G'day Zookeepers!
We're on our way Down Under, and hope you're ready to join us! We're pleased to announce that Planet Zoo: Australia Pack and free Update 1.3 have launched, and are ready to download and play!
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Update 1.3 is free for all of our community, and will add a variety of different features that will add to your gameplay experience. In this update, we're bringing animal colour variation that will help you identify individual animals around your zoos.
We're adding in Timed Scenarios, which differ from Career Scenarios, as you'll have to maintain your objectives throughout the scenario to complete them in a time frame. We'll also be adding the highly-requested Vending Machines, Staff Management multi-select, and, of course, added creativity!
We can't wait for you to visit our new Desert Oceania Sandbox Biome, and try out the free, lush foliage, warm-red rocks and three paths! Read all about what's included in Update 1.3 here.
Planet Zoo: Australia Pack is adding five beautiful, iconic animals: Koala, Red Kangaroo, Dingo, Southern Cassowary and Eastern Blue-Tongued Lizard. They'll arrive with their own challenges, so make sure you keep visiting the Zoopedia to see how best to care for them.
1.3.0 Update Notes
This update contains many more bug fixes, updates and some new content.Animals
- Animal colour variation
- Introduced meaningful difference in colour where appropriate for the species, to allow for easier identification of individuals.
- Improved upon the general appearance of groups and herds with subtler differences in colour.
- These changes will update animals in your existing save games based on their current genetics.
- Provided a written description of colour and pattern information from the trading window, so players can set their own breeding or population goals, and provide information for colourblind players.
- Wolf colours are complicated by interbreeding between wolf subspecies, but also domestic dogs and even coyotes. We’ve chosen a classic range of wolf colours that work well with our existing textures.
- Expanding upon our simulation capability, the availability of colourmorph genes in the animal population is now variable per species. Here are some examples of these changes:
- 6% (approx.) of the jaguar population are now black jaguars. Note this does not affect existing jaguars in save games, instead jaguars from the animal markets will be carriers for black jaguar genes much more frequently.
- Bird and Reptile Albinism or Leucism are now more likely than before; in-line with natural results.
- Llamas in existing save games will now have brown patches through pattern variation, as well as different off-white tones through colour variation. We've also added an additional set of all-body colour variations to their colourmorph slot, which is now extremely common for Llamas from the animal market.
- Colour and Pattern Genetics
- All animals carry pre-existing genetic information for both colour and pattern variation, though not all are used. This information is in addition to Colourmorph genetics, and is intended to be used in a different way from genetic inheritance.
- The information applies colour variation on top of the animals existing textures and colour. This method allows for gradual changes in colour between individuals through tens of barely perceptible individual steps. The written descriptions will stick to the major colour and pattern changes.
- When animals breed, their offspring create colour and pattern values in a range around the average of their parents, most often looking similar to at least one of their parents.
- There is now a small chance that colour or pattern will 'mutate' and pick a value far away from the parent colours, perhaps looking like a more distant relative.
- Genetics tweaks will allow offspring to have a wider possible variation of patterns from their parents than before to encourage more obvious individual differences.
- Bug Fixes
- Animals in the Sandbox and Challenge animal market should now show correctly when an animal is albino, both in the icon, and in the colour string. This previously only worked in Franchise mode.
- Analysed and fixed unintended differences between breeding in Franchise and Sandbox/Challenge modes specifically for colour and pattern genetic outcomes.
- Fixed offspring with the same two parents in Franchise mode always having identical patterns due to a bug in inheritance genetics. Note that savegame animals will retain their genetics, so you may have to cycle out animals through breeding and trading to see faster results.
- Research
- We tended to find that formal documentation of animal colour and pattern was rare and highly variable in quality. We’ve done our best to stick to photo reference, with the following considerations:
- Overall image colour (hue, saturation intensity etc) can vary depending on the camera settings, as well as adjustments afterwards, eg. photoshop.
