Oregon Zoo

[Captain Callum]

Steam Workshop::Oregon Zoo

steamcommunity.com

So lets begin, the Oregon zoo is one of the top attractions in the state of Oregon nestled within the city park of the busy city of Portland. The 64 acre zoo features prime pacific northwest animals along with many top tier international animal habitats including many modern habitats which have been remodeled within the last decade. The zoo features smart integration of the natural environment along with providing ample facilities to guests with wide pathways and spacious viewing areas for animals. Use of timber recreates a atmosphere of the pacific northwest especially in the first area.

In production is the great northwest which to anyone's wild guess - features key species of the pacific northwest and northwest North America. We have Dall sheep, grizzly bear, lynx, bald eagle, otters, beavers and cougars to represent as we travel down the hill side into the main section of the zoo. here there are winding pathways as they travel down the slopes while still being accessible to disabled guests - obviously not in game but its a great feature in real life. Extensive use of native northwest foliage creates the feel of walking in a wild forest right in the middle of a city park.

Thanks to the conservation dlc we now have actual wooden benches that look natural not the default one which looks forced in environments such as a forest. The picture above shows the steady gradient of descending the slope - can't forget about the scenic series of roaring waterfalls found throughout our descent and especially from the eagle canyon wooden bridge as the view is fantastic. The bald eagle aviary of course will be static with workshop sourced eagles and possibly some fish in the water. The aviary is set to be one of my most interesting habitats designed yet with a wooden bird hide already finished.

If anyone wonders, the use of stained wood colored to match local timber works really well and pulls off that northwest vibe. If we head back up to the top of the hill we can see the Eurasian lynx which stands in for the bobcat. Lots of pine trees stand tall for the lynx to climb around and a special viewpoint which i think actually isn't too bad when decorated up. It is supposed to mimic guests looking through a tree trunk and right into the bedding area for the lynx so special indeed.

Moving onwards we join onto a suspension bridge which was really fun to build as I don't really do much engineering work in the game. Here we have the grizzly bear habitats as a stand-in for the real life American black bear. The habitat is changed to suite the in game fight patterns and I split the habitats in half under the bridge. Right now the upper habitat is complete and features the main bear den and a rocky descent down the hill. Guests do love to stand on the literal edge of the bridge for whatever reason but hardly my problem if they fall in xD

Oh i forget to mention i installed some climb guards on the trees so those grizzlies don't get too many ideas to swing from the trees. Moving on we meet the entrance habitat which is known as the Cascade Crest. The Cascade Crest is home to Dall sheep and is one literal piles of rocks. The rockwork was actually fun with some snow rock to give a tundra appearance despite me using taiga rock. The sheep have their bedding inside the arch you can see in the middle and they all love jumping up and down the rocky terrain in between bathing in the chilly pool. Thisis actually a pretty big habitat at near 4000m2 which i could fit tons of sheep in but ill keep it at 6 for a manageable number.

So in the entrance there is a big restaurant which serves fast food and has more than enough tables for guests to eat but apparently 6 bins is not enough. Across from the restaurant we have the zoo gift shop which i just put some basic gift shop shelves from the workshop since it couldn't be bothered decorating a gift shop with like 10,000 pieces to resemble irl. Past the gates i have tried to replicate the intial parking area and including the exterior of the max transit station where my main guest spawners are - no european bus here!

Thats it for now, I should have the northwest trail all done the next time!

 

[XT]

The Oregon Zoo is my local zoo and go regularly. It looks great! (though, the bear area and such is very heavily tree'd, it's pretty dark). And the path down from the entry area to the bottom of the norwest area is fairly steep - it was built before ADA requirements came play - so PZ's slopes actually make sense for once!

 

[Captain Callum]

Oh yeah the tree coverage is sort of accurate and inaccurate at the same time. On the plus I got a nice looking northwest feel to the entire northwest trail (up to the cascade stream as of writing). On the downside the limited choice of tree coverage for the Pacific Northwest is really lacking for wider canopy's. I have lots of giant redwood trees which Portland doesn't really have redwoods at all.

The likes of the bear habitat, eagle aviary and the cascade stream are very much open air unlike real life. From my references on Google maps - I can't see an inch of the eagle aviary where as in game I can see almost all of it. I know I could use wide canopy trees like the kapok tree but that would just ruin the entire northwest feel.

The hillside of the northwest trail is actually completed and was quite the challenge entering a steady level gradient including switchback style paths to descend the 12 metres. All the info stuff I might mention comes from varied online sources, so I apologize in advance if any are inaccurate.

Might of got carried away there xD, glad to hear feedback!

 

[Captain Callum]

Great Northwest trail complete!

The first major section of the Oregon zoo is now complete with the addition of lots of northwest themed habitats within a sloping hillside. So in the last update we looked at the entrance and the first few habitats in the northwest trail up to the lynx habitat which is in a sub area called the black bear ridge or i called it the brown bear bridge to be more appropriate for the grizzlies. After the ridge we follow a winding series of switchback style paths as we descend down the hillside - this area is called the eagle canyon.

Use of cascading waterfalls, taiga rocks, the taiga biome long grass paint and northwest themed foliage makes quite a nice scene. This is the view we see from the wooden bridge seen in the first post. The eagle canyon is home of course to a pair of bald eagle - these are native to the region can be be found nesting atop of exposed trees watching the fish below in their same habitat. Yes i know it is koi fish since I'm not skilled enough to make static animals and no one has yet to upload some salmon fish.

