That's a little obtuse. They look completely different, even besides the colour. The Malayan tapir has longer legs, a more humped rump, a longer snout, a less prominent brow, and it's larger as well. Anyway, it doesn't matter how similar they look in real life, because in the game the Malayan tapir is quite literally just the Baird's tapir with a new coat of paint.
Malayan Tapir Redesign
- Thread starter Mazoku
- Start date
I definitely see the rump difference but I’m not to sure frontier will consider it or even revamp the model tbh. Personally I would have preferred the Brazilian tapir over either one of these two. Just a personal preference I just find these species of tapir a lot more unique and a much more interesting looking creature. I personally would rather see the lion tweaked then the tapir but oh well. There was actually a little debate on this on Reddit with most people admitting the tapir was done rather lazy but the majority didn’t deem it a necessary revamp. I understand they don’t speak for everyone I just found it kinda interesting. For now there is a very nice mod that more accurately depicts the tapir. I still stand by my post tho the lion does need some attention and if I could choose any model to be redone it would definitely be the lion.
Last edited:
You're missing the point.
It is literally a reskin. Not a re-used model with some adjustments like the Arctic wolf, but a literal reskin, as in they took the Baird's, changed the colours, and put it out saying "job well done". If it was at all different in shape from the Baird's with some minor tweaks needed, I doubt it would be considered a big deal, but it's the fact that they made no changes at all to the Baird's to make the Malayan. AFAIK it doesn't even have any unique animations (which again, the Arctic wolf does).
Try to do a Google image search of "tapirs of the world". A lot of artwork comes up which are showing all the species. Some are drawn very realistic others in a very cartoonish style. The funny thing here is in almost every case no matter the artistic style, the body shape of the Malayan is noticeably different from the others, especially because of the rounded back.
There are for sure other things worth pointing out that should be done differently for that model to be a Malayan, but to not include that easily recognizable back is the deal breaker for me.
There are for sure other things worth pointing out that should be done differently for that model to be a Malayan, but to not include that easily recognizable back is the deal breaker for me.
Last edited:
Not as bad as the (now-fixed thankfully) Binturong in the same pack but still an eyesore that makes me not want to use one of my favorite animals. It's not game-breaking but I'd like to see this fixed at some point in the future.
This from @Jens Erik in May is the only acknowledgment I am aware of.
“Hey Antmar! I know it's probably not the answer you're looking for, but I don't have an update for you about the Malayan Tapir”
Thanks.
I'm not sure why you think this but it seems to me like most people on reddit are just as unhappy as the people here
I mean, look at the upvotes and comments and you decide
3 animals with some varying degree of model issues. Binturong wasn't finished in time for the reveal (apparently they told Youtuber creators ahead of time that it would be "wonky"), dhole needed to be touched up afterward apparently, and the Malayan tapir was just a straight 1 to 1 reskin. Take away those 3 animals and it's a 4 + 1 pack with a pig, cat, bear and monkey. Really makes you wonder if it was actually supposed to be an "Animals" pack at first, or if they just realized people would be ed and looked at inflating the number in any way possible
@Bearcat9948 I looked up Malayan tapir re design on Reddit. Point is only the most diehard fans of the Malayan tapir care tbh. Maybe harsh but also true as I’d say 75% of the player base could really care less tbh. To me there are subtle differences between the two species but is it enough for to grab frontiers attention. People said when the SEA pack came out that they wanted more animals even if they were reskins literally which unfortunately is what we got with the Malayan tapir. Me personally I’m on the fence with it as it would always be a good thing if frontier went back and made particular models more scientifically correct but at the same time if they never did go back and make some mild changes I could live with it either way. My favorite animal the lion has needed or at least could have gotten a few subtle changes as well arguably even more needed then the tapir but it’s obvious frontiers probably not going to make it happen. It’s still one of my favorite PZ animals despite this. Imo the binturong was very obvious and definitely would have presented a negative impact on the sales of the SEA pack. The dhole was a surprise to me and truthfully probably wouldn’t have mattered either way. The tapir although true not scientifically correct has not really made a game breaking difference in terms of sales or people’s opinions. So it’s hard telling if frontier will make the edits to the model or not. Truthfully once PZ is considered finished and if the tapir hasn’t gotten the edits I’d probably just download the modded version of the Malayan tapir and problem solved regardless as the model is quite nice.
Last edited:
That is true and I believe many of us still support this. But in general people wanted "reskin" animals on top of the regular DLC content (either as a markun's monthly surprise animal or other options that have been brought up). In the SEA pack we got a 100% reskin in the place of a bunch of building pieces.
I know, asking for more and more animals might seem a bit demanding but if you're putting out 7 habitat animals and just a handful of building pieces after 3-4 months, the models should be at least anatomically accurate. Animals' faces can be more or less stylized, bodies a bit fluffier than they should, that's a matter of taste. But a 100% reskin only works for creating different subspecies and not even that. If you're creating a new species or an animal genus, the rig can be 95% the same as a previous one, even the skin texture, animations, sounds, but not the animal's external morphology.
Getting rid of the purple seam and the weird leg thingy can arguably take a bit more work. But adjusting the snout, ears and hump can literally be done in less than 1 hour (afaik) having in mind they have the official tools at hand. And no, sorry but I don't buy that there are many processes involved when creating an animal, from creating various models to the numerous quality controls...no, certainly not in this particular case.
You can not tell me there are 70 people working in PZ and none of their 3D artists has a spare afternoon to address this model. It's either not a priority (because there's no revenue) or a consequence of the worrying lack of staff focused on PZ. And I would say it's pretty much the latter, because Frontier devs are passionate and talented enough to make such adjustsments if there really was time for it. The impression I have is that they're so few that they're continuously meeting deadlines to bring us new content so that they can barely focus on old bugs/issues.
For the life of me I can't understand why you keep saying this. Where is your proof it's "only die hard fans of the Malayan tapir"? Or maybe you aren't giving casual fans enough credit and some of them are upset about it too
@Bearcat9948 where besides the people who know better on this forum is the proof that it does. The average player is more then likely not even going to know the difference. That’s just a fact. This is nowhere near the same level as the binturong. There were even some players who thought the first binturong model was cute and loved it having no idea of the inaccuracies of the model. The average person at a zoo who is not a animal nerd like some of us could see the two species in a zoo with side by side exhibits would notice the difference in color and a slight difference in size but more then likely nothing else. This is a universal truth.
Last edited:
Did you look at the post that I linked you though? I mean 200+ upvotes for the PZ is pretty good. People care more than you think
Yes 200 hundred people is pretty good although there’s obviously way more people playing this game then that. Look all’s I’m saying is if frontier does decide to revamp the model it will be because of them being tired of the complaining and not deemed necessary as it isn’t negatively affecting the game in any way.
Firstly, it isn’t a fact, it is your assumption.
Secondly, if indeed people don’t know or care about the differences, surely this is an opportunity to educate them? I see so many posts from people saying they had never heard of x,y or z animal before they were released. Planet Zoo has amazing potential to educate. Yes they have a specific style and aren’t going for photo realism but the Malayan tapir is just wrong. Badly made, indifferently made, however you want to put it, it is wrong.