Zoo Tycoon Designer Guild

Usually the configuration for an animal made for ZT includes a [cSuitableObjects] section. The [cSuitableObjects] section says what objects the animal likes and dislikes. This section can include object dll IDs, object internal names (APE IDs), and habitat IDs. In the case of internal names, one of the first 3 characters has to be a letter in order for ZT to recognize it as an internal name. The lines in the [cSuitableObjects] section are in pairs. For example, the first pair of lines in the [cSuitableObjects] section for the Bengal Tiger are:
v = 9410
v = -10

9410 is the habitat ID for "Non-habitat" objects, which includes the shelters that come with ZT. Since "-20" is a negative number, that means the tiger does not like any of ZT's shelters by default. But to see if a specific object is liked or tolerated, one has to look for 2 things in this section: the object's ID, and the object's habitat ID. As an example, the Bengal Tiger likes 7 of the shelters that come with ZT. Its favorite shelter is the Rock Cave, which has a dll ID of 8100 and a habitat ID of 9410. The [cSuitableObjects] section for the Bengal Tiger includes the following pair of lines:
v = 8100
v = 22

That means the Bengal Tiger likes the Rock Cave by 22, before taking the habitat into account. Since the Bengal Tiger dislikes the 9410 habitat ID by -10, ZT adds the 22 and -10 together, giving the total of 12. Since that total is greater than 0, the Bengal Tiger likes the Rock Cave. If the total is less than 0, the animal dislikes the object. If the total equals 0, the animal tolerates the object. The Tank Filter is an example of an object that the Bengal Tiger tolerates. The Tank Filter has a dll ID of 6471 and a habitat ID of 9414 ("Bad-habitat"). The [cSuitableObjects] section for the Bengal Tiger includes the following pairs of lines:
v = 9414
v = -100
...
v = 6471
v = 100

ZT adds the -100 and 100 together, giving a total of 0. Being that the total is 0, the Bengal Tiger tolerates the Tank Filter. As an example of something the Bengal Tiger dislikes, most animals are configured to dislike poo, which has a dll ID of 6062 and a habitat ID of 9412 ("Null Habitat"). 9412 is not in the [cSuitableObjects] section for the Bengal Tiger, so that is the same as being there with a value of 0. But 6062 is in the [cSuitableObjects] section:
v = 6062
v = -5

ZT adds 0 and -5 together, giving a total of -5. Being that the total is less than 0, the Bengal Tiger dislikes poo. As another example, we will look at whether or not the Bengal Tiger likes its preferred object. The configuration for the Bengal Tiger includes "cPrefIconID = 7014" (Mangrove Tree). The habitat of the Mangrove Tree is 9405 (Rainforest). 9405 and 7014 are in the [cSuitableObjects] section for the Bengal Tiger. These are the pairs of lines we see in the [cSuitableObjects] section for those:
v = 9405
v = 3
...
v = 7014
v = 7

Although it is obvious from the above that the animal likes both the Rainforest habitat and the Mangrove Tree, ZT will still add the values together. When we add 3 and 7 together, we get 10. Since 10 is greater than 0, the tiger likes the Mangrove Tree. Although an animal can like its preferred object just from the habitat ID, it is recommended to always include the preferred object ID in the [cSuitableObjects] section so it is obvious that the prefferred object is liked just by looking at the uca/ai file. For suitability purposes, ZT also takes the object's footprint into account. So if an animal likes a full tile foliage object by 5 and a quarter tile foliage object by 5, and they both have the same habitat ID, the quarter tile object is better for suitability, since four can fit in one tile.

When making a new animal for ZT, a designer has to decide what habitats and objects their animal will like, dislike, and tolerate. In order to help with that for objects that come with ZT, the rest of this topic shows the object's ID, habitat ID, and internal name for the objects that come with ZT or were available as official downloads. The lists also include a "SE Icon" column. When an object is used as an animal's preferred object, cPrefIconID is set to the object's ID in the [m/Characteristics/Integers], [f/Characteristics/Integers], and [y/Characteristics/Integers] sections in the animal configuration. cPrefIconID should be in all three of those sections so that the tooltip for the object can appear for males, females, and young. In addition to setting cPrefIconID, cPrefIcon in the animal configuration would be set to the corresponding setting that is in the "SE Icon" column of these lists. So when the Mangrove Tree is the preferred object, cPrefIconID is set to 7014 and cPrefIcon is set to objects/mangrove/SE/SE. The lists also have an "Any user ID" column. When something is in that column, only certain ZT animals can use that object and no user made animal can use it. That is especially useful for shelters. For example, the Rock Cave has something in that column. So a user made animal cannot go in ZT's Rock Cave, although a user made animal can like or tolerate ZT's Rock Cave. Because of that, if a user made animal is configured to need a shelter, the concrete shelters should be included in the [cSuitableObjects] section, since those can be used by any animal. Similarly, no toy or show toy can be used by a user made animal. For completeness, the following lists include developer objects, paths, fences, and uncategorized objects (called "unknown"), although I am not aware of any of those being in the [cSuitableObjects] section for any animal, other than poo and the tank filter.