So we can view the eagles actually really close up in this viewing shelter - seen below is the fish pools and a glass barrier where the path returns and descends a little more. So back across the wooden bridge we reach pretty much the bottom of the hillside, enter a rock tunnel which is supposed to be themed after a lava tube irl but i had no idea how to translate in game so its just a normal taiga rock tunnel. 3 viewing windows to view the underwater views of the habitat and can still see the eagles from right below.

Moving on, we enter the cascade stream and pond habitat area. This is quite a bit different than irl with smaller habitats for otters, beavers and even a small ringtail. Also lots of small exhibit boxed with frogs, snakes and whatnot. The building in game pretty much features the 2 main habitats of Asian otter roleplaying as American river otter and a beaver habitat which my guests seem to ignore. Not really much going on inside as my interior skills are still in progress.

Now we exit the cascade stream building and see the pond namesake of the area. This is a gravel path right in the middle of 2 duck ponds. The static ducks that were used are mallard and tufted - i have no idea if these are correct , probably European ducks but eh a couple of iconic ducks. To hide the vista points which makes guests stop and take pictures - the custom education board for custom media is used. Custom media is extensively used in this zoo and is like 26 files already for one section xD

Here's the birdseye view of the zoo so far. Lots of green coverage is actually really sparse compared to irl but it does it job of pulling an atmosphere of a northwest forest. So we can see the eagle canyon bridge near the bottom with the rocky tunnel leading to the cascade streams building showing this was no easy task to pull off a varied terrain path. This is my first time doing something so different than a flat city based zoo and i loved it! This could not of been possible if the fantastic terrain map was not uploaded to the workshop which I thank the user for that.

Ok so this back up top with the bear bridge but the bear habitat now enters its second habitat with the larger sloped section of the habitat dominating the northwest ridge. In real life this is one complete habitat but i cant have 5 or so bears in a single habitat so i had to split up the bears even though the habitats combined would be been like 4000m2 which is big enough for some polar bears. I know some scaling errors occurred mainly this is habitat with the lower section being longer than real life but yet again still has the same atmosphere.

Now that's a scene - we got the 2 grizzlies interacting with enrichment at the top of habitat next to this extended pile of ruined logs. Sadly the bears dont really use the logs as climbing purposes but I'm sure if we ever got black bears, they would love it. Also noted is the use of custom barriers for real life bear habitats - the large mesh fence paired with an angled small mesh fence almost replicated the bear barriers exactly like the Oregon zoo uses. To get the bears to come down here, their food tray is down at the bottom of the hill next to a guest shelter and their bedding is up top near the bridge to encourage bears to travel from one end to the other.

Alright I still got half the lower northwest trail to cover , so here's a work in progress picture I took a few days ago of direction signage. Now i cannot add the habitat markers due to the size of the custom signs would make the wooden posts absolutely massive. I did however follow real life , and add a 'engraved' name of the area we are currently in. So seen on the marker post is a number which is located on the zoo map and the name of the area section which is the great northwest.

I do realize this is quite lengthy but I this is how i can show of my zoo without running a YouTube channel. I love to show an insight of how a real life zoo can differ from typical in game ones and the required skillset to manage to pull it off. This ends part 1 of the lower northwest trail - next up is the rest of the northwest trail

 

[Captain Callum]

Second Part of the lower Northwest Trail

We have currently cover the bear ridge, cascade stream, eagle canyon so that brings us down to the bottom of the hillside at the northwest trail and time for the paths to get ready to join up to the main path but before that lets look at what the northwest trail has left in store.

Can you spot the cougar? Welcome to a single habitat area known as Cougar Crossing. The habitat features a shelter for cougars which guests can look into - who doesn't want to see a big cuddly cat have nap time. Use of taiga rock makes a wonderful rocky background which of course the cougars can climb all over and climb from the trees to the rocks - yes they do that. Foliage is a mix of scots pine and Douglas fir trees along with ground cover of bracken and lady fern. Using the pronghorn enrichment allows for natural feeding scenes for the cougars and sort of mimics the zoo practice of using carcass to feed the cats - probably take my online sources with a grain of salt as always.

Lets continue to another static aviary - the mighty California condor has a home in the Oregon zoo. Note there is mesh in that gap and disappears for some reason when away from it. The Oregon zoo did help recover the California condors that the San Diego zoo was running to save the condors - what a fantastic job to save a species from so few birds left. There is an elevated walkway to view the birds from the shelter seen in the above picture , there is also another viewing shelter at the start of the walkway just further down the path. There is a slight note - i couldn't find the California condor model on the workshop so the Andean condor is used instead, looks pretty much similar anyways.

Now that's a bird. The static models are placed perched on tree branches like they do irl. Lots of buildings in the back which serve as a hub for the vets. Yes the zoo has a dedicated vet building which thanks again to workshop submission had a complete oregon zoo vet hospital built which saves me xD. It would of took days and days to make the complicated design of the hospital. Other buildings would be a static condor holding/keeper building, the second condor shelter and the trillium creek family farm.

The vet hospital will house 2 large vet facilities and no other vets are going to be built in the zoo - this will simulate the active work of a vet hospital - yeah i know i will probably need lots of vets due to the big distance to travel from this end to say the lion habitat but a service road (staff path) winds all around the zoo from here to the elephant house to the predator building all to the insect building. Again I could be wrong, I just see the service road on google maps for staff. Zoo staff vehicle when frontier?!?!?!?!?!

Welcome to the Trillium Creek Family Farm. This is my most prized building so far and looks fantastic. So this is basically a petting zoo style habitat in real life featuring small farm goats, sheep, rabbits and whatnot. In game i have searched for small goat/sheep like animals - the female alpine ibex and female Dall sheep cover these bases right. You don't want to know how many animals i had to buy to refresh the sandbox market to get enough under 30 percent size animals.

