Hayo Zookeepers,
Thanks for joining us on our road trip on the run-up to today, but we have reached our final destination - the North America Animal Pack and 1.7 Update are officially out now! Update your game to join the fun!
Update 1.7 is free for everybody who owns the base Planet Zoo game, and introduces several new and exciting features to enhance your gameplay experience! We've added, among other features, a couple of new Mapping Tools, giving you the ability to create custom heightmaps to alter your starting terrain, and also adding in a range of premade Terrain Type maps for players to use as a base - no more starting with a flat canvas (unless you want to!).
Joining the bears from Update 1.6, big cats are diving into the fun with new Deep Swimming abilities for the Jaguar, Bengal Tiger, and the Siberian Tiger. We've also adjusted the swimming depth requirements for individual species to make Deep Swimming habitats easier to manage and will allow deep-diving turns to remain smooth - these are in the patch notes below so check them out for more information.
Grab a friend and snag a seat because it's time for a show, with the new Animal Talk Seating Areas! These can be hooked up to your Animal Talk Educator podiums, and allow you to increase the viewing capacity of shows in a set viewing area. This will also help control the flow of guests in your park, helping prevent crowing around Educator points.
To further help with guest flow, we have also introduced new Path Barriers. These take the form of hard barriers that will block off paths and prevent guests from following that direction entirely, and kerbs, which will discourage guests from entering areas but will still allow them to use that route if there are no other options available.
Do you get frustrated having to manually adjust scenery objects during habitat builds to create a natural appearance? With the new Scenery Placement Randomisation Toggle, objects will alter their position between placement to give you another approach to building your park! But don't worry, if you prefer to have exact control over your placement, it can be toggled off.
Dig deep into all of the features above, as well as some quality of life Zoopedia changes, in our Update 1.7 announcement post and the patch notes below.
The Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack introduces 8 new animal friends for you to enjoy in your zoos! Be sure to give your warmest welcomes to 7 Habitat Animals - the industrious American Beaver, the towering and majestic Moose, the sleek and smart California Sea Lion, the shy and solitary Cougar, the enormous American Alligator, the highly-sociable Black-tailed Prairie Dog and the elusive yet adorable Arctic Fox. Joining them is a new Exhibit Animal: the American Bullfrog!
To help you take the best care of our new friends as possible, we've also added some new enrichment items. Dress up your habitats with items such as the Pronghorn Piñata, Skittle Feeder, Melon Feeder, Underwater Feeder, and the Beaver Pool - they're sure to make a splash!
Lastly, take a trip to the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains in a new Timed Scenario! Do you have what it takes to spin this small zoo into a North American dream?
The Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack is available now on Steam for £7.99 ($9.99, 9.99€). You must have the base Planet Zoo game to be able to play this content. Update 1.7 is out now to install and is free for all players.
Thank you again to all of our wonderful community for joining us on our road trip in the run-up to this release, and for your continued love and support. We're constantly in awe of what you create and bring to this space, and we can't wait to see what the PlanZo Fam does with this content. Keep an eye on our social media for all future news and announcements, and for highlights of the North America Animal Pack. Also, be sure to tune in today for a special launch stream at 16:00 BST!
Happy zoo-ing!
Planet Zoo - 1.7.0 Update Notes
This update contains many more bug fixes, updates and some new content.
