Cities: Skylines 2 gets long-awaited official mod support and map editor

Below the very unassuming title of patch 1.1.0f1, Cities: Skylines 2 is getting one thing fairly huge. The sequel now has the modding, map modifying, and code modding assist that made its predecessor such a sprawling success.

Solely time will inform if group vitality may also help restore a few of the vitality that has been dispersed by the fraught launch of Cities: Skylines 2 (C:S2). The challenge of comparatively small developer Colossal Order arrived in October 2023 with efficiency points and an absence of content material in comparison with its predecessor. A few of that content material notion stemmed from the sport’s lack of modding assist, which had contributed to complete facets of the unique recreation not but obtainable within the sequel.

When Ars interviewed Colossal Order CEO Mariina Hallikainen in December, she stated that modding assist was the factor she was most trying ahead to arriving. Modding assist was meant to be obtainable at launch, however the challenges of constructing the brand new recreation’s technical base, amid many other technical issues, pushed it again, together with console releases.

“[W]e cannot wait to have the assist on the market, so we are able to have the modding group ‘absolutely unleashed,'” Hallikainen stated then. “As a result of I do know they’re ready to get to work. They’re really already at it, however this may make it simpler. … We simply cannot wait to present them the complete set of instruments.” She famous that character modding, a “technically troublesome factor to assist,” would arrive additional out, and certainly, asset modding is listed as “obtainable later this 12 months.”

The bottom-level modding assist is now obtainable, although in “Beta” and in a unique kind than followers are used to. As an alternative of working via Steam Workshop, C:S2 mods will probably be obtainable via Paradox Mods to assist console gamers. There are, in fact, issues at launch, together with slowdown with the in-game mod browser. Most non-incensed commenters and reviewers think about the instruments themselves to be an improve over the prior recreation’s modifying suite.

Along with making mods, the in-game mod instruments ought to make it simpler to load preset “Playsets” of mod mixtures. We’ll should see how lengthy it takes belongings like Spaghetti Junction, the preferred mod for the unique Cities: Skylines, to reach in C:S2 so that each one could expertise the municipal engineering regrets of Birmingham, England.

Together with modding instruments, Colossal Order issued a few of its first correct DLC for C:S2. Beach Properties, an asset pack, provides each North American and European waterfront zoning and buildings, palm bushes, and 6 signature buildings. There’s additionally a Deluxe Relax Station that places 16 new songs and DJ patter on the soundtrack. The latest patch additionally comprises quite a few optimizations and bug fixes. Steam reviewers and Paradox discussion board members are asking why the seashore DLC would not comprise precise seashores.