What are the biggest and smallest maps?

[Jeminyne]

I've been curious about the sizes of the maps. I always figured the empty maps were the largest, but now I'm not so sure. The scenario maps Nevada State Eco Zoo and Global Warning are pretty big. You have ones that are obviously smaller, like the hidden South America map and the Australian roadside zoo scenario. But which are the biggest?

I know the main problem isn't "not enough space", but rather that our zoos will lag if we try to fill a whole map anyway. But I wanted to find the biggest map because I'll be filling the edges with mostly mountains anyway.

Aside from the hidden SA map, are all the empty tropical maps the same size? And are there scenario maps that are actually bigger? Let me know if anyone has any idea.

 

[FoxyDee]

I only know that the flat tropical map is smaller than other flat biomes for some reason. Made a thread about it right after release, because tropical is my favourite and I wanted to have as much space as others but never got any answer regarding it why it is so.

 

[Danny_zoo]

I've been curious about the sizes of the maps. I always figured the empty maps were the largest, but now I'm not so sure. The scenario maps Nevada State Eco Zoo and Global Warning are pretty big. You have ones that are obviously smaller, like the hidden South America map and the Australian roadside zoo scenario. But which are the biggest?

I know the main problem isn't "not enough space", but rather that our zoos will lag if we try to fill a whole map anyway. But I wanted to find the biggest map because I'll be filling the edges with mostly mountains anyway.

Aside from the hidden SA map, are all the empty tropical maps the same size? And are there scenario maps that are actually bigger? Let me know if anyone has any idea.

Not sure that I can help you with this answer because honestly I have only played sandbox for almost 2000 hours Never even clicked on anything else, and until your post, did not even know other maps existed of various sizes, interesting. As you well mentioned, in Sandbox every map is the same size.

For me, I wish we had some bigger maps in sandbox, I'm aware that there is demand from players for smaller maps, but I would love a real big one. I play with a close zoo, so lag is not a big issue for me, and my aim is to design aesthetically stunning zoos, with a high level of intricacy and realism. As an example the current project I started work on, even though I meticulously planned it, has taken a considerable section of the map for just the entrance of the park, parking facilities, perimeter road, etc. I could never even imagine how I would be able to include anything else extending beyond the zoo, because there is just simply not enough space. Keep in mind I built my zoo on an architectural 1:1 scale and do not compromise in realism, so none of the implied parking lots, buildings and facilities you often see in YouTube, everything takes a lot of space when you built it as in real life.

Now that you mention there are bigger maps available, I would love for frontier to release them in Sandbox, as this is the mode of game for endless possibilities and should definitely include the biggest map.

 

[Jeminyne]

Not sure that I can help you with this answer because honestly I have only played sandbox for almost 2000 hours Never even clicked on anything else, and until your post, did not even know other maps existed of various sizes, interesting. As you well mentioned, in Sandbox every map is the same size.

For me, I wish we had some bigger maps in sandbox, I'm aware that there is demand from players for smaller maps, but I would love a real big one. I play with a close zoo, so lag is not a big issue for me, and my aim is to design aesthetically stunning zoos, with a high level of intricacy and realism. As an example the current project I started work on, even though I meticulously planned it, has taken a considerable section of the map for just the entrance of the park, parking facilities, perimeter road, etc. I could never even imagine how I would be able to include anything else extending beyond the zoo, because there is just simply not enough space. Keep in mind I built my zoo on an architectural 1:1 scale and do not compromise in realism, so none of the implied parking lots, buildings and facilities you often see in YouTube, everything takes a lot of space when you built it as in real life.

Now that you mention there are bigger maps available, I would love for frontier to release them in Sandbox, as this is the mode of game for endless possibilities and should definitely include the biggest map.

Well I'm not entirely sure if these maps are actually bigger than the flat maps, but Nevada State Eco Zoo (Greener Pastures, from the base game) and The Mexican Conservation Park (Global Warning, from the Arctic DLC) are both large. FoxyDee says the flat tropical sandbox maps are actually smaller than the rest, which is weird. So it's possible Frontier did another weird thing and made these career maps even bigger than all the sandbox maps.

Unless I'm misinterpreting you here, you might be surprised to know you can use these maps in sandbox mode. First you click sandbox like you normally would:

Then click New Sandbox Zoo, of course:

Then click this tab for the scenario zoo maps:

They will still be played as sandbox mode, you just get to use the maps!

If you like the idea of "saving" someone else's zoo and improving on an already fertile idea, I recommend the Goodwin House, Myers lake Island Zoo, Myers Animal Entertainment Park, and Yamaguchi Prefecture Tranquility Zoo. They make lovely use of their terrain and biomes, too. If you want a LARGE map, I'd go for Nevada State Eco Zoo and Mexican Conservation Park. The Nevada State one is actually completely empty, except for some cool terrain. (Unfortunately those are both desert maps, though. Not much variety.)

