What do you want in Cities: Skylines?

[boformer 3,169]

The "cartoonish" look in my opinion is caused by 2 factors:

1) Not enough building detail because of a poly count cap. SC4 buildings could (and were) infinitely detailed and textured, so model realism was the name of the game. Here, with everything being simulated in real time, it simply won't ever be possible to achieve life-like building detail.

2) At certain viewing angles, the sun causes over-contrast on building faces. This makes the whole scene appear "cartoonish" because you lose even more building detail due to simply not being able to see the details in the bright light.

I think people are making progress with in-game lighting filters, but they will only be able to go so far. The second half of the problem is un-resolvable.

I want to make a mod that replaces some textures and color variations of the vanilla assets. For example the blue, yellow, pink and green roofs. Maybe also the color of the cars and certain props (billboards).

Look at the screenshots in the spoiler. Many textures are just oversatured. We can fix that!

  Edited July 6, 2015 by schmidtbochum  

[Extrenix 132]

are there still building caps?

[wallacet 336]

are there still building caps?

what do you mean by building caps? Object limit or a cap on the # of polys a building can be? Yes to both

[Extrenix 132]

are there still building caps?

what do you mean by building caps? Object limit or a cap on the # of polys a building can be? Yes to both

yeah object limit. damn, I really hope they remove the limit :|

[boformer 3,169]

are there still building caps?

what do you mean by building caps? Object limit or a cap on the # of polys a building can be? Yes to both

yeah object limit. damn, I really hope they remove the limit :|

It is a technical limit. The number format they are using for building instance IDs is "ushort" and ranges from 0 to 65,535 (16-bit).

Maybe it is possible to remove this problem using a mod (like the tree unlimiter, just more complex), but it would probably break many other mods.

[uhcougar31 7]

Forgive me for not going through the entire thread and if I duplicate any responses. Also I haven't gotten too far in the game, I think I've only reached a population of about 40,000 or so, so I have not have discovered everything yet.

• On the top of my list is a time, day, week cycle.  I'd like to see traffic according to the time of day, school buses at 7 am and 3 pm, commuter traffic at 8 am and 5 pm.  Shift work traffic every 8 hours.  Event traffic at night and on weekends. Everyone leaving the bars at 2 am. Going to church Sunday mornings. Etc.  (On the heels of that, a day/night cycle, season cycle, weather)
• Modular High Schools and Universities.  Such as different departments, stadiums, intramural fields, dorms, theaters, natatoriums, admissions/business offices, etc.
• Buildings that are designed so that if widening roads, will not destroy the building, only take up some of the space up to the building line.
• More entertainment venues: bowling alleys, skating rinks, concert venues, different sizes/sports stadiums, ice rinks/arenas, putt-putt amusement places, swimming pools, go karting, etc.
• Modular entertainment venues. ie: golf courses, zoos, amusement parks, water parks, racing venues, parks, etc. 
• Opportunities/Rewards et al.   Something like if you have X population, X crime, and a 50,000 seat stadium, a major league sports team would like to relocate to your city. Or an international airport, civic center, and X population, Then Comic Con may want to set up shop this summer. Super Bowls, Marquee Concerts, Olympics, Boat shows, Major Car Races through downtown, Parades, Presidential visits.  Oil Business giant wants a new HQ.  That list can go on and on.
• Medium density zones.
• Apartment complexes (series of 10 or so 2-3 story apartment buildings, with a leasing/amenities building, couple of pools or park areas with parking/roads intertwined, higher wealth complexes are usually gated.  Could be modular.

 

[boformer 3,169]

I agree with you, modular buildings would be great. Especially for really large structures like airports, train stations, universities...

A medium density zone would also be great, though I think it is too late for that. The zoning system in general is flawed in my opinion.

[thehellsbells 6]

toll booths

[Mr. Bones 14]

RCI demand bar for districts.

[wallacet 336]

RCI demand bar for districts.

What would this do? District borders are arbitrary, and citizens do not necessarily work/live in the same district, so what good would it do to know that the Spring Grove district needs more commercial? You would have to have some way of turning it off/on for each district, as I sometimes draw a "district" around a single bridge or highway connection for the sole purpose of preventing heavy traffic.

[Cool_Z 1,547]

Yeah I don't see how a rci demand per district would work... and why we would need it 

[boformer 3,169]

Actually demand is calculated per district, that's why separate RCI bars would make sense.

[Mr. Bones 14]

RCI demand bar for districts.

