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Sorry @fountain. I am a terrible influence on this community.

Years ago I had a rant in the general discussion(?) about how much I hated the happy toilet on top of the Fancy Restroom. I guess I could live with an animal version especially if it could pant like a happy dog, while it occasionally "runs" toward the exhibit fence "greet" visitors or belch after "eating" like the literal organic toilets on Lexx AKA Tales from a Parallel Universe TV series (which helped to fuel the Lexx interstellar spaceship). OMG my brain just said, "Toilet bunnies." Bad brain! Down! And mind your words! Jeesh! --I did not expect this with short-term memory loss. I'm living "Golden Girls here."

hahahaha you are a great influence I bet all of us are a bit weird I mean who still plays this game out a previous century....

Those look great! What other birds are you thinking of making? Hawkkeye, I mean this when I say this is a serious question: have you ever considered making funny animals? If you ever consider it, there's this idea I have about an adoptable toilet with a mouth and eyes if you're ever willing. lol (I totally didn't steal it from Jan) See this discussion from earlier today: I live for these sorts of mods. I remember playing Skyrim, a game about fighting dragons, and a mod I downloaded replaced the dragons with giant evil Thomas the Tank Engine models that chased you. It was glorious...and absolutely hilarious (here's a 4 minute clip if you need a laugh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNaTZV8qS1I)

I am sure some of you expected new ungulates pack, but I decided to make some more of them before release. So... Animals: Hawaiian Hawk, New Zealand Falcon Compatibility: New Zealand Falcon - my Laughing Owl Updated hwbirdsofprey.rar compiling all my birds of prey (+ seriema) is on my google drive in folder packs. Enjoy! *** files removed 2023.07.06

We've been focusing on the anniversary and contests, but very soon, sometime this summer, we will have to work on it. We've been using Invision Power Board software and Hostgator host services for almost 17 years. I can't imagine trying to migrate somewhere else, and certainly we could not change software now. If we moved 1/2 our downloads to another location, we would solve our space issues here at the main site. Once we start working on this later this summer, we will certainly consult with you Goosifer and settle on a plan of attack.

The only downside with Google Drive is it doesn't have a way to hotlink files, only explore someone's online folder directory. No way to provide file descriptions or thumbnails. A creative way around this would be to pair every zip file with an image and readme file with the same name so that all three are listed together. Like this: I think I've just talked myself into using Google Drive. This wouldn't be awful for my usecase haha.

We are certainly open to suggestions! I have downloaded what I think we would need for a Google Drive. I just haven't a clue how to get started to implement it. I haven't taken the time to do so yet.

This is a great idea, and the secondary site can be made to look like your forum so that nobody would tell a difference that they're "leaving" Tek to download an animal file. One of the things I've been looking into is coding up a simple static HTML/CSS site that would serve as nothing more than a file link aggregator for the Northern Skies files. No PHP/SQL requests, no user registrations, just pure HTML and a stylesheet. Github Pages is the most popular place to host something like this for free. The great thing about this strategy is if Github pages ever goes down or says I need to leave, I can just copy/paste the same HTML/CSS files elsewhere like nothing ever happened because there isn't an SQL database to migrate. All I need to worry about is figuring out a solution for how or where to host the actual files to link, but I have some $7 or less ideas. I like your suggestion of a Google Drive. I can let you know if it works out. Sadly I'm a poor boy while in school, but I'd be more than happy do donate my time coding something similar for Tek if I can help. Sadly this would only address the download files. I know how big SQL databases can get, but that's a whole other beast and I'll openly admit I'm terrified of databases.

I've been thinking about adding a secondary site for file storage. Google drives might be an option; some of our animal designers keep their content there. We are actually supposed to have unlimited space, but I know that's not really the case. Sometimes sending a bulk mail causes host whining, wailing and gnashing of teeth. I regularly get messages from our host that we really need to upgrade to a designated server.... at over 6 times what we are paying now. We are now at around 80% of our capacity for the server to run regular backups, which is critical for us. Tek is huge now and takes forever to manually backup, and it costs a lot to have those files restored. We could add another small server plan, but we can only run one copy of our board software or we would have to buy another pricey license. We are OK for now, but after our anniversary we will have to figure something out. A lot of content has been deleted over the years to save space, and it's getting harder to decide what must stay and what can grudgingly go.

I think I would rather just list the files rather than upload them since both Tek and DD are limited in size of the site, etc especially where DD is concerned. Jan would have to decide about Tek but many of the files would be here and that would be doubling up on them.

Today´s release, 2nd part of parrots. Animals: from left to right: Timneh Parrot, Saint Vincent Amazon, Yellow Naped Amazon, Panama Amazon, Yellow Crowned Amazon, Yellow Shouldered Amazon, Yellow Headed Amazon, Tres Marias Amazon, Imperial Amazon, Cape Parrot, Norfolk Kaka, Red Winged Parrot, Red Bellied Parrot, Rueppel´s Parrot, Senegal Parrot Compatibility: Timneh Parrot - ingame Bongo, my Zebra Duiker, Diana Monkey Saint Vincent Amazon, Imperial Amazon Panama Amazon - my Kinkajou Yellow Crowned Amazon - my Brazilian Porcupine Yellow Shouldered Amazon - my Rhinoceros Iguana Yellow Headed Amazon - my Yucatan Brown Brocket, Ocellated Turkey, Green Jay Tres Marias Amazon - Borsato´s Scarlet Ibis, my American White Ibis, Pygmy Three Sloth Cape Parrot - my Cape Vulture, Southern Bald Ibis, Mountain Zebra Red Winged Parrot - Borsato´s Short Beaked Echidna Red Bellied Parrot - ingame Sable Antelope, Borsato´s Greater Kudu, my Kirk´s Dikdik Rueppel´s Parrot - my Hirola, East African Oryx Senegal Parrot - ingame Giraffe, my Abdim´s Stork PS: 1st part of parrots, if I am not mistaken, is my only pack that didn´t get any reactions, so I suppose that parrots are not that popular with people. What can I tell to you when you don´t like adorable colourful parrots? Only one thing... Enjoy! *** files removed 2023.07.06

So, I am finally able to run Zoo Tycoon again. Here are some random carnivores and on my Google drive, in folder packs, you can find carnivores.rar, where are all my carnivorans (except domestic and feral ones, and pinnipeds) are together. I also reworked some of my animals, making them smaller to scale better with the rest. You can find new versions in my carnivores.rar or as single file on my Google drive. Animals: Reworked: Malayan Weasel, Stoat, Marbled Polecat, African Striped Weasel, Lesser Grison, European Polecat, Beech Marten, European Pine Marten, Masked Palm Civet, Sable, Common Genet, Sunda Stink Badger, American Badger, New: Amur Leopard Cat, Bobcat, Large Spotted Civet Reworked: Gray Fox Compatibility: Bobcat: ingame Black Bear Large Spotted Civet: my Leopard Cat Enjoy! *** files removed 2023.07.06