Use of wooden mesh fences make a great farmyard barrier with the ibex and sheep as happy as they can be - i literally mean that, they have like 99 percent happiness where my dall sheep in my huge realistic entrance habitat have 74 percent xD. Inside the barn, lots of timber work and bedding/food stalls make a realistic barn where guests can view the animals inside and outside. Use of large barrel feeders which the animals don't eat from - they love to ram and jump over them which is pretty cool. This could be the closest i can get for a petting zoo experience until/or if we get a petting zoo dlc.

Across from the barn, we have the catio building. Now this is a weird one i have never encountered in any zoo i have visited. The Oregon zoo seems to hold rescued domestic cats in a house and catio (i think a patio designed to be safe for house cats. Of course in game we don't have cute cats, this is a static building. The outside to the left in the picture does have a vista point for here. There is a tiny cute duck pool which I'm not sure of the real life function - maybe injured ducks that cant fly? I should get a duck soundtrack for here and the duck aviary for the ultimate QUACK ambience.

So that concludes the great northwest trail. After here we meet the zoo railroad before merging into the pacific shores section which houses some fantastic habitats like polar bear, gray seal and African penguins. Till the next time!

 

[Captain Callum]

Washington Park and Zoo Railway

The Oregon Zoo houses a quite historic railroad that traces it roots back to 1958 with a unique narrow gauge railroad that runs from the Oregon zoo into the Portland rose garden. That route was a 40 minute, 2 mile journey that linked both attractions via train tracks - however landslides in 2013 have since closed that portion of the tracks so a train loop was made to continue train operations. This loop is a 6 minute journey that goes from the discovery zone train station and follows a loop from just behind the vet hospital.

That's a cool looking train - well no 1950's train icon seen in game so lets hop over to planet zoo. In game the train loop features a hillside tunnel portal which has a station built into one of the hills behind the vet hospital. This is not a real life feature but used for frequent use of the train and allows guests to exit/enter another way that isn't the parking. To build the tunnel, the concrete arch was used that covers the train track then forming the hill around the tunnel and lots of effort to push out terrain out of the tunnel to make it look realistic. I might admit digging away in the tunnel with the huge amount of terrain was a bit claustrophobic xD

So we can see this is the tunnel portal station where i got a simple guest spawner and zoo gate behind these concrete walls. Nothing fancy as this is inside a hill so you wont be seeing it unless you actually enter the tunnel of course. So the tracks lead to the right which then enters the zoo boundary as the vet hospital is just around the corner which is also where the great northwest area ends with the family farm seen from the tracks. There is a railway crossing located here as only place where guests intersect the tracks so given we are in 2022, lots of warning signs as safety is very important these days. So in the below picture we can see - Railroad crossing signs with my attempt at making some low piece count red lights also some barriers, white path markings for guests, no entry signs for the actual railroad tracks, and 2 sets of fences. To the left is a wooden fence which borders the viewing for the family farm and also the closer side sees a fence which borders the path for the polar bear habitat. The mesh fence is a outer perimeter fence for the staff area and future polar bear/ elephant habitats.

So as the tracks pass the family farm area, the tracks climb to meet the discovery zone height as they turn to the right which follows a forest corridor down towards the discovery zone. I have also made some simple track signals (traffic lights sort of) for that boost of realism. As we can see, there are 2 tracks on this railroad which is not the case in real life since there is only one train running in real life but due to this being a guest spawner I need to keep a good frequency. The trains take about 3 minutes to reach the opposite station and then stop for boarding for another 2 minutes. In real life this would be a 6 minute loop and waits i believe 20 or so minutes until the next one departs. That does mean my scaling for the zoo is pretty darn good since the loop without stopping would be 6 minutes which matches the real life time.

Making a double track which is at the exact same height was no easy task, as each track had to be adjusted due to the weird game track mechanics along with the terrain being at various heights and slopes. The terrain for the tracks was then painted heavy soil for a substitute for the gravel that is there in real life. Not that clear in the above picture but the rock line at the bottom is a retaining wall as the polar bear path runs just below here which actually allows for some great views of the trains on this bend.

So here's a closer look at those signals, a simple electric box has been made of those primitive blocks with one of those conservation handles for basic detail. The light itself was made from the small primitive half oval with those European ball lights I think - the green glows in the dark on top of that. Now behind that is the main path that leads from the northwest entrance - the path turned to the right at the northwest sign so here's where it leads and shortly descends to meet the stellar cove habitat area about 100 meters behind this frame. The bridge is made of vertical wood for a timber look and custom fences on top for quite the sight. A timber frame was then made for the supports and about 8 of these are present holding the walkway up. Yes this is a great area for watching the trains steam along as you can see the previous curve and the forest corridor leading into the discovery zone from here.

We are now just behind the cascade grill (the big restaurant at the entrance) and we meet a sizeable object that blocks the train into the discovery zone. So a nice long tunnel is in a half circle that then enters the train station. Lots of northwest trees surround the tracks here and is really immersive when in the train seat view. No double tracks here, the tracks split to form a loop where the right track heads into the tunnel like the picture above and the left track would be the track loop coming from the train station.

A totally custom made train station really brings some atmosphere to railway operations, although sadly no curved stations in game to match the station exactly in real life. So again we got safety features such as retaining walls, yellow platform lines, and a fence barrier behind opposite this frame to stop guests falling off the platform since this is a raised station. A modern timber frame roof is also decorated with metal support beams and a workshop sourced item - solar panels. The solar panels are a trend in the Oregon zoo which highlights the zoo goal of energy conservation and environmental awareness.

