Jul 8, 2021

Planet Zoo - Frontier Developments

Hayo Zookeepers!

It's been a pretty incredible few weeks, it's so great to see you all enjoying the Africa Pack as well as Update 1.6, not to mention seeing entries for the forum competition coming in!

We've been reading all your feedback and this update will address quite a few of the things you've brought up (shoutout to tag updates as well as some crash fixes!). As always, please keep sharing your feedback, creations, and generally carry on being amazing to chat with <3

Here are the patch notes for Update 1.6.2:

Planet Zoo - 1.6.2 Update Notes
General Bug Fixes and Improvements

Animals
- Fixed an issue where animals were drifting during lethal fights
- Fixed an issue where the female Sun Bear would not use the water pool
- Fixed an issue with the Formosan Black Bear and Grizzly Bear where they were unable to navigate the habitat while climbing
- Fixed an issue with jump height calculations, resolving occurrences where animals could escape over barriers above their height requirement
- Fixed an issue where animals would get stuck in place after pouncing on some food enrichment
- Fixed the tip of the African Penguin beak intersecting with the upper beak
- Staff will hold onto boxed animals longer when transporting if the destination looks like it's failing, to try and regrab the destination
- Meerkat holes are now interacted with correctly when the habitat they are located in is changed
- Fixed stray geometry on the Southern White Rhino tail during defecation
- Fixed food enrichment items recording the number of uses in the last 12 months
Scenery
- Fixed tags on several items and blueprints:
  - Removed the Africa Pack tag from all variants of the African Oil Palm, Fever Tree, Drinn Grass and Nitraria Retusa Bush
  - Removed the King Penguin tag from the Curio Ball enrichment
  - Removed misleading flexicolour tag from North African Fence panels
  - Removed Wood material tag from Animal Trade Centre
  - Added missing flexicolour tags to:
    - Exhibit
    - ATM Sign
    - East Asia Decorative Parasol Paravents
    - East Asia Decorative Parasol Fan
    - East Asia Bridge Stone Walkable
    - Classic Windows
    - Classic Metal Chain
    - Classic Door Tops
    - Classic Door 01
    - African Windows
    - African Disc Bunting Rope
    - Arctic Picnic Canopy
    - Arctic Picnic Bench
    - Carbon Fiber Panels 4m x 2m
    - Carbon Fibre Curved Roofs
    - Aquatic Sculpture Otter Concrete 01, 02, 03 & Mirrored
    - Aquatic Faux Rock Tree Trunk
    - Aquatic Faux Rock Tree Branches
    - North African Door
    - North African Door Handle
    - North African Decorative Plaster Arch
  - Streamlined tagging setup for all blueprints of the following categories:
    - Shop Shells
    - Staff Facilities
    - Exhibits
- Fixed the East Asia Wall Light 02 Lantern asset so it will now turn automatically and can also be manually turned on or off, also added flexicolour
- Fixed the following light assets as being displayed as "Not Powered" on pre-made buildings in El Darar Bazaar timed scenario. This will also address the glowing windows from appearing as needing power/generators:
  - African Window 04
  - Indian Wall Light Bracket
Game Modes
- Sandbox
  - Sandbox Options
    - Added an 'Enable staff fleeing' option to sandbox to prevent staff fleeing from dangerous escaped animals too
    - When toggling off 'Enable animal escapes' players will no longer get a notification for escapes, and animals will not enter the escaped state. Instead they will be boxed if they are without a habitat; or moved back to the gate if they are free to wander too far
    - Disabled notification alerts for overcrowding and fighting when those are toggled off, also stop guests commenting on animal temperature if that is toggled off
    - Re-enabled breakdowns option as it was missing from the sandbox settings
  - Added tooltip for final preset "Individual Zoo Settings" in sandbox settings
UI
- Misc
  - Fixed an issue where in some cases clearing the species search would leave the species search box disabled
  - Fixed an issue where large numbers of "Joined a pack" notifications appeared when loading into a zoo
  - Fixed a typo in the US-English zoopedia description for the Sacred Scarab Beetles. Users of the imperial measurement system no longer need to be afraid of 80 foot long Scarab Beetles
  - Fixed an issue where switching tabs with a species search bar filled in would give inconsistent results switching back to the same tab
Stability
- Fixed startup crash for extremely large well paved zoos
- Fixed crash caused by animals trying to drink from a lake which had just been deleted
- Fixed crash caused by an enrichment object spawner being deleted while it was in the process of resetting itself
- Fixed crash caused by animals trying to start moving towards an animal talk simultaneously
- Fixed crash caused by rapidly placing and deleting enrichment objects
- Fixed crash caused by keepers trying to clean up a Meerkat hole which had just despawned
- Fixed an infrequent audio crash in the billboards
- Fixed a load crash for Vista Points that were assigned to habitats that were deleted
- General Crash Fixes
Performance
- General performance tweaks and optimisations

Jun 22, 2021

Planet Zoo - Update 1.6 and Africa Pack Out Now!

Planet Zoo - Frontier Developments

Hayo Zookeepers!

Ready for your next adventure? We're so excited to announce that the Africa Pack and free Update 1.6 have just arrived for Planet Zoo! Update your game now to start playing with this exciting new content!

Update 1.6 is free for everyone, and comes with amazing new features that will really enhance your gameplay experience. In this update, you can expect Bear Updates - including an exciting update to make Polar Bears easier to include in your Zoos (you can read more about that here) - as well as Deep Swimming for multiple bears, so you can create even better habitats for these incredible creatures.
We've also included the exciting addition of Custom Audio Speakers, allowing you to adjust what multiple speakers within your Zoo play, and create the perfect audio-scape for your Guests! We've provided some Frontier tracks to get you started, but you'll also be able to add custom tracks to really up the ambience in your Zoo.

If you're a Planet Coaster fan, you might recognise this one: we're bringing Vista Points to Planet Zoo! Vista Points allow you to guide your Guests to suggested viewing locations in your Zoo, and you can read more about how they can be used here.

