Zoo Tycoon Beta?

[Fern]

I did most of the things

This post has all the links http://zootekphoenix.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7416&p=243210

I might try the petting zoo at some point, just the animations make it a little tricky.

[jbl89]

"They used two doors on most beta buildings but looking at the ai file, my guess is they did not know how to make the guests use both doors so they were redone for the released game."

 

Interesting theory. I haven't looked at the file. My guess would have been that it would be more difficult to make a gift shop easily fit in at some places, if it had 2 entrances. The front door is easy, but most of the times, a back door (in my case) would end up somewhere near a wall or a small area where guests aren't supposed to be. I doubt the placing of the guests and using them would have been a problem. See shark tunnel: can be entered on 2 sides.

 

It was also because of the shark tunnel, that I'm considering adding a restaurant to my unofficial expansion with two entrances. One on the "front" and one on the "side". Or maybe indeed front and back. So the building could serve as a "path" to move guests from one place to another, while a regular path would be blocked by a fence or something.

 

 

Maybe we can create a sticky article about the ZT beta versions. I posted a lot of stuff here, there was a huge discussion about it. And definitely Marine Mania had some interesting promo material, with kelp only taking 1/4th of a square, different back drops, foliage in SHOW tanks and some more stuff.

 

I also once tried to approach one of the developers about a year ago with some questions on the plans for certain items, based on the unused string references. It would be nice if one of them could give us a reply, and we could collaborate on an article about the development of the original game and expansions.

[Fern]

Some of the "placement holding" ids have been used. There is an override dll at DG for them. One thing used was the Pony Ride. Toodlepops made one. I am going to use the zoo hospital one soon as there are two buildings awaiting finishing that will use that id.

[Fern]

I was talking to Jay today about these two threads and here is some of what he said:

"As for Jeff's comments, I do not remember what the sunfish turned into. Maybe instead of the Crustacean House, they were originally planning an Aquarium, with Sunfish being one of the researched programs for it. But the antibiotic was changed to the research program: "Animal Care. Select this program to research animal inoculation, improved animal food, and improved reproduction rates." As for adding terrain, it does crash the game because of a huge amount of missing graphics needed for blending different terrain types together. As you pointed out, it is possible to have new blending terrain with limitations, but that involves a trick that makes ZT think it is existing terrain. I do not remember if I attempted to make a truly new non-blending terrain. Terrain and habitat are different things, and that is still true. As for buildings where the exit is different than the entrance, it is best when the exit is on the opposite side of the building than the entrance, because of the way ZT works graphically. There are a number of user made buildings where the exit is different than the entrance. BF was worried about exits being blocked accidentally and guests getting stuck because of it. They added some things in MM to reduce, but not eliminate, that possibility. When a building has an exit that is different than the entrance, there still has to be a way for a guest to get from the exit to the zoo exit without using other buildings."

[jbl89]

. They added some things in MM to reduce, but not eliminate, that possibility. When a building has an exit that is different than the entrance, there still has to be a way for a guest to get from the exit to the zoo exit without using other buildings."

 

One bad example I had in those early days [by accident... at first ;) ], was placing the dino swing next to an aquarium. Guests would end up in the water, being attacked :)

[(Trustee)ZooGrammy]

Personally, I find that very amusing

[caddienoah]

Me too! (That would make a new ride...Swimming with Sharks!...Oh the possibilities!!!)

[Ashea]

Is that anything like "Dancing with the Dinosaurs?"

[jbl89]

Some more interesting stuff: Marine Mania was supposed to have its own Trash Can. (DJ Pluffs made it available to the public).

 

Original ZT: there are TGA-files available, so only icons unfortunately, which show off the umbrella table. Peculiar is that it was supposed to be rounded (rather than the current picnic table where there are 2x 2 'seats' next to each other). The ponyride has folders as well in ZT1 beta, but unfortunately it's just a dummy icon.

 

Maybe more can be found in the DLL-files? Perhaps some items were there already and later removed (although it looks like Blue Fang did NOT clean up the DLL-files, contrary to [most] graphic files.)

 

 

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lang0.dll: string table references by item:

 

Anthill.

6107 Anthill
10065 An anthill is now available for purchase.
36107 Anthill. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
61107 the Anthill

 

Pony ride.