- Colour can alter its presentation for many other reasons including the natural lighting, time of day and natural surroundings.
- Wetness and/or dirtiness of fur, which we may want to hint at in the colouration of the animal anyway.
- We try to avoid colouration that only applies to single individuals, as the frequency of the colour would begin to look strange in groups.
- Written descriptions of the same colours vary highly, and depend on the preferences and natural language of the writer.
- Closely related subspecies can make determining colour more difficult.
- Very often written descriptions will lack photo evidence.
- Photos are very commonly mislabeled for the correct subspecies, or aren’t labelled for subspecies at all.
- Existing game animals – subtle colour variation (35 Animals)
- African Elephants
- African Buffalo
- Aldabra Giant Tortoise
- American Bison
- Arctic Wolf
- Baird’s Tapir
- Black Wildebeest
- Bongo
- Bonobo
- Bornean Orangutan
- Chinese Pangolin
- Common Warthog
- Formosan Black Bear
- Gemsbok
- Giant Anteater
- Giant Panda
- Hippopotamus
- Indian Elephant
- Indian Rhinoceros
- Jaguar (Yellow)
- Japanese Macaque
- Mandrill
- Nyala
- Plains Zebra
- Pronghorn Antelope
- Red Panda
- Red Ruffed Lemur
- Reindeer
- Ring Tailed Lemur
- Sable Antelope
- Snow Leopard
- Spotted Hyena
- Thomsons Gazelle
- Western Chimpanzee
- Western Lowland Gorilla
- Existing Game animals – approx. medium colour variation (12 Animals)
- Aardvarks
- African Wild Dogs
- Bactrian Camel
- Bengal Tiger
- Cheetah
- Grizzly Bear
- Himalayan Brown Bear
- Nile Monitor
- Reticulated Giraffe
- Saltwater Crocodile
- Siberian Tiger
- West African Lion
- Existing Game animals – major colour variation (2 Animals)
- Llama colours and patterns added
- Timber Wolf – colour range from white-grey to grey-brown to red-brown with dark mottling
- The following animals we felt either had no clear variation and/or benefited in some way from looking identical as a group (12 Animals)
- Common Ostrich – we already have variation for male and female
- Galapagos Giant Tortoise
- Gharial
- Greater Flamingo – would want to be more linked to food, which we haven’t achieved yet.
- Indian Peafowl – we already have variation for male and female. We have avoided hybrid colours.
- Komodo Dragon
- Okapi
- Pygmy Hippo
- Springbok
- Dall Sheep
- Polar Bear - differences appear to be seasonal seasonal or dirt-related rather than individual
- Capuchin Monkey
- No colour variation has been added to exhibit animals, as their environments are so dense it would be harder to distinguish subtle detail.
- General Animal Bug Fixes and Improvements
- Adjusted skinning of upper legs to fix male springbok.
- Fixed a gap in the geometry of the male Western Chimpanzee's gums when fighting (singular hole in gum, as well as small gap between gum and lips).
- Jaguars now require and use water more based on player feedback and our research info.
- Added water requirement of approx. 5% of land space requirement, decreased land requirement by the same amount to not jeopardise player zoos.
- Updated the Llama Zoopedia images to represent the new pattern and colour variation.
- Adjusted the animation on the Llama while drinking to allow the head to reach the water.
- Increased sexual sterility age of African Buffalo from 15 to 20 years to make them easier to breed.
- Fixed Zebras in a Habitat with a steep hill opting to traverse the steepest section of the slope, causing animation and postural issues in the process.
- Fixed Juvenile African Wild Dog not sleeping while parent is present in the habitat.
- Fixed water noises playing when Juvenile African Wild Dog drinks from a water source but does not make contact.
- Cleaned up the animation on the Giant Anteater to avoid the model clipping while fighting.
- Fixed issues with the Giant Anteater Female LODs not rendering.