You'll also get your hands on a challenging new Timed Scenario set in Central America! In this scenario you'll be taking charge of an animal sanctuary, and will receive new animals in need of your care on a regular basis! This scenario really focuses on the animals you'll be saving and their welfare, and you'll notice this is reflected in the requirements you'll need to complete it. Once you do, though, you'll be able to claim a Chimpanzee statue as your prize!
We'll also be adding a few new building pieces in the free update, including something we think you might have been asking for...we're not mesh-ing around!

As well as the above, you're also getting expanded storage, expanded sandbox settings, and lots more in Update 1.6 - check it all out here, and in the patch notes below!

The Planet Zoo: Africa Pack is adding 5 new creatures, including four habitat animals and one exciting exhibit insect to the Planet Zoo line-up! Get ready to meet the sociable Meerkat, endearing Fennec Fox, amazing African Penguin, striking Southern White Rhinoceros, and the Sacred Scarab Beetle! These new animals will all have their own unique requirements, so you'll need to visit the Zoopedia to find out how best to care for them and keep them happy, and the Meerkat brings with it an entirely new behaviour - digging!

There are also 180+ new African themed scenery pieces to get stuck into for all you builders! These include whole buildings made in the iconic African 'Moorish' architectural style, paths, and decorative items, all of which are designed to help you create stunning new Habitats for your creatures as well as a fully immersive atmosphere for your guests - plus, keep them shaded with new types of foliage, including majestic doum palms, Dragon Blood, and Quiver trees!
We've also included a brand new Timed Scenario, set in a stunning Oasis, where you'll be asked to create a paradise for Guests and Animals from limited resources and power - it'll be tough, but we know you're up to the challenge!

The Planet Zoo: Africa Pack is available for £7.99 ($9.99, 9.99€) on Steam right now.

You must have the Planet Zoo base game to download and play this new content. Update 1.6 is free, and is available for all players now.

We'd like to give a big thank you to our amazing PlanZo Fam for all of the support and feedback you've provided us! We hope you enjoy Update 1.6 and the Planet Zoo: Africa Pack! As always, keep an eye on our forums and social media for all news and announcements, and make sure to tune in to our Planet Zoo: Africa Pack showcase stream at time goes here today!

Now go play and enjoy!

Planet Zoo - 1.6.0 Update Notes
This update contains many more bug fixes, updates and some new content.
New Content - Planet Zoo: Africa Pack

