Zoo Admin Archive

Zoo Tycoon 2 => ZT2 Show and Tell => Topic started by: TaraM on October 30, 2006, 01:45:42 PM

Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: TaraM on October 30, 2006, 01:45:42 PM: Warning: these pictures are 800x600 and about 150kb in size each. Be careful if you have a slow connection. Also, these pictures show animals from ZT2, ES, AA, and MM, so they may contain spoilers if you don't have one of these expansion packs yet.

First, a little history.

I rarely take pictures while playing ZT2 the normal way (doing challenges and things like that). However, I love to create habitats for animals and to take pictures of them. I like the pictures to look as though they were taken in the wild. No zoo walls, no food or enrichment objects showing... just beautiful animals in a natural environment. Sometimes I play these habitats, and sometimes I just take pictures and then give away the animals when their needs get low. The Scrub Habitat that you will see here is one of the few habitats that work well enough to play. Some of the animals are second and even third generation!

So, let's get to the pictures!

Scrub Habitat

White Rhino
stopping to smell the flowers (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/WhiteRhino3a.jpg)
a cool dip (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/WhiteRhino2a.jpg)
beautiful animal, beautiful scenery (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/WhiteRhino1a.jpg)

Aardvark
by the water (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Aardvark3a.jpg)
in the grass (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Aardvark2a.jpg)
in the grass 2 (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Aardvark1a.jpg)

Asian Elephant
top of the hill (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/AsianElephant1a.jpg)

Kangaroo
camouflaged (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Kangaroo3a.jpg)
among the rocks (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Kangaroo2a.jpg)
by the clear pool (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Kangaroo1a.jpg)

Scimitar Horned Oryx
overwhelmed by flowers and grass (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/ScimitarHornedOryx1a.jpg)

Komodo Dragon
very pretty picture (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/KomodoDragon1a.jpg)
going in the water (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/KomodoDragon2a.jpg)

Meerkat
two scouts (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Meerkat3a.jpg)
in the grass (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Meerkat2a.jpg)
down between the rocks (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Meerkat1a.jpg)

Galapagos Giant Tortoise
by the waterfall (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/GalapagosGiantTortoise3a.jpg)
grassy water's edge (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/GalapagosGiantTortoise2a.jpg)
rocky water's edge (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/GalapagosGiantTortoise1a.jpg)

Lucky Shot!
rhino, kangaroo, and gerenuk together (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/ScrubLuckyShot1a.jpg)

Wetlands Habitat

African Buffalo
top of the hill (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/AfrBuffalo1a.jpg)
island of fallen trees (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/AfrBuffalo2a.jpg)

American Beaver
down the hillside (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/AmericanBeaver1a.jpg)

Greater Flamingo
three fluffy chicks (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Flamingo1a.jpg)

Hippo
among the waterlilies (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Hippo1a.jpg)

Tropical Rainforest Habitat

Pygmy Hippo
coming onto shore (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/PygmyHippo1a.jpg)
can't see the hippos, but it's gorgeous... (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/PygmyHippo2a.jpg)

Mountain Gorilla
walking at sunset (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/MtGorilla1a.jpg)
lots of vegetation (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/MtGorilla2a.jpg)

Bengal Tiger
drinking (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/BengalTiger1a.jpg)

Javan Rhino
between the rocks (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/JavanRhino1a.jpg)

Reef and Tropical Island Habitat
This is another habitat that works great, mostly because there is only one animal living on land. They breed like crazy and I have about fifty of them here.

African Spurred Tortoise
fantastic island, sun shining brightly (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/AfrSpurredTortoise3a.jpg)
amazing colors (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/AfrSpurredTortoise4a.jpg)
close up (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/AfrSpurredTortoise1a.jpg)
half in, half out (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/AfrSpurredTortoise2a.jpg)

Blacktip Reef Shark & Manta Ray
what lurks below the surface (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/SharkRay1a.jpg)

Tundra Habitat
There aren't any very spectacular pictures of this one, since it's kind of flat and white and... blah. But I really like this one, and have had it set as my wallpaper ever since I took it! This was a very lucky shot. I noticed the two walking in oposite directions and caught them right in time. Actually, I thought they were going to fight, which would have made an even better picture. But oh well.

Caribou
magestic (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/habitats/Caribou1a.jpg)

And that's all for the habitats! Or at least the ones I want to share today. I also have a couple of zoo exhibits that I've taken photos of and like the photos enough to share with you. Here they are.