New Content - Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack
- NEW - Animals
- New animals in the Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack
- American Alligator
- Black-tailed Prairie Dog
- California Sea Lion
- Cougar
- Moose
- North American Beaver
- Arctic Fox
- American Bullfrog
- The following new toy enrichment items are included with the Planet Zoo: North America Pack:
- Beaver Pool, available for:
- North American Beaver, with new animations progressing the state of the enrichment with each interaction
- African Elephant (juvenile only), with the Water Pool enrichment animations
- Dingo, with the Water Pool enrichment animations
- Dhole, with the Water Pool enrichment animations
- Indian Elephant (juvenile only), with the Water Pool enrichment animations
- Sun Bear, with the Water Pool enrichment animations
- Beaver Pool, available for:
- The following new food enrichment items are included with the Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack:
- Skittle Feeder
- Arctic Fox
- African Wild Dog
- Dhole
- Fennec Fox
- Piñata Pronghorn
- Arctic Fox
- Cougar
- African Wild Dog
- Arctic Wolf
- Bengal Tiger
- Cheetah
- Clouded Leopard
- Dhole
- Dingo
- Jaguar
- Siberian Tiger
- Snow Leopard
- Spotted Hyena
- Timber Wolf
- West African Lion
- Melon Feeder, available for:
- Black-tailed Prairie Dog
- Moose
- North American Beaver
- Southern White Rhinoceros
- Indian Rhinoceros
- Reindeer
- Hippopotamus
- Pygmy Hippo
- Skittle Feeder
- New animals in the Planet Zoo: North America Animal Pack
- NEW - Timed Scenario
- Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this newly developed attraction aims to educate its visitors while providing its animals large, naturalistic habitats... At least that's what the brochure said before the owners ran out of money! Pick up where the previous owners left off and complete this watery paradise in this brand new timed scenario!
- NEW - Avatar Costume
- New Beaver avatar costume
- NEW - Animals
The following new food enrichment item is included in the free Update 1.7:
- Underwater Herbivore Feeder, available for:
- North American Beaver
- Underwater Herbivore Feeder, available for:
- NEW - Big Cats Deep Swimming Behaviours
- Deep Swimming behaviours have been added to the following Big Cats. All of these Big Cats are also able to use the Underwater Box Feeder. This change is available for all users who own the animal's respective game content:
- Bengal Tiger (Base Game - free for everyone)
- Siberian Tiger (Base Game - free for everyone)
- Jaguar (Requires South America Pack)
- Deep Swimming behaviours have been added to the following Big Cats. All of these Big Cats are also able to use the Underwater Box Feeder. This change is available for all users who own the animal's respective game content:
- NEW - Animal Talk Seating
- New Animal Talk Seating can be placed in your zoo.
- Found in the Facilities browser, these can be linked to Animal Talk Points to expand the guest capacity of your animal talks
- Animal Talk Seating is a path extra that can be placed on paths or plazas
- Animal Talk Seating must be within a set radius of the talk point in order to be linked
- Additional UI has been added to Animal Talk Points for the following:
- Guest Capacity showing the number of available positions for guests at a talk point
- Link Seating UI to allow you to link Talk Seating to the Talk Point
- NEW - Sculpted Terrain Toggle option
- Each starting map now has a new Sculpted Terrain variant for the following biomes:
- Desert
- Grassland
- Tropical
- Temperate
- Taiga
- Tundra
- Tropical x South America (new location for old Tropical South America map)
- Desert x Oceania
- Terrain type can be selected from the new drop down once a continent and biome has been selected
- This feature works with Sandbox, Challenge, and Franchise
- Each starting map now has a new Sculpted Terrain variant for the following biomes:
- NEW - Terrain Height Maps
- Starting terrain can now be generated from .tif heightmap data
- Example heightmaps can be found in Steam\steamapps\common\Planet Zoo\ProvidedHeightmaps
- Heightmaps must be 1024x1024 and in the .tif format
- Custom heightmaps should be saved to Documents\Frontier Developments\Planet Zoo\UserHeightmaps
- NEW - Guest Barriers
- New guest barriers have been added to Planet Zoo.