NEW - Animals
- New animals in the Planet Zoo: Africa Pack
  - Meerkat
  - Fennec Fox
  - African Penguin
  - Southern White Rhinoceros
  - Sacred Scarab Beetle
- The following new toy enrichment items are included with the Planet Zoo: Africa Pack:
  - Curio Ball, available for:
    - African Penguin
    - Fennec Fox
    - Western Chimpanzee
  - Tunnel, available for:
    - Fennec Fox
    - Meerkat
    - NOTE: The Tunnel is designed as a classic enrichment item, therefore animals cannot use it to traverse the habitat to reach a certain target point that the animal cannot access by its available modes of locomotion. If animals leave the tunnel in a normally non-traversable area, they could either become stuck and generate welfare issues or escape and be boxed up and returned to their habitat by a zookeeper. Please use the traversable heatmap to check your animals can properly enjoy the tunnel enrichment item!
  - Tennis Ball, available for:
    - Fennec Fox
    - Meerkat
  - A small variation of the Bubble Machine, available for:
    - Fennec Fox
- New digging behaviour added to the Meerkat
  - Digging will occur on any terrain except rock
  - Meerkats will only dig to places in their habitat that they can reach using standard navigation.
    - Note: Meerkats will not be able to escape their habitat using this behaviour!
NEW - Timed Scenario
- A fresh challenge for you to master: the new timed scenario taking place in an idyllic oasis bazaar. Well, ‘idyllic’ if you’re not counting the failing zoo you’ve just been put in charge of! Your aim is to reboot the power, add sustainable energy options such as solar and wind, and transform the place from a hidden desert gem to a must-see tourist attraction. Are you up to the task?
NEW - Foliage
- Doum Palm (3x variants)
- Quiver Tree (3x variants)
- Sausage Tree (3x variants)
- Dragon's Blood Tree (3x variants)
NEW - Scenery Pieces
- Reward statues for the timed scenario:
  - Fennec Fox (4x variants: gold, silver, bronze and stone)
- North African Plaster Block Square 1m
- North African Plaster Block Square 2m
- North African Plaster Block Square 4m
- North African Plaster Block Rectangle 2m x 1m
- North African Plaster Block Rectangle 4m x 2m
- North African Plaster Tower Round 01
- North African Plaster Tower Round 02
- North African Plaster Tower Round 03
- North African Plaster Tower Dome
- North African Plaster Tower Thin Round 01
- North African Plaster Tower Thin Round 02
- North African Plaster Tower Thin Round 03
- North African Plaster Tower Thick Round 01
- North African Plaster Tower Thick Round 02
- North African Plaster Tower Thick Round 03
- North African Plaster Segment 2m
- North African Plaster Segment 4m
- North African Plaster Brick 01
- North African Plaster Brick 02
- North African Plaster Brick 03
- North African Plaster Brick 04
- North African Plaster Trim
- North African Plaster Wall Trim Small
- North African Plaster Wall Trim Large
- North African Plaster Wall Arch
- North African Plaster Wall Arch Ornamented
- North African Plaster Column Top
- North African Plaster Column Midpiece
- North African Plaster Column Plain
- North African Plaster Column Pattern
- North African Plaster Column Pattern Tapered
- North African Plaster Column Topper Plain
- North African Plaster Column Topper Pattern
- North African Plaster Column Topper Flare
- North African Plaster Column Top Large
- North African Plaster Column Midpiece Large
- North African Plaster Column Plain Large
- North African Plaster Column Pattern Large
- North African Plaster Column Pattern Tapered Large
- North African Plaster Column Topper Plain Large
- North African Plaster Column Topper Pattern Large
- North African Plaster Column Topper Flare Large
- North African Plaster Sculpture Leaves
- North African Plaster Cone Large
- North African Plaster Cone Medium
- North African Plaster Cone Small
- North African Painted Wood Beam 1m Thick
- North African Painted Wood Beam 1m Thin
- North African Painted Wood Beam 2m Thick
- North African Painted Wood Beam 2m Thin
- North African Painted Wood Beam 4m Thick
- North African Painted Wood Beam 4m Thin
- Wooden Arbor Crossbar Large
- Wooden Arbor Crossbar Small
- Wooden Arbor Crossed 1m x 1m
- Wooden Arbor Crossed 1m x 3m
- Wooden Arbor Crossed 2m x 2m
- Wooden Arbor Crossed 2m x 4m
- Wooden Arbor Crossed 4m x 4m
- Wooden Arbor Crossed Arch
- Wooden Arbor Panel 1m x 1m
- Wooden Arbor Panel 2m x 0.5m
- Wooden Arbor Panel 2m x 1m
- Wooden Arbor Panel 2m x 2m
- Wooden Arbor Panel 4m x 0.5m
- Wooden Arbor Panel 4m x 1m
- Wooden Arbor Panel 4m x 2m
- Wooden Arbor Beam Decorated 1m
- Wooden Arbor Beam 1m
- Wooden Arbor Beam 2m
- Wooden Arbor Beam 4m
- North African Ceramic Tiles 0.5m x 0.5m 01
- North African Ceramic Tiles 0.5m x 0.5m 02
- North African Ceramic Tiles 0.5m x 0.5m 03
- North African Ceramic Tiles 1m x 1m 01
- North African Ceramic Tiles 1m x 1m 02
- North African Ceramic Tiles 2m x 1m 02
- North African Ceramic Tiles 2m x 1m 01
- North African Ceramic Tiles 2m x 2m 01
- North African Ceramic Tiles 2m x 2m 02
- North African Ceramic Tile Strip 0.5m
- North African Ceramic Tile Strip 1m
- North African Ceramic Tile Strip 2m
- North African Ceramic Tile Strip Square
- North African Plaster Wall Window 01
- North African Plaster Wall Window 02
- North African Plaster Wall Vent 01
- North African Plaster Wall Vent 02
- North African Plaster Wall Vent 03
- North African Plaster Wall Vent 04
- North African Plaster Wall Vent 05
- North African Plaster Wall Vent 06
- North African Plaster Wall Vent Top
- North African Fountain Basin Wall
- North African Fountain Basin
- North African Plaster Decal Arrow
- North African Plaster Decal Triangle 01
- North African Plaster Decal Square
- North African Plaster Decal Triangle 02
- North African Plaster Decal Circle
- North African Plaster Decal Flower
- North African Plaster Decal Strip
- North African Plaster Decal Semicircle 01
- North African Plaster Decal Semicircle 02
- North African Plaster Decal Drop
- North African Plaster Decal Swirl
- North African Wall Top 0.5m
- North African Wall Top 0.5m Mirrored
- North African Wall Top 1m
- North African Wall Top 1m Mirrored
- North African Wall Top Corner 1m
- North African Wall Top Corner 0.5m
- North African Decorative Plate 01
- North African Decorative Plate 02
- North African Decorative Plate 03
- North African Decorative Plate 04
- North African Stained Glass Panel Curved
- North African Stained Glass Panel Flat
- North African Rope Knot
- North African Rope Tassel
- North African Rope 1m
- North African Rope 2m
- North African Rope 4m
- North African Decorative Brass Dromedary 01
- North African Decorative Brass Dromedary 02
- North African Decorative Plaster Dromedary 01
- North African Decorative Plaster Dromedary 02
- North African Window Frame 01
- North African Window Frame 02
- Emissive Window Panel 1m x 1m
- Emissive Window Panel 2m x 1m
- North African Lattice Panel 2m x 1m
- North African Animal Sign Scarab
- North African Animal Sign Fennec
- North African Animal Sign Meerkat
- North African Animal Sign Meerkat Brass
- North African Animal Sign Meerkat Plaster
- North African Animal Sign Rhino
- North African Animal Sign African Penguin
- North African Sculpture Rhino
- North African Sculpture Rhino Mirrored
- North African Sculpture Meerkat
- North African Sculpture Fennec
- North African Sculpture African Penguin Bronze
- North African Sculpture African Penguin Clay
- North African Door
- North African Decorative Plaster Arch
- North African Decorative Archway 01
- North African Decorative Archway 02
- North African Door Handle
- North African Metal Bracket
- North African Mosaic Planter
- North African Shop Fascia
- North African Educational Zoopedia Frame 01
- North African Bench
- North African Picnic Bench
- North African Picnic Canopy
- North African Bin
- North African Wall Light
- North African Shop Canopy
- North African Lamp Post
- North African Fence 01 Post
- North African Fence 01
- North African Fence 01 Curved
- North African Fence 01 Curved Short

