No, it means the backrounds of the maps. Like the mountains in the tropical maps, fields in the temperate etc.
š¾ Planet Zoo - Update 1.11 coming 18 Oct š¾
- Thread starter Lydiah Moon
- Start date
Ah thank you, that's cool, too.
Almost everything in this update adresses something I've wrestled with previously or felt could be expanded on, so I'm very happy with what we have coming our way.
I do want to say a huge thank you to whomever worked on, decided or advocated for the Biome skirts.
Whilst I've not seen them yet, I have to say the area outside of my franchise zoos have quite litterally been a sour spot for me in every single zoo I've played in, and has added notably to that initial paralaysis of even starting a zoo. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but I'm hoping if it doesn't outright fix my issue of lacking infurstructure or logical arrival of guests, then they will at least go a way in contextualising our 'dummy' and 'implied' solutions. The campaign zoos did an acceptable job, so I'm hopfull we may see similar here? Bonus points if it does so for the standard Franchise entrance, or other alternative spawns introduced such as the coach and boats.
Even if it doesn't, it'll still be nice to see things mixed up I suppose, and im thankful consideration is being given to the areas around our zoos! Like with the audio/soundtrack and escape behaviours, it goes a long way in making the game feel alive!
I do want to say a huge thank you to whomever worked on, decided or advocated for the Biome skirts.
Whilst I've not seen them yet, I have to say the area outside of my franchise zoos have quite litterally been a sour spot for me in every single zoo I've played in, and has added notably to that initial paralaysis of even starting a zoo. I don't want to get my hopes up too high, but I'm hoping if it doesn't outright fix my issue of lacking infurstructure or logical arrival of guests, then they will at least go a way in contextualising our 'dummy' and 'implied' solutions. The campaign zoos did an acceptable job, so I'm hopfull we may see similar here? Bonus points if it does so for the standard Franchise entrance, or other alternative spawns introduced such as the coach and boats.
Even if it doesn't, it'll still be nice to see things mixed up I suppose, and im thankful consideration is being given to the areas around our zoos! Like with the audio/soundtrack and escape behaviours, it goes a long way in making the game feel alive!
Same here, Iāve had so many ideas that I just canāt implement because there would be unrealistic (for the planned location) mountains looming in the background, for example.
This really does have the potential to be transformative in terms of creativity and flexibility. Now we just need manual temperature control and a choice of biome textures!
As someone who asked for the additional biomes textures since my first visit into the forum in 2020, i have to say it's a big step up for the variety of the maps and the best part of the update imo.
Hope the devs decide to give us these important features as soon as they can in the next updates. 
Maybe we will be lucky enough to even get a couple alternative sized maps one day too!
I really want this. Currently the barriers to building a zoo in New Zealand on the map are:
- Lack of NZ animals. A kiwi (booo Twilight Pack) and a tuatara would suffice.
- The biome choices. Tropical and grassland? No. NZ is entirely temperate by the game's definition, from top to bottom.
This is some really promising content.
I'm particularly looking forward to the exhibit upgrades mentioned here, as well as the new walkthrough exhibit type that will be added, which I hope will cover more species in the future.
Another major highlight for me is the ability to change biome skirts. This in the long run would be a serious driving force encouraging players to come up with more projects to work on in the game, which can potentially increase the game's lifespan, since there is only as much creativity to making different parks with the same backdrop. Now that different skirts are now proven possible, I'm hoping for even more in the future.
Ability to pick different skirts for each biome also automatically eliminates the narrative behind things like "Florida doesn't have mountains, but the tropical level has, so the front-end globe is fine as is" or "New Zealand is too hilly/mountainous in general to warrant a change from tropical to temperate". Long story short, I still hope new skirts will pave the way for more accurate biomes on the front-end globe, despite the announcement made closer to launch.
I'm particularly looking forward to the exhibit upgrades mentioned here, as well as the new walkthrough exhibit type that will be added, which I hope will cover more species in the future.
Another major highlight for me is the ability to change biome skirts. This in the long run would be a serious driving force encouraging players to come up with more projects to work on in the game, which can potentially increase the game's lifespan, since there is only as much creativity to making different parks with the same backdrop. Now that different skirts are now proven possible, I'm hoping for even more in the future.
Ability to pick different skirts for each biome also automatically eliminates the narrative behind things like "Florida doesn't have mountains, but the tropical level has, so the front-end globe is fine as is" or "New Zealand is too hilly/mountainous in general to warrant a change from tropical to temperate". Long story short, I still hope new skirts will pave the way for more accurate biomes on the front-end globe, despite the announcement made closer to launch.
Ironically the flattest part of New Zealand would still be in the grassland biome in your version of the biome map (the Canterbury Plains). Which, IMO, is still not accurate, as it's not really grassland; still firmly within the temperate zone, and only 'grassland' because all the forests were cut down in the past to make room for more sheep. To build in my local area (Christchurch/Banks Peninsula) I'd still need comprehensive temperature/climate control in Sandbox for it to be accurate, because the in-game grassland biome does not get cold enough.
