Heightmap Collection

[Acala]

Greetings!

(Disclaimer: I'm not a native speaker of English, so please bear with me in case my grammar is a bit off.)

I already shared a bunch of heightmaps on both the official Planet Zoo forum and the Planet Zoo subreddit. However, I somehow forgot to put them on Steam as well.

So, if anyone is still looking for heightmaps to try, here's my collection on Google Drive: Heightmap Collection [drive.google.com]

I understand that some people might feel uncomfortable clicking a link to a random person's Google Drive, so if you want me to upload those heightmaps somewhere else instead, let me know.

The aforementioned Google Drive folder contains a README including instructions on how to use the heightmaps as well as a section regarding common issues with the heightmap feature. The heightmaps themselves are organized within subfolders, each of which containing an overview image of what the heightmaps look like in-game.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I don't use real-world elevation data for most of my heightmaps. Personally, I find real-world heightmaps too intricate to utilize in Planet Zoo. Hence, I went for a different approach and created 'simple' heightmaps. They feature:

• landmarks as backdrop scenery (e.g. mountains)
  
• free space for building
  
• geological formations that are flat enough to build upon (e.g. plateaus and mesas)

If you have any questions or problems, please let me know and I'll try to help. Also, if you have requests on terrain you'd like to see as a heightmap, leave a suggestion and I'll try to make it happen.

Edit: I decided to upload a small sample of my heightmaps to the workshop.

[SLG]

Why do you not just upload them to the workshop?

[Acala]

SLGray původně napsal:

Why do you not just upload them to the workshop?

I thought about that and dismissed the idea for several reasons.

First of all, as far as I know you cannot upload the heightmap .tif files directly to the workshop, only blueprints or (in this case) pre-terraformed zoos.

Secondly, it is one hell of a hassle due to the sheer number of heightmaps I created.

Thirdly (and most importantly), if I use one of my heightmaps and upload the resulting terraformed park to the workshop, that zoo would be bound to the specific biome and continent that I chose when creating the zoo. However, if people instead use a heightmap via the importer upon zoo creation directly, they can choose the continent and biome the zoo is set in themselves. In other words: I would use heightmap X in biome Y and people only get to play on that map in biome Y, despite maybe rather wishing to play on that same map in biome Z.

Of course, one could argue that this problem would be easily solved if I upload the pre-terraformed zoo using heightmap X for all six biomes. But again, this is not really feasible due to the broad variety of heightmaps I created. We would be talking about 100+ heightmaps times 6.

Thus, I think providing the heightmaps instead of uploading pre-terraformed zoos to the workshop would give people more freedom of choice regarding the location and setting of the zoo.

Edit: Wording.

[swskydancer]

I recall seeing your thread on the main forums and its positive reception. Thanks for taking the time to link the files here.

I ran across a video the other night from PlasticSwans with terrain tips that I hadn't seen before. Towards the end of the video she mentions she uses a Cities Skylines map generator as a starting step for height maps. I didn't even know that map generator existed. You may have already seen the video but in case you, or others, might want to take a look, here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjrOg_l0l6A

[Acala]

swskydancer původně napsal:

I recall seeing your thread on the main forums and its positive reception. Thanks for taking the time to link the files here.

You're very welcome! And thanks for your positive feedback, I appreciate it!

swskydancer původně napsal:

I ran across a video the other night from PlasticSwans with terrain tips that I hadn't seen before. Towards the end of the video she mentions she uses a Cities Skylines map generator as a starting step for height maps.

Ah, yes, I've known about the Cities Skylines map generator for quite some time now. It is indeed a very handy tool for creating realistic heightmaps. However, in my opinion there are certain downsides to maps created with that tool (namely scale, playability and resolution) which is why I use it only sparingly.

(Personally, I find maps created with the Cities Skylines heightmap tool too complex to build a functional zoo in. Of course, if you only use the tool to import singular landmarks, that's a different story.)

I opted instead for a mixture of Photoshop magic and a terrain generating software called World Creator. For a free alternative, I'd recommend looking into Gaea.

[swskydancer]

It's posts like this that make me even happier that I found PZ to play. The community is supportive and helpfully positive as a rule of thumb. I, personally, probably won't take the time to create a heightmap and you sharing your efforts is helpful to me and others. Again, thank you.