Help with Updating the Yeti

[mjmannella]

I've been trying to update the yeti so it fixes a couple things:
- Showing up the moment the animal panel is open - fixed!*
- Not being with other animals that use the highlands icon background (as well as correcting its location from the Arctic to the Himalayas) - fixed!
- Reduced displeasure (apparently their initial reaction to being added to a new exhibit is always negative) - untested
Here's a couple pics of my work so far:

So far my biggest issue is that the text is set to placeholders instead of the yeti's intended lang. Otherwise, it works great! Is there anything I can do to fix the yeti once and for all? Or is it just destined to be buggy? I've included my yeti file if anybody wants to help.

yeti.ztd

[Fern]

From Jay: I do not understand the purpose. ZT's yeti uses a ".uca" instead of an ".ai" file, so it should already show up the moment the animal panel is open. I agree with ZT having theirs as Tundra instead of Highland. Highland is the habitat of things like the giant panda, which lives in snow but not the high amount of snow and ice that exists in high altitude tundra environments. The location is just informational, so is not actually important. But the reason ZT's yeti probably uses Arctic instead of Himalayas is because their animal info says its range extends from the Himalayas to Siberia. I do not know what is meant by "reduced displeasure", but I don't see any changes that affect that, other than the habitat change. But that habitat change causes the checker to give "*** Warning: cHabitat does not have max [cSuitableObjects] habitat value.". The way it was changed, it would not be recognized in existing zoos that use ZT's yeti. So it could use a new ".uca" file that uses the person's 2 letter abbreviation. Then it would not need a ".cfg" or ".scn" file. As it currently exists, its ".scn" conflicts with the official Mexican Theme Pack download. Since the graphics are the same as ZT's, it could just be a ".uca" and require ZT's yeti.ztd be there as well. If cNameID was set to 19000 instead of a dll number, like ZT's was done, that avoids the placeholder problem.

As for other yetis, Devona changed ZT's ".uca" file to like monsters instead of dislike monsters. That way the yeti could be put in the same exhibit of either her bigfoot or sasquatch. I don't remember which. There were also yeti changes made in the reality pack. Although I don't know all of the specific changes that includes, it does change ZT's yeti to be a Highland animal with the Himalayas location and liking the Highland habitat, but not enough so the checker also shows "*** Warning: cHabitat does not have max [cSuitableObjects] habitat value." for that. Still, it seems like that hack night be closer to what this person was attempting.

[mjmannella]

3 hours ago, Fern said:

ZT's yeti uses a ".uca" instead of an ".ai" file, so it should already show up the moment the animal panel is open.

The problem is that the yeti shows up the instant a map boots up (this can be seen by pausing the game as soon as you enter). You can see it in the first image I posted. I was able to fix that, as shown in he second image (though not without complications, as mentioned earlier).

3 hours ago, Fern said:

I do not know what is meant by "reduced displeasure", but I don't see any changes that affect that, other than the habitat change. But that habitat change causes the checker to give "*** Warning: cHabitat does not have max [cSuitableObjects] habitat value."

What I mean is that a lot of people have noticed that the yetis react negatively to being placed in a new exhibit, even if it's perfectly suitable for them. I'm trying to make this not be the case.

3 hours ago, Fern said:

The way it was changed, it would not be recognized in existing zoos that use ZT's yeti. So it could use a new ".uca" file that uses the person's 2 letter abbreviation. Then it would not need a ".cfg" or ".scn" file. As it currently exists, its ".scn" conflicts with the official Mexican Theme Pack download. Since the graphics are the same as ZT's, it could just be a ".uca" and require ZT's yeti.ztd be there as well. If cNameID was set to 19000 instead of a dll number, like ZT's was done, that avoids the placeholder problem.

I'm trying to re-code the yeti so it doesn't use a .uca file, and is coded more traditionally. Thanks for letting me know about the conflict however! That was a good catch. Also, the current yeti's cNameID is 19000, the yeti's original ID was 5047, as evident by prey listings for several dinosaurs. I'm trying to give it this NameID so its coding is better aligned with other animals.

However, I did so some testing and it seems like using a .uca file instead of a .ai file has no effect on this glitch. It seems to be entirely based on the cNameID of the animal.

[Fern]

From Jay: I still do not understand, but that does not matter. To get around the placeholder problem, we can add the following to lang999-override.dll:

35047, "Adopt a Yeti. Yetis are elusive, solitary creatures. They prefer to sleep in snowy rock caves."

That is what APExp3.2 uses, and is based on what Casey had used.

 

From me: the dll will have to be done by us as it is hosted at the Designer Guild

 

[mjmannella]

Good to know that this is fixable! The yeti's zoopedia entry as doesn't show up, so that may have to be added as well. I'm not too keen on .dll coding, so thank you very much to both you and Jay for adding it! It's very comforting to know that there's people willing to lend others a hand.

 

Edit: added the latest version of my yeti patch to help with .dll work

yeti.ztd

[Fern]

From Jay: I added a yeti tooltip and animal info to lang999-override.dll, and tested it with that yeti.ztd to make sure the tooltip and animal info showed in ZT. The updated lang999-override.dll can be downloaded from its download topic at DG:

http://www.ztcdd.org/DG/index.php?topic=5353.0

[mjmannella]

Thank you so much for your help! I'll put a proper release of my patch up on the site.