Using Terrain "Walls" and "Roofs"

The Walls and Roofs are both hosted at Zoo Tek Phoenix.

You can find the Walls HERE and the Roofs HERE and HERE.

Using the terrain roofs is not hard, though it can be a bit confusing at
first. Like the invisible fence, there are "dots" to show you the
exact space that the roof will actually be sitting on.

To make your own "cave" using any of the walls I've released, follow the
following steps:

Place 3 walls, like you're building a house:


Add terrain roof. The walls make it easy to see that you're placing it
in the right place:


If desired, add foliage, rocks and/or a small shelter:


Only the center square will be inaccessible for you to place on, as that
is where the roof's footprint is. Animals, however, can walk right
through that space!:


Now, you can leave it, as-is, or you can hide the area.


The same methods can be used underwater. I've included an example with
the ztds that show how it looks.

You can use multiple roofs to create interestingly-shaped hidden areas,
and under these larger areas, you CAN fit a large cave shelter if you
place it just right. I highly recommend placing the roofs first, THEN
figuring out where the cave/shelter will fit

How to use roofs as "terrain":

This will work - to a point. I discuss this in more depth in the next post.

1. Build 9x9 tile exhibit. Next, unless you plan to use an animal that
likes a LOT of elevation (such as the ibex or bighorn sheep), fence off
the areas where the "roofs" will sit with the fencing facing IN (or use
invisible fencing). This is important because if you don't face the
fencing the right way, it will show through the new "terrain" once you
lower it to ground level.


2. Add animal and shelter (if necessary). If you're not fencing off the
areas where the roofs will sit, there's no need to worry about the
opening to the shelter being blocked - the roofs are walkable. Adjust
the terrain type and height to where the animal is happy. Since the
roofs take up a whole tile, the areas where you place them need to be
level, so take care of that before you move on to the next step.


3. Add roofs to the walled off portions of the exhibit. Be careful with
your placement! You might want to combine this step with step #4,
adding them one at a time and lowering them before moving on to the next
roof.


4. Lower roofs 6 levels. You may like it higher or lower than 6 levels,
but this is how to get it exactly to ground level. Part of the roof
image will disappear when you get close to the ground - I discuss that
in my screenshots thread. It's easiest to start with the roof closest
to you and move towards the back of the exhibit. You'll know that
you've got your cursor on the right spot if the roof moves when you
lower the terrain :lol:


5. Add rocks and foliage until your animal is happy.


You're not stuck if you want to use the terrain roofs with the tall
walls (which are 7 levels tall) or a short waterfall fence! Experiment
and you can come up with all kinds of fun new things!

ZT does strange things with items that are not programmed as a path when
you put it where guests or animals look like they should be able to
walk on it. Usually they'll walk right THROUGH it, instead of ON it.
Even knowing this, I got it in my head to try out the new roofs as
TERRAIN for exhibits. I used bighorns for my experiment because, since I
didn't expect it to work, I didn't want to go through all the trouble
of fencing off all of the pieces that I'd be lowering to get the roofs
to ground level (1 tile lowered 6 levels for each roof).

Some of the roof disappears when you get it close to the ground, leaving
an interesting pattern of there and not there. Then you place the animals and - oops! -
they disappear beneath the new "terrain". BUT, despite having lowered
all of these items, the bighorns wanted some more elevation! The way it
worked out with the terrain raised in places, it looks like the sheep
are disappearing behind the hills, so it actually WORKS for animals that
want some elevation in their exhibits! Experiment for yourselves, I'd
love to see what you can come up with!

To use the "roofs" as terrain, it requires you to lower the tile where
the footprint for the "roof" lies. Animals that like elevation in their
exhibits (such as the bighorn sheep) will be very happy to have those
sheer cliffs in their exhibits, but most animals don't like that much
elevation, so I surround the area where the "roof's" footprint is with
fencing - either facing IN (so that it lowers along with the roof) or
use invisible fencing. It can be difficult to see where the roof's
footprint actually IS, but it's worth the end effect. You just want to
be sure to adjust the REAL terrain to suit the animals' needs before you
lower the roofs - it can be hard to make adjustments otherwise!