What counts as shelter

Chris Simon · Nov 6, 2019

Hi. Another question here that may be just a coincidence and me imagining things, but I have a rather amusing situation here and I'm interested in how things work.

So it's pouring rain, right now and this okapi, rather than running for shelter (which is full of giraffes, so no wonder there) simply walked under the bridge that goes over the habitat and set up camp here.
Now. I have checked and it doesn't rain under the bridge (good job on that, Fdev!)
So my question is - does animals recognize it as a shelter? And if so, could I just throw some bedding on the ground and make it official? I mean, I know I can make shelters by piling up rocks so I guess this counts as well, which is
1) adorable
2) impressive from game mechanic standpoint

Or am I just overly optimistic and this is all a coincidence?

Bobble2017 · Nov 6, 2019

Well it is sheltered from the rain so i guess it counts . i have tried various things and they all seem to count , from the ingame shelters , to rock caves . to caves sculpted by pulling the ground up and over

Paem86 · Nov 6, 2019

Simply activate the "show shelters" function on your heatmap and you know if it counts or not

Silhouette · Nov 6, 2019

Well, I find there's two different "types" of shelters.

The first would be the kind that provide shelter from the rain and snow. That would be anything that blocks the elements, like that path.

The second is shelter that hides the animal from the guests' line of sight. These would have walls, or roofs, or anything that will hide them and let them destress.

Found out the hard way with my tortoises that just because they had enough hard shelter with their lean to, that didn't stop them from getting stressed until I added walls as well

Chris Simon · Nov 6, 2019

Silhouette said:
Well, I find there's two different "types" of shelters.

The first would be the kind that provide shelter from the rain and snow. That would be anything that blocks the elements, like that path.

The second is shelter that hides the animal from the guests' line of sight. These would have walls, or roofs, or anything that will hide them and let them destress.

Found out the hard way with my tortoises that just because they had enough hard shelter with their lean to, that didn't stop them from getting stressed until I added walls as well

Well, technically this "shelter" of mine doesn't have the visitor line of sight either.

Chris Simon · Nov 6, 2019

Paem86 said:
Simply activate the "show shelters" function on your heatmap and you know if it counts or not

Spectacular! Thank you. I had no idea about heatmap filters.

Hyawehb · Nov 25, 2019

I wish I would understand more how shelter works. For exemple, I don't understand why the left is a shelter and not the right, when there are walls, roof and something to sleep.

I even add a wall at the back just in case. But it doesnt work. Do you know why?

PandaLeaf · Nov 25, 2019

Hyawehb said:
I wish I would understand more how shelter works. For exemple, I don't understand why the left is a shelter and not the right, when there are walls, roof and something to sleep.

I even add a wall at the back just in case. But it doesnt work. Do you know why?

When you check the traversable area heatmap, does the shelter on the right actually get highlighted? It could be because the ground surrounding the shelter is too steep and thus the pangolin can't get there.

Tim bo · Nov 25, 2019

Well this is remarkable.

I checked my habitat, which indeed has a pedestrian bridge over it. Checked the heatmap, and lo and behold, it is treated as shelter by the code.

Screenshot below shows the dedicated shelter on the right, and the pedestrian bridge to the left.

Heat map shows that both are treated as shelter!

Much kudos indeed to the devs.

Suter1972 · Nov 25, 2019

I had an instance when I added a genuine (not workshop) metal prefab shelter. It sits on a concrete plinth. When I plonked it down, the plinth was visible and the animals said they had no shelter. So I lowered it into the ground so the plinth was only just visible and surprise, the animal now recognised it as shelter.

Maybe not the same thing but it could be a terrain feature that is stopping the shelter from being recognised.

Hyawehb · Nov 25, 2019

@PandaLeaf you're right they can't but I have no idea why. I played with the ground tools. But i'll try and see what's the problem. Thanks again.

I have another problem for tigers who considered not having enough shelthers tho all those spots are considered as a shelter. My tigers are 2 adults and 2 babies, they all have space to use shelter all at the same time, and it's not considered enough for the zoo.

Suter1972 · Nov 25, 2019

Hyawehb said:
@PandaLeaf you're right they can't but I have no idea why. I played with the ground tools. But i'll try and see what's the problem. Thanks again.

I have another problem for tigers who considered not having enough shelthers tho all those spots are considered as a shelter. My tigers are 2 adults and 2 babies, they all have space to use shelter all at the same time, and it's not considered enough for the zoo.
View attachment 152651

See that metal concrete one in the middle. Thats the one i had issue with. As soon as i lowered it so the concrete disappeared, the animals recognized it as shelter. It could be that one shelter thats tipping you over

Hyawehb · Nov 25, 2019

I won 3% by lowered it a little but it was already considered as a shelter with the shelter tool. Thanks for your answer ^^

Jileha · Nov 25, 2019

Hyawehb said:
@PandaLeaf you're right they can't but I have no idea why. I played with the ground tools. But i'll try and see what's the problem. Thanks again.

I have another problem for tigers who considered not having enough shelthers tho all those spots are considered as a shelter. My tigers are 2 adults and 2 babies, they all have space to use shelter all at the same time, and it's not considered enough for the zoo.
View attachment 152651

Try placing a larger shelter with a much higher square footage. Tigers are relatively large animals and all animals in the game need a certain unrestricted area around them to be able to move, turn, lie down, etc. Maybe they also have the requiredment that at least two can fit in the same shelter. Your current shelters all look rather on the small side.