Questions, Problems and Concerns
FAQ
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- What is APE? How do I use it?
- Where do I find downloads?
- How does Zoo Tycoon compare to other Tycoons?
- How do I get more benefactors?
- My animals are still unhappy.
- Why don't you include specific animal habitat guides?
- How do I move things?
- How can I change names of things?
- I can't find the trampled terrain in my exhibit!
- How do I move a gate?
- Why do guests vomit?
- How do I fix cloudy tank water?
- I never get more than 1000 visitors at a time. Why?
- My paths keep breaking when I add hills.
- How do I get captured animals out of their boxes?
What is APE and how do I use it?
Animal Projects Editor. It's a tool for users to create their own animals and zoo buildings for use with Zoo Tycoon. It requires that you have a separate graphics program. There are other special requirements regarding ID numbers and such to make your creations work with the game. I don't use it, so that's about all I know. You can find more information on APE, as well as tutorials and troubleshooting for the tool over at Zoo Admin and Zookeepers Station in their APE sections.
Where do I find downloads?
I don't use APE myself and could not possibly keep track of all of the other user creations out there, so I don't list or support any downloads here. If you're looking for a good site for downloads, try the Zoo Tycoon Downloads Directory. They list downloads from several different sites across the web.
If you plan to download user created items, I highly recommend the Animal Adoption Center available at Zoo Admin. It works, there's not anything like it available with the official Zoo Tycoon game, it's very popular with guests and a terrific source of revenue.
How does Zoo Tycoon compare with other Tycoon games?
I don't know. I only have Zoo Tycoon. If you're looking for comparison information, try'Tycoon Match, they cover most, if not all, of the various Tycoon formats available.
How do I get more benefactors?
You'll have to get guests to leave your zoo, and they'll have to be happy when they do it. Raising prices inside the zoo won't work because it will make guests unhappy, so it's best to just wait as nature takes its course and people file out. The only way to do it quickly is to cheat. For that, I've seen both the Alfred H and Boogeyman cheats recommended, but I haven't tried either myself.
I've tried everything you've said, but I still can't make my snow leopards/ markhors/ okapis/ whatever happy! What gives?
I've listed a general guide to animal happiness, with only a very few listings for specific animals. Visit Wisco's and/or Pixigger's sites for more detailed information on specific animals. They'll tell you how to achieve maximum suitability/happiness for every official animal, down to how many of what kind of foliage in each square.
If that still doesn't work. Sell the animals. They're obviously very depressed and need more than any virtual zoo can provide. Replace them with new animals and hope for the best.
Can't make even the new ones happy? And you've really tried everything? Feed them to a predator and choose another species to work with. Try again in another zoo.
Why don't you include specific animal habitat guides?
Wisco and Pixigger have already done quite a bit of work and compiled extensive lists. I have not yet felt the need to duplicate their effort. Maybe one day I will, but for now I'm more than happy to direct you to one of their sites.
How do I move things around?
You can move people and animals two ways:
Double-click on the person or animal to pick them up, move your cursor to where you want them to be, and then click once to release them
Click once on the person or animal to open their dialog box, then click on the hand icon at the top. Move your cursor to where you want them to be, and then click once to release.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work for buildings, objects or fencing. You'll have to bulldoze and rebuild. The only buildings/objects you can pick up and move are gift carts. To do that, just follow the instructions above. Do keep in mind that you cannot rotate the cart, though, so make sure you place it somewhere that it can stay facing the same way. Otherwise, you'll just have to sell it and buy a new one.
How can I change names of things?
Click on people, objects, and animals to bring up their dialog boxes. You'll see the default name up at the top of the box. Click on that, and rename them. For exhibits, you'll want to click on the gate to bring up the dialog box. Either that, or bring up the exhibit list by clicking on the tree icon at the bottom of your screen, and then click on the specific exhibit.
I can't find the trampled terrain in my exhibit!
It might be obscured by foliage or under a shelter. First, hide all of your foliage (use the <ctrl> + <F> hot key) and see if it shows up. If not, it's probably under your shelter. Select the type of terrain you want to put there and put your cursor over the shelter, square by square. If the trampled bits are there, you'll eventually get a tool tip that says "Trampled Terrain." Click your cursor there to place the appropriate terrain in that spot.
How do I move a gate?
Click the Construction button.
Open the Fences panel. At the bottom of this menu you'll find an icon that looks like an open gate; this is the Gate button.
Click the Gate button, and then move the cursor to the area of your exhibit where you want to place the new gate.
Click one more time, and your new gate is in a new place.
Why do guests sometimes vomit?
Two reasons: One, you may have too much poo laying around. Check for that, and hire more zookeepers if necessary to rake it all up. Two, game programmers placed an easter egg in the code that causes all guests who enter the park on January 1 to be ill. They're recovering from their New Year's hangovers, and you'll just have to wait it out.
The water in my tank keeps clouding up. What can I do?
Hire more marine specialists and assign them to individual tanks.
Sell off a few animals to reduce tank poo.
Install a tank filter from the fences panel.
Maybe the tank is just too large. Divide it into sections by adding interior walls, then add filters for each of the sections.
I never see more than 1000 guests in the zoo. Why is that?