Zoo Exhibits

Przewalski's Wild Horse
very cute horse (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/exhibits/PWildHorse1a.jpg)

Rockhopper Penguin
island at sunset (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/exhibits/RockhopperPenguin2a.jpg)
to the water (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/exhibits/RockhopperPenguin3a.jpg)
passing by (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/exhibits/RockhopperPenguin1a.jpg)

Ratel
grassy habitat (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/exhibits/Ratel1a.jpg)

Ethiopian Wolf
two wolves howling (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/exhibits/EthWolf1a.jpg)
running down the hill (http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/exhibits/EthWolf2a.jpg)

This concludes the show. I hope you enjoyed some of these pictures. Any comments are welcome. If you want any of these as a wallpaper (1024x768), I'd be glad to send them to you if you PM me with your email addy.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: starstruck_disaster on October 30, 2006, 01:50:58 PM: Wow, those are so beautiful! I love that you put so much foliage into the exhibits and habitats! The tropical island idea is fun; I do that, but with rainforest ground sometimes =)

Simply lovely, though. I'm going to keep an eye on this thread!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Dragonracer24 on October 30, 2006, 02:27:06 PM: :worthy: I bow down to your amazing pics:worthy:
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: SeaWorldFan2010 on October 30, 2006, 02:52:25 PM: I just LOVE your ideas on habitats.
My favorite is the Rockhopper Penguin Pic with the island.

Simply put, WOW!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: dragon_rider05 on October 30, 2006, 02:55:35 PM: :surprise: Those are beautiful!!! Your an awesome photographer! (the enviornments must have taken a while to create!:laughing: )
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: penguinman on October 30, 2006, 03:01:36 PM: Holy Moly! Absolutely incredible!!! So many of them are so amazing, but I especially like the second pygmy hippo pic. BF did such a fantastic job with sunsets, and you caught it just perfectly. I had to set it as my background! :wub:
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: TaraM on October 30, 2006, 03:15:10 PM: Thanks everyone! I'm glad you liked them. When I get my desert, coastal, and savannah habitats the way I want them, I'll post pictures of them.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Sk8er at the Disco on October 30, 2006, 03:18:28 PM: HOLY FIZZZLE DIZZLE!!!!!! ur zoos are excellent i can't wait to see what your gonna do with the desert, coastal, and savannah habitats
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: RhinoRapter on October 30, 2006, 03:33:25 PM: woooooooooooooow those are completly amazing you are by far one of the most datialed exbit makers ever and i love your exibit ideas
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Nique on October 30, 2006, 04:45:20 PM: I wish I could add to what the others have said - but I will definately second all of them! These are some of the best examples of landscaping and design I have EVER seen. Bravo!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: beagleboy21 on October 30, 2006, 10:16:04 PM: ecelent design and picture taking. what really helps i bet is that those look like high deatial setting.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Crookshankz227 on October 31, 2006, 09:02:36 AM: Those pictures are great TaraM!! I love the island idea, I'm going to have to try it!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: beagleboy21 on October 31, 2006, 09:09:42 AM: can i have what lurks below the surface pic, as a 1280 by 1024. and again, very good pics.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Birdman on October 31, 2006, 09:17:55 AM: WOW!!!!! They are stunning!!!!! Great Job!!!!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: RedNotDead on October 31, 2006, 10:00:19 AM: very beautiful exhibits and stunning detail. What is your graphic card and the settings on your game.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: mikaboshi on October 31, 2006, 10:25:09 AM: No kidding! I wish my exhibits were that amazing looking! You've got an eye for landscape, for animals in great poses, and for photography - a winning combination!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Ethiopian Wolf on October 31, 2006, 08:10:14 PM: Simply beautiful. In all the time I've been a member at this site (not that long) and been watching from afar (about 5 times as long), I've NEVER seen anything like this. You are an artist, pure and simple.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: kiwibuddy on October 31, 2006, 09:20:18 PM: *Jumps out of seat* OMG! Those are amazingly detailed pics! The meerkat pics were the best! I don't know how else to describe these! They're just so great! Awesome job! :specool: :thumbsup: : :) :
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: hicoolguy on October 31, 2006, 10:07:54 PM: Do you mind telling me how you brought the plants and landscape items so close together.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Rosinas Cat on October 31, 2006, 10:36:34 PM: TaraM, I am speechless. Those pics are fantastic! The scrub ones particularly are stunning!:thumbsup:
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: TaraM on October 31, 2006, 11:24:00 PM: Quote from: beagleboy21;152925
can i have what lurks below the surface pic, as a 1280 by 1024. and again, very good pics.