New Content - Free Update 1.6

NEW - Bear Deep Swimming Behaviours
- Deep Swimming behaviours have been added to the following Bears. All of the Bears are also able to use the Underwater Box Feeder. This change is available for all users who own the animal's respective game content:
- As idle behaviour:
  - Grizzly bear (Base Game - free for everyone)
  - Polar Bear (Requires Arctic Pack)
  - Sun bear (Requires Southeast Asia Animal Pack)
- As navigational behaviour only:
  - Formosan black bear (Base Game - free for everyone)
NEW - Custom audio added to speakers
- It is now possible to add your own custom sounds and music to all in game speakers
  - File formats supported are .ogg, .oga, .flac
  - Additionally if Media Foundation is available, .mp3, .wav, .aac, and .m4a are also supported
  - Education speakers must be set to a species before custom music or sounds can be applied
  - Files should be added to Documents\Frontier Developments\Planet Zoo\UserMusic
NEW - Camera Effects
- We have added the ability to enable camera overlays such as filters, vignettes and Night Vision for all camera modes
  - Camera effects work for Guest Cams, Security Cams, and the new Habitat Web Cams
  - These effects are maintained when entering Nvidia Ansel
  - We have also added a torch toggle in the Camera Effects Panel
NEW - Habitat Web Cameras
- We have added a new asset for your zoos: Habitat Web Cameras. These can be found in Facilities>Media Devices and Education>Visual Media
  - Habitat Webcams allow you to set up view-able cameras in and around your habitats, offering you a great view of your animals
  - All camera effects can be accessed from within the habitat webcam view
  - Habitat Webcams also offer you a small boost to your zoos marketing, encouraging more guests to visit
  - Marketing is capped at 1.5 stars and is only counted once per habitat
NEW - Vista Points
- Vista Points were a much requested feature from Planet Coaster that we have now brought over to Planet Zoo with new expanded features!
  - Vista Points will act as a way of directing guests to your creations, be it scenery, habitats or terrain sculptures
  - They have three modes of operation depending on what you select as its Focus
    - Facing Direction: Place the Vista Point without setting a Focus and guests will stand and look in the direction the Vista Point is facing
    - Scenery Mode: Setting the focus to a scenery object will see guests moving to get the best view of the selected item
    - Habitat Mode: Setting the focus to a habitat will offer a viewing boost to any of the habitats view points in range
      - This will encourage guests to view the habitat from this location
      - A warning will be present if no view points are being improved
      - Guests will still use other locations in some situations, the vista points acts as a suggestion, not a command
NEW - Free Timed Scenario
- Esperanza Santuario de Animales: a forever home for rescued animals who truly deserve it. Or at least it will be once you have set it up! Rescued animals from all over the world are being brought to you as we speak, and its up to you to provide their ideal homes. Don't wait around or you will end up with more animals than you know what to do with in this new free timed scenario.
NEW - Expanded Sandbox Settings
- We have revisited the sandbox options for 1.6.0!
  - A new button has been added to the main HUD, under the setting icon in the top left hand corner of the screen. This allows players to gain quick access to the sandbox options.
  - A new sandbox tab has been added to the settings UI. The new tab provides new options that will give you even more control over your sandbox zoo's as well as let you organise which zoo has which options enabled. Sandbox will now be receiving new preset selections for you to either emulate another mode, or save your favourite custom settings. These will be available in Default preset, Creative preset, Challenge preset and Saved Custom preset. The settings you use for each sandbox zoo will be saved to that specific zoo, meaning you can have a different set up for every zoo if you would like to! If you've found your dream sandbox settings however, you can use the Saved Custom preset option to save those and apply them to any other zoo you build as well.
  - New sandbox setting options for 1.6.0 provided below:
    - Social Welfare
      - Enable Social Groups
      - Enable Overcrowding
      - Enable Animal Stress
      - Enable Animal Fights
      - Enable Animal Predation and Fear
    - Habitat Welfare
      - Enable Water Cleanliness
      - Enable Animal Defecation
      - Enable Animals Temperature Needs
      - Enable Animal Terrain Needs
      - Enable Animals Plant Needs
      - Enable Hard Shelter
      - Enable Food Spoiling
    - General Welfare
      - Enable Escapes
    - Guest Settings
      - Enable Guests Fleeing
      - Enable negative effect of facilities on guest happiness
      - Enable Pickpockets
    - New sandbox fanfare pop up added

NEW - Foliage
- African Oil Palm (3x Variants)
- Fever Tree (3x Variants)
- Drinn Grass (3x Variants)
- Nitraria Retusa Bush (3x Variants)
NEW - Scenery
- Reward statues for the free scenario:
  - Western Chimpanzee (4x variants: gold, silver, bronze and stone)
- Wall panels to work with existing Mud Wallset
  - Mud Wall Panel 1m x 1m
  - Mud Wall Panel 1m x 4m
  - Mud Wall Panel 2m x 1m
  - Mud Wall Panel 2m x 2m
  - Mud Wall Panel 2m x 4m
  - Mud Wall Panel 4m x 4m
- A variety of sizes of off-grid Mesh panels to work alongside existing Barriers
  - Mesh Fence 01 1m
  - Mesh Fence 02 1m
  - Mesh Fence 01 2m
  - Mesh Fence 02 2m
  - Mesh Fence 01 4m
  - Mesh Fence 02 4m
  - Mesh Fence Panel 0.5m x 0.5m 01
  - Mesh Fence Panel 0.5m x 0.5m 02
  - Mesh Fence Panel 1m x 1m 01
  - Mesh Fence Panel 1m x 1m 02
  - Mesh Fence Panel 2m x 2m 01
  - Mesh Fence Panel 2m x 2m 02
  - Mesh Fence Panel 4m x 4m 01
  - Mesh Fence Panel 4m x 4m 02
  - Mesh Fence Panel 2m x 1m 01
  - Mesh Fence Panel 2m x 1m 02
  - Mesh Fence Panel 4m x 2m 01
  - Mesh Fence Panel 4m x 2m 02
- A variety of sizes of off-grid one wall glass panel assets to work alongside existing barrier.
  - One Way Glass Panel 0.5m x 1m
  - One Way Glass Panel 1m x 1m
  - One Way Glass Panel 2m x 2m
  - One Way Glass Panel 1m x 2m
  - One Way Glass Panel 4m x 4m
  - One Way Glass Panel 2m x 4m
- African Off-Road Vehicle Wheel
- Vista Point
- Habitat Web Camera
- Added new Billboard provided images
  - Wide - African Penguin
  - Wide - Fennec Fox
  - Wide - Meerkat
  - Wide - Sacred Scarab Beetle
  - Wide - Southern White Rhino
NEW - Paths
- Decorative Tile Path
- Monochrome Tile Path
- Decorative Brick Path

