The mesh pieces should contain animals, guests should be able to see through them, and they should snap to a grid.

[Jeminyne]

Correct me if I'm wrong and my game is just bugged, but I tried making an enclosure using the mesh pieces, and they don't hold animals at all, even if it's a perfectly enclosed cube.

(Edit: I still use the habitat gate and null barrier, I just mean the mesh pieces don’t block animals like wall construction pieces do.)

I also see people lamenting that guests can't see through the pieces, and on top of that, they aren't actual construction pieces that snap to a grid.

I'm sorry but, given these three issues, what was even the point of adding them to the game? Why do the devs think people were even asking for them in the first place?

I don't normally want to sound so ungrateful, but it's just frustrating and mind-boggling to me. The pieces are quite literally useless. Maybe I'll eat my words, because they're actually planning on adding such a feature to an aviary pack? That would be amazing. If not, please add mesh pieces as construction pieces, that would change everything.

 

[Aramar]

me if I'm wrong and my game is just bugged, but I tried making an enclosure using the mesh pieces, and they don't hold animals at all, even if it's a perfectly enclosed cube

Building pieces never contain animals and create a habitat. You have to combine them with the null barrier to create a habitat.

Otherwise, in my game people can see through the pieces.

I agree that we should also get a full gridded set of the mesh pieces

 

[Jeminyne]

Building pieces never contain animals and create a habitat. You have to combine them with the null barrier to create a habitat.

Otherwise, in my game people can see through the pieces.

I agree that we should also get a full gridded set of the mesh pieces

Oh no, I don’t mean that i expected them to create a habitat. I still use the habitat gate and the null barrier of course. I just mean that animals walk right through the mesh pieces, unlike construction pieces, which you can use to block animals within a space so they don’t cross the null barrier. Other pieces like panels, fake doors+windows, and the mesh pieces don’t do that. Otherwise yep I agree

 

[Aramar]

Oh no, I don’t mean that i expected them to create a habitat. I still use the habitat gate and the null barrier of course. I just mean that animals walk right through the mesh pieces, unlike construction pieces, which you can use to block animals within a space so they don’t cross the null barrier. Other pieces like panels, fake doors+windows, and the mesh pieces don’t do that. Otherwise yep I agree

Oh, then I don't have that issue. My animals don't walk normally through the mesh pieces. It might happen sometimes if you have an enrichment item too close, like a ball. If an animal activates the animation of playing with the ball, it might cross the building pieces. But I would say most of the times it works well for me, so I can't help, sorry.

 

[FoxyDee]

I have also used the mesh pieces to contain animals without issues so far. I have used the framed ones, same as you, so that is weird. Do they escape through it all the time or just randomly at times?

 

[NZFanatic]

I'm sorry but, given these three issues, what was even the point of adding them to the game? Why do the devs think people were even asking for them in the first place?

To echo others, in my zoos they both contain animals and guests can see through them, so I'm not sure why you're having issues there.

To your third point, though, I totally agree - what we wanted was a mesh building set, complete with roof pieces, on a grid. I really don't understand why they gave us new prop fences instead, which are pain to use to begin with, and then they didn't even give us triangular pieces to make roofs with when they must have known that people would use these to try and create covered habitats.

 

[Jeminyne]

I have also used the mesh pieces to contain animals without issues so far. I have used the framed ones, same as you, so that is weird. Do they escape through it all the time or just randomly at times?

@NZFanatic @FoxyDee

Hmm… I’ll run some more tests. Maybe the problem is the trees, which they may be using to climb over:

Right now, I’ve got mesh pieces making a perfect wall and ceiling on the side of the habitat where the guests view. This is the side the lemurs are escaping. At first I tried just mesh pieces for the “ceiling” and a chain link barrier for the “wall.” The barrier had blockers at the top so the lemurs couldn’t climb over the fence, even if there was no ceiling. The ceiling of mesh pieces was also low enough to touch the barrier so it’s completely closed in. I noticed lemurs had escaped, so I check the “heat map” and it locate escape points over the top of the fence, I think because of the trees? The trees were very close to the fence, and some branches go up through the mesh ceiling. But because the barrier and mesh close in like a perfect ceiling and walls, I didn’t understand how the animals were getting out, and figured they must just phase through mesh pieces.

I will run a few more tests and see what happens. Thanks for putting up with my frustration guys, lol this has been boggling my mind. I guess I shouldn’t judge frontier if I’m not 100% sure what the problem is. I guess my problems with the tagging system and now this have just added up, and I got fed up. Mesh pieces not working was the only thing I could come up with.

 

[Jeminyne]

Oh, then I don't have that issue. My animals don't walk normally through the mesh pieces. It might happen sometimes if you have an enrichment item too close, like a ball. If an animal activates the animation of playing with the ball, it might cross the building pieces. But I would say most of the times it works well for me, so I can't help, sorry.

That’s another thing I should test, thanks for mentioning it! You might be right.

 

[NZFanatic]

That’s another thing I should test, thanks for mentioning it! You might be right.

On that note it could be climbing pieces too close to the mesh pieces. The climbing pieces are very glitchy these days (I had a proboscis monkey literally vanish into the ground and disappear for an hour before suddenly appearing boxed at the habitat gate after trying to climb down a simple thick pole).

 

[shirandhak]

Small climbing animals like the cappuchines tend to glitch through and over/under non climbable building pieces set as "cage" in my zoos, too, if there are climbable pieces nearby.

Thankfully you can use the sandbox options to prevent animals from escaping. So they don't run far

 

[ElectricMonk]

Don’t put climbable stuff (trees or build pieces) through mesh (or panels etc.) - animals will escape through. Try replacing the mesh with (for example) plaster panels and you’ll likely get the same result.