You can get it here http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o16/TaraMalone/wallpaper/BlacktipReefShark1024x768.jpg.

Quote from: RedNotDead;152937
very beautiful exhibits and stunning detail. What is your graphic card and the settings on your game.

I actually have an old computer that isn't very good. I originally bought it for $650, I think about 4 years ago. It's a Compaq, so it came with the typical specs, AMD Athlon processor (2.1 GHz), 512MB RAM, and of course an integrated video card. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB and the video card to a NVIDIA GeForce 6200 (256MB). It plays most of my games fine. It lags a bit with large zoos, so I tend to only use small and medium maps. My habitats have no guests or buildings, so they don't usually lag. I can max out all settings (using the "Custom" option), but I rarely play actual zoos with all settings maxed like that.

Quote from: hicoolguy;153111
Do you mind telling me how you brought the plants and landscape items so close together.

There are a few files that have to be changed to make that happen. You know how when you place one object (a tree, shelter, or rock, for example), it won't let you place most other objects? Or, when you place an object like a shelter or rock on top of grass or flowers, they get deleted? Well, the code for that is located in the .xml files that describe the category those objects belong to, not the files for individual objects. It's called "stompData" and is located at the top of the files.

I have a text file with some info to help me remember what needs to be changed when a new expansion pack comes out, and here is what I have in it:

Quote

---> CHOOSE ONE




















The files you would alter are in \entities\objects\*\ai\ (inside the various folders like x100_000.z2f, depending on which expansion packs you have). For example, for the vegetation you would look under \entities\objects\foliage\ai\ and you would edit the files that are called bush.xml, wildflowers.xml, and so on, not the ones that are for specific vegetation, like AfricanDaisy_Savannah.xml.

You would open each file in Notepad, do a search (actually, it's right at the top, so you could just use your eyes) for , and then replace whatever it says with what I just posted above. Where it says "CHOOSE ONE" I mean that you need to choose one of the objects ( or or whatever), remove it from the long list of objects, and insert it in the place that says CHOOSE ONE. Hope that made sense. Of course, you don't have to include all those objects, you could remove some from that list.

Once you alter all the foliage files, you will be able to place foliage one on top of the other. Then you need to do the same for rocks (look for rock.xml under \entities\objects\rocks\ai\) and shelters (shelters.xml under \entities\objects\shelters\ai\), and food and enrichment objects. Plus any other objects you want, of course.

If you are using the "all moveable / water placeable" hack, some of the files that you will need to edit are inside that!

I also altered some of the objects to have these codes: waterPlacement="true" landPlacement="true" tankPlacement="true". You will be able to do things like put a large ice floe on land. It looks cool. To do this, you would find the .xml file for the object that you want to alter, open it in Notepad, and do a search for , then add those codes right after that. Some of them might already be there, or might be there but with "false" instead of "true." So just watch for that and change them appropriately. Oh, and the Tank one should only be used if you have MM.

I hope that helps someone. I figured out how to hack this ages ago, like when ZT2 first came out. It's been a great help in designing. It just looks much better when you can put some grass or flowers around a rock instead of it sitting in the middle of an empty spot all by itself.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: rexy_rox1000 on October 31, 2006, 11:46:49 PM: your pictures are so detailed! it makes me wish i could do things like that. all of them look real!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Bengal on November 01, 2006, 01:42:18 PM: Amazing! If I had the money to put all that stuff into my computer to make my game look like that, I'd do it in a heartbeat!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: starstruck_disaster on November 01, 2006, 01:59:04 PM: Wow, thank you so much for explaining all that :D That's such a good idea. I hope we'll get to see more pictures soon too. ^^

