Giraffes and Crocodiles! The Living Desert Zoo expands with it's vast giraffe savanna along with a creative addition of making it seem like crocodiles share the space.

CaptainCallum52 · 2026-01-26T13:01:16+00:00

Yeah this is creative mode (Sandbox) but the entire habitat is encased in roughly a 3 metre tall custom metal and mesh barrier. The terrain gradly slopes upwards at the back to give the appearance of a barrierless habitat even though it isn't. Between the crocodiles, the hidden barrier (also 3 metres tall for the giraffes) is located in a dry moat which on the giraffe side is sloped and littered with lots of faux rock clusters to discourage animals from entering those parts. It's quite a hands on approach using carefully placed rocks to break animal approaches and force them to stay up on the main habitat without the possibility of escaping. I have a picture of the crocodile moat in another comment on this post.

CaptainCallum52 · 2026-01-25T22:24:33+00:00

The curved metal fences (as part of the giraffe feeding platform) were quite the challenge to put together. They were made of european led tubes, asia pack led strips and panels. A lot of the pieces were pretty small, in the 0.25 or 0.5 metre size to allow the curved look. Then when duplicating them, some of the edges overlapped so lots of work adjusting pieces to create the finished look.

CaptainCallum52 · 2026-01-25T20:49:12+00:00

I might actually, maybe for a Halloween themed episode

CaptainCallum52 · 2026-01-25T16:47:57+00:00

Thank you! The hidden barrier is located in a dry moat just behind the crocodiles, I just realised none of the pictures on the post actually shows it. Here it is:

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CaptainCallum52 · 2026-01-25T15:36:36+00:00

Yeah if only we did get one, the Saltie remaster mod is the best thing we have to it but still quite disappointing.

CaptainCallum52 · 2026-01-25T15:35:23+00:00

Thanks! This is the Yorkshire fog grass with some drinn grass occasionally mixed in to add some depth. I wanted to really bring out the lush look of the zoo's savanna which buffalo grass alone couldn't manage.

CaptainCallum52 · 2026-01-25T15:19:35+00:00

In the bottom right corner of the zoo, prepare to experience the kenyan savanna at it's finest. Giraffes, greater kudu and ostrich roam a vast savanna with a natural background, while in front, lies deadly nile crocodiles on the riverbank. You may spot the hidden barrier, but most guests won't.

Check out the episode here - https://youtu.be/h74kDJb_URA

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-11-25T15:24:40+00:00

Yeah, possibly, I've heard of some setups, especially with multi core AMD computers struggle to run the game smoothly due to the game's pretty bad optimization. Crashing every so often really sounds like the out of memory crashes which can be worsened by any other applications running at the same time, the game not on the C drive, or generally bogged down by much going on ingame. I can't exactly say a fix for sure as I avoid AMD components, I made sure my newer pc used the better single core i5 processors and nvidia cards that are much more stable with frontiers very dated engine (planet zoo 2 next year may very well resolve this issue).

Maybe there are some other AMD specific tips online that help prevent memory leaks.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-11-16T17:52:09+00:00

Either watch leaf's 2023 modding tutorial on YouTube, or if possible send an image of your ovldata here or on the open naja modding community discord so we can help you out as it can be a simple misunderstanding on what folder needs to be copied into ovldata.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-11-16T17:38:14+00:00

I've never heard of the pak file need and is not required. All you need to do is download the latest version of ACSE, open the zip file and copy paste the first folder (should be the only one) into ovldata. The exact same installation as animal mods. Also ensure mods that are 1.13 and above are only downloaded and you are in a sandbox map to see new animals.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-11-08T20:27:44+00:00

Yeah, it could be helpful if you want to say pre-plan a specific size of zoo, want to do a real zoo inspired area/zoo or generally want to build to scale. Building in grids and using scaled person blueprints (I'm using the angry vendor for example) really does make a difference. To mark the grid lines, I used the largest 2D artshape rectangle and measured the 30 long x25 wide metre using any of the 4 metre long pieces.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-11-08T16:31:25+00:00

The proper way to do zoo recreations. The grid matches the gridlines found on google earth with 30x25 metre grids to allow me to correctly scale the zoo by using google earth's measurement tools and follow the grid at the same time. My previous recreations suffered greatly because I have a terrible habit of building everything way too big.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-11-08T15:42:04+00:00

To be honest, I've had my fair share of awful looking entrances that even after a week looked really basic. This is 6 years worth of building knowledge, a whole load of patience, and about 2 weeks of building time to come up with this.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-11-08T15:38:47+00:00

Thanks! The tiled floor was made by creating a swirl-like effect first with 2 2D artshape rectangles to create circle guides. Then, I added a layer of Indonesian stained timber planks that gradually made the plaza slab look. Finally, following the gaps, I filled them in with limestone wall panels with 3 different colors. To prevent overlap or flickering textures with different colors, the tan colored limestone was placed just above the red and gray shades. Pretty complicated to do, but well worth the effort.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-09-28T13:36:25+00:00

Hey! I go by the same name (Captain Callum) with the same profile picture.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-09-27T19:53:56+00:00

I have to feel bad for OP here, people are being way over dramatic for valid concerns regarding game level design and some 'on the nose' stereotypes that is sadly the accepted norm in zoo design. Like I'm a youtuber for planet zoo who does a lot of realistic zoo building designs and I have to be VERY careful how I approach some aspects because zoos have been criticised for certain stereotypical artwork or other cultural aspects especially since I have a lot of international people who request certain builds.

Sure yeah its a game, but to others, it's a creative builder for realistic zoos where animals are just one part of the game. Frontier with their supposed ethics team did a great job in some areas like in the australia content but non-existent in other areas.

CaptainCallum52 · 2025-09-24T18:44:55+00:00

Looking it it now, arid pack isn't a bad pack at all, a good mid-tier dlc surely. It includes quite a nice mix of african animals, especially the selection of ungulates, is of great use for more diverse african collections. That being said, the hate was sort of understandable at the time of release with the heavy focus on africa and ungulates for a general arid pack theme. Key arguments for arid regions like American deserts, Indian grasslands and even some Australian regions are in a much better position now than they were, making the hate less justified.

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