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Behind the Scenes #2: Editor

Hello everyone and welcome back to another development diary. Today we’re sharing our plans for the Editor in Cities: Skylines II. Currently, the game does not include the Editor, but we will update the game post-release to include it as soon as it’s out of beta testing.

From the start, we knew we wanted to include an in-depth editor powerful enough to bring your ideas to life. This time around we have a good sense of what modders and creators may need, based on all the amazing things they created for Cities: Skylines, and our goal is to support that with the new Editor currently being worked on for Cities: Skylines II. We’re developing it in close cooperation with the modding community, and while the tools are something we’ll use internally as well, the goal is to offer you the possibility to create your own content for the game. That’s what the Cities: Skylines experience is really about: Freedom to create!


ONE EDITOR TO RULE THEM ALL
In Cities: Skylines we had several different editors for different functions. If you wanted to create assets you would open the asset editor, and within it, you would select specific categories all bringing you a subset of features. If you wanted to work on a map, you would need a different editor to do that.

In Cities: Skylines II we have one Editor capable of everything. Whether you’re making a new map or creating a new building, you will enter the same Editor. This means you will have a lot of options at your fingertips, which can be a little daunting at first, but it comes with a lot of benefits too.

Your new building doesn’t exist in a flat empty world. You can load a map, place the building in the environment, and place other buildings or roads around it to get a better sense of what it will look like in your city. The same goes for maps. You can place buildings as you’re shaping the landscape to ensure the scale of hills and valleys is how you want them.

1 Editor.png

Preview your asset in the surroundings you want while adding finishing touches


ROADMAP
The Editor is currently in beta and being tested by our modding beta group, which consists of seasoned modders and asset creators. The Editor will be released in several steps, the first of which will include map creation, asset import, code mods, and sharing those as well as savegames through Paradox Mods.

Creating custom maps in Cities: Skylines II includes what you might expect: Shaping the landscape, setting up water sources for rivers and lakes, painting in natural resources and forests, and setting up the basic outside connections for a city. But map creation also includes setting up the map’s climate, including its temperature variations and weather.

The initial release of the Editor supports the creation of custom buildings with more asset types to be supported in the future. It allows you to import custom .fbx files with a matching set of textures, set up color variations, decorate the asset, and tweak its stats to fit your new asset. You can of course also edit existing assets, giving your favorite building a new look through different color variations and decorations. All the technical information about modeling and texturing assets can be found on the official wiki, which will be updated as more information is available.

Last, but definitely not least, this update will support code modding. We have given a lot of the prominent modders from Cities: Skylines early access to Cities: Skylines II, giving them a chance to get familiar with the game and get inspired to create mods. That said, please remember that the game uses new technology and has a deeper simulation, so mods need to be created from scratch and nothing done earlier for Cities: Skylines can be used as such. We’re very excited to see what the modders create for this time around!

This first update will also enable sharing to Paradox Mods. Here you can share and download custom maps, buildings, and code mods, as well as share your savegame or download other people’s cities to explore. Paradox Mods will be available on all platforms, not just PC, within the limits of each platform. We’ll get into the details of what will be included for console closer to their release.

THE NEXT STEP
Following the release of the Editor our next goal is to expand its capabilities to include more asset types. We want to give you the ability to create your very own vehicles, trees and bushes, as well as the option to import custom citizen models. Both trees and citizens are more complex than their counterparts in Cities: Skylines.

As trees go through a lifecycle in Cities: Skylines II, from saplings to adult trees and eventually to dead trees, custom trees require several models corresponding to each stage of their life. Similarly, citizens go through different life stages which are reflected in their character models changing from children all the way to seniors. We’ll take you behind the scenes of character models in a future development diary which may help potential creators get a sense of what to expect once the Editor supports custom characters.

2 Roadmap.png


YOUR FEEDBACK
We have intentionally left our plans for the Editor open-ended. Besides the features we have planned for it, we want to leave room to implement improvements and features that will help you create modding content for Cities: Skylines II. While we of course cannot make any guarantees, we’re excited to hear your feedback and wishes for the Editor, both now and once you get your hands on it.

We’re very interested in hearing about your experience with the editors in Cities: Skylines. Which ones did you use? What worked well? What did you find challenging? And of course, we want to hear about what you would love to create for Cities: Skylines II, whether it’s among the items supported with the initial release of the Editor, something that will be supported down the line, or perhaps something completely different. Let us know in the comments below.

