is it worth for just a sandbox city building?

[Gregg]

Hi, I really enjoy creating zombie outbreak / apocalypse digital diorama but I cannot find a game where this would be possible or wouldnt be an absolute chore.

I saw a video of someone doing exactly this but then I checked the game on Steam and saw that it has mixed reviews with many people saying it is a bad game. Is the game really that bad even if I used it only for creating lifeless cities just for photographic purposes?

Also, how about modding? It seems this game does not support Steam workshop but as far as I know there is some modding tool. Does it contain mods that would help with creating mentioned dioramas? Such as apocalypse themed props and QoL tools and so on.

If this is not the game I am looking for, could you perhaps give me some recommendations?

[mikelleh63]

Is excellent for what you are asking. There are mods and lots of props to create whatever scene you need. The biggest complainers are the 'City Managers' who want to play with taxes and production lines, etc. Their favorite insult is to call the game a 'City Painter'. Mods come from PDX mods now, they exist. They have not caught up to CS1 levels, but are getting there.

[BoraBora]

Originally posted by Gregg:

I saw a video of someone doing exactly this (...)

If this is not the game I am looking for, could you perhaps give me some recommendations?

The game you're looking for is Cities Skylines 1, not 2. There are no asset mods of any kind in CS 2 (buildings, cims, vehicules, trees, props etc.). I bet the video you saw was from a CS1 player, I remember one or two myself.

PDX released a handful of free DLCs named "region packs" with a bunch of buildings but that won't cut it. It's true CS II is called a city painter, meant as an insult, but it's actually like painting a canvas with a single brush and two colors. Go for CS 1 and its hundreds of thousands mods, here's what you'll get for dioramas:

Building (52,372)
Prop (21,941)
Tree (759)
Vehicle (21,949)
etc.

Bonus: CS1 doesn't crash and it's not beta software, ;)

[Gregg]

Originally posted by BoraBora:

The game you're looking for is Cities Skylines 1, not 2. There are no asset mods of any kind in CS 2 (buildings, cims, vehicules, trees, props etc.). I bet the video you saw was from a CS1 player, I remember one or two myself.

Thank you for the recommendation but I am kind of confused right now, the first responder said that there is plenty of mods that add props and you are saying there are none.

I am certain the video I saw was from CS2, at least, that's what the title says.
If you are curious, here is the link for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ZgZGVLmrA&t=856s

[BoraBora]

Originally posted by Gregg:

Thank you for the recommendation but I am kind of confused right now, the first responder said that there is plenty of mods that add props and you are saying there are none.

They're talking about the vanilla props + the region packs which are free DLCs, not mods and only include buildings.

There is not a single tree, prop, cim, vehicule, decal, building, released as a mod. None. We're been waiting for the asset editor since the release in 2023 and it's one of main source of anger among all the people who bought CS II. It's also one of the reasons more people are still playing CS1 than CS II.

Here's the CS 1 workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/app/255710/workshop/

Here's the CS II workshop: https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/games/cities_skylines_2?orderBy=desc&sortBy=best (no categories for buildings, props, cars, props, trains etc. because there are none)

I am certain the video I saw was from CS2, at least, that's what the title says.
If you are curious, here is the link for the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89ZgZGVLmrA&t=856s

Thanks, you're right I was curious. ;) All I can say is you could do much better and much easier with CS1. Just look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOlZcFzBGW8 It was 8 years ago, there was tens of thousands more mods for CS1 since.

[Gregg]

Originally posted by BoraBora:

All I can say is you could do much better and much easier with CS1. Just look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOlZcFzBGW8 It was 8 years ago, there was tens of thousands more mods for CS1 since.

I completely forgot about that video, thank you for sharing it.

Looks like you are right, I will get the CS 1. Thank you for your time and assistance, I really appreciate it.

[Stars-N-Stripes]

no when you go to move the camera or zoom in and move the fps drops to 3fps and the camera stutters around. Same problems as day 1.

[AIRwolf79]

anyone recommending this trash is a paid shill.

[theglenlivet12]

I think what a lot of people fail to recognize is that CS1 has it's own problems too as far as mods go. I loaded it up recently and found it to have tons of assets that were broken and likely not updated in years. For example, I had a ton of King Leno's custom buildings and some work fine but most don't anymore and I get stunlocked in a error dialog screen until I pause the game and clear them all and delete the building.