So here's a shot of the front of the station where we can see those solar panels up top, a train ticket booth below (info building in game) , black asphalt for the the start of the tracks (hides weird terrain marks) and one historical site. Knowledgeable people will know what this is - this is a train water tower. I do not know if this is a functional building in real life but it is most likely a historical or a themed tower for an authentic railroad feel. It decorates the station entrance quite nicely and looms over guests at the ticket booth. This was made quite easily with stained wood panels, a timber frame, a terracotta round roof found in the roof decorations and metal rods for the water pipe.

Ah one feature i forgot was the loop found behind the vet hospital. This is a semi modern train bridge that loops around a forest before entering the fictional hillside train tunnel portal. Quite the different look from the default wooden train bridge. So I disabled the train supports when building the tracks allowing me to create a custom bridge. First there are arctic wood panels on both sides of the tracks decorated with that long metal fence. Then corrugated metal low walls where added to the sides below the wood panels and finally added several bridge supports made of girders.

I don't know how I could write so much for just a single railroad in a zoo but here we are xD. This zoo is wrapping up to be my best work in all the years playing planet games. The daunting discovery zone is up next with pretty big modern timber buildings holding an insect zoo along with a dated amur tiger habitat (bear grotto style) and some red pandas next to them in a small forest habitat.

 

[Captain Callum]

Discovery Zone - Nature Exploration Station

The discovery zone area in the oregon zoo doesnt end with the train station - it just begins! Right next to the zoo train station is one impressive modern building housing the education center and insect zoo. A pretty big modern building is made of timber (colored stained wood) and modern glass panels to bring out a natural look amongst large expanses of concrete/asphalt? paths. Then of course it has a 2 level roof along with a steady curve which differs for each part of the building - 2 sections make the building in total.

Now of course , most will see this isnt too bad to build - just make a double stained wood wall and curve it a little then cover with a roof. Well of course this is sort of 'open air' with all those glass panels so everything inside had to look just as good as the outside which is a big step in construction for my established skills since i go for the exterior great, interior who? So stained wood wall panels curved, modern glass walls for the front along with short stained wood walls for the timber framing which is supported by metal girders and metal support pipes on top of that. For the roof, it was 2 sets of primitive flat rectangles. We can see a gray roof trim which is a triple stack lined up with the curve of the building and the actual roof is a single layer white rectangle covering which again holds solar panels to match the train station.

Enough about the construction the building , lets actually look whats the point of this building in the oregon zoo. Looking at our main building here - we have the Nature exploration station or NEST as it is known. The nest holds various displays and activities all related to conservation and education efforts that the zoo partners with and displays raising awareness of the unique nature that is just here in Oregon alone. 20 new custom media was added to this building complex alone to bring it to life with all the unique media displaying the nature of oregon and conservation efforts the zoo carries out. A keeper talk was added inside but the talk point is too far away so static it is.

All this work represents a huge step in my skills to be able to recreate interiors that are not blocky and soulless. The color choice along with timber panelling and custom media brings so much atmosphere into this building that is hard to do alot of the time in the game. So looking at these above pictures - the first is the entrance of the nest where ahead of you is the first eduaction boards and to the left is the insect zoo. The second picture looks at the middle of the nest where education stands surround the talk point area where benches are so guests can rest. The last picture shows native oregon scenes where on real life the pictures advertise the key nature and activities all around the state. Also in this room are boards highlighting conservation efforts for endangered turtles and butterflies along with a species conservation lab where guests can look into a working lab to see zoo conservation efforts for rescued animals - of course its static in game.

Lets look at the second part of this building - the insect zoo. The insect zoo holds 8 exhibits from a wide range of habitats to showcase the vast species of insects that live throughout the world. Each exhibit is held in themed wall panel to add visual appeal, the sections are temperate forest, tropical forest, desert, and tropical rainforest. The above picture that has a central exhibit is i believe an ant tree kind of exhibit which of course is just scenery here. That central roof ring is not just a decoation - it holds an led tube for giving a cool glow at night time.

Lights , so much lights xD. I tried so hard to replicate the real life pattern of lights and ensure the nest had a full coverage at night instead of being a dark room with just a couple bright spots. It must be close to 50 lights alone in the nest. Stadium lights are hidden in the roof, path/garden lights are made into black tube lights and those modern wall lights are modelled into the real lights that dont do anything in game at that height.

Thats quite the building - i wonder if the elephant house will beat this. This update will likely be 3 stages as lots of unique design to cover instead of just habitats - there is only 2 small habitats here. The next stage will feature a cozy cafe and even more pacific northwest vibe.

 

[wowman]

wow - this looks great, and so real looking

 

[Captain Callum]

Discovery Zone - Coffee and gardens

The first part of this update looks at a new indoor food shop. My guests have walked quite the distance by now so surely a coffee with a sweet bite would be a fantastic treat. Located in the second large building of the discovery zone is a fully decorated coffee shop called Coffee Crossing. Coffee Crossing is partly my own complete design which is themed off one of the portland coffee roasters shops found in real life. This is due to me not finding any sources for the interior of this coffee shop.

As we can see, the timber framing trend continues for the discovery zone although a much lower down building this time around unlike the education center which was massive to build. The same concept of stained wood walls, stained wood low walls for the timber framing , the exact same roofing panels with solar panels and modern glass for that modern feel. On the left of the picture we can see some restrooms for guests, also a short kids play area and another picnic bench area but guests never use it since there are tons of benches both inside and outside the coffee shop - and thats the new conservation benches in action.

