Hey everybody,
When starting most of my franchises, I was using the 90 degree snap to set my initial path and then building out from there, but as my zoos grew, I noticed my alignment would get wonky in relation to the outside land borders. Being a bit OCDish, I tried something and now I am seeing some benefits. Before laying out my first path, I decided to attach a 4M wall to the entrance build group. Then I scrolled to the borders and while in the same build group, placed some additional walls. This gave me a build group with a grid that covered the entire land mass.
Next, I set my path width to 4M to match the wall width and in the edit group, changed each of the paths in the default entrance to my path and worked my way out. This put my path exactly in line with my land grid. What this allowed me to do is to begin my zoo build on a perfect grid in relation to the borders and the entrance, and making my paths perfectly align to my rectangular habitats. The grid also allowed me to know exactly where my future paths would be, so that I could drop a blueprint exactly where I wanted it without the terrain mod fail when trying to place them to close to existing paths.
I don't build my zoos typically in a rectangular fashion, but where I do have buildings and want them parallel to the borders, I have my build group to work in. Here is a couple of links to photos of this early new zoo that has perfect alignment. It has also made laying paths easier. In the second image look at how the staff path aligns perfectly with my rectangular habitat.I placed that habitat using my entrance build edit group using a 1M high wall to outline my habitat prior to placing my barriers, then backed up several of my staff buildings to it so the windows could look in and get the landscape benefits.
On the second habitat, I was able to drop the blueprint, knowing exactly where my path would be. I've been asked why not just use the 8M path, but what I have found is that using 4M off the entrance is more accurate and I can put down all of my paths faster by not having to change between various widths. I've built over 25 zoos already, but this is the first one with perfect border alignment.
Source: https://imgur.com/sF3whPR
Source: https://imgur.com/WpZCcAD
Source: https://imgur.com/DzcN1Gw
Source: https://imgur.com/zRelx8d
When starting most of my franchises, I was using the 90 degree snap to set my initial path and then building out from there, but as my zoos grew, I noticed my alignment would get wonky in relation to the outside land borders. Being a bit OCDish, I tried something and now I am seeing some benefits. Before laying out my first path, I decided to attach a 4M wall to the entrance build group. Then I scrolled to the borders and while in the same build group, placed some additional walls. This gave me a build group with a grid that covered the entire land mass.
Next, I set my path width to 4M to match the wall width and in the edit group, changed each of the paths in the default entrance to my path and worked my way out. This put my path exactly in line with my land grid. What this allowed me to do is to begin my zoo build on a perfect grid in relation to the borders and the entrance, and making my paths perfectly align to my rectangular habitats. The grid also allowed me to know exactly where my future paths would be, so that I could drop a blueprint exactly where I wanted it without the terrain mod fail when trying to place them to close to existing paths.
I don't build my zoos typically in a rectangular fashion, but where I do have buildings and want them parallel to the borders, I have my build group to work in. Here is a couple of links to photos of this early new zoo that has perfect alignment. It has also made laying paths easier. In the second image look at how the staff path aligns perfectly with my rectangular habitat.I placed that habitat using my entrance build edit group using a 1M high wall to outline my habitat prior to placing my barriers, then backed up several of my staff buildings to it so the windows could look in and get the landscape benefits.
On the second habitat, I was able to drop the blueprint, knowing exactly where my path would be. I've been asked why not just use the 8M path, but what I have found is that using 4M off the entrance is more accurate and I can put down all of my paths faster by not having to change between various widths. I've built over 25 zoos already, but this is the first one with perfect border alignment.
Source: https://imgur.com/sF3whPR
Source: https://imgur.com/WpZCcAD
Source: https://imgur.com/DzcN1Gw
Source: https://imgur.com/zRelx8d