- Improved the Giant Anteater family tails to help stop them clipping through the floor as much in certain situations.
- Improved fur rim light on Giant Anteater family.
- Fixed the final fun fact failing to unlock in the Zoopedia for the Capuchin monkey when all research is complete.
- Fix to stop the Juvenile Gharials falling through the floor when ragdolling.
- Fixed waterfall and metal frame toy Enrichment causing animal welfare alerts by balancing the temperature.
- Fix for animals being unable to automatically unbox in some Habitats despite successfully unboxing when animal was added to the Habitat.
- Fix for the elephant interact and Sable antelope jaw popping during the animation.
- Fix for incorrectly aligned defecation for Bonobos, Orangutans, Cheetahs and Lions.
- Fix for the Siberian Tiger where the tongue clipped through the mouth while eating.
- Fix nostrils distorting on the Adult Western Lowland Gorillas as they walk.
- Fix for Arctic Wolf's howl audio being out of sync with howl animation.
- Fixed the Zoopedia map for the Lehmann's Poison Frog.
- Reviewed and adjusted herding systems to work better for both large and small animals (zebras being a medium size reference).
- The following animals will now choose to spend species-specific amounts of time in and around wading-depth water: Flamingo, Nile Monitor, Saltwater Crocodile, Gharial, Hippo, Pygmy Hippo, Tapir, Jaguar, Polar Bear, Indian Elephants and African Elephants.
- The following animals can now sleep in water of appropriate depth: Saltwater Crocodile, Gharial, Hippo, Pygmy Hippo, Flamingo, Nile Monitor.
- Adding additional paragraph to Hyena Social needs description in the Zoopedia, to help explain why their population settings are so low.
- Fixed the reproduction section of the Snow Leopard zoopedia entry to match in-game offspring numbers.
- Reduced teleporting of animals when stepping onto climbable objects.
- Improved spawned food placement to reduce animals clipping with Habitat boundaries and prevent food appearing on tops of walls.
- Fixed dominance fight notifications playing incorrectly for pack species.
- Fix for Juveniles playing incorrect animations during social theatres (cause of body contortions).
- Fixed animals sometimes pouncing straight through other animals during predation at max in-game speed.
- Fixed cases of animals pouncing on enrichment items without moving and therefore having the food appear a long distance from the enrichment item.
- Audio
- Fix for Adult Male Bison not making a sound when jumping into water.
- Fix for Juvenile Jaguar not making sound when eating from a Blood Pumpkin.
- Enrichment
- Fix for Juvenile Snow Leopard getting stuck when using Pinata Enrichment.
New Content
- NEW GAME MODE - Timed Scenarios
- Complete a list of objectives against the clock.
- A single list of objectives, to complete.
- Unlike Career Scenarios, objectives can 'uncomplete' and must be maintained once achieved.
- Bronze, Silver and Gold is awarded based on how long it takes to complete.
- The new Estonia scenario is available in the free 1.3 update.
- The new Australia scenario is available in the Australia pack.
- New Scenery
- Foliage
- Century Plant (Agave)
- Rainbow Eucalyptus
- Staghorn Ferns
- Mat Rush Grasses
- Umbrella Thorn Acacia
- Oak Sapling
- Scots Pine Sapling
- Beech Sapling
- Brazil Nut Sapling
- Free Australia avatar costume
- 3 x New paths
- 28 x New rock assets
- New Desert Oceania Sandbox
- Vending Machines
- 11 x new vending machines added, including the following:
- Food
- Chief Beef
- Cosmic Cow Ice Cream
- Hotdog Squad
- Mexelente
- Missy Good
- Monsieur Frites
- Pizza Pen
- Drink
- Cosmic Cow Milk
- Gulpee
- Pipshot
- Street Fox Coffee
- Vending machines are a cheaper way to help satisfy guest’s needs, but the food/drink doesn’t satisfy as much as an item from a shop.
