NEW PC - Game Still Slows at High Population

[GrandPrecursor]

I was so hoping that my New Ryzen 9 with a 4070ti Super would get me past the game grinding to a halt at high populations.. now instead of it happening at 200k it now happens around 400k population. Am I missing some graphics setting that I am supposed to change.

[sternenstaub70]

graphics settings have nothing to do with the slowdown.
It's the CPU.

And 400k is actually a pretty late moment for the beginning of a slowdown.
Most players have it way earlier.

You have to keep in mind, the more population you have the more routes the game has to calculate. And since routes are being calculated dynamically it has to calculate most routes for everyone who's currently moving around several times per second. Theoretically.
In small towns that's not a big problem.

But even with elementary school math knowledge you might see where the problem is:
At a certain city size the CPU is simply not fast enough to do this in the required amount of time, so we get a slowdown.
The only trick left is to reduce the time the CPU invests per citizen for calculating their current routes = keep distances low, avoid people walking/driving long distances.
The longer the citizens need to reach their destination and the more citizens are affected by this at the same time, the slower the game becomes.

[girlaroundthecorner]

Mine slows at 150,000 I'm due for a new PC as it's 5 years old. Suggestions on what to buy would be greatly appreciated.

[General T.Montana Tropic Thunder]

Originally posted by girlaroundthecorner:

Mine slows at 150,000 I'm due for a new PC as it's 5 years old. Suggestions on what to buy would be greatly appreciated.

AM5 Cheapo Board $100 ( I spent $200 for a bit better one )
AM5 Ryzen 7600x CPU $200
...throw this CPU out after 2 years and then slot in the fattest and latest $500 AM5 CPU then - Thats what I will do.
Ngreedia 4070ti super $900 ( or AMD equivalent ) - Sell your first born
32GB RAM $120 ( I have 64 )
I sometimes do Davinci Resolve 4K video stuff...but no 3d modeling.
800-1000 Watts PSU $100 to have peace of mind and relaxed capacitors on cool holiday,
if lucky it will last 5-20 years :D
2TB NVMe $150, smaller or larger capacity to your liking
Noctua NHD15 $100 1.3KG overkill CPU air cooler
$10 for a tiny tube of the best CPU cooling cream :D

Got some old-school 6-12TB drives for mass storage and backups.

If one is clever and does not fall for fakes/broken stuff, one can buy all the above on the used market for half the money.

My typical gaming total power consumption for the whole system is 200-250 Watts, without displays.

I use Billy Win11, and everything mentioned here is part of my system,
Built a 50Kilo metal stand, the system is basically without case... with a front glass plate hanging in the air, 50cm away from all the components. Capacitors and chips love to live cool without case, everything lasts a thousand years :)

Normal user case $100

Got all games capped at 60fps,its rare that the CPU or graphic card fans activate at all.
The only instance I had ever seen my system fans start slowly rotating was with this game and an empty start map, in the first 5 Minutes of play.
...not even Cyberpunk2077 in 4K and everything set to maximum get my cpu/gpu fans activated.

AMD is releasing the new Ryzens soon, best is to wait a month.
If all this is built and configured by a skilled person, one can use this system for up to 6 years - I will only do a CPU swap in 2 years.

I wrote this especially for you, wishing you a nice day...happy gaming and a long life.


----
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
Single-threading CPU performance is the most important for games, most games are single-core CPU games with some cobbled-up additional few-cores usage...With mega game`s exceptions like the latest MS flight sim, Cyberpunk2077 and such. I'm a big fan of permanent single core turbo max, with low energy consumption at the same time.

I always go for a mix of the lowest physical CPU cores count, the highest base clock rate + the highest single-core permanent turbo + fat CPU caches if feasable.

The last 10% extra speed often make a CPU 2x -4x more expensive, which is nonsense.