General Bug Fixed and Improvements

- Animals
  - Added per species deep swimming duration's to vary the amount of time different species will stay underwater
  - Added more names for African animals
  - Adjusted Polar Bear habitat requirements to address player feedback - more information provided below :
    - Space requirement down to 3250m² from 6000m²; down to to 650m² from 1000m² for additional animals
    - Water requirement down to 720m² from 2000m²; up to 360m² from 250m² for additional animals
    - Added new deep water requirement for diving, 180m² base and 25m² for additional animals
    - Increased enrichment requirement slightly
    - Added biome and continent suitability for Taiga and Asia
  - Adjusted deep water area requirements for the Gharial
  - Fixed a pop in the animation when penguins use the platform float
  - Tweaked the selection radius of animals to be larger than the animal itself, meaning you'll only need to click close to an animal to bring up its info panel.
- Scenery
  - Fixed Blue Lotus Plant 03 from being a navigable object
  - Removed blank tags from some building scenery
- Game Modes
  - Scenario
    - Careers
      - Once Gold has been achieved in Career Scenarios, the trade centre will now start to populate with all species of animals
- UI
  - Main Browser
    - New buttons added for:
      - Sandbox button
      - Camera effects
  - Management
    - Animal
      - Added species search Function to the following management screens:
        Animal Management
        Animal Market
        Animal Storage
        Exhibit Market
        Exhibit Storage
      - Increased animal trade and exhibit trade centre capacity from 50 to 200
      - Animal Trading UI now allows filtering by multiple genetic ratings at the same time
      - Animal Trading UI now remembers the last used settings for sorting and filtering. It will also remember these settings across zoos in each game mode
      - Animals that have been put up for online trade will now display the time remaining to be sold in the animal storage list
      - Selecting "Clear All Filters" button in Animal Trading will now close any filter popups currently open
      - Enabled sending both habitat and exhibit animals to the trade centre at the same time via animal management
      - Animal storage location sort will prioritise animals being auctioned separately than the named list
      - Removed confirm button from filter popups in animal management headers
      - Hovering over the portrait of an animal portrait in the animal manager now shows the animal's genetics and coat/Fur colouration
      - Added new option to select all animals in the Animal management UI
      - Fixed genetic stats having incorrect colours in the Animal Market and Compare Mates UI
      - Removed animating bar in the header since it could be mistaken for a progress bar
      - The trade centre UI for exhibit animals no longer shows a button to trade with players online, as exhibit animals can never be traded online
    - Staff
      - Added new buttons to select all staff, or select all staff of a certain type
      - Clarified some wording around assigning vendors to single shops, in their info panel and the staff management tabs
      - Staff management tab will remember which staff are collapsed and uncollapsed during a save, but will reset to all open when switching saves
      - Restored collapsible staff headers
  - Info panels
    - Habitat
      - Animals tab in the Habitat info panel now shows an empty state if there are no animals in the habitat
  - Help Topics
    - New help topics for the following
      - Habitat Web Cameras
      - Camera Effects
      - Vista Points
  - Misc
    - Added new Polar Bear ident which will randomly play for owners of the Arctic pack
    - Added more loading screen animals!
    - Add the ability to set precise prices in a number of areas within the info panel UI
    - Fixed Corrupted characters found in Adventure Tour Info Panel
    - Fixed bug in the Timeline UI which would cause it to scroll back to the top when a new event is added
    - Fixed bug that caused the difficulty drop down to disappear when re-selecting a scenario
    - Removed unused breeder column in the World Records UI
    - Updated habitat call buttons to show when a staff member is called but not urgently. Click to upgrade task to urgent
- Stability
  - Fixed bug which would cause a custom tag to be visible after being deleted, causing a crash when selected
- Performance
  - General performance tweaks and optimisations
- Localisation
  - Fixed wrong term for Caretaker being used on some info panels
Cheats
- Tegidcam has been tweaked to give a better feel
  - Standard camera movement slowed down to match walking speed
  - Hold shift to incrase movements speed
  - Once cheat is active in a park, easilty jump back into Tegidcam py pressing C
  - Press T to toggle camera mode and enable free look
Known Issues
- When duplicating a scenery selection within group edit mode, if using the advanced rotation widget, each subsequent duplication will further apply the previous rotation onto the new piece. This does not occur using surface move rotation. This will be addressed in a further update
- Meerkats will have the Slow Feeder listed in their 'toy enrichment' list in the Zoopedia even though it is not a toy and not useable by the Meerkats
- Meerkats hands are offset from the termite mound enrichment item
- African Wall Light Bracket and African Window 04 show as unpowered in the power heatmap despite not requiring power

Jun 14, 2021

Planet Zoo - Free Update 1.6, coming 22 June, 2021

Planet Zoo - Frontier Developments

Hayo Zookeepers!
Curious to hear what's coming up for Planet Zoo? Then you're in the right place! We're very happy to share that free Update 1.6 will be available to download and enjoy from 22 June!

As always we're reading everything you share with us and working hard to include some of your most requested changes (in case you missed it we shared about changes coming to the Polar Bear a couple of weeks ago that will be in this update!). Free Update 1.6 will also bring custom audio speakers, habitat cameras, some deep swimming additions, vista points, expanded sandbox settings and search options! Read on to find more details about all of these below:

Bear Updates
We've got a few changes to the bears for Update 1.6! We know that the Polar Bear has been a long discussed topic for the PlanZo community, and we've done more research into current holdings of Polar Bears to find a way to make them more viable picks for your Zoo. You can read more about those changes in detail here.

Alongside this, we're also adding Deep Swimming for multiple Bears including the following:

Polar Bear
Grizzly Bear
Formosan Black Bear
Sun Bear

Be sure to research how you can create even better habitats for these wonderful creatures and get them swimming in June.

Custom Audio Speakers
Custom Audio for your speakers will arrive in free Update 1.6. You will be able to pick various speakers throughout your zoo and adjust what they play, create the perfect audio-scape for your zoo! We've provided a preset list of Frontier tracks, but you'll also be able to add and select custom tracks and even mark some as favourites to reach them quickly if you know you'll be using them often. When you get your hands on this feature, be sure to experiment with the different types of speaker available to you as there are different types of 'audio feel' that will change how your choice of audio is output accordingly. Are you adding an ambient track for atmosphere, or livening up a guest centric space? See which works for you! The audio formats that will be compatible are:

.ogg
.oga
.flac
.mp3
.wav
.wma
.aac
.m4a

Vista Points
The Planet Coaster veterans among you will know this one, we're bringing Vista Points to Planet Zoo! With a Vista Point, you can help guide your guests to recommended locations and directions to view your wonderful habitats and focal points in your zoo! While they will default to the location you point them in, you can also use this to direct your guests to a specific focus as well, such as a piece of scenery you've created. Doing so will leave your guests feeling very appreciative of your efforts and reward them with a small happiness bonus when interacting with it.

