A few questions

[the_sagebrush_kid]

Being new here and all, not to mention lost within all these boards I have a few questions about people that are deriving new products and some other stuff.

1) Has anyone ever thought of creating or is it possible to create angled paths?

2) Has anyone created or thought of creating types of new zoo staff? The reason I ask is because I play Rollercoaster Tycoon as well and mascots walking about the part would be cool. Adding "Panda Boy" as we call him here, would be a cute addition.

3) Music! Is it possible to have music played in the park through via an item or attraction for everyone to enjoy?

[Yellowrose]

Angled paths in ZT 1 is possible by making then as seperate onjects and making them walkable. Making them walkable however may make the guests look like their feet disappear when used. Jay or Gern can elaborate on this further.

New staff however I don't think is possible. But again Jay or Fern can be better at the explabation

Msic is possible by adding snippets of songs to Buildings. this has been done with many buildings. If you check out the Christmas 2007 Collection at the ZT 1 Downloads site you'll find that the Candy Cane Shop and Santa's Castle both play tunes when Guests use the building.n Some buildings at the other ZT sites also play tunes when interacted with by the guests.

Having music play all the time I don't think is possible but again Jay would be better to answer that for you as his knowledge is much more extensive with the inner workings and programing of the game.

[Jay]

Welcome to Zoo Admin.

1) The paths in ZT are already angled. So I assume you mean at other angles. Although it would be possible to do the graphics, they could not be used in that way. Guests, staff, and animals can only walk at the angles that they do already, as well as horizontally and vertically.

2) A true type of new zoo staff cannot be made because the routines that the staff perform are built into the ZT program itself, rather than external files. It would be possible to have the staff use different graphics, as was done in the Tour Guide Visual Makeover (http://www.zooadmin.net/ZT1/index.php?topic=1113.0). So it would theoretically be possible to have a tour guide look like a mascot. However, they would still do the tasks of a tour guide and guests would follow them as a tour guide. Also, changing the graphics for ingame staff and guests is not easy because the selection of skin and hair colors is done within the ZT program itself.

3) As mentioned, there are many user made buildings that have music played when guests use the building. It is also possible for scenery, such as fountains, statues, and rocks, to have music or other sounds that play continually. A couple examples are the Golden TexGnome Statue (http://www.zooadmin.net/ZT1/index.php?topic=774.0) and Musical Habitat Statues (http://www.zooadmin.net/ZT1/index.php?topic=350.0). Musical rocks were also done, but the download site is still being worked on, and that download is not back yet. Music for buildings will work in all ZT1 versions. Unfortunately, due to a mistake in the original ZT, sounds for scenery will only work in the expansion packs and not in the original ZT1 program.

[the_sagebrush_kid]

Okay so the angled paths are out and so are the mascots. Oh well.

As far as the music is concerned, the reason I ask is in the new version of RCT a player can easily change the music to ride by easily submitting any music they want into the music file of the game. But Zoo Tycoon to my knowledge has not file like that. So a music file would have to be created??? Is that the case. I am no tech-head so I am assuming this. And I certainly have no idea how to do this.

My main thought was just to break up the monotany of the sounds of people and animals. I frequent the local zoo here alot and they have speakers thruout the zoo that play newage music. I thought the same could be done for the game.

[Jay]

It is not the music file itself, since ZT uses a standard type of ".wav" file for each of its music and sounds. But the program does not have a way for a player to specify a ".wav" file. Instead, it has to be added into the configuration of something. I agree that the ingame sounds can get monotonous after a while. That is why some of us that configure buildings will often add different sounds and music snippets to buildings, and why some animal designers will add new sounds to their animals.

[the_sagebrush_kid]

It is not the music file itself, since ZT uses a standard type of ".wav" file for each of its music and sounds. But the program does not have a way for a player to specify a ".wav" file. Instead, it has to be added into the configuration of something. I agree that the ingame sounds can get monotonous after a while. That is why some of us that configure buildings will often add different sounds and music snippets to buildings, and why some animal designers will add new sounds to their animals.

So if I may ask, and I hate to but, is this whole process of adding a wav file easy? Can it be done to anything? Is it something that I can easily alter or is this something that a creator like you guys have to piece together?

[Jay]

If you understand unzipping and zipping, then it is not difficult just to add or change a continually playing ".wav" file for an existing user made scenery. I believe there is a guide at Phoenix. Making a ".wav" file more efficient is trickier. I use the free and open source program, audacity. Currently, there is not a guide for doing this, although I intend to create one at some point. Adding or changing a ".wav" file for a user made building is a little more difficult because there is some timing to consider with how long the guests are in the building. Adding or changing a ".wav" file for a user made animal is even more difficult since it has to match animal behaviors, unless it is one just for when an animal is picked up or put down. Adding or changing a ".wav" file for something that comes with ZT can sometimes be a little more difficult because the ZT files were often changed in the expansion packs and, therefore, one has to make sure they are starting with the correct one.

[the_sagebrush_kid]

If you understand unzipping and zipping, then it is not difficult just to add or change a continually playing ".wav" file for an existing user made scenery. I believe there is a guide at Phoenix. Making a ".wav" file more efficient is trickier. I use the free and open source program, audacity. Currently, there is not a guide for doing this, although I intend to create one at some point. Adding or changing a ".wav" file for a user made building is a little more difficult because there is some timing to consider with how long the guests are in the building. Adding or changing a ".wav" file for a user made animal is even more difficult since it has to match animal behaviors, unless it is one just for when an animal is picked up or put down. Adding or changing a ".wav" file for something that comes with ZT can sometimes be a little more difficult because the ZT files were often changed in the expansion packs and, therefore, one has to make sure they are starting with the correct one.

Thanks for the info Jay. Honestly if I were to add any music at all it would be just to like one object just to let the zoo have that added feeling of ambiance. Still sounds a bit tricky from what you say and what I have read. But I need to get my computer back first from being repaired. Hopefully this will happen on my Bday so I can have fun adding the new animals and objects. Thanks again for the info. I will keep the boards posted as to what happens with the music stuff when the time comes.

Jess