Love the world and want to chillout in a lovely game with excellent game/art/sound design and high replay value ?
I gave Reus2 a 10/10
96% Steam user rating :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1875060/Reus_2/

[girlaroundthecorner]

Originally posted by Duluth Comedy Club:

Originally posted by girlaroundthecorner:

Mine slows at 150,000 I'm due for a new PC as it's 5 years old. Suggestions on what to buy would be greatly appreciated.

AM5 Cheapo Board $100 ( I spent $200 for a bit better one )
AM5 Ryzen 7600x CPU $200
...throw this CPU out after 2 years and then slot in the fattest and latest $500 AM5 CPU then - Thats what I will do.
Ngreedia 4070ti super $900 ( or AMD equivalent ) - Sell your first born
32GB RAM $120 ( I have 64 )
I sometimes do Davinci Resolve 4K video stuff...but no 3d modeling.
800-1000 Watts PSU $100 to have peace of mind and relaxed capacitors on cool holiday,
if lucky it will last 5-20 years :D
2TB NVMe $150, smaller or larger capacity to your liking
Noctua NHD15 $100 1.3KG overkill CPU air cooler
$10 for a tiny tube of the best CPU cooling cream :D

Got some old-school 6-12TB drives for mass storage and backups.

If one is clever and does not fall for fakes/broken stuff, one can buy all the above on the used market for half the money.

My typical gaming total power consumption for the whole system is 200-250 Watts, without displays.

I use Billy Win11, and everything mentioned here is part of my system,
Built a 50Kilo metal stand, the system is basically without case... with a front glass plate hanging in the air, 50cm away from all the components. Capacitors and chips love to live cool without case, everything lasts a thousand years :)

Normal user case $100

Got all games capped at 60fps,its rare that the CPU or graphic card fans activate at all.
The only instance I had ever seen my system fans start slowly rotating was with this game and an empty start map, in the first 5 Minutes of play.
...not even Cyberpunk2077 in 4K and everything set to maximum get my cpu/gpu fans activated.

AMD is releasing the new Ryzens soon, best is to wait a month.
If all this is built and configured by a skilled person, one can use this system for up to 6 years - I will only do a CPU swap in 2 years.

I wrote this especially for you, wishing you a nice day...happy gaming and a long life.
:healthvial::tt_kawaii:

----
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
Single-threading CPU performance is the most important for games, most games are single-core CPU games with some cobbled-up additional few-cores usage...With mega game`s exceptions like the latest MS flight sim, Cyberpunk2077 and such. I'm a big fan of permanent single core turbo max, with low energy consumption at the same time.

I always go for a mix of the lowest physical CPU cores count, the highest base clock rate + the highest single-core permanent turbo + fat CPU caches if feasable.

The last 10% extra speed often make a CPU 2x -4x more expensive, which is nonsense.

Love the world and want to chillout in a lovely game with excellent game/art/sound design and high replay value ?
I gave Reus2 a 10/10
96% Steam user rating :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1875060/Reus_2/

Sheesh you know your stuff. I'll have to copy and paste and send it to where I buy my PCs! Thank you.

[General T.Montana Tropic Thunder]

Originally posted by girlaroundthecorner:

Originally posted by Duluth Comedy Club:

AM5 Cheapo Board $100 ( I spent $200 for a bit better one )
AM5 Ryzen 7600x CPU $200
...throw this CPU out after 2 years and then slot in the fattest and latest $500 AM5 CPU then - Thats what I will do.
Ngreedia 4070ti super $900 ( or AMD equivalent ) - Sell your first born
32GB RAM $120 ( I have 64 )
I sometimes do Davinci Resolve 4K video stuff...but no 3d modeling.
800-1000 Watts PSU $100 to have peace of mind and relaxed capacitors on cool holiday,
if lucky it will last 5-20 years :D
2TB NVMe $150, smaller or larger capacity to your liking
Noctua NHD15 $100 1.3KG overkill CPU air cooler
$10 for a tiny tube of the best CPU cooling cream :D

Got some old-school 6-12TB drives for mass storage and backups.