You can also set vista points to be looking at habitats which will function differently than when set to scenery. While with scenery they will look directly at the piece you've selected, instead it will provide a boost to the attractiveness of nearby viewing points, and will tell you in it's info panel if it isn't currently near any for the selected habitat. A Vista Point will help guide and direct your guests, however if they find an easier to reach viewing point that is just as good before they get to the one you want them to use, they are likely to stay where they are (once you've got a good view already, who can blame them!). With this great new tool at your disposal, your guests are sure to see the very best that your zoo has to offer.

Timed Scenario
Get ready to travel to Central America for our newest free Timed Scenario! This scenario has something a little different planned for you. Take charge of an animal sanctuary where you will receive new animals on a regular schedule in need of your care and attention! Some have even arrived before you, giving you a focus right away. This scenario is all about the animals you save and their welfare, as you'll see reflected in the requirements to complete it. For those who do, there's a Chimpanzee statue waiting for you to claim as your prize.

Habitat Cameras and camera effects
A new feature we're adding will help you feel a bit closer to your animals in enclosures, thanks to a new camera asset. To find this, go to Facilities> media devices and education> visual media. These cameras can be placed and used however you like, although one of the best places for them is within a habitat. Once there, you'll be able to view the habitat using the camera itself (just like a webcam in a zoo in real life!). Much like in real life as well, Planconians LOVE to see their favourites from home as well as at the zoo, so you'll be able to gain a small marketing bonus for up to 6 Habitat camera's in your zoo (but they will need to be in range of your habitats for this to apply!).

We're also adding camera effects, ranging from vignettes to various levels of warmth/cold and night vision too. You'll find a bespoke button in the UI for accessing this, and it will also provide access to a camera light too (which is especially great for getting those night vision shots looking just right). For the avid photographers here, these filters will also be maintained when using Nvidia Ansel. We can't wait to see what how your screenshots look with these new tools.

Animal Trading Changes
In free Update 1.6, we'll be making a few changes to animal trading. This will include an increase in the storage limit from 50 up to 200, as well as updates in the UI that will give you more information about each animal's trade status. We're also including search options! You will be able to search through your animal storage, and use filters for which parameters you want to see. Are you looking for a specific genetic makeup that you know you've got somewhere? You can search for it! These search parameters will be saved per zoo, but can also be easily reset with the click of a button.
Search will be available in the following places:

Animal Management
Animal Market
Animal Storage
Exhibit Market
Exhibit Storage

Staff Management Changes
In a previous update we rolled out the staff management changes a little too fast, and so reverted this so we could work on them a little longer but we're happy to be releasing them soon in Update 1.6. These changes will create categories for each type of staff that you can toggle to be collapsed or not (and this will be remembered in each save) as well as the ability to use multiselect on your staff to adjust wages, set work zones and much more. These changes will help those of you with bigger zoo's have a much easier time managing all of your diligent staff.

Continue your Zoo in campaign scenarios
Many zookeepers have shared how they would love to continue the zoo's they create in career scenarios, so we've added a small change! Once a player achieves gold in a career scenario, a new fanfare will pop up to inform you that the animal exchange will start to populate with all available animals. This means you can continue to play in your career scenario park that you've built up and love without the set limitations on which species will appear.

Expanded Sandbox Settings
Last but not least, we're introducing a whole new host of sandbox options! These options will give you even more control over your sandbox zoo's as well as let you organise which zoo has which options enabled. Sandbox will now be receiving new preset selections for you to either emulate another mode, or save your favourite custom settings. These will be available in Default preset, Creative preset, Challenge preset and Saved Custom preset. The settings you use for each sandbox zoo will be saved to that specific zoo, meaning you can have a different set up for every zoo if you would like to! If you've found your dream sandbox settings however, you can use the Saved Custom preset option to save those and apply them to any other zoo you build as well. So that you can prepare your sandbox zoo's for these new options, check out the list of what we'll be adding below:
Social Welfare

Enable Social Groups
Enable Overcrowding
Enable Animal Stress
Enable Animal Fights
Enable Animal Predation and Fear

Habitat Welfare

Enable Water Cleanliness
Enable Animal Defecation
Enable Animals Temperature Needs
Enable Animal Terrain Needs
Enable Animals Plant Needs
Enable Hard Shelter
Enable Food Spoiling

General Welfare

Enable Escapes

Guest Settings

Enable Guests Fleeing
Enable negative effect of facilities on guest happiness
enable Pickpockets

We hope you're looking forward to these new changes! This update will come with other tweaks and bug fixes, which we'll have a full list of patch notes to share with you when we release it.
We'll have more to share with you very soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Mar 30, 2021

Planet Zoo - Southeast Asia Pack and Update 1.5 Available Now

Planet Zoo - Frontier Developments

Hayo Zookeepers!

It's time for our next adventure to begin! We're excited to announce that the Southeast Asia Animal Pack and free Update 1.5 have just arrived in Planet Zoo! Update your game now to start playing this fantastic new content!

Update 1.5 is free for everyone and includes brilliant new features that will have you exploring new ways to get the most out of Planet Zoo. In this update, you can expect Custom Billboards, which we announced a couple of weeks ago and we know many of you are looking forward to! Custom Billboards will allow you to upload custom images and video to display around your zoos, meaning you create your own maps, signs and more for your Guests to enjoy!

We are also adding Multiple Zoo Entrances, a highly-requested addition that will allow you to place multiple entrances in every gameplay mode, meaning you'll have complete freedom with the spawn locations. These entrances do not come cheap, but with a number of them, you will be able to increase the efficiency of your zoo and have your Guests arriving at the hotspots in no time.

Another feature we've been really looking forward to you all getting your hands on is the new Water Visual Setting UI. Water volumes are now fully interactable and selectable objects, with their own information panel. Via the water's UI, you'll find some trivia statistics, connection details for what cleaning and temperature facilities are affecting the lake, and, best of all, customisation options! These options will allow you to change the colour of the body of water via flexicolour and change the 'fogging' distance, which will allow you to make it more or less clear in visibility. This was something we've heard a lot of feedback and suggestions on, and we can't wait to see what you do with this new feature.

You can read about what else is arriving in Update 1.5, which also includes a free timed scenario at Goodwin House, Scenario Rewards and the ability to save Franchise Zoos as Sandbox, through this link here.

