Habitat Blueprints

[KennnethDK]

I have a problem when i download a blueprint habitat and i try to lower and place it, so it looks normal, it says that terrain failed, and i alreday made the terrain flat
PLS help what can i do?

[Just Kevin]

Often there can be sunken areas in them, and the placement will not edit the existing ground to allow for them, so all you can do is press X to raise the habitat higher until it allows placement. Often that means it places it on a raised 'bed' with the keeper entrance and fence etc higher than the surrounding ground. To be honest, it's easier to build them as you like, on flat ground :)

[Just Kevin]

Oh. And at times the grid the habitat is on can be larger than the habitat and not always easy to see, so make sure you are not trying to place the grid over some existing thing, like a path.

[KennnethDK]

Thanks for the respond, but what my problem is that i want them to be flat and not higher than the rest of the ground. Can i do that? (Im very bad a building my own thats why i use blueprints)

[Just Kevin]

You can only do what the game really allows. It's easy to build your own, just practice, and also watch others do it on youtube.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=planet+zoo%2c+building+habitats&FORM=HDRSC3

They don't really have to be as complex as that. The buildings are just for show and add nothing to animal welfare, or even what the visitors think.

This is pretty basic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-Z_8lFbjz8&t=4s

[KennnethDK]

Thanks a lot ill watch the video

[Just Kevin]

Before I decided to buy the game, when it came out, I watched dozens of beta testers play it on youtube. Very handy stuff on there.

[iloveyourzoos]

I find that I often have more luck if I place the blueprint first, and then adjust the surrounding ground to make things look flat (as opposed to being able to line the blueprint up with the ground).

Obviously that won't help if things are already really compact in the surrounding area. But I find that approaching the problem a little bit "backwards" can often give the look I'm going for.

Good luck!

[Just Kevin]

Originally posted by iloveyourzoos:

I find that I often have more luck if I place the blueprint first, and then adjust the surrounding ground to make things look flat (as opposed to being able to line the blueprint up with the ground).

A: Yes that's often the case. What I often do is delete the existing keeper gate and extend a section of the habitat down to the surrounding ground, with a gentle slope up to the original area, then replace the gate in the new section of fence.

Obviously that won't help if things are already really compact in the surrounding area. But I find that approaching the problem a little bit "backwards" can often give the look I'm going for.

A: Well, at least the sandbox area is massive.

Good luck!

[Varick]

KennethDK - Depending on the extra steps (and the category of habitat) you are willing to do, you can place habitats so they are flat and also place them next to your path without getting the terrain modification failed notice. I do not use workshop habitats (there are some amazing ones there) only because I like to build my own. Since I build in sandbox and transfer to my franchise zoo, I did run into the same problems you mentioned. I am sure others may do different things but this is what I do and hope these tips might help.

Not knowing what you know, here are some items :
1. Habitat blueprints not only capture the terrain within the habitat but they also reserve
terrain surrounding the habitat barrier. As far as the game is concerned, zoo terrain is not the same in every zoo. That is why you get the terrain modification failed when you try to put it near a path- the path is in the way of the "reserved terrain" that is outside the barrier.
You can also get deformed terrain when you place it away from anything because the outside habitat terrain is not the the same as the placement zoo terrain.
2. Only barriers affect terrain, scenery and construction materials do not.
3. I put habitat blueprints in three categories - simple, simple terrain, and complex.
Simple is scenery/ construction materials only. Simple terrain adds easy terrain modifications like water and hills. Complex is hmm a lot of things like terrain statues, shops, etc.

Here are the steps I use but they should work for workshop items.

First, go into settings, game, global and check the disable Scenery, Track, and Terrain Collision (I always leave these disabled). Then check the disable Animal Navigation - this is so the feeders, toys, etc. won't deform your terrain but after you finish placing your
habitat blueprint be sure to enable it again (it can do weird things to animal navigation).

Place your habitat blueprint in a sandbox zoo so the scenery/construction materials look good. If your barrier is to be next to a path, add a construction wall so it is in front of the barrier- the width of a construction wall is about equal to the distance needed from a path to a barrier. Then I rec add two flat signs ( a see me and a bury me) for easy placement later.
If you have a water feature like a pond, delete the water and place a flat roof piece on the bottom. Then, take your multi tool and grab everything and move it. That will leave the barriers behind. Place that using the advanced x and then make a blueprint of the total grabbed. When you place that new blueprint in your zoo you can line it up near the path (using that wall as a guide), add the barriers back in and done. This also works if you have null barriers or a combination of null and regular barriers. For the water features, just push down to the roof piece, flatten out the terrain area (depending on the blueprint you may have to fiddle with the terrain), remove the roof, and add water. If hills, just raise terrain so it looks good to you.
I do not make complex blueprints (I add any shops, etc. after placement) but, if you have those, I think deleting the barriers, fix terrain, and then add back the barriers might work.

Hope this helps. :)

[iloveyourzoos]

Originally posted by Varick:

Then check the disable Animal Navigation - this is so the feeders, toys, etc. won't deform your terrain but after you finish placing your
habitat blueprint be sure to enable it again (it can do weird things to animal navigation).

Thanks for this trick! I'm going to have to try this while building. I have a bad habit of creating a beautifully landscaped terrain with hills and such, and then having it ruined by the enrichment items, even when I've got them marked to not flatten terrain.