Too bad the game does not distinguish between temperate grassland/steppe and tropical/subtropical savanna. Even the Eurasian steppe, northern prairies of Canada/US and East Anatolian montane steppe, all of which can get as cold as -40 Ā°C annually with many months of snowfall and permanent snow cover, don't receive any snowfall in the game (unless you are playing sandbox and manually make it snow), so I guess we'll just have to live with that.
For reference the corrected Wikipedia source map I linked in that thread mostly uses the Global 200 terrestrial ecoregions and biomes classification system by the WWF:
My only complaint with the corrected version of that Wikipedia map is the format. Since it isn't a vector map, it is bound to be coarse-grained. For instance, New Zealand's South Island is missing its Southern Alps for that very reason. Otherwise, there should be a strip of 'Taiga' in there.
Not necessarily - control over the sandbox climate (temperature, weather parameters) is a highly-requested feature and should be doable. At least that way you can set the temperature on a grassland map to be "X degree at coldest, X degrees at hottest" and play to your heart's content.
That would be great. What I meant was with the existing mechanics.
Well, in that case, yeah, you're right. I just hope Frontier understands how much of the globe is locked behind unrealistic climate parameters, thus making a lot of areas unplayable.
I can't recall if I've already commented on this but I am SO SO happy to be getting new backgrounds. Hoping for a cityscape useable in all biomes, specifically tropical so I can finally make a Florida-based zoo I've been wanting to start on for forever now. This is the one thing that has me repeatedly deleting zoos because my zoos are always called "[Name] City Zoo" but there isn't a city for them to exist in.
Also really happy to see exhibit animals getting some love, but I still hope smaller box sizes are added in later updates. I was just at the Cincinnati Zoo yesterday, walking through their insect and reptile houses really made me wish we had more flexibility creatively. Their exhibits were dramatically smaller than what's in-game for their insects and arachnids. Please please please...
And I VERY much appreciate being able to better see my little guys. The camera never did cooperate with me before. I like taking screenshots of my animals and using them for custom boards, so I'm definitely hoping the new camera will help.
Also really happy to see exhibit animals getting some love, but I still hope smaller box sizes are added in later updates. I was just at the Cincinnati Zoo yesterday, walking through their insect and reptile houses really made me wish we had more flexibility creatively. Their exhibits were dramatically smaller than what's in-game for their insects and arachnids. Please please please...
And I VERY much appreciate being able to better see my little guys. The camera never did cooperate with me before. I like taking screenshots of my animals and using them for custom boards, so I'm definitely hoping the new camera will help.
So,.... I haven't yet commented on the update (work and kids have been getting in the way) but here are my thoughts:
Biome skirts promise to be great! A lot depends on what we get but even just backgrounds for the different biomes with trees from different continents would be fantastic. I'm really hoping for a city background and if we get one then my plans for my next zoo have instantly changed. The on downside is that now I'm reluctant to start a new zoo until I see what they look like!
the Ramp stamp will be SUPER useful - not game changing, since ramps can be done already, but ATM they're kind've fiddly to get right. Being able to specify an angle is great!
The new Piebald variants are good - nice to see more variation. This one doesn't blow me away but is certainly nice to have.
New animal behaviours when they escape is really cool - It'll give more personality to the animals (which was also done with the last update, which is promising that Frontier are working on giving the animals more personality. Most interesting is that knocking over bins is "an example" of a new behaviour, so there should/will be others.... I can't wait to see what they are. I usually play with escapes off (so that i can have free-roaming peafowl without having to use work-arounds) but I'll be turning it back on for my next zoo.
Addition of Sounds of Summer for the speakers is OK,... doesn't blow me away but i guess i might add a speaker playing them to a restaurant or something.
The big one is obviously all the Exhibit Stuff including the new, bigger, walkthrough exhibits, though we weren't told about them until the DLC was announced. Ive made some comments about that in the DLC announcement thread (link below). One interesting aspect is how the new features will work with the new type of exhibit...?
Demonstrations is a great idea and will give exhibit animals more personality and will provide more of a reason to add them since, otherwise, you'll miss out on the new educator talks. LOVE this as an addition - TBH I was pretty sceptical that this kind've thing'd be added and it wasn't on my list of things I really wanted. I suprprised to be looking forward to seeing them in action as I am.
2D Backdrops are,... OK. I don't really use the 2D ones ATM and it seems like this would be easy to do just buy placing a screen already. On the other hand, if this includes the ability to remove the glass, then its really, really great, especially if that aspect applies to the new walkthough exhibits too!
Population management is phenomenal!!!!! Thank goodness! Until now I've been making the choice to either a) turn off birth/death/aging or b) strictly limit the number of exhibits. This really is a godsend and will make exhibits faaaaaaar more viable.
the new Camera stuff seems mostly pointless for the current exhibit species (why track stationary animals?) but makes perfect sense for the bats since they'll, presumably, be moving around a fair bit. Hopefully this might open the door to more mobile exhibit species including maybe even small mammals (as well, obviously, as birds)??