We head inside the coffee crossing and are met with a fully detailed coffee shop which shows my increase of skill learned from the start of the zoo which the cascade grill and gift shop are pretty bland inside. I do have to mention the coffee shop assets like the machines behind the counter are not mine and were sourced from a fantastic workshop submission - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2818077619. Using the theming of the real coffee shop found in portland - black counters with wooden trim, cream walls with a dark grey roof give off a wonderful vibe that suites the pacific northwest. Many online sources in portland and seattle like this warm combination of colours.

Yet again, warm lighting complements the interior design at night. The same modern tube lights are found in the above wooden roof panelling to give a wonderful appearance. Roof fans with a hidden stadium light just above them allow a brightened up cafe that allows guests to have that late night slice of cake. Of course we cant forget about the wall art, another piece that brings some atmosphere to the walls along with the general vibe of the cafe. Various signs are backed with a primitive flat rectangle - almost all the animal signs can be found around the park - including the revival of sea lions.

Now for the second half of this update, the gardening in the discovery zone. The discovery zone is quite the sizeable plaza at the bottom part of the zoo - this means lots of complicated path angles leaving lots of holes in the path. Anyone who has explored the zoo in the workshop might of seen some of my fixes to fill those holes. Small primitive blocks colored to the gray path to block the green grass showing up in my plaza areas - the dall sheep entrance area is my most notable area. The holes were updated that include more smaller blocks to only cover the actual hole rather than sticking one single large square to cover it, it looks much more natural and really hard to see when zoomed out a bit. Anyways, looking at the above picture, we have the conservation garden filling the gap between the education center and the train station. Workshop bees, an insect hotel and some lovely flowers line the pathway in this garden. Also a toucan bird perched on top of the shelter, it is a more local bird at the real zoo but eh it does the job.

Filling up the plaza, curved concrete planters are found that greatly fill in the holes. Lots of green shrubs can be found along with my entrance horses that greet guests into the education center - in real life its an abstract art sculpture that is supposed to connect guests to the smaller things in life, but i dont really understand abstract myself. The lower part of the education center with those low windows does function as an event area and classrooms but since scaling is an issue to convert real sizes, this building holds half of the insect zoo along with some staff facillties.

On the opposite side of the plaza, we have the upcoming habitats which will be featured in the third and last portion of the discovery zone (largely complete habitats but ill wait till next week for a reveal). The habitat path is seperate from the plaza paths so a nice divider has been placed to mimic the smaller sloped path that real life has. I am in no way created a multi stage plaza since the pathing here was already hard enough to work with. So breeze block trim pieces make a wonderful kerb for the path along with lots of mulch pieces to make it ready for planting. Crowberry tall bush, lady fern bundles, a row of nettles and some suitable trees make a nicely themed divider to break up the path area while looking completely natural at the same time. The trees featured here would be beech and scots pine if anyone wants to know.

Lastly we have the birds eye view of the complete plaza with a lowered brick wall circle to form the last addition to the plaza along with some brazil nut saplings . Anyone see the gray block fillers in the path? Maybe if you focus hard which means it works really well for the untrained eye. Of course though the plaza has a huge amount of path that with the ingame pathing system can be quite the challenge to recreate - the path with no filler blocks and gardening looked really bad.

Remember this picture, this will be a comparision for a before and after for the upcoming Steller Cove habitat area featuring a water habitat full of sea lion and gray seal - 3 seals and 5 sea lions make quite the bustling habitat. But details for another time! I dont want to ruin the really cool features of this habitat yet. The background carousel is another addition at the very end of the discovery zone where it is in the junction for the africa path and the pacific shores path.

 

[XT]

If I recall correctly, the central tube shaped habitat has a few species of stick insects in it.

 

[Captain Callum]

Discovery Zone - Habitats

At long last we can actually get off looking at buildings and visit the things we came here the see - the animals! The discovery zone hosts 2 habitats which i persoanlly would not boast about as these habitats are either pretty old or just 'filler' habitats. I say pretty old because oregon zoo still features a dated bear grotto style habitat for keeping siberian tigers which i didnt really enjoy making for looks but the old design is unique at the least.

The first habitat up is the first we see from the main path that leads into the discovery zone coming from stellar cove/main entrance. This is a red panda habitat that used to be another big cat - amur leopard or jaguar i believe. A narrow kind of habitat is pretty good for the red pandas for nice dense foilage along with 2 sets of climbing frames which they never seem to use. I cant imagine a big cat in this, protestors would be at the doorstep every morning. Again there are far better examples of red panda habitats, this was a recent renovation to hold red pandas rather than designed for them.

The main attraction you could say at the discovery zone would be the siberian tigers. This is defienly an old school habitat with a bear grotto style design with concrete habitat walls to stop the tigers from escaping - i assume the metal grates are water drains. Guests view the tiger from 3 shelters which has a glass panel for viewing - custom media has been used to show conservation efforts on why siberian tigers are regulary kept in zoos. Habitat wise for tigers , it really isnt that special and is sad compared to my creation of the jacksonville's land of the tiger

Steam Workshop::Land of the tiger - full working replica habitat

steamcommunity.com

I did however like building the tiger building, a see through window allows guests to see the tigers sleeping while maintaining the look of a functional tiger holding area on the outside with detailing such as windows, air conditioning units up top, a simple animal doorway, and a backstage area behind the building which will lead into my staff area behind steller cove. So that ends the modern design of the discovery zone - a lovely contrast of modern education buildings next to an aging tiger habitat.

This was another quick update as i do have a backlog of progress to fill up. Steller cove is actually 50 percent complete but i will try to space out the updates for now. Lots of landscaping to finish off the lower part of the zoo along with a small indoor african penguin building which tried my hand at making a circular slate roof that doesnt look awful.

