Make the Complete Game Local - How?

[Clunk]

I love Cities:Skylines, I really do. It is the sandbox game I have always wanted and the more I play and the further time passes as the focus moves more towards CS:2 I worry with every Steam progress bar at game-startup that one day I (we) will lose it or it fails and becomes irreparable or unplayable.

So, my question is: - What would be the process of storing the complete game in its entirety, including assets and mods on (let's say) a thumbdrive without ever needing Steam or internet access again. Is it even possible?

Having just surpassed 12,000 hours of play time I would love a snapshot of what I have now in terms of game, assets and mods stored locally in their entirety because everything is working really well and don't want to lose it. It all seems so fragile.

CS:1 cannot be beaten - CS:2 is so far away from the original I have no interest in it whatsoever.

[NameInvalid]

I believe SkyVE now have function to migrate stuff to local automatically?

I don't use it personally (I did the old school way long time ago, moving things manually to AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\Addons\)

[Haystack]

Originally posted by Clunk:

I love Cities:Skylines, I really do. It is the sandbox game I have always wanted and the more I play and the further time passes as the focus moves more towards CS:2 I worry with every Steam progress bar at game-startup that one day I (we) will lose it or it fails and becomes irreparable or unplayable.

So, my question is: - What would be the process of storing the complete game in its entirety, including assets and mods on (let's say) a thumbdrive without ever needing Steam or internet access again. Is it even possible?

Having just surpassed 12,000 hours of play time I would love a snapshot of what I have now in terms of game, assets and mods stored locally in their entirety because everything is working really well and don't want to lose it. It all seems so fragile.

CS:1 cannot be beaten - CS:2 is so far away from the original I have no interest in it whatsoever.

"CS:1 cannot be beaten - CS:2 is so far away from the original I have no interest in it whatsoever."

I wholeheartedly agree. Have NO need or wish to install CS2 even if they gave it away as a free update.

I would be delighted to be proven wrong but at the moment I do not believe it is possible to do what you are asking. You might check into the offline version of the game. That might work if you put the entire installation on the same portable drive. But even if that would work as suggested it would no longer be validate or update compliant, and therefore it would likely be far more effective and realistic for most applications to simply use Google earth pro in conjunction with some version of photoshop.

Easy enough to test if you want to go to the bother.

[OneJasonBradly]

Originally posted by NameInvalid:

I don't use it personally (I did the old school way long time ago, moving things manually to AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\Addons\)

+1

[Haystack]

Ya ... If I had to use skivy I'd trash the whole thing right now.

[OneJasonBradly]

At the moment you can play this game without an internet connection with all assets and mods intact. Or at least I can. I suspect it is because of the loader (which I use) but do not know as I have not investigated. I have moved assets no longer available on the workshop from my back up folder (on a separate drive) to the local folder as "NameInvalid" suggests but have never attempted to Completely back-up or create an .exe for a move to a storage drive. I wonder what issues the developer has created to stop such things. I do know that people have created torrents of the game including all DLC's for I have a complete backup of the game including the DLC's I have purchased thus far (of coarse on a separate drive) along with my workshop. I think the first to be done is to back up all your workshop and dump it on a separate drive for storage. If you have followed anything I have posted in the past I tell everyone to do this (back up your workshop folder and your saved games) as I have a great many assets that are no longer part of the game/workshop. I have now a unique collection of assets in or to my game which one-day time forgiving I can share with the community again, without getting scolded for doing so.

[MarkJohnson]

Originally posted by Clunk:

So, my question is: - What would be the process of storing the complete game in its entirety, including assets and mods on (let's say) a thumbdrive without ever needing Steam or internet access again. Is it even possible?

I's simple, just backup the steam workshop folder for this game:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\255710

The workshop mixes assets and mods, so you may have to sort them out. Just make a mod folder and an asset folder, then move them to their proper folders.

I used to be able to copy all workshop to the appdata MOD folder and it would load only mods and ignore assets. Same with copying the whole workshop folder to assets, it would load only assets.

I haven't done this in a long time, but it should still work. Maybe just do them one-by-one if you want to be extra safe.