In the next development diary, we take you behind the scenes of Game Balancing, diving into the process and challenges that come with balancing a deep simulation like Cities: Skylines II.
 
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methehobo said:
Hello long time CS player super excited for the new game. CS1 was so good I ended up getting a degree in urban planning because of it Oops haha.
Anyway CS1 had surprising utility as an alternative plan rendering solution. It's easier and faster than other dedicated renderers used in urban design. I expect it's use in education and the professional urban design space will only grow if the editor grows in utility and complexity.
My first thing is units of measurement. Yes, metric is the better system but it's not the one we use in the US and if we got the option to switch it would make scaling the models correctly much easier. No biggie.
Second thing that would make CS2 into a legitimate urban planning tool would be a converter for contour maps. We can export contour lines for GIS. If we can take those and use them as an impression for the terrain the utility would be tremendous.
Professional planners may be a tiny sliver of the player base, but I can confirm that CS has the attention of all of us.
The main thing I'm hoping for is versatility. I know Colossal Order is primarily intending to make video games for fun, but unfortunately you genius guys and gals made a very good tool along the way and I'd hate for CS2 to not have that same utility.
A mode similar to the editor that allows for easy renderings of urban spaces with an accurate scale would be much appreciated by many planning students and likely some professionals as well.

Appreciate the opprotunity to share my thoughts. Consider it an opportunity. You may not have known the door was open for Colossal Order to enter this world, but it is!! The Urban planning field needs an easy to use urban site design option and with the right little tweaks CS is it!
Click to expand...

CS1 modder here; thus speaking based on how CS1 worked; from what we've seen in the dev diaries and yt videos, CS2 seems to work similarly as far as it matters here. Also, my development laptop is broken, so I can't check the code, so this is from memory.

  • Units of measurement
    Converting the displayed measurements should be an easy-ish mod. Slightly tedious to find all the places but then the logic is simple. Might require writing a Harmony Transpiler though to inject in the right places, that'd make it harder.
    For import, it's probably better/easier to tell your CAD / GIS software to export in metric.
  • Contour maps
    CS1 used a height map for terrain, and from how terraforming behaved in the let's plays I've seen of CS2, it looks like it does too. In CS1, there were actually two height maps: one with 8m horizontal resolution, and one with 1m h. res. The former could be set in the editor based on a greyscale image (with 8 or 16bit per pixel resolution, don't remember the vertical scale, should be somewhere on cslmodding dot info), the latter was dynamically generated based on the low-res version and was never saved, not even in savegames. The hi-res terrain could only be modified via buildings and networks, not the landscaping tools. (which is why terraforming networks were useful.) I have a beta version of a mod that makes the hi-res terrain even more hi-res, doing the same for the (saved and imported) low-res should be possible, but apparently I missed some scaling factor somewhere.
    Nevertheless, CS2 looks like it still uses a heightmap, but with a finer horizontal resolution (somewhere around 0.5-1m (?)). Given that most map creators used the heightmap import as a starting point, I'd be surprised if CS2 doesn't have it. Even then, I'd expect there to be a mod soon.

    However, you wrote "contour map". Idk what that's supposed to be; but it sounds like the isolines you get on (printed) topographic maps. If that's the case, I doubt CS2 will read that (I'm not PDX/CO-affilated and not part of the early access group, so I can't know for sure). While building a mod for that would certainly possible, finding or building some tool to convert your contour maps into heightmaps seems like the more reasonable option. (i.e. into a greyscale image with the brightness of each pixel representing the height at that point)
  • Side note: im-/export of road networks
    there was/is a mod to import openstreetmap data; idk how well it worked, though from what I've heard most people recreating real cities used the image overlay mod instead and traced everything manually. In general, if you can get your road network data as straight lines and bezier curves, and not too many tiny segments (e.g. if there's multiple segments within the area covered by an intersection, that tends to cause issues), the main hurdle is picking the correct road type to use. Also, depending on data source, roads with medians might cause issues if the data source represents them as separate one-ways. However, CS2 seems to handle short segments better than CS1, so who knows.
    Still, I doubt there'll be a native import, and idk when/if there'll be a mod. If I were to develop one for CS1, I'd try and use MoveIt's export/import functionality and write it's xml-based format from an external tool.
  • easy renderings with an accurate scale:
    Building lots in CS1 were limited to rectangles with side lenghts of integer multiples of 8m. It looks like that applies to CS2, too. If you want to deviate from that, you either need to use Procedural Objects to modify the models in-game or use custom assets with the correct size and shape and tweak their placement manually, as the game still treats them as if they were a standard size. Also, if by "accurate scale" you mean isometric renderings or cross-sections etc., that sounds like it requires modifying the shaders, which I don't know of anybody who's figured out how to do that in CS1. CS2 uses a newer unity version though, maybe that'll help, idk.
Of course, all of this is assuming that you don't contract CO do do this for you.