8025 Pony Ride
10111 A pony ride! I love pony rides!
38025 Purchase a Pony Ride. Placeholder Long Tooltip text.
63025 the Pony Ride

 

 

Gondola station.

6082 Zoo Gondolas
8020 Gondola Station
10213 Let\'s see the zoo from up in the gondola!
36082 Purchase gondolas. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
38020 Purchase a Gondola Station. Placeholder Long Tooltip text.
63020 the Gondola Station

 

 

Zookeeper station:

8014 Zookeeper Station
38014 Purchase a zookeeper station. Placeholder Long Tooltip text.
63014 the Zookeeper Station

 

Animal hospital:

8013 Animal Hospital
10061 The animal hospital can now be purchased.
10207 Here\'s the animal hospital. This must be where they treat the really sick animals.
38013 Purchase an animal hospital. Placeholder Long Tooltip text.
63013 the Animal Hospital

 

Vine rock & column:

9214 Vine Column
9216 Vine Rock
39214 Vine covered Column. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
39216 Vine covered Rock Formation. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
64214 the Vine Column
64216 the Vine Rock

 

Didn't ring a bell, but might be used:

10068 A new pre-made tropical rainforest exhibit is now available for purchase.
10069 A new pre-made African savannah exhibit is now available for purchase. 10070 A new pre-made tundra exhibit is now available for purchase.

 

10206 An information booth. Let\'s ask directions.

 

Very interesting, place holders! They planned trains, the Orang Utan and Yeti were planned from the start (also, why was the Yeti published as if it were created in APE? Was it a test animal?)

 

33377 Waterfall. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
35022 Adopt an orangutan. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
35047 Adopt a Yeti. Long Tooltip placeholder text.
36010 Purchase an umbrella table. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36018 Purchase a hedge. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36019 Purchase a hedge. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36020 Purchase a hedge arch. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36021 Purchase a shrubbery. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36027 Purchase a binocular stand. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36033 Purchase a drinking fountain. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36045 Purchase an arch. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36046 Purchase an arch. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36047 Purchase an arch. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36048 Purchase an arch. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36049 Purchase a rock garden. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36052 Purchase an animal food dispenser. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36082 Purchase gondolas. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36083 Purchase trains. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
36107 Anthill. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37027 Black Tree Fern. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37031 Poplar Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37032 Cypress Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37034 Holm Oak Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37036 Desert Oak Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37037 Cottonwood Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37038 Sycamore Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37041 Bushwillow Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37043 Knobthorn Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37044 Leadwood Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37045 Marula Tree. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37047 Aloe Bush. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37052 Bush 5. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37053 Bush 6. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37054 Bush 7. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
37055 Bush 8. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
39002 Purchase prarie grass. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
39012 Purchase a waterfall. Long Tooltip placeholder text.
39214 Vine covered Column. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
39216 Vine covered Rock Formation. Long Tooltip Placeholder Text.
39312 Long tooltip placeholder: WOODPOLE
39315 Long tooltip placeholder: CURBWD

 

lang200.dll (MM):

63060 the Tame Dolphin Ride Is present, my mistake.

 

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General development:

In updates, mostly animal configuration or texts (mainly about compatibility) where changed. One thing to be noted is political correctness. In lang300.dll, "Christmas tree" was renamed "Holiday tree".

 

A quick look at lang200.dll revealed this, which didn't ring a bell. There are also some string id's with just the string next to it, or the well-known "foo".

36469 Purchase a Tank Drain. A tank drain sits at the bottom of a tank and makes gurgling noises.

 

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And on langXXX.dll-files.... They're numbered quite nicely (incremental), but we seem to be missing some? Never released content, or extremely exclusive? And why is the Yeti an animal which seems to be the only official animal made in APE? Was it a test case? Similar to the US Flag but as an object?

 

Also curious: animals which were a bonus download (including CC) have a 'the'-string, but I couldn't find references to the ID of those strings in any file so far.

 

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Perhaps time to combine this thread and the other one, and create a great article about ZT1 development?

[jbl89]

Bump. I've updated my post above with a lot of information. Could this perhaps be combined into a thread with the other one referenced in this topic, where I've analyzed a few screenshots about Marine Mania? Perhaps it could also be turned into a more proper article?

 

Also, I'm thinking it's safe to assume statues were dropped (statue1, statue2, no statue3, no statue4, we do have statue5 )