People get stuck all the time!

[Sunshine]

In my zoo franchise, people are constantly stuck in large crowds. They march in place, their needs are reduced and this is reflected in the visitor satisfaction rating. I have tried to move these people to other places one by one, but many of the displaced continue to walk in place and create new heaps. : ((
What to do? Reloading the game doesn't help!

[Jaggid Edje]

The fastest way to unstick them if there are many groups doling this in one spot is just to delete the path under them, which causes the game to teleport them back to the zoo entrance.

Then rebuild the path.

If you have a spot where this is happening the best way to stop it from happening is redo the path in that spot anyway, so the delete path to unstick them also starts that process.

This doesn't happen too often in my game, but it has been a recurring problem since the game was first released which I wish they would fix for real. Until then, what I do to look for spots like this is turn on the heat map for guest happiness. Any "red" guests that aren't moving are usually in a place where this is happening.

[Sunshine]

Jaggid Edje, Thanks for the tip! I already thought to do this, but have not tried it yet. I'm going to check.
The most striking thing is that this bug only happens in the franchise. This is not the case in any other game mode. :(

[Jaggid Edje]

Originally posted by soles:

Jaggid Edje, Thanks for the tip! I already thought to do this, but have not tried it yet. I'm going to check.
The most striking thing is that this bug only happens in the franchise. This is not the case in any other game mode. :(

For me, it happens in all game modes, but it's very hit or miss. I could play a dozen zoos without seeing it happen...then I'll have one where it seems to happen several times as I expand the zoo.
I just fixed a spot where it was happening in career mode....though in this case I had anticipated it because it involved some pretty wonky uneven terrain and a path circle....which often do end up having issues at the center of the circle.

[Sunshine]

I have a zoo in a flat place, paths 8 m wide and it is on them that congestion occurs. It's just that suddenly one person starts to walk on the spot and then other passers-by stick to him and it doesn't matter if they are visitors or staff. :(

[Varick]

I had a similar problem where some visitors would hit a certain spot in my path and get stuck. I made a circle of trash bins around that spot (have a wide path) and it diverted them around the "sticking?" spot. I put a tree, etc. in the middle. You might try that.

[Just Kevin]

Guest AI has always been poor, even after an early update was supposed to fix it. I try to spread my habitats and zones out, and not close to the entrance, so people spread out, and also always use the wide path, often two parallel. But whirlpools of people can still happen at very popular places. Clots of people can also happen at popular kiosks, so always give them each long paths. When I start to have congestion in busy zoos I also look for short cust that can be created, even if just very short ones between corners.
It still happens though when you get 8,000 people in even a very large zoo well spread out! The AI needs sorting out. The guests are like zombies.

[-=kraken=-]

I stopped building 10m paths because it seems to happen mostly on those so as above mentioned delete the path to free the guest but then instead of rebuilding the path which can be a pain just press "CONTROL-Z" to undo

[Banisha]

That's a good one, Koolkatz ;)

[Sunshine]

Many thanks to everyone for the advice! The most effective advice was to make problem areas with trash bins! I tried to resurface the roads, level the ground, but nothing helped, only the trash cans! ))) Thank you!

[Just Kevin]

I cannot say I have noticed it mainly on the wide path. It seems to happen on busy paths regardless of width. People often start building with the widest path near entrances, and as the zoo becomes larger and more popular, more people will be using the paths nearest the entrance.
But I have noticed it happen near to very popular habitats also when the zoo gets very busy, regardless of the size of path used, but the widest path is not as bad there, and recommended.

[Just Kevin]

What often happens is that a small group of people will meet another and rather than walk around them, they turn around, often to only meet another group. All of those groups will keep turning to avoid each other, and no one gets anywhere, they just keep revolving until you end up with a massive clump of people going nowhere.
When people are viewing habitats, crowds also trying to see in will build up behind them, trapping those in front. The AI does not seem to have the sense to move on those at the back, so those in the front can get away.

[Jaggid Edje]

For me, it mostly only happens where I have more than one path piece in width.

Most often where I've created large squares or circles as a viewing area, but also sometimes on main thoroughfares if I used multiple path pieces to create a wider path, such as putting multiple pieces side by side with the "align to grid" feature.

I honestly can't remember the last time I had stuck visitors where the above wasn't true.

[Just Kevin]

If I expect a place to be very busy I often lay two wide paths side by side, with a gap. At intervals I will put in a path to join them. Usually I use that method leading from the entrance in a straight line for quite a distance, creating zones off them, but any habitats close to that main path, I still place an additional path between the main one and the habitat. But even so, it can still get a bit congested when a 1000 people are trying to stand in the same spot to view an animal.

[Just Kevin]

Oh, in some modes we now have the advantage of creating more entrances, but this does not seem to stop the first entrance still being the main one. (Sometimes after I have created a few entrances, I delete the default one.)

[Banisha]

There are now about 500 people inside my newly opened new franchise zoo and already the twirling starts on my 8 meter wide path. This is so very annoying.