If one is clever and does not fall for fakes/broken stuff, one can buy all the above on the used market for half the money.

My typical gaming total power consumption for the whole system is 200-250 Watts, without displays.

I use Billy Win11, and everything mentioned here is part of my system,
Built a 50Kilo metal stand, the system is basically without case... with a front glass plate hanging in the air, 50cm away from all the components. Capacitors and chips love to live cool without case, everything lasts a thousand years :)

Normal user case $100

Got all games capped at 60fps,its rare that the CPU or graphic card fans activate at all.
The only instance I had ever seen my system fans start slowly rotating was with this game and an empty start map, in the first 5 Minutes of play.
...not even Cyberpunk2077 in 4K and everything set to maximum get my cpu/gpu fans activated.

AMD is releasing the new Ryzens soon, best is to wait a month.
If all this is built and configured by a skilled person, one can use this system for up to 6 years - I will only do a CPU swap in 2 years.

I wrote this especially for you, wishing you a nice day...happy gaming and a long life.


----
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
Single-threading CPU performance is the most important for games, most games are single-core CPU games with some cobbled-up additional few-cores usage...With mega game`s exceptions like the latest MS flight sim, Cyberpunk2077 and such. I'm a big fan of permanent single core turbo max, with low energy consumption at the same time.

I always go for a mix of the lowest physical CPU cores count, the highest base clock rate + the highest single-core permanent turbo + fat CPU caches if feasable.

The last 10% extra speed often make a CPU 2x -4x more expensive, which is nonsense.

Love the world and want to chillout in a lovely game with excellent game/art/sound design and high replay value ?
I gave Reus2 a 10/10
96% Steam user rating :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1875060/Reus_2/

Sheesh you know your stuff. I'll have to copy and paste and send it to where I buy my PCs! Thank you.

Thank you, your welcome :)
Yeah, performance and hardware has been my faible for 3 decades.

As his assistant I did tell my studio manager colleague of the "Crysis" (EA) $20 Million game that the game will run bad on lots of pc`s in the world.
He did not care and shrugged me off, so 100K`s of players suffered with the games performance :D

So everytime someone says "Can it run Crysis?", then office scene plays back *sigh*

Happy gaming

[john.glossop]

Has anyone tried increasing their RAM beyond 32 meg? I have 64 for Flight Sim, and it certainly improved performance from the 32 I had before. I wonder if this game is also suffering from lack of RAM to shunt instructions / data around.

[Ry4n]

Originally posted by Duluth Comedy Club:

Originally posted by girlaroundthecorner:

Mine slows at 150,000 I'm due for a new PC as it's 5 years old. Suggestions on what to buy would be greatly appreciated.

AM5 Cheapo Board $100 ( I spent $200 for a bit better one )
AM5 Ryzen 7600x CPU $200
...throw this CPU out after 2 years and then slot in the fattest and latest $500 AM5 CPU then - Thats what I will do.
Ngreedia 4070ti super $900 ( or AMD equivalent ) - Sell your first born
32GB RAM $120 ( I have 64 )
I sometimes do Davinci Resolve 4K video stuff...but no 3d modeling.
800-1000 Watts PSU $100 to have peace of mind and relaxed capacitors on cool holiday,
if lucky it will last 5-20 years :D
2TB NVMe $150, smaller or larger capacity to your liking
Noctua NHD15 $100 1.3KG overkill CPU air cooler
$10 for a tiny tube of the best CPU cooling cream :D

Got some old-school 6-12TB drives for mass storage and backups.

If one is clever and does not fall for fakes/broken stuff, one can buy all the above on the used market for half the money.

My typical gaming total power consumption for the whole system is 200-250 Watts, without displays.