Overall, GREAT update - really nice to see the exhibits getting some love and I'm really hopeful (as i said in my post about the DLC) that all these changes suggest support ongoing for quite a while, and the addition of flying birds sometime pretty soon. I still badly want smaller exhibits.
Biome skirts promise to be great! A lot depends on what we get but even just backgrounds for the different biomes with trees from different continents would be fantastic. I'm really hoping for a city background and if we get one then my plans for my next zoo have instantly changed. The on downside is that now I'm reluctant to start a new zoo until I see what they look like!
the Ramp stamp will be SUPER useful - not game changing, since ramps can be done already, but ATM they're kind've fiddly to get right. Being able to specify an angle is great!
The new Piebald variants are good - nice to see more variation. This one doesn't blow me away but is certainly nice to have.
New animal behaviours when they escape is really cool - It'll give more personality to the animals (which was also done with the last update, which is promising that Frontier are working on giving the animals more personality. Most interesting is that knocking over bins is "an example" of a new behaviour, so there should/will be others.... I can't wait to see what they are. I usually play with escapes off (so that i can have free-roaming peafowl without having to use work-arounds) but I'll be turning it back on for my next zoo.
Addition of Sounds of Summer for the speakers is OK,... doesn't blow me away but i guess i might add a speaker playing them to a restaurant or something.
The big one is obviously all the Exhibit Stuff including the new, bigger, walkthrough exhibits, though we weren't told about them until the DLC was announced. Ive made some comments about that in the DLC announcement thread (link below). One interesting aspect is how the new features will work with the new type of exhibit...?
Demonstrations is a great idea and will give exhibit animals more personality and will provide more of a reason to add them since, otherwise, you'll miss out on the new educator talks. LOVE this as an addition - TBH I was pretty sceptical that this kind've thing'd be added and it wasn't on my list of things I really wanted. I suprprised to be looking forward to seeing them in action as I am.
2D Backdrops are,... OK. I don't really use the 2D ones ATM and it seems like this would be easy to do just buy placing a screen already. On the other hand, if this includes the ability to remove the glass, then its really, really great, especially if that aspect applies to the new walkthough exhibits too!
Population management is phenomenal!!!!! Thank goodness! Until now I've been making the choice to either a) turn off birth/death/aging or b) strictly limit the number of exhibits. This really is a godsend and will make exhibits faaaaaaar more viable.
the new Camera stuff seems mostly pointless for the current exhibit species (why track stationary animals?) but makes perfect sense for the bats since they'll, presumably, be moving around a fair bit. Hopefully this might open the door to more mobile exhibit species including maybe even small mammals (as well, obviously, as birds)??
Overall, GREAT update - really nice to see the exhibits getting some love and I'm really hopeful (as i said in my post about the DLC) that all these changes suggest support ongoing for quite a while, and the addition of flying birds sometime pretty soon. I still badly want smaller exhibits.
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How do you do this? I have been to many zoos like this, can you give me an example? If they are "escaped" can they still have offspring and maintain welfare and find food and water?
No worries. To do it with escapes turned off (sandbox only) you just have to make a habitat with null walls (but still with a staff gate). Animals won't leave that area but you'll still need to add shelter, enrichment, food, water etc (unless you have those turned off too). and staff will still need to visit. You can build freely within the area (including shops, paths or whatever) and guests will just move as normal (they'll still run away from dangerous animals unless you have that turned off too though). To do it with escapes turned on, you do the same thing, except you'll need to make sure that any traversable terrain is impassable, either by using rocks, buildings, etc. or (the work-around) by placing elephant grass upside down just under the ground (it's hitbox is so big that most animals can't get past) - make sure to check that animals can't escape using the traversable area heatmap and block any escape routes.
ok thank you! add that too my plan for my new zoo on the 18th,
My pleasure
Thankyou Frontier for this great update.
It's good to see the exhibit's getting some much needed attention. As someone who plays in Franchise mode the best having the management tool for these prolific breeders is going to be put to great use. If I had a pound for each time the Titan beetles or the leaf insect have given birth at the same time putting 20 extra bodies in a tank, causing its environment to plummet to zero, triggering protesters arriving at the same time as an inspector all in the space of a second, I could be quite rich.
The educator talks with the exhibit animals would be interesting to see as well. I assume it is an iguana draped over the shoulders in the talks. You know what else sits on shoulders? macaws
The biome skirts is something that is needed so thank you again. One small request for the future is different size and shape maps - with options to expand / purchase pockets land if required
It's good to see the exhibit's getting some much needed attention. As someone who plays in Franchise mode the best having the management tool for these prolific breeders is going to be put to great use. If I had a pound for each time the Titan beetles or the leaf insect have given birth at the same time putting 20 extra bodies in a tank, causing its environment to plummet to zero, triggering protesters arriving at the same time as an inspector all in the space of a second, I could be quite rich.
The educator talks with the exhibit animals would be interesting to see as well. I assume it is an iguana draped over the shoulders in the talks. You know what else sits on shoulders? macaws
The biome skirts is something that is needed so thank you again. One small request for the future is different size and shape maps - with options to expand / purchase pockets land if required