Launch, crashing or performance issues with Planet Zoo on PC

Minimum Specifications

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 7 (SP1+)/8.1/10 64bit
• Processor: Intel i5-2500 / AMD FX-6350
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 (2GB) / AMD Radeon R9 270X (2GB)
• Storage: 16 GB available space
• Additional Notes: Minimum specifications may change during development

Recommended Specifications

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10 64bit
• Processor: Intel i7-4770k / AMD Ryzen 5 1600
• Memory: 16 GB RAM
• Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB) or AMD Radeon RX 580 (8GB)
• Storage: 16 GB available space

Steam

To verify integrity via Steam, please follow the instructions found here.

Sometimes the latest drivers from NVIDIA or AMD can cause issues that were not present in an older version. While these issues are normally fixed in later revisions, it can be useful to uninstall the new driver and do a fresh install of the older working driver until these issues are resolved.

It can also be worthwhile to perform an entirely fresh installation of your current drivers, if you have updated to the latest package, but are still having problems.

There are three approaches:

Update drivers for your Graphics Card:

• For Nvidia graphics cards, you can get the drivers at www.Geforce.com/drivers.
• For AMD graphics cards, you can get the drivers at www.amd.com
• For Intel graphics cards, you can get the drivers at www.intel.com

Perform a clean installation using the AMD or NVIDIA installer:

• NVIDIA: To do this you will need to download the NVIDIA driver you wish to install. Run the setup and select "Custom installation" then when asked, you will need to check the box to "Perform clean install". Full instructions can be found here: https://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/10/~/geforce-experience-driver-installation-failed.-how-do-i-manually-clean-install
• AMD: You will need to uninstall the AMD Catalyst Install Manager from Programs and Features in the control panel, and then reinstall the driver version that you wish to run. Full instructions can be found here: http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/GPU57RemoveOldGraphicsDrivers.aspx

Perform a clean reinstall using a third-part utility - Display Driver Uninstaller:

To use Display Driver uninstaller please follow the guide here:

• http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Ensure your Windows operating system is fully up-to-date using the steps provided by Microsoft here.

Steam

• You can disable your Steam overlay via: Steam - Settings - In-Game - untick Enable the Steam Overlay while in-game

Discord

• You can disable your Discord overlay via: User Settings - Games - toggle the overlay to Off.

NVIDIA GeForce Experience

• You can disable your NVIDIA GeForce Experience overlay via: Settings - General - In-game overlay - toggle the Overlay option to Off.

Xbox Game Bar

• You can disable your Xbox Game Bar via Windows Settings - Gaming - toggle Xbox Game Bar 'off'.
• You can disable your Xbox Game Bar's start up via Windows Settings - Apps & Features - Xbox Game Bar - Advanced Options - Here you can disable 'Background Apps' permissions if required.
• Turning off capture within the Xbox Game Bar application can also assist with any related issues via: Xbox Game Bar - Settings - Capturing - Toggle "Record in the background while I'm playing a game" off.

Some antivirus applications may wrongly flag the game you are attempting to play; to make sure this isn't an issue, try explicitly whitelisting the game within your Antivirus settings.

Running the game full-screen may result in improved performance. By default, PC games often run full-screen; if you have previously changed related settings, or your game did not default to this mode, please adjust settings via the in-game menu.

You may find it helpful to lower the graphics quality of the game itself from the in-game menu.

We have found that this has worked across many PC games since the Windows 10 April 2018 Creators update. It will trigger Windows to update your chosen display settings.

Programs that add this functionality to your computer can be extremely demanding or cause conflicts that may result in a crash.

The following list serves as example programs you may wish to review and test against:

• NVIDIA GeForce Experience
• Open Broadcaster Software
• FRAPS
• Xsplit
• Xbox Game Bar
• Overwolf
• Discord
• Mumble
• MSI Afterburner
• Xbox Game DVR
• NVIDIA Shadowplay

We advise checking with a qualified technician to review your machine for signs of overheating, a state that may cause your machine to fail or operate poorly.

