Are you having performance issues while running Cities Skylines 2 at an acceptable frame rate? As anticipated, given its pedigree, Cities Skylines 2 has been chugging on even the best hardware currently available. This guide will attempt to optimize performance with some tips and settings.
Windowed Fullscreen Versus Fullscreen
Switching between these two settings should be your very first step to bettering frame rates in the game. Now, your mileage may vary, as one or the other may work better for you and your setup. Switch between them, and test out some gameplay before proceeding to the next fix.
V-Sync
Another setting for which your own experience may vastly differ from another player. Test the game with V-Sync turned on or off before settling on a choice.
Quick Fixes – Cities Skylines 2 Performance Issues
While the game will run fairly well early on, when your fledgling city is still developing, the late game is going to weigh your PC down quite a bit. Your first step should be ‘Level of Detail’ (LoD) which you should dial down to ‘Low’ ideally. LoD determines just how complex the models are, as well as texture quality at all zoom levels. Since you’ll be spending most of your time zoomed out anyway, the trade-off in visual fidelity for the biggest boost in performance among all possible tweaks, is well worth it. Do not use ‘Very Low’ as that leads to more loss in the graphical experience for not much fps gain.
Additional Graphics Settings – Cities Skylines II
Turn down the following settings which will not affect your gameplay experience, but will enhance your frame rate.
Depth of Field mode: Disabled
Clouds Quality Settings: Low
Volumetrics Quality Settings: Disabled
Global Illumination: Disabled
Reflections Quality: Low
Depth of Field Quality: Disabled
Motion Blur: Disabled
Shadow Quality: Low
Water Quality Settings: Medium
Cities Skylines 2 Quality Performance Tips
Once you’ve achieved a desired frame rate, and want to claw back some visual fidelity at the cost of a few fps, you can gradually turn up some settings. Begin with restoring some shadow quality, then add some reflections, and finally water quality. Don’t bother with clouds, which you’ll never notice, nor Global Illumination which is only really impressive at night, but not really worth the fps hit.
And that’s everything to know about getting the best performance out of Cities: Skylines 2 for PC. Check out our other guides for Cities: Skylines II including rezoning and removing zones, rotating buildings, and changing road direction.
