How to create realistic cities?

[ahunt_]

Hey all,

I've seen some pretty incredible/realistic cities on here/youtube. My question is - Do you build out your city so that the fundamentals (jobs & employment rates, services, etc.) are all in place first and then detail with custom assets after?

OR

Do you not worry about the fundamentals of the game and just detail/build custom cities from the start?

[shadeling]

Check out Sam Bur's channel for realistic city building, he's a city planner by trade and his cities are always so inspiring to me and they have very little traffic because of how he utilizes roads, pedestrian paths and public transportation.

I've noticed that the Youtubers who are really into detailing tend to play infinite money and that's what I tend to do too, I'm more interested in the aesthetic side of city building versus the money crunching budgeting side of things.

[MarkJohnson]

To get realistic looking cities, you'll need to record the session then edit it and make it look nicer. That's what most YouTuber's do anyway.

[JTheGoat]

Depends if you want a big city you should always go with custom district assets there less harsh on your frames, I build huge cities but dont use vanilla assets i normally use shotgun houses and zoneable custom homes to save my fps, But still if you make a heavily detailted city dont expect high frames your gonna dip under 10, with my suggestion you'll stay around 20 around the whole city which is playable.

[Markus Reese]

realistic cities are not possible on vanilla mind you. For layout alone you need moveit and traffic managers with lane and timed light managements. Then also will want different LUTs and map theme for the visuals.

That will get you the basics for road layouts but for function will also want a range of assets to keep service clutter down.

After that is just building small block by block to micro all the intersections and roads to keep traffic going well.

[ragawrealms]

I only got into customizing and detailing after i was able to setup all the services and transports as a matter of habit

When all that is taken care of, usually the major outlines of the city are done

If i create a park area, i detail it and move on to the next part, if I create a casino, i make the parking lots and path and make sure there are bus routes going past, add in benched for people to wait at, a few signs here and there etc etc

then move on to the next area

[djhsilver]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1287466587

[Meesmoth]

For my approach, I disable most of the gameplay logics and mechanics by using various mods and turning it into a pure Sandbox or City-Painter mode.

Realistic cities are not possible in Vanilla gameplay as Cities Skylines has different logic from reality, that you need to "force" at the game by using various mods like Demand Master or Disable pollution mods.

[ahunt_]

Originally posted by Meesmoth:

For my approach, I disable most of the gameplay logics and mechanics by using various mods and turning it into a pure Sandbox or City-Painter mode.

Realistic cities are not possible in Vanilla gameplay as Cities Skylines has different logic from reality, that you need to "force" at the game by using various mods like Demand Master or Disable pollution mods.

Interesting - can you share what mods you use to turn it into pure Sandbox/Citypainter mode? This sounds like what I am looking for.

[Meesmoth]

I use too many Mods so just go to my Workshop, subscribe a city, then press Subscribe to All on the Content Manager.

[Meesmoth]

Edit: Subscribe to this savefile to get all of my custom Workshop content.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1789173832

[ahunt_]

Originally posted by Meesmoth:

Edit: Subscribe to this savefile to get all of my custom Workshop content.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1789173832

My computer can't handle all those mods/assets. Any idea a few of the top of your head? Otherwise I can post another separate thread... thanks! :-)

[Markus Reese]

Ahunt, your best starting assets are start with a new LUT and a new map theme. These do not affect performance, then perhaps a mod to change how roads look. This will be a huge start.

The in game assets can make a good basis for decorating as well.

For mods, the moveit mod and traffic manager presidents edition will allow you to place, adjust and smooth things for a cleaner look.

[Captain Toof]

You only can make realistic towns. No exceptions.