The Planet Zoo: Southeast Asia Animal Pack is adding eight iconic creatures, including one exhibit and seven habitat animals! Get ready to meet the Clouded Leopard, Sun Bear, Proboscis Monkey, Binturong, Malayan Tapir, Ussuri Dhole, North Sulawesi Babirusa and Giant Malaysian Leaf Insect! These incredible creatures will all arrive with their own requirements, meaning you'll need to visit their UI and the Zoopedia to learn how best to care for them so they thrive in your zoos.

There will also be a new paid timed scenario, that will have you jetting off to Perak, Malaysia to tackle the challenge of bringing a struggling tropical zoo back to life. To revitalise this zoo, you'll need to bring all your determination, creativity and great management skills to overcome the difficult obstacles that lie ahead. We've no doubt you can do it!

The Planet Zoo: Southeast Asia Animal Pack is available to purchase for £7.99 ($9.99, €9.99) on Steam right now. You must have the Planet Zoo base game to download and play this extra content. Update 1.5 is free and is available for all players right now.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1567110/Planet_Zoo_Southeast_Asia_Animal_Pack/

We'd like to give a big thank you to our amazing PlanZo Fam for all of the support and feedback you've provided us! We hope you enjoy Update 1.5 and the Planet Zoo: Southeast Asia Animal Pack as much as we've loved creating them for you all. Please keep an eye on our forums and social media channels for all news and announcements, and make sure to tune into our Planet Zoo: Southeast Asia Animal Pack showcase stream at 12PM BST today!

Now get back out there and have some fun!

Planet Zoo - 1.5.0 Update Notes

This update contains many more bug fixes, updates and some new content.

New Content

NEW - Animals
- Deep Swimming behaviours have been added to the Gharial. This change is available for free for all users, regardless of DLC ownership. We're looking to add deep swimming to other animals in future updates where suitable.
- Two brand new enrichment items are included with the Southeast Asia Animal Pack:
  - Toy enrichment: Hammock
  - Food enrichment: Forage Wall
- Three free enrichment items have been added to the base game:
  - Toy enrichments: Tamarind Scratching Tree and Scots Pine Scratching Tree
  - Food enrichment: Block of Frozen Fish
NEW - Billboards
- Billboards have now been added to the game along with three new mounts for attaching billboard to your creations. These are available for free to all players, regardless of DLC ownership
- These billboards also have the ability to set advertised destinations, allowing you to encourage guests to visit different habitats, exhibits, shops and facilities around your zoo
  - New items: Projection Screens (4m, 8m, 16m, 32m, Lit/Unlit), TV Screen (1m, 2m, 4m), Screen Panel 4x4 (Lit/Unlit) and Screen Mount (Ceiling, Wall, Pole)
- We have also added the ability to override the images shown on Education and Conservation boards (Educational Content will still need to be set in the UI as usual in order to function correctly)
- We are providing images and videos as well as templates for these screens and allowing you to enter your own custom ones by adding them to 'Documents\Frontier Developments\Planet Zoo\UserMedia'
  - Images must be in either .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, .tiff or .tga formats
  - Video must be in the .webm format
NEW - Multiple Zoo Entrances
- Added the ability to purchase Guest Spawners in all game modes to give players the ability to improve guest distribution around zoos
- Added the ability to turn off guest spawners to prevent guests spawning from a specific location
  - Guests will still use the closest accessible spawner to leave the zoo regardless of being set to on or off
- Added new blueprints with guest spawners and entrance gates for all game modes
  - African, Classic, East Asian, Indian and New World themed (free)
  - Aquatic themed (Aquatic Pack)
  - Arctic themed (Arctic Pack)
  - Australia themed (Australia Pack)
  - South American themed (South America Pack)
NEW - Scenario Rewards
- Scenarios and Timed Scenarios now reward you with the associated animal pin on the globe as a scenery statue to place in your zoos
  - Statues come in 4 varieties: Stone, Bronze, Silver and Gold. All of which are individual items in the scenery browser
  - Unlocking a scenario will award that scenarios statues stone version
  - Completing a scenario to each medal will award that scenarios statues colour variant
  - If you have already completed a scenario prior to this update, you will already have unlocked the statues! They will be waiting for you in the scenery browser the next time you load in to a zoo
NEW - Free Timed Scenario
- Go back to the beginning, to before Bernie created his first ever zoo, Goodwin House. Take over the renovation of Scholey Manor, the grounds of Bernie's first zoo, and build it into a thriving attraction. See if you can beat Bernie's record for a successful lion breeding program in this new free timed scenario available to all players regardless of DLC ownership.
NEW - Timed Scenarios front end update
- Added a panel on the front end to make it easier to jump straight into the timed scenarios menu
- This panel is in addition to the old location within the Career menu
NEW - Water Visual Settings
- Water volumes are now set up as fully interactable and selectable objects and can have their colour and visibility levels set using flexicolour and the new transparency slider
- There are several ways to select a body of water. If there are no other selectable elements under your cursor you can click water in the normal mode or you can use the new selection tool in the terrain water menu
- Water visual cleanliness is locked when you customise water, however, actual cleanliness will still change over time and all the usual steps still need to be taken to keep bodies of water, and animals, healthy and disease free.
NEW - Franchise mode improvements
- We have switched the Franchise Animal Trading UI from using the webpage to using the same UI as our offline modes to improve UI responsiveness
- Multi-Select has been restored to animal storage in a new form. Just like the Animal Management UI, multi-select animals by selecting the checkboxes next to the animals, and individually select by clicking the animal itself
- Added ability to open Franchise Zoos as a new Sandbox from "My Zoos" in the front end menu (duplicating the franchise zoo as a sandbox)
NEW - Staff Traversable Area Map
- Added a new heat map view that allows players to see all the areas in habitats that staff can reach from the habitat gate
- The heat map also highlights objects that keepers need to reach such as feeders and water stations
- This new heat map can be found in Habitat Heat Maps under the drop down menu as "Staff traversable area"