- Placement of vending machines differs to Planet Coaster. In Planet Zoo they are placed on the edge of paths, like ATMs, benches and bins.
- The items in the vending machines cannot be customised like those in the shops.
- Vending machines require power to work.
Game Modes
Scenarios
- Toxic barrels no longer contribute to scenery rating for buildings.
- Fixed an issue where toxic barrels would appear in the power heatmap.
- Fixed some z-fighting in the Bernie Goodwin Memorial Zoo.
- Fixed a Flamingo with alpha status in the Panda Park Career level.
- Fix for a crash after completing the Panda Park Career level at the bronze objective level.
- Fixed the Bernie Goodwin Memorial Zoo buildings doors not being attached to the wall.
- Fixed "Myers rain forest conservation project" misplaced scenery pieces.
Challenge Mode
- Fixed an issue where converting a challenge zoo into a sandbox wouldn't stop research alerts.
Franchise Mode
- Removed albino Dall sheep icons from trade centre as not supported in game.
- Fix the 'Zoologist' achievement failing to unlock despite meeting requirements.
Research
- Fixed a number of problems with DLC animal research when the DLC was enabled while playing in-game in a non-sandbox zoo. This will also fix instances of old zoos with an incorrect research state.
Management
- Reduced maximum entry ticket price from 200 to 100, guests could never afford the old maximum and this gives more fidelity on the slider.
Staff
- Fixed vets walking on the spot if player moves a habitat gate before/whilst a vet is walking through it.
- Keepers will now finish a feeding task before leaving the park after getting fired.
- Fix an issue where vets or caretakers could get stuck in a queue outside a building to do a transport job when fired. Fix for staff becoming temporarily stuck going from staff path to normal path.
- Fix for caretaker becoming stuck going from off-path to normal path with escaped animal box.
- Fixed an issue where keepers could get stuck while preparing food.
- Fixed notification saying staff rooms are full when they are not.
- Fixed being notified that a Mechanic hasn't inspected habitat for a while, despite one having just inspected it.
Guests
- Added guest history thoughts for pickpockets, indicating whether they had been caught.
- Prevent guests from getting stuck in park with the state "going home via ATM".
- Fixed cases where guests would get stuck off the path.
- Fixed an issue where balloon pops were not always audible.
- Guests will no longer flee from many Juvenile animals, even if they flee from the Adults of that species.
Zoo Construction
- Scenery Light Toggle
- Lights and lamps can now be turned on via the asset's UI info panel, the same as in Planet Coaster.
- This is the ability to turn a light on all the time or off all the time, rather than only turning on automatically at night.
- Lights will not work without power unless solar powered.
- Improved New World Spot Light emitted light culling when looking away from the light.
- Added flexicolour to concrete walls.
- Adding size tags to rock, foliage and scenery assets.
- Updated various architecture structure assets that were missing tags or had excessive tags.
- Updated all grid based assets from South America Pack with grid prop tag.
- Notifications for education boards and speakers have been improved to specify whether the target species is too distant, or whether speakers are providing conflicting information.
- Improved LODs on Arctic Architecture Beam 2m.
- Improved New World Spot Light emitted light culling when looking away from the light.
- Added flexicolour to concrete walls.
- Updated various architecture structure assets that were missing tags or had excessive tags.
- Updated all grid based assets from South America Pack with grid prop tag.
- Increased the vertical range of education boards to capture animals in Habitats that are further away.
- Fixed incorrect tags for the Habitat Education Board set.
- Fixed Arctic Shelters not unlocking via the "Arctic Theme" Research.
- Fixed performance stalls when editing paths near lake volumes.
- Fix for editable text signs so that their text can be deleted.
- Fixed an issue where various Palm Thatch Roof assets would include floating bundles of thatch.
- Fixed Glass Modern Wall 4m 02 not being treated as transparent by Guests.
- Fixed Glass House Roof Arch 6m and 4m having very noticeable LOD pop on inside.