What would this do? District borders are arbitrary, and citizens do not necessarily work/live in the same district, so what good would it do to know that the Spring Grove district needs more commercial? You would have to have some way of turning it off/on for each district, as I sometimes draw a "district" around a single bridge or highway connection for the sole purpose of preventing heavy traffic.

Actually demand is calculated per district, that's why separate RCI bars would make sense.

I build some of my cites in Cities: Skyline different then most people. I usually create multiple communities which I call towns with their own residential, commercial, and industrial parts and they are always connected together by highways. I manage each town using the district tool to cover the entire community and manage it from there.

However I find it quite hard to even out the RCI for each town I create. I don't want my cims traveling from their hometown to another town to find work or shop. It's difficult to keep them living and staying in the same town without them causing traffic jams to get to where they want to go. That is why with a district RCI demand bar it would be possible for me to create multiple communities in the same region without these problems. It would be similar to SimCity 2013's RCI demand where there was a regional demand for RCI and your citys RCI demand, and I would like a way to turn it off or on.

[Samness 104]

I build some of my cites in Cities: Skyline different then most people. I usually create multiple communities which I call towns with their own residential, commercial, and industrial parts and they are always connected together by highways. I manage each town using the district tool to cover the entire community and manage it from there.

That's actually quite an interesting concept. Does that mean that the towns end up growing to border each other eventually?

I myself treat districts as 'neighborhoods' like in Chicago, so usually they are purely symbolic aside from the occasional industrial district here and there.

...But back on topic, my biggest gripe about the game is the roadways and highways. There isn't enough variety or realism to the road networks. My suggestions:

• More roads:
  • 2-directional Urban roads (w/ sidewalk) 2-lane, 4-lane, 6-lane, 8-lane, 10-lane. Ideally, you would get to choose between the options below for all of them:
  •    
  • 1-directional Urban roads (w/ sidewalk) 1-6 lanes.
  • 2-directional Rural roads (w/o sidewalk) 2-lane, 3-lane, 4-lane, 6-lane. You should be able to choose to include or exclude the left turn lanes, as above. Plus, this should be another option:
  • 
  • 1-directional highways (Notice that highways are separated from roads here) (w/o sidewalk) 1-12 lanes ideally. Characteristics of highways:
    • Wider than urban and rural roads
    • Include shoulders on both sides
    • Faster speed limits than roads
    • Don't insert crosswalks at every intersection / transition (why would you do that anyway?)
    • Less restrictive angle of separation between roads at intersection points (you can't make realistic off/onramps with a 45° separation and no acceleration/deceleration lanes)
    • Highway lane textures don't disappear at intersections as they do for normal roads. Again, this is just for realism. 
    • HOV lanes would be a nice addition.

It's kind of weird that a game developer that made the two CIM games has such a limit game mechanic for roads. Or maybe I'm being incredibly nitpicky over small details.

  Edited July 26, 2015 by Samness  

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

I want a night time setting (where windows on buildings light up, you wouldn't believe the difference that would do as compared to the mods in the workshop) that alters game experience. For example, at night time there'd be less traffic and more crime.

[Azurespecter 506]

I really like all the suggestions being given in this thread =) I hope you all stay tuned to Gamescom

[GC_Vos 714]

@ Samness: I would love to see more road options, but I think for the base game (majority of players) it's too micro to manage lanes like that.

Still, I think Skylines should have one or two more road types like three-lane or four-lane, right now I feel there's too much of a gap between streets and avenues. Especially with one-way roads choosing between a regular two-lane and a massive six-lane can make a lot of roads either too wide or too narrow.

[wallacet 336]

I'm crossing my fingers for larger zones to be announced at Gamescon

_(please)

[rmjohnson144 42]

I really like all the suggestions being given in this thread =) I hope you all stay tuned to Gamescom

I read that Microsoft announced it was ported to xbox one, but it also says in another thread that an expansion will be announced.

 

Must be a Paradox/Colossal Order announcement later on.

[Mr. Bones 14]

A pier. Preferably a pier like a tourist attraction with rides, shops, ect.

[Thin White Duke 4,072]

A pier. Preferably a pier like a tourist attraction with rides, shops, ect.

You'll probably have better luck asking for a standalone pier on the workshop, but a way to build piers bit by bit (drag roads, boardwalks, zones on stilts) would be pretty cool.

[SyntheticBiscuit 5]

A more precise taxation system or adjustable fares for public transport with corresponding desirability rates would be a nice touch.

[mrsmartman 200]

CO should really include all transportation features of CIM in CSL. I'm willing to pay more for them.