I use Billy Win11, and everything mentioned here is part of my system,
Built a 50Kilo metal stand, the system is basically without case... with a front glass plate hanging in the air, 50cm away from all the components. Capacitors and chips love to live cool without case, everything lasts a thousand years :)

Normal user case $100

Got all games capped at 60fps,its rare that the CPU or graphic card fans activate at all.
The only instance I had ever seen my system fans start slowly rotating was with this game and an empty start map, in the first 5 Minutes of play.
...not even Cyberpunk2077 in 4K and everything set to maximum get my cpu/gpu fans activated.

AMD is releasing the new Ryzens soon, best is to wait a month.
If all this is built and configured by a skilled person, one can use this system for up to 6 years - I will only do a CPU swap in 2 years.

I wrote this especially for you, wishing you a nice day...happy gaming and a long life.
:healthvial::tt_kawaii:

----
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
Single-threading CPU performance is the most important for games, most games are single-core CPU games with some cobbled-up additional few-cores usage...With mega game`s exceptions like the latest MS flight sim, Cyberpunk2077 and such. I'm a big fan of permanent single core turbo max, with low energy consumption at the same time.

I always go for a mix of the lowest physical CPU cores count, the highest base clock rate + the highest single-core permanent turbo + fat CPU caches if feasable.

The last 10% extra speed often make a CPU 2x -4x more expensive, which is nonsense.

Love the world and want to chillout in a lovely game with excellent game/art/sound design and high replay value ?
I gave Reus2 a 10/10
96% Steam user rating :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1875060/Reus_2/

This is legit advise, if you have the extra cash maybe the 7700x CPU.

[AlSemz™]

Its the game engine, game sim tanks around 200k pop no matter what. They need to get off unity, its trash, and its holding the game back. I think they knew it too and Im not sure why they stuck with it, maybe they didnt have a choice..but it was a huuuuge mistake.

Most games are single core bound, but this is a simulation game, its much different then say an FPS. More RAM faster CPU, Faster GPU, isnt going to mattter when its the game engine that cant handle how much is going on with large pop cities.

[Major Kudos™]

Originally posted by GrandPrecursor:

NEW PC - Game Still Slows at High Population
........game grinding to a halt at high populations.. now instead of it happening at 200k it now happens around 400k population.

The sad reality is we have now lowered our expectations of "HIGH Population" to below half what CS! was capable of before modding.

So 400k is now acceptable even though not even realistically attainable with upper tier hardware?

Whatever happened to feet to the fire over "Your imagination is the limit"?

[General T.Montana Tropic Thunder]

Originally posted by Ry4n:

Originally posted by Duluth Comedy Club:

AM5 Cheapo Board $100 ( I spent $200 for a bit better one )
AM5 Ryzen 7600x CPU $200
...throw this CPU out after 2 years and then slot in the fattest and latest $500 AM5 CPU then - Thats what I will do.
Ngreedia 4070ti super $900 ( or AMD equivalent ) - Sell your first born
32GB RAM $120 ( I have 64 )
I sometimes do Davinci Resolve 4K video stuff...but no 3d modeling.
800-1000 Watts PSU $100 to have peace of mind and relaxed capacitors on cool holiday,
if lucky it will last 5-20 years :D
2TB NVMe $150, smaller or larger capacity to your liking
Noctua NHD15 $100 1.3KG overkill CPU air cooler
$10 for a tiny tube of the best CPU cooling cream :D

Got some old-school 6-12TB drives for mass storage and backups.

If one is clever and does not fall for fakes/broken stuff, one can buy all the above on the used market for half the money.

My typical gaming total power consumption for the whole system is 200-250 Watts, without displays.

I use Billy Win11, and everything mentioned here is part of my system,
Built a 50Kilo metal stand, the system is basically without case... with a front glass plate hanging in the air, 50cm away from all the components. Capacitors and chips love to live cool without case, everything lasts a thousand years :)

Normal user case $100

Got all games capped at 60fps,its rare that the CPU or graphic card fans activate at all.
The only instance I had ever seen my system fans start slowly rotating was with this game and an empty start map, in the first 5 Minutes of play.
...not even Cyberpunk2077 in 4K and everything set to maximum get my cpu/gpu fans activated.