- Fixed New World Sign Editable 02 text clipping.
- Fixed Ambience speaker 02 and powered lights not displaying if they are powered or not in the power heat map.
UI
- NEW Animal Food Management UI - One location to see all of the animals and habitats in your zoo and what Food Grades the animals are being given.
- Food grades can be changed in this menu.
- You can see how many keepers are assigned to look after the animals in a habitat.
- A projected cost per year for the food costs.
- Time since the animals were last fed.
- Whether the animals are hungry or not.
- A total cost per year for feeding animals.
- The total number of keepers in the zoo.
- How many keepers are assigned to habitats.
- How many keepers are not assigned to habitats.
- Staff management multi-select
- You can now select more than one member of staff at the same time.
- This allows you to train, give a pay rise to (in increments of $10), assign to work zones and fire multiple members of staff at once.
- Info panels
- Exhibit info panel - Humidity and temperature UI has been improved/simplified to allow it to be adjusted without the need to scroll up and down.
- Habitat info panel - Enrichment objects will now highlight when hovered over.
- Info panel flexi colour is now accessible via a single button.
- Drop downs are now disabled when there are no items available in them.
- Dismiss Functionality for Zoo Alerts
- Added the ability to dismiss zoo alerts by clicking on a new trash can button or selecting the cross icon on the alert notification.
- Added new animated animal silhouettes to the loading screen
- Anteater - South America DLC owners only
- Camel
- Chimpanzee
- Elephant
- Giraffe
- Gorilla
- Kangaroo - Australia DLC owners only
- Lemur
- Lion
- Llama - South America DLC owners only
- Reindeer - Arctic DLC owners only
- Rhino
Added status indicator in the Trading UI for animals that cannot be sold because they are pregnant.Added species tags to Blueprint creation.Added new display symbols on duplicate items in the UI Browser to indicate if the item is small, medium or large.Added new 'select all' button to the barrier widgets tool set and improved click reliability.Added infertility indicators for the age icon.Added ability to apply contraceptive settings to all animals of one species in a habitat, including new animals entering the Habitat.Added a tab showing biome information when selecting plants in the browser.Added new icons in the Blueprints tab to distinguish the categories. Added missing animal tags to shelter blueprints for arctic and south america packs Management screens now display tool tips on input fields. Updated 'button disabled' colours for the animal management screen.Items being researched now show tool tips. Timeline, objectives and help windows will no longer overlap the main browser, instead resizing to fit.When cancelling a multi-select move the player's selection is no longer deselected. Minor update to the guest history tab icon. Education speaker overlap alerts will now only trigger if it is directly affecting guests.
Updated the staff fire icon so it is now consistently represented by a trash can throughout the UI. Fixed animal genetics percentages being rounded differently between Habitat and Trading UI.Fix an issue where clicking a timeline notification could take you to the wrong subject.Fixed an issue where animal management would not reset the action buttons when animals were deselected by sorting/filtering. Fixed crash when fanfare disappears. Fix TAA settings for graphical presets being always turned on regardless of pre-set. Fixed an issue where the 'rebuilding navigation' loading screen message could occur again after a save and load. Fix an issue with the donation box UI rendering.Fixed drop down menus detaching from their buttons when scrolling through management panels
. Fixed the face of the Komodo Dragon image being completely obscured by the progress label/completion when researching the Komodo Dragon. Fixed Habitat food grading drop down sometimes being ordered the wrong way round.Fixed lowest graphical preset keeping the texture resolution on medium.
Localisation
- Added in more animal names for Spanish male and female list as well as Russian female names.
- Clarify the 'This one's a keeper' achievement text to refer to work zones.
- Clarified the difference between the guest education need and the education coverage in the heat map views.
- Fix a localisation issue with the 'Research completed' popup.
- Fix to localise the names of months.
- Various localisation fixes.
Stability
- Further crash and stability fixes.