This leaves us with CS2 in which little can be done for creating assets by modders as the asset editor is still MIA. This should be priority number one for the dev team as there is only so much you can do with decals to make a realistic city. I, along with the lions share of the rest of the playerbase, are hoping that the asset editor will be released along with the whole birthday thing next week but I'm not counting on it.

[Gregg]

Originally posted by theglenlivet12:

I think what a lot of people fail to recognize is that CS1 has it's own problems too as far as mods go. I loaded it up recently and found it to have tons of assets that were broken and likely not updated in years. For example, I had a ton of King Leno's custom buildings and some work fine but most don't anymore and I get stunlocked in a error dialog screen until I pause the game and clear them all and delete the building.

Oh shoot, I didn’t realize that. That could definitely be a problem,thanks for the heads-up.

So, if you were me, what would you do? Is it worth the risk to get CS1, where mods I might want to use could end up broken, or should I go for CS2? I mean, the video I saw didn’t look that bad, there seem to be plenty of assets to work with. Especially for me, as a beginner, it should be enough, and maybe by the time I get better at it, the modding tool will be already out.

[BoraBora]

Originally posted by theglenlivet12:

I think what a lot of people fail to recognize is that CS1 has it's own problems too as far as mods go. I loaded it up recently and found it to have tons of assets that were broken and likely not updated in years. For example, I had a ton of King Leno's custom buildings and some work fine but most don't anymore and I get stunlocked in a error dialog screen until I pause the game and clear them all and delete the building.

The first assets from King Leno were released in 2016, it's not surprising some may be broken. But the region packs for CS II have just been released and 3 of them are already bugged and/or broken. There's the difference.

[theglenlivet12]

Originally posted by Gregg:

Originally posted by theglenlivet12:

I think what a lot of people fail to recognize is that CS1 has it's own problems too as far as mods go. I loaded it up recently and found it to have tons of assets that were broken and likely not updated in years. For example, I had a ton of King Leno's custom buildings and some work fine but most don't anymore and I get stunlocked in a error dialog screen until I pause the game and clear them all and delete the building.

Oh shoot, I didn’t realize that. That could definitely be a problem,thanks for the heads-up.

So, if you were me, what would you do? Is it worth the risk to get CS1, where mods I might want to use could end up broken, or should I go for CS2? I mean, the video I saw didn’t look that bad, there seem to be plenty of assets to work with. Especially for me, as a beginner, it should be enough, and maybe by the time I get better at it, the modding tool will be already out.

This is my anecdotal experience, but I have found that, depending on which mods you would like to use, they may have a bit of a shelf life. Conversely, you may be relatively safe now as I don't anticipate any more updates to CS1 that would break assets. However, most of the asset creators on the workshop release their assets and just kinda forget about them over time so with the pretty extensive catalog of assets to choose from, you may find it to be a frustrating experience finding out which ones still work and which ones don't.

[BoraBora]

Broken or bugged assets are very rare. I played CS from the release in 2015 until 2023 and I don't remember having encountered more than a dozen broken assets in 8 years, nearly all of them services (especially the train stations). As for vehicules, cims, props, decals, never saw one.

[cirugo]

With all of the creator packs and performance improvements I would say yes but it crashes for me all the time now so I'd say no.

[Cosmic Sea]

Originally posted by mikelleh63:

Is excellent for what you are asking. There are mods and lots of props to create whatever scene you need. The biggest complainers are the 'City Managers' who want to play with taxes and production lines, etc. Their favorite insult is to call the game a 'City Painter'. Mods come from PDX mods now, they exist. They have not caught up to CS1 levels, but are getting there.

This is false. It's not even close to where it was with CS1 as there's still no custom assets.

Given what you're asking, it would be easily possible on CS1, so I'd recommend going with that at least until we have custom assets in CS2. you may be waiting a while like the rest of us though.

[Cosmic Sea]

On CS1 I have over 100 active mods and about 45,000 total assets. My game works and loads fine. As long as you use skyve and you don't use known buggy mods, you'll be fine. Assets rarely have problems in CS1.