Moschops from "Carnivores"

[P.Rex]

Aye, I'd like to eventually make the Dimetrodon and some of the dinosaurs and Ice Age animals that don't already have equivalents in DD. The Moschops was sort of a pilot to see how well that would go.

[(Professor Emeritus)Professor Paul]

That pig in the game would make a very passable entelodont.

[P.Rex]

I myself actually made a more accurate Entelodon model for Carnivores Ice Age. If I can get someone to animate that, I'd eventually be able to use it for Zoo Tycoon as well. The Wild Boar already in the game can be made as big as the zebra and then used as a Metridiochoerus, I think.

[(Professor Emeritus)Professor Paul]

Id say it's no good as a wild boar TBH, the tusks are a little ott, but would agree with you ref Metridiochoerus.On taking a second look I'd guess it was really supposed to be a warthog

 

I'm not familiar with the Carnivores games, can you make beasts for the game then?

[P.Rex]

Yes, it was probably modeled after a modern African warthog and made bigger, they just called it "Wild Boar" for some reason.

I have made a few models for Carnivores, I cannot animate them myself, but out of the ones that have already been animated I can adapt them for Zoo Tycoon as well.

 

If you are interested in Carnivores I recommend you check out The Carnivores Saga, it's the biggest modding community for these games (I'm one of the admins there) and you can even download the games legally from there.

[Fern]

From Jay

 

Here are my notes from reviewing the animal configuration.

Since the animal does not swim, the cEnterLandChance, cEnterWaterChance, cLandNeeded, and cWaterNeeded lines are unnecessary and can be removed from the [m/Characteristics/Integers] and [y/Characteristics/Integers] sections in 2941104a.uca.

It would be better for cGenus to be set to 5133 (Dinosaur) instead of 5104 (Horse).

Since the run animation is faster than the trot animation, cFastRate should be set to a number higher than cMediumRate.

The cBabyToAdult line should not be in the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section. If the 500 setting should be used, the cBabyToAdult setting in the [m/Characteristics/Integers] section should be changed to 500.

The cHappyReproduceThreshold, cOffspring, cReproductionChance, and cReproductionInterval lines should not be in the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section, since young don't reproduce. That will also stop the suitability guide program from thinking this animal does not reproduce.

The cCrowd, cEnergyThreshold, cHungerThreshold, and cMaxEnergy lines probably should not be in the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section, since those being set to 0 probably cause ZT to think the egg has problems in certain conditions. In testing, the egg had a message of being too crowded.

The cPurchaseCost line is not needed in the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section, since young cannot be purchased directly without a hack.

The cElevationPref, cHabitatPreference, cHabitatSize, cPctHabitat, cRockPref, cSpacePref, and cTreePref lines should not be in the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section, since those settings should be the same as the adults.

cTimeDeath lines are not normally in the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section, since we allow young to become adults before they die. If the 4320 setting should be used, the cTimeDeath setting in the [m/Characteristics/Integers] section should be changed to 4320.

The cAnimalDensity, cBabyBornChange, cBashStrength, cClimbsCliffs, cDeathChance, cDirtyIncrement, cDirtyThreshold, cIsClimber, cNoMateChange, cNumberAnimalsMax, cNumberAnimalsMin, cOtherAnimalAngryChange, cPctHits, cSickTime, cSocial, and cSwims lines can be removed from the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section, since they match the ones in the [m/Characteristics/Integers] section.

The following pairs of lines can be removed from the [cCompatibleTerrain] section, since the second line of each of these pairs is "v = 0":

v = 0
v = 0

v = 1
v = 0

v = 2
v = 0

v = 7
v = 0

v = 12
v = 0

v = 14
v = 0

v = 15
v = 0

"charge", "head_shoulder", "lie_side", "lie_to_stand", "look_left", and "rub" are not used in any [...\BehaviorSet\...] section and are not built-in actions, so the "charge = charge", "head_shoulder = headshou", "lie_side = lieside", "lie_to_stand = standup", "look_left = lookl", and "rub = rub" lines can be removed from the [m/Animations] section and the charge, headshou, lieside, standup, lookl, and rub folders can be removed from the ztd.

Since the buck, lookr, and rearup folders are the same as the jerk folder, including speed, "buck = buck" can be changed to "buck = jerk", "look_right = lookr" can be changed to "look_right = jerk", and "rearup = rearup" can be changed to "rearup = jerk" in the [m/Animations] section. Then the buck, lookr, and rearup folders can be deleted. I suspect flyshoo was meant to be the same, but there is a difference somewhere in its e view.

Since the highjump folder is the same as the trot folder, including speed, "jump_high = highjump" can be changed to "jump_high = trot" in the [m/Animations] section. Then the highjump folder can be deleted.

Since the headgrnd and shake folders are the same as the scuff folder, including speed, "head_ground = headgrnd" can be changed to "head_ground = scuff" and "shake_head = shake" can be changed to "shake_head = scuff" in the [m/Animations] section. Then the headgrnd and shake folders can be deleted.

In the [sounds] section, mosh1.wav probably should be mosh1 and mosh2.wav probably should be mosh2, since testing only had sounds when picking up and placing the animal.

The mosh2 sound is not used in any behavior sets. So some of the fPlayWithSound lines probably should have mosh1 changed to mosh2.