- Guest Barrier Metal and Ribbon will block staff and guests when used on a path
- Guest Barrier Kerb will still allow guests and staff to pass through, but they will try and avoid doing so where possible
- New Barriers are:
- Guest Barrier Metal
- Guest Barrier Sign 01 and Guest Barrier Sign 02 (to go with Guest Barrier Metal)
- Guest Barrier Ribbon (1m, 2m and 4m)
- Guest Barrier Kerb (1m, 2m and 4m)
- NEW - Reduced Swimming Depth Requirements for the following animals
- After investigating and observing the performance of diving animals, we have made the following changes to depth requirements:
- The following animals have a minimum depth requirement of 2m:
- Cuvier's Dwarf Caiman
- Giant Otter
- King Penguin
- African Penguin
- North American Beaver
- The following animals have a minimum depth requirement of 3m:
- Gharial
- Saltwater Crocodile
- Grey Seal
- American Alligator
- California Sea Lion
- The following animals have a minimum depth requirement of 4m:
- Formosan Black Bear
- Grizzly Bear
- Polar Bear
- Sun Bear
- Bengal Tiger
- Siberian Tiger
- Jaguar
- The following animals have a minimum depth requirement of 2m:
- Please Note: We have chosen the above values while considering both recommended water depth for the species as well as the actual performances of the animals in the diving system when subjected to more shallow depths. We've chosen the lowest depth values for each animal where we are confident the diving system will still work properly.
- After investigating and observing the performance of diving animals, we have made the following changes to depth requirements:
- NEW - Zoopedia Filter Options
- We have expanded the Zoopedia search bar with a set of filters to make it easier to search for species based on the following categories:
- Biome (Tundra, Taiga, Grassland, Temperate, Desert, Tropical, Aquatic)
- Type (Habitat, Exhibit)
- Continent (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Oceania)
- Conservation Status (Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern, Domesticated, Data Deficient)
- The Zoopedia list will be filtered by your selected criteria, showing only species that match at least one selection per category.
- We have expanded the Zoopedia search bar with a set of filters to make it easier to search for species based on the following categories:
- NEW - Foliage
- New branch items based on the White Birch Tree
- White Birch Branch 01
- White Birch Branch 02
- White Birch Branch 03
- White Birch Branch 04
- White Birch Branch 05
- White Birch Branch 06
- White Birch Branch 07
- New branch items based on the White Birch Tree
- NEW - Scenery
- Items for Animal Talk Seating Areas:
- Animal Talk Seating
- Animal Talk Seating Railing Stairs
- Animal Talk Seating Railing Straight
- Items for Animal Talk Seating Areas:
- Animals
- Updated the conservation status of the following animals:
- Komodo Dragon (VU to EN)
- Nile Monitor (DD to LC)
- Yellow Anaconda (DD to LC)
- Eastern Blue-tongued Lizard (DD to LC)
- Reassessed and updated biomes for the following animals:
- American Bison, now has suitability for Taiga
- Pronghorn Antelope, now has suitability for Desert
- Fixed the species names for:
- African Elephant, now African Savannah Elephant
- Babirusa, now North Sulawesi Babirusa
- Additionally, fixed the scientific name of Bactrian Camel and North Sulawesi Babirusa on education board and Zoopedia resources
- Red Kangaroos are now a walkthrough species
- Fixed the Gharial tails so they no longer pop and deform when near terrain whilst deep swimming
- Fixed Sun Bears rotating when performing a Climb to Walk action on a vertical thick beam
- Updated the conservation status of the following animals:
- Scenery
- Fixed the Tropical Rock Cladding objects thumbnails being incorrectly orientated in UI
- Fixed issue where the New World Decorative Lights Bracket were incorrectly tagged as Flexicolour
- Fixed the issue where the One Way Glass Panels would block the view of animals to the guests, much like a standard wall piece
- Fixed Giraffe reward statue to include missing geometry that made it inconsistent with the base creature
- Expanded the continents associated with the Bramble Bush with North America, South America and Asia
- Expanded the continents associated with the Rainbow Eucalyptus with Australia
- Fixed graphical issues pop with the Scots Pine and Tamarind scratching tree enrichments
- Fixed the front left leg of Male Dhole clipping through its body when in dying on rough terrain
- Fixed litter spawning inside multiple types of benches
- Fixed an issue where the North African Bin cannot be snapped to the North African Bench
- Fixed cardboard box enrichment item appearing invisible after resetting
- Fixed Planet Zoo Hanging Lamps appearing too dark. Assets affected:
- Planet Zoo Hanging Lamp 01 / CZ_HangingLamp_01
- Planet Zoo Hanging Lamp 02 / CZ_HangingLamp_02
- Planet Zoo Hanging Lamp 03 / CZ_HangingLamp_03
- Aquatic Wall Light 02 / SW_PathExtras_WallLight_02
- Fixed issue where TV and projection screens would cause lighting issues if placed at specific parts of the map
- All Projection Screens Lit (32m, 16m, 8m, 4m, 1x1m, 2x2m, 4x4m),
- All TV Screens (4m, 2m, 1m).
