.

Just a quick fix- airlock the two tunnels, and raise the terrain around the airlocks so no one can get in around them, and that was all it took. Simple and obvious problem and solution, in hindsight. Thanks again, everyone!