Cities: Skylines II is a city-building game from Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive. It’s a follow-up to Cities: Skylines, with expanded simulation factors such as city size, population size, improved traffic AI, and management schemes. Since it’s new, many players report problems like stuttering, freezing, and lagging when playing on PCs.
Having the proper hardware is crucial to running games smoothly on a PC. Still, not everyone has access to the kind of setup that can handle high resolutions and FPS, causing issues common to many PC games due to their high-performance needs. This guide offers easy steps to solve the problems faced while playing Cities Skylines 2.
Some PC players face issues like stuttering, lagging, crashing, and dropping frames. The severity of these problems can vary depending on each computer’s compatibility. Fixing these issues is important for a smoother and more enjoyable gaming experience. This guide is here to help you find and fix the causes of these problems.
Check System Requirements
Check out the system requirements of the Cities Skylines 2 game below to ensure that your PC configuration meets the game’s system requirements.
Minimum Requirements:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-6700K | AMD® Ryzen™ 5 2600X
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia® GeForce™ GTX 970 (4 GB) | AMD® Radeon™ RX 480 (8 GB)
- Storage: 60 GB available space
Recommended Requirements:
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows® 10 Home 64 Bit | Windows® 11
- Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-12600K | AMD® Ryzen™ 7 5800X
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia® GeForce™ RTX 3080 (10 GB) | AMD® Radeon™ RX 6800 XT (16 GB)
- Storage: 60 GB available space
Fix: Cities Skylines 2 Stuttering and Lags Badly
Fixing in-game lags or frame drop issues can be complex, depending on multiple factors. These factors include your PC hardware, the display resolution of the game, the maximum FPS limit count, and conflicting third-party apps, among others. We recommend trying all the methods individually until the problem is solved or reduced. One of the quickest fixes is to change the in-game graphics-related settings or keep them low. This can resolve several issues in no time.
If you experience lags or frame drops while playing a game, it could be due to screen resolution, in-game texture resolution, shadow resolution, maximum frame rate, or the number of characters displayed. Depending on the resolution and quality of the game, you can follow the steps below to reduce the lags or frame drops to some extent, regardless of the FPS count.
1. Use Launch Options
- Open your Steam client > Go to Library > Right-click on the Cities Skylines 2.
- Select Properties > On the General tab, you’ll find Launch Options.
- Enter the launch options -fullscreen = Forces the engine to start in fullscreen mode.
2. Update Graphics Drivers
- Right-click on the Start Menu to open up the Quick Access Menu.
- Click on Device Manager from the list.
- Now, double-click on the Display Adapters category to expand the list.
- Then, right-click on the dedicated graphics card name.
- Select Update driver > Choose Search automatically for drivers.
- An update will automatically download and install the latest version if available.
- Once done, make sure to reboot your computer to change the effects.
3. Run the game as an administrator
Running the game exe file and the Steam client as administrator can prevent privilege issues and user account control.
- Right-click on the Cities Skylines 2 exe shortcut file on your PC.
- Now, select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.
- Make sure to click on the Run this program as an administrator checkbox to checkmark it.
- Click on Apply and select OK to save changes.
4. Set High Priority in Task Manager
Make your game priority in the higher segment via the Task Manager to tell your Windows system to run the game properly. To do this:
- Right-click on the Start Menu > Select Task Manager.
- Click on the Processes tab > Right-click on the Cities Skylines 2 game task.
- Select Set Priority to High.
- Close Task Manager.
- Finally, run the Cities Skylines 2 game to check for the issue.
5. Verify the Integrity of Game Files
If there is an issue with game files getting corrupted or missing, use this method to easily check for the problem.
- Launch Steam > Click on Library.
- Right-click on Cities Skylines 2 from the list of installed games.
- Now, click on Properties > Go to Local Files.
- Click on Verify Integrity of Game Files.
- You’ll have to wait for the process until it gets completed.
- Once done, restart your computer.
6. Change GPU Settings
It is important to check the PC’s graphics card settings to determine if any issues have been resolved. Follow the steps below to make sure the settings are correct.
For Nvidia:
- Open up Nvidia’s Control Panel > Right-click on the desktop screen.
- Click on Nvidia Control Panel > Click on Manage 3D Settings.
- Select Program Settings > Find ‘Cities Skylines 2’ and manually add the game if it’s not in the list:
- Monitor Tech: G-Sync (If available)
- Maximum Pre-rendered frames: 2
- Threaded optimization: On
- Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
- Texture Filtering – Quality: Performance
For AMD:
- Monitor Tech: G-Sync (If available)
- Maximum Pre-rendered frames: 2
- Threaded optimization: On
- Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
- Texture Filtering – Quality: Performance
7. Disable Fullscreen Optimizations
Full-screen optimization and DPI settings are the default ones on Windows. You should try disabling it by following the steps below:
- Locate the Cities Skylines 2 game directory.
- Find and right-click on the Cities Skylines 2.exe file.
- Select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.
- Checkmark the ‘Disable Full-Screen Optimizations’ box.
- Now, click on the ‘Change high DPI setting button.
- Checkmark the ‘Override high DPI scaling behavior’ > Select ‘Application’ from the drop-down menu.
- Click on Apply and then OK to save changes.
8. Update Cities Skylines 2
If you haven’t recently updated your Cities Skylines 2 game, follow these steps to check for updates and install the latest patch.
- Open the Steam client > Go to Library > Click on Cities Skylines 2 from the left pane.
- It’ll automatically search for the available update. If there is an update available, make sure to click on Update.
- Installing the update > close the Steam client may take some time.
- Finally, reboot your PC to apply changes, and then try relaunching the game.
In conclusion, while Cities Skylines 2 offers an engaging and immersive gaming experience, some players may face technical hiccups that can hinder their gameplay. However, with the right guidance and troubleshooting, these challenges can be effectively addressed. This guide serves as a resource to ensure every player can enjoy the game to its fullest, free from distractions like lagging or freezing. Remember, every problem has a solution, and a smoother gaming session is just a few tweaks away.
I hope this guide helped resolve your PC issue. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below. For those who are experiencing specific issues like getting stuck on the loading screen, crashing issue, C++ Redistributable Error, Hardware Not Supported, or Textures Not Loading in Game, it’s recommended to click on the provided link to get detailed troubleshooting steps and possible solutions. Always ensure your systems are up-to-date, and be patient as fixes and updates roll out.