Since females use the same animations as the males, the [f/Animations] section should be deleted.

Since all of the y animations are of an egg, all folders in the animals\2941104a\y folder except for the stand folder can be removed and the [y/Animations] section should look like:

[y/Animations]
box_idle = objects/box/idle/idle.ani
box_used = objects/box/used/used.ani
buck = stand
eat = stand
head_ground = stand
idle = stand
jerk_head = stand
jump_high = stand
lie_down = stand
lie_idle = stand
look_right = stand
prance = stand
rearup = stand
run = stand
scuff_feet = stand
shake_head = stand
shoo_fly = stand
stamp_feet = stand
stand = stand
trot = stand
walk = stand

The [f/iCharacteristics/Integers] and [y/iCharacteristics/Integers] sections are never needed and can be deleted. Note that these are "/iCharacteristics/" and not "/Characteristics/".

Since the female behaviors should be the same as the male's, all [f\BehaviorSet\...] sections should be removed. That will also help fix a lot of problems caused by APE, such as duplicate lines.

The [y\BehaviorSet\bHappy], [y\BehaviorSet\bFriendly], [y\BehaviorSet\bCalm], [y\BehaviorSet\bNeutral], [y\BehaviorSet\bUneasy], [y\BehaviorSet\bTense], [y\BehaviorSet\bAngry], [y\BehaviorSet\bEscaped], and [y\BehaviorSet\bBabyActions] sections should only have 1 fPlaySetProb line in them.

zebra.pal, lsmzebra.pal, plzebra.pal, and both iczebra.pal files can be deleted, since they are not used.

APE creates purchase menu icons of size 44x35, but those that come with ZT are 44x32. So I use Zoot to load and position 44x32 purchase menu icons.

APE uses the purchase menu icon for the animal list icon (folder ls......). But animals that come with ZT do not. So I use the adult stand e image, remove as much of the canvas as possible, reduce it to 90% of the original size, and use Zoot to load into the ls...... folder and position it. Sometimes the image must be reduced even more, since it needs to be no larger than 38x31. Although animals that come with ZT use adult animal list icons for young, I sometimes also create a young animal list icon and create an lsy..... folder for it. If an lsyzebra folder is created and a young animal list icon is added to it, along with lsyzebra.ani, the following would be added to 2941104a.uca:

[y/Characteristics/Strings]
cListImageName = animals/2941104A/lsyzebra/lsyzebra
cPrefIcon = objects/fernbush/SE/SE

The sound file sizes could be cut in half by going from 16 bit to 8 bit, but that would save only 43 KB. I use the free and open source program "audacity" to adjust sounds.

Although the animation views could be positioned better (using smaller canvas sizes would have helped), that is not necessarily a problem and we only make adjusts if it does not look right in relation to other things in an exhibit. The animal should be looked at while it enters and exits a concrete shelter. If that does not look acceptable, then the positions could be adjusted using Zoot. But adjusting positions for animals is very difficult since all animations have to flow into each other. So we try to avoid adjusting animal positions if we can.

Using 7-Zip and shrink would save a little bit in file size, but less than 20 KB in this case.

[P.Rex]

Thank you very much! This helped me greatly, it would be good for reference for my future projects as well.

I've finished the third (and hopefully final) version, will send it to you shortly.

[Fern]

From Jay:

The following should still be done for Moschops:
The cPctHabitat line should not be in the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section, since that setting should always be the same as the adults.
Except for the stand folder, all folders in the animals\2941104a\y folder should be removed, now that the [y/Animations] section only uses "stand".

[P.Rex]

From Jay:

The following should still be done for Moschops:

The cPctHabitat line should not be in the [y/Characteristics/Integers] section, since that setting should always be the same as the adults.

Except for the stand folder, all folders in the animals\2941104a\y folder should be removed, now that the [y/Animations] section only uses "stand".

Will do.

Question: Is there a way (via UCA editing or whatever) to make this animal require a scientist instead of a zookeeper? It's not that big a deal really, but this IS an extinct animal and I like to get all the little details just right.

[Fern]

Will do.

Question: Is there a way (via UCA editing or whatever) to make this animal require a scientist instead of a zookeeper? It's not that big a deal really, but this IS an extinct animal and I like to get all the little details just right.

From Jay:

To have a scientist take care an animal instead of a zookeeper, "cKeeper = 9551" would be added to the [m/Characteristics/Integers] section. In that case, it would also be useful to add something to cLongHelp similar to "Use a scientist to take care of this animal.".

Me back to Jay: Before posting this I have a question: Even changing this wouldn't it still require a zookeeper to place food and collect poo since those duties are governed by the type of food and poo.... aren't they?

Jays reply: Although I believe the scientist would place the food and collect the poo, no matter what type of food and poo, I do not know for sure. Feel free to add your concerns and say that it needs to be tested. I believe the situation where it needs both a zookeeper and a scientist is where an animal starts out as an egg but the configuration does not have that scientist line in it. So I believe in that case a scientist is needed to get the egg to hatch while a zookeeper is needed to take care of food and poo. For this animal, though, it does not start out as an egg. Instead, the young is an egg. So it does not use a scientist to hatch the egg.

 

So if/when you have made the changes test it ingame and see what keepers do what and you might as well post the results so we can add it to our notes.