Heck, check them all out. I think they're pretty fun! You can do this for challenge mode too.

 

[Jeminyne]

I only know that the flat tropical map is smaller than other flat biomes for some reason. Made a thread about it right after release, because tropical is my favourite and I wanted to have as much space as others but never got any answer regarding it why it is so.

Man, that IS weird. No wonder it felt like there wouldn't be enough space if I put mountains around the edges. I thought I was just crazy!

I was planning on putting my own mountains so the "background" mountains would blend seamlessly into the the terrain of my zoo. Shame it's smaller, tropical was my first pick... maybe I should use the taiga map instead.

 

[Cocolori]

Hopefully eventually we will get a scenario editor like in Planco that allows us to change the editable map size. It wasn't unlimited but it meant you could make it bigger than the automatic sandbox flat map by quite a bit (memory very rusty but I want to say 15-20%)

 

[Danny_zoo]

Well I'm not entirely sure if these maps are actually bigger than the flat maps, but Nevada State Eco Zoo (Greener Pastures, from the base game) and The Mexican Conservation Park (Global Warning, from the Arctic DLC) are both large. FoxyDee says the flat tropical sandbox maps are actually smaller than the rest, which is weird. So it's possible Frontier did another weird thing and made these career maps even bigger than all the sandbox maps.

Unless I'm misinterpreting you here, you might be surprised to know you can use these maps in sandbox mode. First you click sandbox like you normally would:

View attachment 195871

Then click New Sandbox Zoo, of course:

View attachment 195872

Then click this tab for the scenario zoo maps:

View attachment 195870

They will still be played as sandbox mode, you just get to use the maps!

If you like the idea of "saving" someone else's zoo and improving on an already fertile idea, I recommend the Goodwin House, Myers lake Island Zoo, Myers Animal Entertainment Park, and Yamaguchi Prefecture Tranquility Zoo. They make lovely use of their terrain and biomes, too. If you want a LARGE map, I'd go for Nevada State Eco Zoo and Mexican Conservation Park. The Nevada State one is actually completely empty, except for some cool terrain. (Unfortunately those are both desert maps, though. Not much variety.)

Heck, check them all out. I think they're pretty fun! You can do this for challenge mode too.

Jeminyne you are awesome, thank you for showing me that, I absolutely had no idea. I have been playing this game for the longest now, but most of the time I have been making blueprints for future plans and experimenting on the same sandbox map with new ideas. I recently started finally working on a zoo, because it finally felt after Australia that the game offered enough to realized my plans, and the features that I needed I was already told by Chante would not a part of this year's plans, so why delayed any longer.
Wish I would have known all this information you have given me then, because I certainly would have loved to start building in a larger map. At this point, with the amount of work I have put in this thing, (even though I'm still designing the entrance and parking lot for the last few months, lol) I'm not sure I'm brave enough to start all over again. However I will check all of those maps today, since maybe I will find the location for my next zoo there. You have helped me tremendously today, If I can ever help you with anything in this game, let me know.

 

[Jeminyne]

Jeminyne you are awesome, thank you for showing me that, I absolutely had no idea. I have been playing this game for the longest now, but most of the time I have been making blueprints for future plans and experimenting on the same sandbox map with new ideas. I recently started finally working on a zoo, because it finally felt after Australia that the game offered enough to realized my plans, and the features that I needed I was already told by Chante would not a part of this year's plans, so why delayed any longer.
Wish I would have known all this information you have given me then, because I certainly would have loved to start building in a larger map. At this point, with the amount of work I have put in this thing, (even though I'm still designing the entrance and parking lot for the last few months, lol) I'm not sure I'm brave enough to start all over again. However I will check all of those maps today, since maybe I will find the location for my next zoo there. You have helped me tremendously today, If I can ever help you with anything in this game, let me know.

Aww, it’s no problem! I wonder if I should make a thread about this, it’s possible a LOT of people don’t know about this either. Hopefully you find a map that’s big enough! It can be hard to gauge their sizes sometimes.

 

[Cocolori]

Aww, it’s no problem! I wonder if I should make a thread about this, it’s possible a LOT of people don’t know about this either. Hopefully you find a map that’s big enough! It can be hard to gauge their sizes sometimes.

That's a good idea - it's a great feature but unless you know it's there it's not obvious! I think you only get the option if you play the career mode and get at least one star?

Helen

 

[Jeminyne]

That's a good idea - it's a great feature but unless you know it's there it's not obvious! I think you only get the option if you play the career mode and get at least one star?

Helen

Good to know! I just made a thread about it in general discussion. I made sure to mention that!