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Scripting API

Installing EMU Scripts

Create a new folder called scripts inside of your main Zoo Tycoon directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Zoo Tycoon. Drop scripts inside of the scripts folder.

Scripting details:

  • EMU supports Lua 5.4.
  • Lua scripts must have the .emu extension.
  • All scripts will run on the main game loop. Be conservative with loops unless they are predictable and efficient. Global variables might not be effective as they are not guaranteed to persist between script runs.
  • All executing code must live inside of an emu_run function.

Writing Lua Scripts

Files must carry the .emu extension and placed in the /scripts folder inside of the root Zoo Tycoon 1 folder. All Lua code must be inside of an emu_run function to be executed. Any code inside of the emu_run function will be executed on the main EMU loop.

Please check out the Advanced Modding Tutorials section for guided tutorials on how to write Lua scripts for Zoo Tycoon 1.

Supported API Calls

EMU adds scripting support to Zoo Tycoon 1. The following sections detail the available API calls you can use in your Lua scripts.

Game Manager API
Entity Types API
EMU Console API
World Manager API
UI General API