This step may be of particular benefit to high-end graphics cards. You will need to download GPU-Z for this check. The program is trusted and allows you to view data related to your GPU:

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

Once this program is active, check the 'Bus Interface' section. You should see an entry that reads something like this: "PCI-E 2.0 x16 @x16 2.0". Depending on your motherboard you may see different details here. However, the key part of this entry is the @x number. It may read @x4, @x8 or @x16. With higher performance cards, you'll be looking for x16 to be displayed here.

You will have to check the manual which came with your PC to identify the motherboard you have, or if you know the motherboard then search then specifications online. The purpose is to find what type of PCI-E slots your motherboard has. You then need to find out if your graphics card is seated in an x16 slot or one of the other options. If it's not in an x16 slot, you need to move it to one to get the full benefit of that cards performance.

If you're unsure, a good rule of thumb is to seat your graphics card in the top PCI-E slot, which is the one closest to your CPU. Once this is confirmed then reboot your system, re-open GPU-Z and check the 'Bus Interface' again. If it didn't say @x16, it should now. Re-launch the game and you should see a significant boost in performance.

IF YOUR ZOOKEEPER IS INSPECTING THE HABITAT AND THEN LEAVING WITHOUT PREPARING FOOD FOR THE ANIMALS:

• Keepers will only prepare enough food for the number of animals in the habitat, so if you place down an unnecessary amount of feeders, your Zookeepers will not fill them. Exhibits need food too, keepers prepare batches of food for exhibits so that they don’t have to walk back and forth from keeper huts but it might be a good idea to have a single keeper look after a block of exhibits.
• To complete their jobs keepers also need access to a keeper hut where they prepare food. Keeper huts can become blocked if too many members of staff are accessing them, if they are not powered, or if they are not connected to a path they can access.
• Make sure your keeper is set to feed animals (found in the staff info panel and set on by default) and don’t assign a single keeper to too many habitats as they will not be able to keep on top of the work.
• Most importantly, ensure your animals are hungry, otherwise, your Zookeepers will find that feeding them is not needed when they visit the habitat. An empty tray does not mean your animals are hungry. This can be identified in the animal info panel. Zookeepers will always fill the enrichment items first, as they benefit your animals greater than if they eat off a tray or the ground. If keepers fill enrichment items and do not place food on other feeding options then the enrichment feeders have enough food capacity for your animals, this is not a problem. Conversely, if keepers put food on the ground then the feeders do not have enough capacity and you should consider adding more.

IF YOUR ZOOKEEPER ISN’T INSPECTING A HABITAT:

• Your Zookeepers lack energy as they don’t have anywhere to rest, so make sure they have a staff room they can access as when they are tired, they will not enter habitats and look after your animals even if you call them. Staff rooms can become blocked if too many members of staff are accessing them, if they are not powered, or if they are not connected to a path they can access.
• Keepers will cycle through habitats attending them in order of which habitat has least recently been tended to, they will not go to a habitat earlier than the inspection time as set on the habitat gate. Once committed to performing work in a habitat the keeper will not break out until the job is finished, keepers may need to rest after this point and will do so at a staff building before picking up the next job. Calling a keeper to a habitat gate, animal or feeder pushes this job to the top of the next available keeper’s work list and may disrupt their normal cycle – it should be used in case of emergency.
• If a keeper is assigned to a single habitat, once they are depleted of energy they will go and look for a staff room. If animals in their assigned habitat become hungry, they will then find a keeper hut to prepare food. However, their behaviour might look a bit odd and you might think they are doing nothing as they just hang around the habitat gate, or walk aimlessly until they get something to do. It is recommended to have the full package (habitat, keeper hut, staff centre) assigned to the work zone as shown in the tutorial in Scenario 3.
• If staff facilities are placed too far from the main areas of the zoo it is possible that staff will get tired walking to work and have to turn around and rest.
• We recommend giving your Zookeepers (as with all your staff) work zones, as otherwise, they will have long journeys between habitats. Keepers will go to the nearest keeper hut or staff room if none are assigned to a work zone, but this may be inefficient. They will not enter an unassigned habitat therefore if you have keepers in work zones without habitats, they will not feed the animals. Keepers not assigned to work zones will simply attempt to do their job as best as possible but will aim for habitats that have least been seen, and these may be a long way away from them and this is inefficient.
• Ensure your animals have enough Zookeepers looking after them. Some of the larger animals may require two, or even three Zookeepers looking after them. In these cases assigning specific roles to the keepers may be beneficial for them to stay on top of the work.