 

[Captain Callum]

Pacific Shores - Steller Cove

Ah i know i said yesterday that i will space out updates but whatever heres the next addition to the zoo with a new update out in the workshop. Steller cove is quite the ambitious habitat to build where scaling at this stage was sort of messed up due to the discovery zone pushing too much into the steller cove area so i did my best to work with what i had. My steller cove then would be based on the zoo's habitat but also totally different since there is no sea otters at all - just one big pool for sea lions and seals.

My rockwork skills were strained here i will admit with a varying level of rock , underwater arches, an underwater viewing tunnel and making it all look natural in the end product. So making this was split up over the past week done in stages. First was digging a big hole, then a tedious method of getting the right shape and right water level to line up with the above ground path that is near the discovery zone. Then a path going down to the bottom of the hole, making the path arches and making a rock tunnel using cladding tundra rocks. Detailing and filling gaps along with media screens finished the tunnel. Above ground there is a small beach for the keeper to get in along with a long rock area for the animals to lie on.

The above pictures look at the lower section of steller cove that is connected to the central plaza which will be the main path hub for heading upwards into the zoo. Of course its not a hub in the reagrd like the discovery zone with restrooms, coffee shop and a huge education center of course - there will be 2 simple food/drink stands for guest needs here. In the lower part here, in real life there are 2 rock pool kind of displays but thats really hard to recreate in a lower piece count and time so just a simple water pool with a rushing water effect.

Heading into the tunnel we see 2 underwater viewing windows for some great action when the sea lions come up close - these underwater aches and foilage work really well and wish i did this kind of thing sooner. Of course the other picture shows a large frame of some quiet sea lions , lots of custom media in the tunnel that brings the folder to like 58 pictures now xD

 

[Captain Callum]

Habitat Design #1 - Polar Passage

Inspired by Rudi's concept art builds , i have decided to enhance development updates for a few habitats which have extensive concept art stages found online. The polar passage will be among at least 3 of these posts which look at the concept art plans, the habitat design, the previous habitat and how i translate these plans into the game.

So this is a look at the concept art from construction firms that built the irl habitat and how exactly the design changed over time , because that above picture is nothing like what was built in real life. This concept must have been drawn up in the early stages of the 20 year masterplan which has seen a huge change to more than half the zoo - features like the vet hospital, railroad, polar bears, elephants, rhinos and primates have all seen complete overhauls.
Lets look at the above early concept art then: So we have an elevated railroad on the left hand side which would give a wonderful view of the polar bears on top of the family farm area and ending the need for a road crossing. The main path would be the reddish path at the bottom which is mostly flat and joins up with the central plaza seen by the steps in the bottom center. At least 3 viewing areas can be seen with 2 underwater pools for the bears along with a summer tundra habitat design with a large rocky cliff in the center of the habitat. The polar bear holding building would be the large red building in the back right while foilage is still local pacific northwest where the forest line at the back would seperate the then elk field habitat.
The center plaza would then be expanded with a ground fountain area likely for kids to cool off on those warm summer days. I can find this kind of habitat layout when i visit the google maps street view which brings back the 2012 zoo where the layout and habitats were pretty old style, reminding me of one of my 'local' british zoos.

The above pictures are looking at the old habitat which to be honest - looks really sad. Heavy use of concrete flooring, a small pool, tight enclosed spaces with rocks making it seem a claustrophobic habitat. This along with the sun bear habitat made the main bear habitats in the zoo - i cant find a picture of the sun bear habitat but locals on zoochat said it was the worst habitat in the entire zoo which says something. Anyone wonder why polar bears need such a large requirement in the game? I would use these outdated habitats as proof - nevermind the dreadful seaworld habitats. The game is about consrvation and trying to provide the best care for animals so animal welfare in mind lets look at the modern take on the polar passage.

Now heres more like it, this is quite the improvement of the old polar bear habitat which was most likely the size of habitat 1B at best in the above picture. But this is still not what was made in real life however the overall layout is similar. Using this layout then, lets look at what did and did not make it to the final product. First off we have habitat 1B and habitat 2 along with the top yard with the off exhibit pool are present in todays habitat. The LSS (life support system?) building has been moved along all the way up to the end of habitat 1A providing a large path area for the connecting service road which then connects to the main vet hospital road area.
The intrepretive building has been chopped in half along with the holding building now attached to that building. The holding building serves as a connector building for each habitat - the off exhibit yard is now where the holding is.

Ok yeah the forums dont like print screen pictures so a weird resize of the real habitat from google maps. With some reading glasses im sure xD , we can see 2 main habitats with an off exhibit pool next to the LSS building. The white building is the holding building which has a door to each habitat - 3 in total. The intrepretive building is the slighly curved building where an animal talk and close up views of the bears eating some tasty snacks can be seen. The center plaza can be seen to the left with the recent steller cove in the far left. For the future we can also see the huge elephant habitat reaches all the way down to just near the train tracks - that habitat is at the very top/bottom? with a massive indoor building - thats like half the zoo is a elephant habitat.

So far in the progress of the polar passge, the pool in the left habitat will not be present due to paths needing so much special requirements. The large deep water pool on the right will of course be included along with the off exhibit one. I will likely make the habitat a little more green and visually appealing rather than just the earthy terrain and maybe some snowy rocks to bring the polar passage to life.

Habitat 2 - right side habitat with the pool seen on the right hand side. That cream looking panel on the right is the roof of the viewing shelter. This custom barriers will be made with chainlink barriers/mesh panels and metal rods.