General Bug Fixes and Improvements
- Animals
  - General climbing bug fixes
  - Updated swim height on the juvenile wolf
  - Fixed sleeping animations on the Jaguar so that the tail no longer clips into the ground
  - Adjusted the Diamondback terrapin species range on the zoopedia map and description. Updated the animal's temperature range, previous temperatures only took recommended basking temperatures into account; we have adjusted the temperature range to include recommended base temperatures for water and air as well
  - Adjusted exploration behaviours for Saltwater Crocodile, Gharial, Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman, Polar Bear, King Penguin and Grey Seal slightly. These animals will now tend to stay closer to bodies of water in their enclosure while not swimming
  - The Pronghorn's biome suitability was expanded to include Taiga on both the Habitat Education Board and Zoopedia, which brings it more in line with its natural habitat
  - Fixed an issue where the Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman did not sleep in the water. It can now choose to sleep while swimming, as all the other crocodiles do
  - Fixed an issue where an animal that dies while boxed cannot be removed from zoo
  - Made adjustments to upper/lower temperature limits where necessary to fit into native biomes for:
    - Dingo
    - Koala
    - Kangaroo
    - Grey Seal
    - Caiman
  - Fixed an issue where various animals from grassland, rain forest and desert biomes were not able to cope with the upper/lower temperatures in zoos located in their native biomes.
- Scenery
  - Added flexicolour to water VFX
    - Special Effect Fountain Jet Large
    - Special Effect Fountain Jet Medium
    - Special Effect Fountain Jet Small
    - Special Effect Underwater Bubbles Large
    - Special Effect Underwater Bubbles Medium
    - Special Effect Underwater Bubbles Small
    - Special Effect Water Jet Large
    - Special Effect Water Jet Medium
    - Special Effect Water Jet Small
    - Special Effect Water Jet Splash Large
    - Special Effect Water Jet Splash Medium
    - Special Effect Water Jet Splash Small
    - Special Effect Water Rapids Foam
    - Special Effect Water Rapids Splash
    - Special Effect Waterfall Bottom 10m
    - Special Effect Waterfall Bottom 5m
    - Special Effect Waterfall Mid Section 10m
    - Special Effect Waterfall Mid Section 5m
    - Special Effect Waterfall Top 10m
    - Special Effect Waterfall Top 5m
    - Waterfall Cliff Formation 4m x 4m x 4m
    - Waterfall Cliff Formation 4m x 8m x 4m
    - Waterfall Cliff Formation 8m x 4m x 4m
  - Added continent tags to all rock assets. It should now be easier to swap between plant and rock menus in the nature browser as you will no longer need to remove continent filters for rocks to show up
  - Adjusted the bounding box physics for the Mech-A-Roo to more closely match where the asset sits to allow more accurate placement
  - Added missing Flexicolour tag added to several Concrete Wall and Indian Pillar assets
  - Improved and tightened the bounding boxes for 2D Font Boogaloo assets for more accurate selection
  - Fixed the Indian Street Light 01 & New World Decorative Lights Bracket so they wouldn't add to the power cost, as they do not produce light
- Game Modes
  - Sandbox
    - Added toggle option to enable/disable litter in sandbox mode under gameplay settings. Disabling will stop guests throwing litter and also remove all current litter
  - Scenario
    - Updated completion times for Cophaga Park (Timed Scenario) in order to better balance the difficulty of the scenario
- Staff
  - Fixed staff flickering if you try to place them while the camera's moving
  - Toilets are now cleaned on a schedule, can't be vandalised, and no longer need repairing by mechanics
  - Fixed Caretaker taking too long when cleaning toilets
  - Fixed Keeper's vacuum playing strange animations
  - Fixed an issue where binding any controls to the Y key would not work
- Zoo Construction
  - Fixed an issue where connecting a barrier wall to a post with curved barriers on, would tell you the barrier is too long to place, even though it is below the 20m limit since it has snapped to being a straight line.
  - Fixed custom edited names for Trade Centres not being retained over a save and load, on reload building would switch name back to "Animal Trade Centre"
- UI
  - Main Browser
    - Conservation boards, habitat info boards, exhibit info boards, education speakers and the animal talk point now have an "Educational" tag by which you can filter the 'Media Devices and Education' facilities browser
  - Info panels
    - Animals
      - Exhibit animal info pop-ups now remember which tab was last open, and remembering tabs is now consistent across habitat/exhibit animals
    - Scenery
      - Fixed Titan Arum appearing as an Umbrella Thorn Acacia in info panels, and using the same stats
    - Facilities
      - Added a status message on renewable power sources to say when they are not working because they are in shelter
    - Water
      - Updated references of "Lakes" to "Bodies of water" to unify our terminology
    - Habitat
      - Keeper huts in the 'Maintenance' section now correctly display how often the hut has been used to collect food in the past year
      - Fix "Habitats served in the last year" stat on keeper hut, also adding "exhibit served" data similar to "habitats served"
      - "Habitats have become merged and invalid" and "A habitat has become invalid" notification are now sent when they happen rather than up to 30s later
  - Help Topics
    - In-game help articles can be accessed with F1 and have been updated with the following topics:
      - New topics for Water Customisation and Billboards have been added to the 'Basics' and 'Build a Zoo' sections, respectively.
      - The following topics have been updated to include information about the features added in free update 1.5.0: Game Modes, Water Cleanliness, Zoo Entrances, and Education Items.
  - Misc
    - Selecting the continent and biome buttons in the animal info popup environment tab will now pull up the scenery browser, filtered to show plants from those categories.
    - Pressing the esc key can now also close the weather and time pop up UI if it's open, it will be affected after the settings menu and heatmaps in terms of priority
  - Expanded Indonesian animal name language List
- Stability
  - General Fixes
- Performance
  - Fixed an issue where having every animal placed in your zoo would result in blurry textures on high end graphic cards
  - General performance tweaks and optimisations
Known Issues
- Babirusa sign is missing from the SouthEast Asia Animal Pack and will be added in the next update release
- When animals are traded in the Franchise market, they will sometimes arrive in the buyer's storage appearing as currently up for auction, despite not actually being for sale. This will be fixed in the next update release. In the mean time, selecting 'Cancel' will fix the issue and show the expected options for the animal