Settings.coc for getting past the volumetric rendering error at startup

[janxious]

Here's the Graphics Settings for everything turned to low or off so maybe you can get into your game and play.

Drop this into your %appdata%\..\LocalLow\Colossal Order\Cities Skylines II\Settings.coc file. Maybe now you can get into the game.

Graphics Settings
{
    "qualitySettings": [
        {
            "enabled": true,
            "upscaleFilter": "EdgeAdaptiveScaling",
            "minScale": 0.5,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.DynamicResolutionScaleSettings"
        },
        {
            "antiAliasingMethod": "None",
            "smaaQuality": "Low",
            "outlinesMSAA": "None",
            "@type": "Game.Settings.AntiAliasingQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "volumetricCloudsEnabled": false,
            "distanceCloudsEnabled": false,
            "volumetricCloudsShadows": false,
            "distanceCloudsShadows": false,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.CloudsQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "enabled": false,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.FogQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "enabled": false,
            "budget": 0.166,
            "resolutionDepthRatio": 0.666,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.VolumetricsQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "enabled": false,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.SSAOQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "enabled": false,
            "raySteps": 16,
            "denoiserRadius": 0.75,
            "halfResolutionPass": true,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.SSGIQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "enabled": false,
            "maxRaySteps": 32,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.SSRQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "enabled": false,
            "nearSampleCount": 3,
            "nearMaxRadius": 2,
            "farSampleCount": 4,
            "farMaxRadius": 5,
            "highQualityFiltering": false,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.DepthOfFieldQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "enabled": false,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.MotionBlurQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "enabled": false,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.ShadowsQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "finalTessellation": 3,
            "targetPatchSize": 24,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.TerrainQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "waterflow": false,
            "maxTessellationFactor": 2,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.WaterQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "levelOfDetail": 0.25,
            "lodCrossFade": false,
            "maxLightCount": 1024,
            "meshMemoryBudget": 256,
            "strictMeshMemory": true,
            "@type": "Game.Settings.LevelOfDetailQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "maxBoneInfuence": "TwoBones",
            "@type": "Game.Settings.AnimationQualitySettings"
        },
        {
            "mipbias": 3,
            "filterMode": "Bilinear",
            "@type": "Game.Settings.TextureQualitySettings"
        }
    ],
    "resolution": {
        "width": 1440,
        "height": 900
    },
    "cursorMode": "Free",
    "depthOfFieldMode": "Disabled"
}

[janxious]

Yarik_Ya a écrit :

Thank you very much friend

Hidehi a écrit :

janxious, have a big virtual hug. With your help I finally managed to get into the game! You've made an old Cities Skylines fan very happy! :D

[quintenkuijpers]

quintenkuijpers a écrit :

Saints.2016 a écrit :

take (Win+R) write (%appdata%) and find --- \..\LocalLow\Colossal Order\Cities Skylines II\Settings.coc file.

still can not find it it says that the file does not exist

someone knows why?

[Saints.2016]

I don’t have water on the map, ships drive along the bottom, I can’t even install a water pumping station, and when roads are built, the whole map turns black, please help!!

[ZenG]

When I open the construction tools, everything is black. Do you have any hints to solve it?

[pianopianoforte]

Same issue.
Will try the proposed config modification.
But... :
Should improve the software
- The Continue button should work; has not been tested. Can only quit the game
Having to manually modify a settings file is not userfriendly
- Several hardware has not been tested.
Bying a game, and then not being able to play, and even not being able to solve the problem in an userfriendly manner is quite disappointing.

Update: The config modification worked. Thx.

Update 2 : Exception handling is not working properly. When trying to modify graphical settings, the error message apears again, and then we can only quit the game; the continue button does not work neither at that moment.
But apparently the changes were written to the config file and we can again no longer start the game, so we then have to rewrite the settings file again with the above content.
This is not userfriendly and not robust at all. The user should be able to try out settings without having the game crashed, but instead should receive a message and then be able to return to the settings window game with reverted settings.

This behavior renders the Graphics settings unusable, because a change has a risk to crash the game, and then the settings has to be reset in the config file to the working config.

[janxious]

ZenG a écrit :

When I open the construction tools, everything is black. Do you have any hints to solve it?

I don't. These settings let me boot up the game but I haven't been able to actually play. I am running the game in a VM and it doesn't work good enough for that. :D i had a lot of weird glitches and I gave up after a few different things others had suggested. I think this settings file is good for people who are near the minimum specs but people well below probably just won't be able to play until CO does some more substantial performance work on the game. I may also just never be able to play it.

[kev]

Legend
Saved me a lot more messing around.
Less than 10 fps and game is unplayable tho lol. Oh well.

[janxious]

kev a écrit :

Legend
Saved me a lot more messing around.
Less than 10 fps and game is unplayable tho lol. Oh well.

feel that

[aritheory]

It's worth going into General and setting "Performance Preference" to "Frame Rate" too.

I have another more experimental Settings.coc here that's got me 50-70fps with around 10k citizens: https://steamcommunity.com/app/949230/discussions/0/3878221560446913195/

[BitOBear]

Tipping1999 a écrit :

Spill a écrit :

Hit windows key
in the search field enter: %appdata%\..\LocalLow\Colossal Order\Cities Skylines II\

double click Settings.coc

ive tried this and cant find it

Make sure that you have "hidden items" checked it the show/hide element of the menu ribbon in explorer. AppData is a hidden folder for whatever reason.

(ASIDE: File name extensions should also be checked ever and always so as to avoid some common phishing attacks, but you'll definitely need to check that box too to identify the coc file.)

[Neon Aquarius]

Had been waiting this game for months and had a panic attack when I saw the error. You made it work. Thanks!

[BitOBear]

Hey, I fefunded my purchase on steam because I wasn't sure how the preorder dates and the refund time limits would play out.

If/when the game is playable on a 960M I'll buy it again. I'm not really in a place to refresh my hardware (I'm trying to get my _house_ fully functional so I'm not rolling in cash.)

I don't mind spotty performance, im from the 8bit age.

Is there a site, tool, or list that can tell me if the game is playable on my otherwise under-spec hardware?

A two hour try-again temporary license and a pre-built city save (e.g. a free dlc with a small sample city in it) really needs to exist after all this to get us burnt folks back on the horse.

[janxious]

Neon Aquarius a écrit :

Had been waiting this game for months and had a panic attack when I saw the error. You made it work. Thanks!

[Bomb_Boi680]

So I have the file open, but it won't let me input the code. What am I doing wrong?

[MXKA03]

Bomb_Boi680 a écrit :

So I have the file open, but it won't let me input the code. What am I doing wrong?

Rename .coc to .txt, then paste the code instead of ''{...}'' right under Graphics Settings. And then save, and replace .txt with .coc. And load the game. And it should work.