Cities: Skylines 2 was released on Steam, but players started experiencing frame drops and low FPS en masse. It gets to the point where the game crashes even on the best hardware with 40 series video cards. In this guide, we’ll tell you how to optimize your city builder and what features you shouldn’t use while playing.
Remark: Most of the tips in this guide are given by the developers themselves. If you want to supplement the material, write your notes in the comments.
System requirements
Before you start the game, make sure it is suitable for your build, at least according to the minimum system requirements. For now, though, this doesn’t mean you won’t experience FPS drops.
Minimum requirements
- Operating system: Windows 10;
- CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K / AMD Ryzen 5 2600X;
- RAM: 8GB;
- Video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 / AMD Radeon RX 480;
- Memory: 60 GB free space.
Recommended requirements
- Operating system: Windows 10/11;
- CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K / AMD Ryzen 7 5800X;
- RAM: 16GB
- Video card: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 / AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT;
- Memory: 60 GB free space.
Main parameters affecting the graphics display
Below we have presented the main parameters that must be configured first of all for a comfortable game in Cities: Skylines 2.
Virtual texture
Virtual textures are a fairly complex technology that uses a large amount of video memory when playing with textures. We recommend that you wait until the texturing has finished processing the resources and then return to the game.
If you continue to play while creating textures, buildings and objects may become dark and the game may freeze and stutter. Normally, the processing time of the texture does not exceed a few minutes, but it all depends on the individual configurations of personal computers. When processing is complete, you will receive a notification on your home screen.
Screen resolution, motion blur, depth of field and dynamic resolution
- Permission: The developers recommend setting the resolution to 1920:1080, 60 Hz, even on powerful PCs and if you have a monitor (TV) with a high resolution.
- Depth of Field: Handicapped.
- Volume: Handicapped. This will slightly reduce the quality of volumetric clouds, but will significantly improve overall performance.
- Motion blur: Handicapped. While this option does not have a significant impact on performance, for some users the game may look visually worse and FPS may decrease if this feature is enabled.
- Dynamic resolution is a game setting that helps improve performance by dynamically changing the resolution. If you experience constant FPS drops, enable this feature.
Best graphics settings in Cities: Skylines 2
We’ve broken down the best graphics settings for users whose PC builds meet the minimum and recommended system requirements. Either way, it’s best to follow the guidelines for some of the settings described in the previous section.
Graphics settings for weak PCs
- Vertical Sync: Disabled on displays with VRR/G-Sync, otherwise set to Enabled;
- Depth of field mode: Handicapped;
- Global Graphics Quality: Amended;
- Performance preferences: Frame rate;
- Dynamic resolution scale: Handicapped;
- Adaptive dynamic resolution scale: Handicapped;
- Anti-aliasing quality: SMAA;
- Cloud quality settings: Average;
- Volume clouds: Handicapped;
- Distant clouds: Handicapped;
- Volume Cloud Shadows: Handicapped;
- Cloud shadows in the distance: Handicapped;
- Fog quality settings: Handicapped;
- Volumetric quality settings: Handicapped;
- Global illumination: Average;
- Reflection quality: Low;
- Transparent reflections: Handicapped;
- Depth of field quality: Handicapped;
- Motion blur: Handicapped;
- Shadow quality: Low;
- The landscape casts shadows: Included;
- Terrain quality: Average;
- Level of detail: Low;
- Animation Quality: Low;
- Texture quality: Average.
Graphics settings for powerful PCs
- Vertical Sync: Disabled on displays with VRR/G-Sync, otherwise set to Enabled;
- Depth of field mode: Handicapped;
- Global Graphics Quality: Amended;
- Performance preferences: Frame rate;
- Dynamic resolution scale: Automatically;
- Anti-aliasing quality: high SMAA;
- Cloud quality settings: High;
- Volume clouds: Included
- Distant clouds: Included
- Volume Cloud Shadows: Enabled.
- Cloud shadows in the distance: Included
- Fog quality settings: Included
- Volumetric quality settings: Handicapped;
- Global illumination: Average;
- Noise reduction radius: 0.5;
- Reflection quality: Average;
- Transparent reflections: Included;
- Depth of field quality: Handicapped;
- Motion blur: Handicapped;
- Shadow quality: Average;
- Terrain quality: Average;
- Level of detail: Average;
- Animation Quality: Average;
- Texture quality: High.
Source: VG Times
Christina Moncayo is a contributing writer for “Social Bites”. Her focus is on the gaming industry and she provides in-depth coverage of the latest news and trends in the world of gaming.