Also, mods and assets have long numerical numbers for filenames. But you can lookup the workshop name with the number by changing this line:

Just copy and paste this line into your browser:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=

Just add the workshop number to the end of the above line, and you will be taken to the mod/asset item.

I've tried to use Skyve with limited success. It is just too flakey plus it is limited to only 1,000 workshop items.

With your 12,000 hours, I'm sure you have numerous saves and workshop collections. So, you may have a lot of hours making all of these collections for each saved game.

[OneJasonBradly]

Originally posted by MarkJohnson:

Originally posted by Clunk:

So, my question is: - What would be the process of storing the complete game in its entirety, including assets and mods on (let's say) a thumbdrive without ever needing Steam or internet access again. Is it even possible?

I's simple, just backup the steam workshop folder for this game:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\workshop\content\255710

The workshop mixes assets and mods, so you may have to sort them out. Just make a mod folder and an asset folder, then move them to their proper folders.

I used to be able to copy all workshop to the appdata MOD folder and it would load only mods and ignore assets. Same with copying the whole workshop folder to assets, it would load only assets.

I haven't done this in a long time, but it should still work. Maybe just do them one-by-one if you want to be extra safe.

Also, mods and assets have long numerical numbers for filenames. But you can lookup the workshop name with the number by changing this line:

Just copy and paste this line into your browser:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=

Just add the workshop number to the end of the above line, and you will be taken to the mod/asset item.

I've tried to use Skyve with limited success. It is just too flakey plus it is limited to only 1,000 workshop items.

With your 12,000 hours, I'm sure you have numerous saves and workshop collections. So, you may have a lot of hours making all of these collections for each saved game.

Saving only the workshop does not address backing up the game itself nor does it backup the game files. Also some mods can't or wont run from the local MODS folder so be careful.

[MarkJohnson]

Originally posted by OneJasonBradly:

Saving only the workshop does not address backing up the game itself nor does it backup the game files. Also some mods can't or wont run from the local MODS folder so be careful.

Yes, some rogue mods will need to be in special folders, so it would be a good idea backing up AppData as well. But mods should recompile at launch and go to their proper appdata folder as they were programmed.

Skyve may be a better option, but not until the devs have updated it as it hasn't been updated since CS2 released. I'm hoping it is incorporated into Paradox Mods, as it seems to parallel it from the little workshop I seen in the CS2 forums.

But backing up the game is part of Steam. but it only backs up game data, IIRC. I'm not sure how well it lets you use it if the game is taken down. I assume Steam will check if it's legit, if not it will auto remove itself. I don't think this will be an issue for some years though. Especially with CS2 still in limbo.

[Bannedit]

Originally posted by OneJasonBradly:

Saving only the workshop does not address backing up the game itself nor does it backup the game files. Also some mods can't or wont run from the local MODS folder so be careful.

There lies the issue. Finding a way to get and keep those "mods that can't or won't run from local MODS folder" updated and active without going on line.

Originally posted by MarkJohnson:

Yes, some rogue mods will need to be in special folders, so it would be a good idea backing up AppData as well. But mods should recompile at launch and go to their proper appdata folder as they were programmed.

"mods should recompile at launch"

would that even be an option off-line?

I guess this is my question. If I have the entire install on external drive under Program Files (86) Would I also need to copy C:/Users/name/AppData/Local/Colossal Order/Cities Skylines/ ************* to the same drive and if so under what folder name? Could they go and would they work under Local/Colossal Order/ Cities Skylines/**** ?

[OneJasonBradly]

Originally posted by Cutter:

Originally posted by OneJasonBradly:

Saving only the workshop does not address backing up the game itself nor does it backup the game files. Also some mods can't or wont run from the local MODS folder so be careful.

There lies the issue. Finding a way to get and keep those "mods that can't or won't run from local MODS folder" updated and active without going on line.

They operate outside of a "Mods" folder. Though you need to know where to place them and which mods need special treatment. Like I stated or suggested above (in #5) It has been done.

[Bannedit]

So your long complicated answer would be Yes? if placed in the correct location.

And by correct location I am assuming that would be the same as their current location in the directory tree

Never mind .... Transferring 25Gb to thumb, and renaming local files.

Worked :) But not well. Recommend total fresh new install to portable to get all settings correct.