EDIT: I hope it's alright if I ask you this, but anything between the tags would be unable to be placed on the same tile as the object you're editing, right? Just wanted to clarify. :)
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: sharada on November 01, 2006, 03:13:29 PM: I do that too! Glad to know someone else does, too :) Although you're much better than I am!
It's amazing how you get the pictures to look so lifelike!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: world on November 01, 2006, 03:43:22 PM: Woah!!!!Those are some of thge best pics Ive ever seen!!!Some are even better than real-life pics!!(no seriously!!):woot: :woot:
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: hicoolguy on November 01, 2006, 03:44:17 PM: Now I know this is more of a wishlist post but I was wondering if you could submit your hacked files TaraM so that you could save people the work of going through all of them, or if someone else could do it itd be greatly appreciated. Im just kinda confused on the getting into the files without making them into a zip and if you make them into a zip, what program will let you zip them back up into the format they need to be, I know these are all very basic questions and im sorry if I sound stupid, but I havent really played around with zoo tycoon since zt1 and im now finally messing around with zt2 trying to pick up the little tricks, agian whatever info you can give me is greatly appreciated and thanks agian.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: TaraM on November 01, 2006, 04:27:33 PM: Quote from: starstruck_disaster;153277

EDIT: I hope it's alright if I ask you this, but anything between the tags would be unable to be placed on the same tile as the object you're editing, right? Just wanted to clarify. :)

Anything between the DELETE tags is what will be deleted when you place your object down. This is assuming that the other object doesn't have your object listed under PREVENT. you see this in cases like, if you have some grass and you place down a shelter, the grass gets deleted.

PREVENT is exactly what you said. If your flowers have logs listed under PREVENT, then you won't be able to place a log on top of the flowers. You see this in cases like trying to place grass on top of a rock, it tells you "Something is blocking...."

ALLOW is anything that is allowed to be placed on top of your object.

For some crazy reason, you cannot leave any of those tags blank. So you can't do this, because the game will freak out:

Quote

I think I have found a way around this. I haven't tested it very much, but this is the code BF used in some objects:

Quote

You see how there is no tag that says , but there is a tag that says ?

I've also seen BF do it like this:

Quote

I really should do more testing on this, since I'm not sure it does work properly. All I know is, you can't leave them blank.

Quote from: hicoolguy;153301
Now I know this is more of a wishlist post but I was wondering if you could submit your hacked files TaraM so that you could save people the work of going through all of them, or if someone else could do it itd be greatly appreciated. Im just kinda confused on the getting into the files without making them into a zip and if you make them into a zip, what program will let you zip them back up into the format they need to be, I know these are all very basic questions and im sorry if I sound stupid, but I havent really played around with zoo tycoon since zt1 and im now finally messing around with zt2 trying to pick up the little tricks, agian whatever info you can give me is greatly appreciated and thanks agian.

You use WinZip, WinRar, or any other ziping program to open the folders. Then you open the files in Notepad, edit them, and put them back in the folders using your zipping program.

Making downloadable hacks like this is kind of hard, because the files are different depending on which expansion packs you have. For example, I have all the expansion packs, so if I made the hacks, they would only work for people who also have those expansion packs. But I'll look into it.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: starstruck_disaster on November 01, 2006, 08:34:28 PM: Ah, thank you for answering :)
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: sheltiefan on November 01, 2006, 08:49:16 PM: Such beautiful photos! Your landscaping is amazing with all the beautiful brightly colored foliage and the animals are posed in great posistions. You really have a talent for photography.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Zooasaurus on November 01, 2006, 08:59:59 PM: Wow, just UNBELIEVABLE!
Those pics are outstanding!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: hicoolguy on November 01, 2006, 10:41:05 PM: Thank you Tara you really are a great member of the community.
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: elefan on November 02, 2006, 06:18:36 AM: Wow! Those are some gorgeous pics:surprise:
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: veg_wolf971 on November 29, 2006, 03:59:16 PM: Wow. :surprise: Do you have like, a super video card? It must be AMAZING. I mean, my game isn't that great. :crying: I mean, the graphics on yours are sooo amazing! :party5:
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: starwolfie on November 29, 2006, 04:17:51 PM: your photos are so inspiring ......... i bow to you
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: limpan on December 02, 2006, 05:45:28 AM: :surprise: This is the best pics i have ever seen, so much vegetation, its so beautiful. Great work! :thumbsup:
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Packraptor on December 02, 2006, 06:09:19 AM: HOLY MONKEYS ON CHEESE!!!

I can't believe I didn't find this place sooner! Magnificient detail! I am STUNNED!!!
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: ghost on December 02, 2006, 06:40:09 AM: nice pics!
i realy need to edit tho's files! and try for my self
Title: TaraM's Wild Habitats and Zoo Exhibits.
Post by: Zephyr on December 02, 2006, 07:00:12 AM: Wow!:surprise: Those are incredible!!