[Quadat 0]

1) A real specialized industry system producing only raw material and sending it to generic industries. Actually raw material  is sometimes exported from districts and imported by generic industries, which doesnt make sense. Also import/export quantities limit should not exist.

2) Permanent grid that can be toggled for symetric maps.

3) Class of vehicles (big trucks, vans, cars, emergency and utility vehicles) that can be managed to avoid specific roads. Goal is managing traffic.

 

[YorkshireMayor 214]

Like everyone else, apologies if this has been mentioned.

Might be a strange one to suggest, as it'll cause traffic problems rather than solve them, but Construction/Roadworks.

It would be so cool after so many game days if certain highways had to close one lane or more and we saw little diggers move in, traffic cones appear and so forth.

As I said, would add in-game traffic issues, but would add so much realism seeing roads partially closed.

 

[boformer 3,169]

Like everyone else, apologies if this has been mentioned.

Might be a strange one to suggest, as it'll cause traffic problems rather than solve them, but Construction/Roadworks.

It would be so cool after so many game days if certain highways had to close one lane or more and we saw little diggers move in, traffic cones appear and so forth.

As I said, would add in-game traffic issues, but would add so much realism seeing roads partially closed.

 

If I ever create my own city-building game, that will be a feature of it. Not only for roads, but also for buildings. After 20 or 30 years, you will see cracks and dirt on a building. And then the owner will renovate or demolish it.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

Based off what has been done, what will be done soon, and what can be done in Cities Skylines: After Dark, what I want to see that is impossible to mod is the following (in decreasing order of importance):

1. Plopped buildings with occupants (RCI plop)

2. Odd shaped lots (L, T, U, etc)

3. Separation of density/growth stages from wealth levels.

4. Actual medium density.

5. Air pollution and weather

 

--Ocram

[Linoa06 1,374]

The "cartoonish" look in my opinion is caused by 2 factors:

1) Not enough building detail because of a poly count cap. SC4 buildings could (and were) infinitely detailed and textured, so model realism was the name of the game. Here, with everything being simulated in real time, it simply won't ever be possible to achieve life-like building detail.

2) At certain viewing angles, the sun causes over-contrast on building faces. This makes the whole scene appear "cartoonish" because you lose even more building detail due to simply not being able to see the details in the bright light.

I think people are making progress with in-game lighting filters, but they will only be able to go so far. The second half of the problem is un-resolvable.

I want to make a mod that replaces some textures and color variations of the vanilla assets. For example the blue, yellow, pink and green roofs. Maybe also the color of the cars and certain props (billboards).

Look at the screenshots in the spoiler. Many textures are just oversatured. We can fix that!

Hidden Content

The oversaturation IS a problem and it DOES add to the cartoonish feel of the game. It's both a blessing and a curse, mind you - it does make cities more eye-catching than a blurry spectrum of brown, grey and green, though too much of it and it looks out of the Looney Tunes. Could be fixed easily, though.

Like everyone else, apologies if this has been mentioned.

Might be a strange one to suggest, as it'll cause traffic problems rather than solve them, but Construction/Roadworks.

It would be so cool after so many game days if certain highways had to close one lane or more and we saw little diggers move in, traffic cones appear and so forth.

As I said, would add in-game traffic issues, but would add so much realism seeing roads partially closed.

 

Cities in Motion 1 actually had roadworks that could jinx your carefully designed transit networks, so it is a fact that they could bring it back in CSL

[boformer 3,169]

 

Like everyone else, apologies if this has been mentioned.

Might be a strange one to suggest, as it'll cause traffic problems rather than solve them, but Construction/Roadworks.

It would be so cool after so many game days if certain highways had to close one lane or more and we saw little diggers move in, traffic cones appear and so forth.

As I said, would add in-game traffic issues, but would add so much realism seeing roads partially closed.

 

Cities in Motion 1 actually had roadworks that could jinx your carefully designed transit networks, so it is a fact that they could bring it back in CSL

Roadworks are something that a talented modder could probably also set up, maybe similar to the SC4 road building animation.

You just have to block one lane for traffic (like the T++ bus lanes work), then spawn some props (barriers, warning lights, dirt, excavators).

Some enhanced features would be

• visible cracks on heavily used roads
• only close one lane (on small roads use the remaining lane for both directions, with a temporary traffic light)

A simple implementation could look like this:

[ReneXL 16]

This guy at Steam discussions posted about making above ground metro/tram mod, he figured out quite a lot and people can learn from that, early this month he said he's continuing experimenting.

 

https://steamcommunity.com/app/255710/discussions/0/535151589885464297/