[MarkJohnson]

Originally posted by Cutter:

There lies the issue. Finding a way to get and keep those "mods that can't or won't run from local MODS folder" updated and active without going on line.

They compile from the local mods folder.

"mods should recompile at launch"

would that even be an option off-line?

Yes, they will compile offline from local mods folder, because they are copied there manually by you from your workshop folder.

I guess this is my question. If I have the entire install on external drive under Program Files (86) Would I also need to copy C:/Users/name/AppData/Local/Colossal Order/Cities Skylines/ ************* to the same drive

No, program files are on C: drive only. It can't be on an external drive. Only Steam and Steam files can be on external drive. AppData is a windows file directory. The game would have to be installed by Steam to your favorite folder or driver letter, Then Steam game data points to appdata directory.

I hope that makes sense?

Some more clarity, the workshop folders get copied to Addons/Mods in Appdata

same for Assets, they go in Addons/Assets

But for more clairty, the OP wants to be able to keep playing the game, even if Steam removes the Cities: Skylines from our Library, then it may be impossible to play the game, as if you try to launch it manually, Steam may be able to override it.

There may be other ways around it, but it may be a much larger challenge.

Although, the devs released this game on CD at release time, so maybe there may be hope getting it to run at a certain level if it is ever retired.

[Bannedit]

Originally posted by MarkJohnson:

I hope that makes sense?

YES Thank You !

[NameInvalid]

Originally posted by Cutter:

There lies the issue. Finding a way to get and keep those "mods that can't or won't run from local MODS folder" updated and active without going on line.

there is a grand total of ONE mod that require online to run - RealTime.
and there was an offline alternate version.

everything else are offline possible. It just a matter of you place them in the right place. I dunno why this thread become this long... but here's the final summary regardless you use skyve or not:

Summary -------------------------------------

👉 Source : SteamLibrary\steamapps\workshop\content\255710
each numerical folder is named with their workshop ID
example "2079011018" you can add that to the end of URL https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=NUMBERHERE to go to that item page.
steam just dump everything into this folder regardless what type they are

//--

✅ mod at : C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\Addons\Mods\
rename each 12612321313 numerical folder name, to the same name as the mod's DLL filename inside
example : https://i.postimg.cc/hPf1vx3m/image-2024-08-27-131627890.png

✅ all assets (exclude map) at : C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\Addons\Assets
you can create subfolder in here to sort items by category for better management
you don't need the original numerical folder, only the CRP files
LUT and map theme also goes here, don't get baited by other folder
example : https://i.postimg.cc/jdpPj1fV/image-2024-08-27-132012556.png

✅ maps in : SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Cities_Skylines\Files\Maps\
example : https://i.postimg.cc/YS3Wbqsk/image-2024-08-27-132044916.png

//--

the upside of using SkyVE is it handle CRP asset packaged inside [mods] and put them into asset folder automatically. There are only few of such mod such as Ploppable Asphalt.

if you doing it manually, just check if there CRP files packaged together with mod DLL.

//--

also backup your game copy!

Game & mod setting files and configurations can be located in:
- C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\
- SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Cities_Skylines

In order to have complete backup, make sure to also include these directories.

Tools?

if you want tools recommendation aside from just manual copy pasta:

✅ AOMei Backupper - free version allow system drive mirror backup, and selective file/folder backup, create rescue usb boot drive in case your system drive dead in order to do restoration.
(Technically Windows can already do all these, but the functions are a bit hidden away and the result aren't compressed.)

✅ FreeFileSync - self explanatory name, it sync files between two folder, a bit better than manual copy pasta where it seek out updated stuff automatically.

backing up these stuff are on user own hand. I bet 99% of PC user don't have regular backup schedule anyway. Any storage drive DON'T last forever. Start backing up things, not just this game stuff, but also your personal & work stuff.

[db48x]

All good information, but I would go a step further and make a separate backup for every city you create. If you use mod X in every city you create, but the mod has been revised or upgraded over time, then you may find that you need an old version of it when you go back to the city you created last year. You may even need an old version of the game.

But the real reason to do it this way is to simply make it clear which mods and assets each city needs. When you go back to revisit a city you’ll never remember that whole list accurately, so it has to be made obvious somehow in your backups.