Habitat 2 - that deep water pool seen from the viewing sheler. A partial underwater view can be seen with lots of rockwork here. I will use tundra rock for a better atmosphere

Habitat 1 - more of the raised terrace rock work allowing the bears to climb up, the interpretive building can be seen on the left along with the holding building with the stonework

Interpretive building view of where the keeper talk will be held. The view is more narrow in game due to no curved roof designs. Lots of logs and broken trees are found throughout.

So there it is, the real life polar bear habitat which was completed just last year. An interesting design compared to what the highland wildlife park features - just a hillside with a pool at the bottom xD. I quite enjoyed this format of an update as it can give everyone else the thought of design for a real zoo habitat rather than the huge mega habitats with snow everywhere that creative builders typically do

 

[FoxyDee]

That is a neat Polar Bear enclosure. I am used to very basic concrete Polar Bear enclosure from my local zoo. Its quite a sad, but I guess they do not have the right investors to renovate, hopefully soon. This one is a great inspiration for PZ, althought the PZ spare requirments are still so big that this would be not enough probably. :/

 

[Captain Callum]

Pacific Shores: Center Plaza extension and food trailers

The center plaza has already been briefly discussed as this is the lower level of the stellers cove area, now the plaza is fully completed with the expansion towards the penguinarium (penguin indoor habitat) and then splits into 2 with the upper plaza leading to the primate habitats and the lower end towards the discovery zone. Lots of landscaping and elevation work has been carried out ot give a realistic feel to the slighly complicated paths amongst the main path connections.

So heres the overview of the center plaza from the raised walkway from the entrance. Thats the upcoming polar bear habitat to the left

Heres the other end of that view looking up from groundlevel. Steller cove would be in that rock tunnel right next to this path

This is the path junction here - left is deeper into the zoo with elephants, primates. To the right is a loop path back to the discovery zone, at the carousel turn left to reach africa

Ah so what its just some paths, the exciting new addition to the zoo for guests would be my food trailers. So in the above picture there is a far view of one of the food trailers that are featured in the newest area. These are custom built mainly from primitive blocks along with the africa off road wheels for the wheels. The free standing vendors have been used with the green food trailer - trailhead snacks - is a drink vendor. The second vendor which is way more visually appealing, is the iconic sweet treats of the zoo - the elephant ears. From what i can gather, elephant ears are like a sweet flatbread covered in various delicious toppings.

Trailhead snacks supplement the thrist needs for guests which was the main cause of vandalism in the zoo to no suprise. A basic looking trailer with a simple logo

Approaching the penguinarium, we can now see the much more colorful elephant ears trailer. Stone walls hold foilage to give a natural feel to the area

Now this is a fantastic looking trailer, bright colors with cute elephants catch guests attention

If anyone is interested in the food trailers, i have uploaded a set of 4 trailers onto the workshop. Both trailers seen here along with a bland gray and brown trailer for personal customisation

Steam Workshop::Zoo Food/drink Trailer Set

steamcommunity.com

 

[Captain Callum]

Pacific Shores - Penguinarium

The last post we saw the completed center plaza and some brief shots of this circular building at the back. Well this is the next habitat for the pacific shores which in real life features pacific humboldt penguins. Since there are no humboldt's, african penguins have been used as a substitue. This is an all indoor temperature controlled habitat for the penguins and also features a couple of static birds- seagulls and inca terns.

Water centerpiece with african penguin sculptures add some nice atmosphere to a small picnic area next to the elephant ears trailer

Upper entrance to the penguinarium with lots of concrete and mulch work to add a nice layered terrain that surrounds the building

Lower entrance to the penguinarium. The path then proceeds down to the staff area behind the building. No guests will use this path past the penguinarium

Before we head into the penguinarium, lets have a look at this staff area. Now i dont usually bother with backstage staff areas since its all non essiental building with no views to the guests but this zoo is setting a really high standard of work so lets get into it.

So we can see quite the busy scene with lots going on here. The penguinarium extension is keeper access and life support facilties - electric, water heat and water pumps. On top is an air con system. The blue tanks are water filitration and storage works (praise the workshop). Extra stuff are great details like the jeeps, wooden pallets, and skips add a working atmosphere to the area. The small building on the left is the staff room and keeper hut

Heres a closer look at the air con system and that water tank. The ingame air con pieces mixed with the workshop ones make a really nice end result

Now of course, the inside hosts an african penguin and static bird habitat with a small indoor viewing area with glass viewing panels and a few custom media boards to add realism.The space requirements were quite the challenge and forced me to make a more open space for the penguins and no shelter areas since no burrows for the penguins in game.

Floating penguins enjoy the warm water in their indoor habitat, there is like 20 spot lights in that roof circle to light up the interior

Closer look at the rocks and static birds, yes those snow rocks depict something a little more uh fragrant

Heres the view that guests will have. A bit smaller than real life but still does the job with clear view of the penguins with ample viewing room for 3 large groups

Example of one of the custom media boards, this works really well in displaying all different kinds of penguins

So thats the next expansion of the pacific shores completed, the tricky polar bear habitat in balancing the size requirments and getting rid of the protestors will be interesting

 

[wowman]

Great habitat and signage

 

[Captain Callum]

Thanks wowman!

 

[Captain Callum]

Pacific Shores - Polar Passage part 1

Ah polar bears, dont they love their space. This has been a very difficult challenge that has been at least 2 weeks planning out and this is the second version of the habitat since i royally screwed up the size of the first. So polars bears need so much room and the worst part - swimmable water, thankfully after my rescaling this will be entirely doable although the water requirement for 2 bears is 1000m2. The water provided in this update is at just 350m2 so i really hope the deep water pool in the next expansion meets that.

