Zoo Tycoon 2 Downloads.

Guide One: Extinction

Are you fed up of ancient files from early days of Zoo Tycoon 2 listing extinct animals as critical? - Like the Dwarf Panda, Pyrenean Ibex and Terror Bird, well fret no more, here is an easy way of killing them off...

You will need:

• Notepad or other simple text editor
• Winrar, Winzip or other zip programme

The First Bit

1. Go to where your files are situated
   • In Windows XP it is in
     C:\Application Data\Microsoft Games\Downloads
     or
     C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon 2
     
   • In Windows Vista onwards it is in
     C:\ProgramData\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon 2\downloads\zootycoon_com_zt2_1033
     or
     C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon 2
     
   Replace 1033 with your own language.
2. Search for the animal you want to change, in Downloads open up the correct language folder then open up the .z2f file using Winrar/Winzip or another zip programme, In the Zoo Tycoon 2 Program Files you will only need to open up the .z2f file.
3. In the .z2f file go into entities\units\animals\ai open the MAIN xml file with notepad or another text editor (normally *name*.xml, not *name*_Young_F.xml or others)
4. Search for s_Endangerment= Copy
   
5. Next to s_Endangerment= you should notice "critical" or another endangerment status, change this to "extinct" (lower case)

Thats the first bit done, while you are in this file you may want to change stuff like space requirements (search space and change the number in the " " marks to whatever number you want)

The Second Bit

1. In the Z2f file go to lang\1033 (english is 1033, other languages have different codes)
2. Click on the xml file for the animal (normally name_strings.xml). Search for Conservation and the line should read like this:

<br />
<cell width="32" pady="0">               
	<img src="ui/zoopedia/critical.dds" mce_src="ui/zoopedia/critical.dds" sx="0" sy="0" sw="64" sh="64" width="32" height="32" />
</cell>                 
<cell width="224" padx="10" pady="0">
<color r="255" g="255" b="255">
			Conservation Status:
<br />
<color r="80" g="240" b="0">
			Critical

Change the code to this:

<br />
<cell width="32" pady="0">             
	<img src="ui/zoopedia/extinct.dds" mce_src="ui/zoopedia/extinct.dds" sx="0" sy="0" sw="64" sh="64" width="32" height="32" />
</cell>               
<cell width="224" padx="10" pady="0">
<color r="255" g="255" b="255">
			Conservation Status:
<br />
<color r="255" g="255" b="255">
			Extinct

Thats it done now save and play, any questions please contact me.

Notes:
Only works if you have DD or EA expansion packs or have the extinct.dds file installed under a .z2f file in ui/zoopedia/
Extinct Zoopedia file for ZT2
Extinct Zoopedia file for ZT2 (Mirror)
It is good practice to create this as a new file within a new .z2f, remember that Zoo Tycoon 2 reads .z2f files alphabetically, so files Named ZZ*.z2f will overwrite Z*.z2f will overwrite files named Y*.z2f

lang/1033 is English (US), for other languages replace Conservation Status: & Extinct with the localised version. List of codes here

Do not distribute files without their makers permisson
Please reference This Guide when making your animals extinct
Thanks to Badisbadis101, penguinman and mikamod

Guide Two: Filtering

Are you fussed about filters? does s_Product prey on your thoughts? well worry no more, here is a simple guide for filtering it out

You will need:

• Notepad or other simple text editor
• Winrar, Winzip or other zip programme
• One of my filter files (found on the download page) to base yours off

The First Bit

1. Go to where your files are situated
   • In Windows XP it is in
     C:\Application Data\Microsoft Games\Downloads
     or
     C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon 2
     
   • In Windows Vista onwards it is in
     C:\ProgramData\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon 2\downloads\zootycoon_com_zt2_1033
     or
     C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon 2
     
2. Find files of the entity you are trying to filter
3. Go to entities/units/animals/ai
4. Open the main XML with notepad.
5. Now search s_product Copy
   
6. There will be ="NAME" in quote marks is what we need to copy.
7. Copy the phrase in quotes.
8. Open the filter download with Winrar, winzip or other zip programme.

The Second Bit

Using filter file download, which is a fully done lang file.
You just need to change the filter xml file inside subtitute the phase you have copied into the xml file where it says bouncebag after s_product(Leave the _ (underscore) just before the name).

Now put in place of ...>Bouncebag... and ...Bouncebags Wonders... whatever you like
Then change the outside filename to something unique like filter-myfilterscoolerthanyours save to the .z2f file and away you go.

<zt2strings>
	<loc_string _locid="FilterText:format">
		<font name="arial" size="8" shadowx="-1" shadowy="1">
			<b>STRING1</b>
		</font>
	</loc_string>
	<loc_string _locid="FilterText:s_Product_STRING2">***</loc_string>
</zt2strings>

Replace STRING1 with the name to be displayed in-game, replace STRING2 with the name you copied earlier

If you are filtering an Endangerment Status (eg. Data Deficient) rather than a "product" replace s_product with s_endangerment in the file, all other steps are the same.

I have created several filters, these are available under downloads.