OTHER THINGS TO BE AWARE OF:

• Keepers always enter a habitat and inspect before doing anything else. If animals need water they will deal with this immediately. If they need food the keeper will leave the habitat (this is normal) and go to the closest keeper hut to prepare food before returning to feed – this is why keeping keeper huts and habitat gates in close proximity is so important. If there are no more pressing jobs the keeper may choose to clean the habitat, keepers will normally clean habitats after feeding.
• Please ensure that you have the correct feeders/enrichment items in your habitats. this is doubly important for mixed enclosures. If the wrong feeders are in place, they will not be used. Food may then be poured onto the ground instead.
• If your animals are being fed, but welfare remains lower than expected, it may be that you can increase welfare by using a higher quality of food, which affords the animal better nutrition.
• Placing your feeding stations near the habitat gates (but ideally in view of the guests) means your Zookeepers won’t need to travel too far across your habitat to feed your animals, allowing them to feed them faster and move onto the next job.
• If you have huge habitats; animals will become hungrier if they have to walk a great distance to eat. A slightly smaller habitat may result in happier animals.
• Make sure your Zookeeper can access the feeding station, if they can’t they’ll place food on the floor (which isn’t the end of the world but can cause disease).
• Training the staff will increase their efficiency, making them work faster – the opposite will happen if your Zookeepers are unhappy, due to being overworked and underpaid, they will work slower.
• You can set the frequency with which your Zookeepers inspect habitats. If they don’t inspect frequently enough, your animals may starve. If keepers return to a habitat in the default time frame and can reasonably reach a keeper hut then animals will not starve. Animals should not really need to be fed more than once a game year, cleaning may need to be more frequent, however.

If you find that you are unable to place a blueprint that you have downloaded from the Steam Workshop; the most common cause is that the blueprint contains research items that you do not yet have access to.

As soon as you have researched all of the required elements, you will be able to enjoy the blueprint. If this does not work for you, and you require further help; please use the button at the bottom of this article to contact our support team.

It is possible that disabling the Steam Beta client may help the Animal Trading Centre run more smoothly.

To do this, follow these steps:

1. In Steam, Click on the “Steam” menu at the top left and choose “Settings”
2. On the “Account” tab (it should default to this), under “Beta Participation”, click the “Change” button.
3. Use the drop-down menu to select the “NONE” option.

The Animal Trading Centre uses the ‘Steam Client Web Helper’, which the Beta client also uses. Disabling it should, therefore, improve performance.

If the above has not worked for you; please use the button at the bottom of this article to contact our Support Team.

The "Failure to Save" error message in Planet Zoo appears when it cannot locate your default Windows 'Saved Games' folder.

Save Games should be stored in "C:\Users\%username%\Saved Games".

You can locate your 'Saved Games' folder by typing "shell:SavedGames" into your File Explorer. If nothing appears then this has been removed.

If this folder no longer exists, you can run the Restore_Saved_Games_Default_Location.bat attached to this article to restore your 'Saved Games' folder. To do this, please right-click the file and 'Save Link As', then save.

If you wish to change the location of your saved games file from the default, please right click on the newly restored 'Saved Games' folder and select the desired file path.

If you experience any further problems, please get in touch with us by using the button below.

Thanks to Shawn Brink on http://www.tenforums.com for a very informative guide that helped with this troubleshooting step.

To make use of the issue tracker, you must first create an account on the Frontier Store. You can do this by clicking this link.

Once you have done this or if you already have an account, please then follow the following instructions.

• At https://user.frontierstore.net/user/info, log in using the button in the top right.

• From the options on the left, select 'Partner Keys'.
• Select the green 'Sign in through Steam' button.

Once you log in to Steam (as requested on the page that will open), your accounts will be linked and you will have access to the Frontier Issue Tracker.

If you are still unable to log into the issue tracker; please use the button below to contact our support team.