Before describing how to set the slot info, here is some background information to say what it represents. If you turn on grid lines in ZT, you will see that the grid lines form diamond shapes. If it was possible to rotate these grid lines slightly, they would be close to forming squares. Slot positions are based on these imaginary squares. ZT pretends these squares are 64 dots by 64 dots. That is not the amount of graphic pixels inside the grid square. There are much less pixels inside. The 64x64 dots are just imaginary for positioning purposes.
When configuring the slot positions of things such as benches, the slot positions must be exact because that is where a guest will sit on the bench. But the slot positions do not have to be exact for the types of buildings that this guide covers. No matter which position inside a grid square is used in the configuration, ZT will always use the same type of behavior for these types of buildings. If the guest goes inside the building, ZT will have the guest walk up to the grid line closest to the building's footprint and then have the guest disappear. In this case, the guest could walk to any place along that grid line that is part of the configured position's square. If the guest stands outside instead of entering the building, ZT will have the guest stand approximately 3/4 of a square away from that grid line. Although it does not matter which position in the grid square is used, I always do the configuration the same way, which is a little different than BF's way of configuring. I use a position that is 1 dot on the opposite side of the grid line than the building's opening. The reference lists at the end of this guide follow this strategy. In the original ZT, it was possible to have a guest stand right next to the stand, cart, or machine. Unfortunately, BF broke this capability in the expansion packs. But I still configure in that way.
Because of the way ZT handles slot positions, there are things to consider when making realistic building graphics that guests or animals will enter. The opening or door to the building should be right up against the grid line since that is where the guests or animals will disappear. Do not use "glass" type of graphics where one would expect to see the guests or animals, since they will not be seen. Since guests and animals can disappear into the building at any point along the grid line of the grid square, the opening or door should be nearly 1 grid square wide. Otherwise it will look like the guests or animals are walking through walls. Normally you do not want the openings or doors to be next to 2 grid squares unless the opening or door is nearly 2 grid squares wide. Finally, ZT has a problem when it comes to some shelters, even when they are configured properly. In 2 of the 4 zoo rotations, animals can sometimes appear to be entering shelters through walls. Generally speaking, the ZT shelter sizes and opening positions work. So you normally want to use those sizes and opening positions: cFootprintX=2, cFootprintX=4 with opening position 1, or cFootprintX=6 with opening position 2. (Opening positions are explained below.)
One final recommendation concerning graphics. If your building has only 1 opening or door, that opening or door should be facing to the front right in the SE graphics (as seen in the graphics below). This is the default graphics inside ZT before a zoo or purchase menu is rotated. All of BF's buildings follow this recommendation. If your building has more than 1 opening or door, at least 1 should be facing to the front right in the SE graphics.
Now for setting positions. Here is an example of what the slot information would look like for a fictional female restroom that has a size of cFootprintX=4 and cFootprintY=2 and has the opening in position 1 (which is similar to ZT's family restroom):
Code: Select all
[slots]
name=slot
[slot]
id=9504
id=9506
slotpos=0
slotpos=0
entrpos=-32
entrpos=33
exitpos=-32
exitpos=33
capacity=8
facing=0In the [slot] section, the "id" lines say which guests or animals may use this building. In this case, only women and girls may use the building. The possible guest values are: 9503 (Man), 9504 (Woman), 9505 (Boy), 9506 (Girl). Normally there will not be any "id" lines, which would allow all guests or all animals to use the building.
The "slotpos" lines say where the guest would be if they did not disappear when they enter the building. This is important for things such as benches. But for the types of buildings here, they can be set to 0. Notice that there are 2 lines. The reason is that the first line represents the cFootprintX direction and the second line represents the cFootprintY direction.
Before getting to "entrpos" and "exitpos" lines, here are a couple comments concerning the remaining lines. The "capacity" line indicates how many guests/animals may use this "slot position" at the same time. In this case, 8 may. The value should match the cCapacity setting that is placed in the [Characteristics/Integers] section of the ".ai" file. The "facing" line indicates which way a guest will be facing if they do not disappear while interacting. It is mainly used for picnic tables and is ignored for these types of buildings.