- Fixed missing flexicolour tags on Food Trough, Food Bowl and Water Pipe items
- Staff
- Fixed rare issue where staff get stuck and refuse to enter staff buildings
- Game Modes
- Sandbox
- Added an 'Enable Staff Fleeing' option to sandbox settings
- Sandbox
- UI
- Main Browser
- Added Random scenery rotation option to the scenery brush panel next to the object browser. Turning this on will randomise the rotation of a selected object each time it is placed
- Management
- Added an option to Quick Trade animals to the Animal Management, which was previously only possible from the animal market
- Similar to releasing animals to the wild, simply multiselect the animals that should be sold and click the Quick Trade button in the Animal Management
- A popup will inform on the selected animals' value, potential conditions preventing sale of any individuals, and request a confirmation to finalise the transaction
- Animals in storage now display their source zoo, rather than the zoo they were most recently in
- Added an option to Quick Trade animals to the Animal Management, which was previously only possible from the animal market
- Zoopedia
- Added more shortcuts to the Zoopedia, making it easier to check and purchase new animals
- Added a shortcut from the Zoopedia to the animal or exhibit animal market, with an active filter for the species
- Added a shortcut from the Zoopedia to the animal management, with an active filter for the species
- Added a space calculator to the Natural Habitat section of the Zoopedia to calculate minimum habitat requirements for a custom population of a species
- Adjusted the Zoopedia map to the correct distribution of North Sulawesi Babirusa
- Fixed an issue where the Underwater Box Feeder and Forage Wall always displayed as locked on Challenge and Franchise mode
- Fixed the King Penguin Zoopedia image having its head cropped
- Fixed Blurred/Blend lines on Fennec Fox Zoopedia page image
- Added more shortcuts to the Zoopedia, making it easier to check and purchase new animals
- Help Topics
- Added new help topics for the following:
- Guest Barriers
- Adjusted help topics for the following topics:
- Animal Talks, to include information on Animal Talk Seating
- Placement Controls, to include a shortcut for random rotation toggle
- Added new help topics for the following:
- Misc
- Fixed Animal Research UI showing no research has been done on it's related Animal if they're all removed from the Zoo, despite having done research
- Vet thoughts about serious injuries now reference the habitat name instead of the animal name
- Fixed Llama mate missing from the animal info panel after relaunching the game
- List of Active Tags is cleared when browser is re-opened
- Fixed heatmap white world effect not covering the whole window at some window resolutions
- Added the coat/fur colouration information to the new animal menu genetics tool tip
- Fixed the same thumbnail icons being displayed for two different Night Vision filters
- Fixed tooltips in habitat info panel not properly describing available food and water
- Fixed Staff Info Panel still displaying pros/cons of next training level when at max training level
- Fixed Natural Selection achievement not triggering
- Fixed Icon of Vista Point does not match depiction on construction browser icon
- Alerts about multiple habitat or exhibit problems can now be dismissed
- Main Browser
- Audio
- Fixed Female Southern White Rhinoceros making no sound during fights
- Fixed Sun Bear not making any sounds when killed by a predator
- Fixed Babirusa fight interaction not having sound
- Fixed Binturong mating ritual using Sun Bear audio instead of its own audio assets
- Fixed missing audio for Habitat Web Camera and Security Camera when turning or switching between cameras
- Stability
- General stability fixes
- Performance
- General performance fixes
- Animals