So here was the first version of the habitat which the buildings were more or less the exact angle that real life has. Many many problems with this version - tiny water pool, missing a viewing shelter, wrong roof of the interpretative center, too small hill , no wooden shelter, no stairs at viewing shelter, and no room for exterior plants. The single polar bear with that offview yard was really fussy and protestor galore, but this is what recreations are all about - the learning experience !

Heres the second version, and wow its way bigger. From center plaza all the way across to the large rectangle dining plaza on the right, are 3 yards for polar bears to explore about. So the previous viewing shelter is now moved a bit along, has a proper stair section, room for plants, a custom made roof for the interpretive center, a vastly different angle for the holding building , a second viewing shelter and the rocky path between both. The pool is the same size as real life and features a nice looking wooden shelter. Never mind the first habitat which alone is 1400m2 - the offexhibit yard has another pool and enrichment to keep the bears happy when stressed out.
Looking to the right, we can see an outline for the deep water pool, 2 sets of viewing shelter path sections, and a general idea of the bigger size of the second yard. This habitat could be the entire size of the discovery zone along with the train station.

Right lets jump into our walkthrough of the first habitat then. So the above picture shows the view just after the train crossing - looking straight at the interpretive center where we can see polar bears eat up close and take part in the polar bear talk. The roof was completly custom made of metal beams and primitive rectangles due to the odd shape required as we saw that the first edition , the roof looked really far off real life. To the right is a cool polar bear statue that lights up at night, and to our left is the holding building with the rocky wall pattern. We can even see into the keeper hut and see them prepare food for these hungry beasts, a wooden plank wall hides the view of the staff area next to the LSS building.

Moving onwards to the center plaza, we get nice and close to the barriers of habitat. A 4 metre chainlink barrier topped with angled mesh are joined by an angled metal post - this gives a quite nice modern look that integrates into the zoo nicely and is not awful to look at either. Since zoo guests dont have a brain, we have a fence lining the fence to stop nosey guests sticking their hands through the barrier. A nice set of taiga plants line the path - scot pine sapling, bearberry bush and sunken beech tree saplings are used

Heading into the actual polar passage path, we arrive at the first viewing shelter. This shelter is right by the pool and views of the polar bear here can be amazing. The first picture shows the view we get from the glass panel with that wooden shelter really making the scene. The second picture is on the path just before the viewing area. A set of stairs and stone slabs to sit on provide a backdrop for the shelter and really integrates well with the center plaza which is just above this.

Moving onwards again we get to the second viewing shelter (out of 4). This is kinda cool, the shelter is tucked into the rock wall and you cant see the shelter until you are right there. Some nice glacier murals add atmosphere along with a measure your height interactive station - still great views into the habitat from here. Instead of a pool here, we have some broken pine trees which are pretty cool - the hill which is the center piece of the habitat is very open to the polar bear includes a feeder inside that tall broken tree.

Lastly we have the offexhibit yard which boosts both land and water roaming space and allows the bears to escape from guests to destress - of course this isnt really an issue since clever habitat design prevents bears from being surrounded by guests. Well maybe if the polar bear is eating during a talk but they dont get stressed from that since a decent distance is still kept. Of course the LSS building is basically scenery but i will add some water pumps for the deep water pool to keep the bears happy.

So there we have it ! A really cool realistic polar bear habitat. There were so few examples of real life polar bear habitat designs found throughout the community due to the presence of snow and ice. The polar bear actually has no problems like irl with no snow and enjoys swimming and running about with enrichment. Part 2 will feature a completed habitat with the larger yard complete with a deep water pool, a second bear and a completed LSS building to prepare the way for the primate forest.

 

[Captain Callum]

Pacific Shores - Polar Passage part 2

Im happy to say the polar bear habitat actually meets the welfare requirements! The habitat barrier itself gives a total of 8200m2 , with the actual space for the bears is 5400m2 along with 1000m2 of water which just meets the water space. So my 2 bears are nice and happy here

Above is the overview of the entire habitat - compare that to the habitat design post and it isnt too far off. This update is about the right habitat since the smaller left and off exhibit yards have been covered already. So the bigger habitat is the bears favourite area with the deep water pool providing great views of diving polar bears. The right most viewing shelter has an underwater view of the bears and is really cool. The left shelter for the right habitat looks right into the center of the habitat which the bears will often cross the view or even sleep right in front of the shelter.

Heres that view from the shelter. Colored mud walls and wooden roofing makes a nice shelter. Thin metal beams have been used to make the glass barrier look far more realistic

The larger viewing shelter overlooks the deep water pool with underwater viewing. Plant life has been added underwater to bring some color - im not sure what the irl pool bottom is like.

Now this not exactly like real life, there is a small polar bear and a polar bear with a seat carved into it. In my recreation i use the only provided polar bear statue and make a nice looking entrance way from the elephant plaza. This is one of my favourite statue scenes in the zoo so far.

Douglas fir trees and those larch trees are an expected wonderful combination. These half sunken trees provide a nice backdrop for the habitat when in a guests perspective - this is a nice contrast to the obvious broken logs in the smaller habitat. The raised hill with rockwork is present in this habitat aswell but far less prounced due to the much longer nature of this habitat compared to the first.

Another view of the deep water pool from the guest side - another set of stairs/step seating backs the covered shelter and leaads to a large outdoor dining area. The future elephant plaza will contain a large fast food shop building which i believe will be pizza and beer.

So a new update has been released on the workshop including the penguinarium and this beast of a polar bear habitat, the link is in the first post for those who want to explore the progress so far. The next area will be the primate forest which is actually the length of the polar bear habitat but will include one chimp habitat and another habitat containing orangutan and siamangs - both indoor and outdoor views will be included so should be really fun to build