The "entrpos" lines indicate where the guests or animals should enter the building or where they should stand near it. Again, it is a pair of lines, with the first line representing the cFootprintX direction and the second line representing the cFootprintY direction. To find the values, you would look in one of the below lists. In this case, we would go to the "Slot Lines For Openings In The Front Of A Building" section below. In that section, we would look for the part where "cFootprintX=4" for our example. Then we would see where the opening in our building is when compared to the "cFootprintX=4" picture. As mentioned, the opening in our building is in position 1. Looking at the text below the picture, we see that the first slot line for an opening in position 1 is "entrpos=-32". So that is how we got the "entrpos=-32" line in the above slot information example. At the end of the "Slot Lines For Openings In The Front Of A Building" section and just before the "Slot Lines For Openings On The Left Of A Building" section, there is a list for cFootprintY values. In this list, we look for "cFootprintY=2" for our building and we see that the second slot line if cFootprintY=2 is "entrpos=33". So that is how we got the "entrpos=33" line in the above slot information example.
Normally ZT will ignore "exitpos" lines and will have the guests and animals exit at the same location they enter. If there is more than 1 entrance position, then ZT will occasionally (but not often) choose one of the other positions for the guest or animal to exit. Even though the "exitpos" lines are ignored in these cases, we configure them the same way as the entrance positions. That is why "exitpos=-32" and "exitpos=33" were used in the above example. It is possible to force a guest or animal to exit a different place than it entered. In that case, you would set the "exitpos" lines to the exit location and put a "cUserUsesExit=1" line in the [Characteristics/Integers] section of the ".ai" file. To find the values for the "exitpos" lines in that case, you would use the same technique as for finding the values for the "entrpos" lines.
The above example only has 1 entrance/exit. It is possible to have more than 1. In that case there would be a pair of "entrpos" lines and a pair of "exitpos" lines for each entrance/exit. If the above example had openings in both position 1 and position 2, using the below lists for each entrance/exit, here are what the lines would be:
Code: Select all
entrpos=-32
entrpos=33
entrpos=32
entrpos=33
exitpos=-32
exitpos=33
exitpos=32
exitpos=33Code: Select all
entrpos=-48
entrpos=33
entrpos=-16
entrpos=33
exitpos=-48
exitpos=33
exitpos=-16
exitpos=33It is possible to have entrances or exits on the left side of a building. In that case, find the values in the "Slot Lines For Openings On The Left Of A Building" section below. It is also possible to have entrances or exits in the back of a building. In that case, imagine someone walking straight through the building and determine which opening in the front they would come out. Then use the values for that front opening which are found in the below "Slot Lines For Openings In The Front Of A Building" section. However, for the second entrpos/exitpos line, put a "-" in front of the number. Usually any back entrance/exit will be in the center, which means you would use the center position in the front to find the values. It is also possible to have entrances or exits on the right side of a building. In that case, imagine someone walking straight through the building and determine which opening on the left side they would come out. Then use the values for that left opening which are found in the below ""Slot Lines For Openings On The Left Of A Building" section. However, for the first entrpos/exitpos line, remove the "-" from the front of the number. If there are configured entrances/exits on the back or right side of the building, then the download description should say that, so that Zoo Tycooners don't accidentally block them. Fortunately it is rare that you have to worry about openings/doors that are not on the front.
Note that, so far, cFootprintX and cFootprintY have always been even numbers. With 2 exceptions, this should always be the case, since ZT can get confused displaying the graphics otherwise. The 2 exceptions are cFootprintY=1 with cFootprintX being equal to either 1 (quarter grid square size) or 2 (half grid square size). The half grid square size is often used for vending machines. ZT does not have any examples of a quarter grid square building or machine. It should only be used if it would look realistic having it with the guest standing at the opposite corner of the grid square. I have used it for Devona's Park Grill since guests only need to watch things cook without actually standing near it. To find the values for half grid square sizes and quarter grid square sizes, you would use the below "Slot Lines For Half Grid Square And Quarter Grid Square Structures" section.
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The above guide and the below lists and images may be copied to any web site. But, except for formatting changes, the contents may not be changed, including the credits. If there are any suggestions for changes, please post them at Zookeeper's Lounge. That is where this guide will be kept up-to-date.
Slot Information Guide in the Designer Guides section at the Zookeeper's Lounge web site:
index.php
- written by Jay