The game is coded to limit the total number of guests in the zoo at any one time to 1000 people. That's primarily due to performance issues, as the more movement and data the game has to keep up with, the slower it gets. It's also harder to keep guests and animals happy as your zoo gets more crowded. You can get around this restriction if you want to mess around with your code - just be sure to save a copy in original form so you can restore if anything goes wrong!
I added hills to an exhibit and all of my paths broke. I fixed that, but lost the hills. So I fixed the hills, but my paths broke again. How do I stop the insanity?
This is what I call "hill-creep." Hills you build in your exhibit don't just stay there, but also affect all of the surrounding landscape. Paths break because they can only stair up direct inclines, not cliffs or sideways slopes. You've got to get hills in your enclosure, and plateaus or direct inclines in your park to make it work. Pause your game whenever you're looking at terra-forming like this, because it will take some time to get it just right:
Save your game; you'll want to be able to close and reload from a good starting point if the terra-forming takes a turn for the worse.
You'll need to use the hill tool and the cliff tool in combination.
Set the hills in your enclosure first, using either or both tools.
Start using use the hill tool to level out flat areas or direct inclines around your exhibit to set your paths. If the hill tool alone keeps messing things up, try using the cliff tool for the flat areas. Just remember that guests and staff can't climb more than one elevation, so you have to use the hill tool to connect cliff elevations to each other.
Remember tired guests will still need a place to sit, particularly after climbing a lot of stairs. Build in space for benches or tables.
Save your game frequently throughout this process until you get the exhibit/park/path set up you desire.
How do I get captured animals out of their boxes?
When zookeepers or DRTs capture escaped animals, they put them in crates until you can get the exhibit repaired. Aquatic animal also get crated if their tank walls are breached. To free the animals, simply repair their exhibit, then pick them up (box and all) and place them in the enclosure. The crate will disappear after just a few seconds, provided tank wall/fence integrity is intact.
Glitches
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- My game freezes on load.
- Guests are stuck and won't move
- Hungry/thirsty guests won't eat/drink
- Guests on the boat ride end up swimming
- Foliage/buildings/guests have disappeared
- Animal combinations to unlock don't work
- Cheats don't work
- Staff don't do anything
- Game crashed after I renamed an exhibit
- Game won't save
- Pointer keeps blinking
- Screen flickers and flashes during gameplay
My game freezes on load:
If you're running XP then you need a patch. It's available here. If you're not running XP, then I don't know.
Guests are stuck and won't move:
Pick them up and move them yourself. I've seen as many as 100 guests stuck, one on top of the other, on one tile, so be sure to pause your game, move a few, resume so they can get going, and pause again to move more.
Hungry/Thirsty Guests won't Eat/Drink:
Move them in front of a restaurant/stand. Didn't work? Check guest thoughts. Do they think the place is too crowded? If so, you may need more outlets. If they don't think anything, they might not be able to see it. Move it closer to the path, or build a path to the door.
Guests on the boat ride end up swimming:
Boating guests aren't supposed to swim - they fall in. Place your Boat Ride right next to land (don't put any water tiles in between) and give guests enough path to wait their turns without falling in.
My foliage/buildings/guests have disappeared:
Look for the "hide" icons at the bottom left corner of your screen, right under your mini-map. If they've got red "X"s on them, you've hidden your foliage/buildings/guests. Just click on the "X" to unhide. Or use the appropriate hot key and see if your stuff comes back.
Those animal combinations to unlock stuff don't work:
Try using all male animals. The females usually don't cheat for some reason.
One of the cheats you list doesn't work:
That's possible. I haven't tested them all. I've also heard reports of certain cheats working for some, but not for others. C'est la vie.
My maintenance worker/zookeeper/tour guide won't do anything/only "monitors" the zoo!
First, check the assignment list for the employee. Are they skipping trash because they've been assigned to fence repair only? Is your maintenance worker assigned to any tasks at all? Be sure assignments are in line with zoo needs. If so, try picking staff up and putting them down in front of whatever it is you want them to do (empty trash, rake poo, etc). Most will immediately put their hands to the task in front of them.
Still doesn't work? Some employees just seem to be lazy or not very bright. Fire whomever your problem staff are and hire replacements who'll do the job.
I renamed a new exhibit with one of the cheat codes, and my game crashed!
Yeah, you can't do that. You have to establish the exhibit first, and then rename it. This is only affected by the cheat codes, though - you can rename new exhibits "Lions," "Hippos and Flamingos" and "Wysiwyg" with no problem.
I can't save my game!
Could be either your permissions or your original file is corrupt. Either way, you should be able to access any saved games. A permissions issue would prevent you from saving to the Zoo Tycoon folder at all, while you may have saved a corrupted file with no trouble up to now. Trying changing the location to your "My Documents" file and/or saving under another name. Changing the location should address the permissions issue, while changing the name would bypass any corruptions in your old file.
My pointer keeps blinking and it's very annoying:
If the Display Pointer Trails check box is selected in the Mouse Properties dialog box before you run the game, the cursor will blink when you are playing Zoo Tycoon. To stop the Zoo Tycoon pointer from blinking, click to clear the Display Pointer Trails check box.
My screen keeps flickering/flashing:
This can happen with nVidia Geforce 2 MX and Geforce 3 or 4 Ti video. To resolve the issue, go to nVidia to download and install the latest drivers.
Site Last Updated:
April 13, 2004