AMD is releasing the new Ryzens soon, best is to wait a month.
If all this is built and configured by a skilled person, one can use this system for up to 6 years - I will only do a CPU swap in 2 years.

I wrote this especially for you, wishing you a nice day...happy gaming and a long life.


----
https://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
Single-threading CPU performance is the most important for games, most games are single-core CPU games with some cobbled-up additional few-cores usage...With mega game`s exceptions like the latest MS flight sim, Cyberpunk2077 and such. I'm a big fan of permanent single core turbo max, with low energy consumption at the same time.

I always go for a mix of the lowest physical CPU cores count, the highest base clock rate + the highest single-core permanent turbo + fat CPU caches if feasable.

The last 10% extra speed often make a CPU 2x -4x more expensive, which is nonsense.

Love the world and want to chillout in a lovely game with excellent game/art/sound design and high replay value ?
I gave Reus2 a 10/10
96% Steam user rating :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1875060/Reus_2/

This is legit advise, if you have the extra cash maybe the 7700x CPU.

+1
Many thanks

We are all players, people shall play what they love to play.
At the end of the day we are all gamers, its lovely when people are nice to each other.

My next system update will be a "3D" (fat) cache`s CPU version of the new upcoming Ryzen 9950x cpu, which I will perform in 1 or 2 years.

Below is the new non 3D version,
which is soon released by AMD and up for sale on August 15th 2024.
I will skip that one and then will go for a future "3D" version of it.

This was the initial plan I made 1 year ago when I built my 7600x system.
Having the 1.3 Kilo CPU air cooler + the heavy 3 fan 4070ti in the hanging system was a bit of construction work, otherwise gravity would have ripped the CPU, GPU and the board off, as everything is hanging in the air vertically in a Thermaltake P90, attached to a custom built 50 Kilo stand ( assembled out of 3 heavy-duty metal tv stands ).

The system is hanging on 30x 1cm thick screws and is fully flexible in its movement, an Earthquake of 8 on the Richter scale would be fine - The whole system can swing back and forth and the stand has wheels.
The screws alone weigh a Kilo :D

I found a hanging Thermaltake P90 nicer than buying a boring IT rack again for a thousand.
Having it portable + everything completely open for cooling was my aim.

My CPU & GPU seldom exceed 55 Celsius with "normal" games.

I've got rotating fans at 70 Celsius with MS Flight Sim and 3x2K displays plus 1x 4K display.

Ryzen 9950x
https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/desktops/ryzen/9000-series/amd-ryzen-9-9950x.html

Thermaltake P90
https://www.thermaltake.com/core-p90-tempered-glass-edition.html

[Citybuild122]

I've been playing Cities Skylines for 10 years now, and this has always been a problem. I really don't play this game anymore because I know what is inevitably going to happen. It's pretty sad that they are unable to figure out a more efficient way to calculate routes and fix this problem once and for all. Then again, it's Paradox. They butcher everything they put their hands on. Hell, I don't think they've really ever acknowledged it as an issue.

[zaltocleotl[Banned@Paradox]]

A 96-core Epyc CPU couldn't handle this game. Even when it was inside a deep freezer at -5C. The infamous Linus Tech Tips video proved that.

[General T.Montana Tropic Thunder]

Empty map, fans spin up, deinstalled

[squidek4]

Originally posted by GrandPrecursor:

I was so hoping that my New Ryzen 9 with a 4070ti Super would get me past the game grinding to a halt at high populations.. now instead of it happening at 200k it now happens around 400k population. Am I missing some graphics setting that I am supposed to change.

*
My friends who have Cities: Skylines II rarely play it or don't play it anymore. The game has never been optimized...

[martinolund]

Just keep in mind that if your FPS goes below 30 then the game will also self throttle down the simulation to adapt itself to the lower (below 30) frame rate. Just something to think about.