Anyway, it sounds like you're in some sort of teaching function? If so, for the parts where a custom mod might help, maybe you could try and find someone in the computer science department and coordinate with them to offer that as a student project? They'd need to learn/know C#, CIL and Harmony though to properly supervise the student, though the contour map to heightmap converter could/should be standalone and thus can use whatever they know. I did a two-week thing where I built a Revit plugin that classifies wall joints (e.g corner vs. T) for the civil engineering folks, so maybe your instution has some system that you can hook into. (not saying that the stuff I mentioned above does or does not fit that timeframe)
 
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I like the "putting your asset in the world to see how it fits" thing. One thing that could be frustrating with assets was wildly differing scales.

I've been learning Blender and making my own textures for another game, and I imagine I'll tinker around in this one too.
 
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1) Will texture naming conventions remain the same? ( _d, _i, ect etc)
2) Will icon ratio be the same as steam? (1x1)
3) Will we be able combine multiple assets when uploading? (like including a prop version for example)

I've built about 200 vehicles assets in the build-up to CSII launch and would love to be part of the beta. I'm very curious to see what alterations I may need to do to all my planes/cars/etc to work within the perimeters of a new editor. Please consider me for the beta testing. thx :)

steamcommunity.com

Steam Community :: DTOX :: Workshop Items

steamcommunity.com steamcommunity.com
 
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Hi Paradox,
I can see you are inundated with questions of all aspecct of asset/mod creation with the new Editor.

I am not a modder or an asset creator. Just a player.

I am curious whether a mechanism is built in the game, that when an asset (be it a building, or a custom network, road or railway) is removed from the PDX, it will not make my savegame fail to load.

This was a serious issue with C:S 1, and a specific Mod ("RON, the network replacer") had to be created just to save our precious savegames when a network asset was removed from the Workshop.
Please tell me, that this will not happen again. With *any* asset.

Perhaps the game could, in such situation, automatically replace the missing networks with a "Default_Road" / "Default_Track" etc. The default would be built-in, *VERY* generic, simplistic depiction of the network in question, but coloured (or otherwise marked) in a distinct way, to be easily located in-game and replaced with something more reasonable. Perhaps even a pop-up requestor listing any missing network assets during save game load, giving opportunity to auto-replace them with another network asset - or use the Default item, at user's option.

Code Mods can naturally be a totally different beast, and their removal may be impossible to compensate. Even then, a graceful shutdown of the game, with clear message about a missing mod, should be a given. As opposed to crash with some obscure non-descript error code...
 
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I'm liking how this sounds! I'm a citizen asset creator and I can't wait to get my hands on the cim modding tools!

What I would love from the citizen editor is to be able to create my own animations, edit existing ones, and create more conditions for animations to play (i.e., being able to have a specific animation play when they're at a specific building).

Creating conditions for when they change clothing/accessories would be cool, too. I see we can already have our cims change clothes depending on the weather, which I really like! Creating more conditions for this would really liven them up! For example, they hold umbrellas when it's raining; wear different outfits depending on their job occupation; wear swim attire so that they're not sullying their expensive suits when they go swimming at the beach!

I can't wait to hear more! Keep up the good work!
 
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Ooo, this looks good! One question, and totally understand if it's too soon to answer, but what sort of API and documentation are we looking at for code mods this time around? From the (brief) foray I made into modding for the last game, it seemed like a lot of things weren't really documented, you just had to sleuth around the C# and hope for the best.
 
Great to see info coming out about this! CS1 is what convinced me to learn 3D modeling and I'm proud of what I accomplished in that time. I learned a lot since I started, and I feel better prepared to produce quality assets for CS2. My specialty was trees and maps (I was Greyflame on the workshop), but I also dabbled in buildings, props, and network assets. I don't know the first thing about code.

Some questions and feedback.
  • Maps are my biggest concern presently. It doesn't look like they have "themes" (in the CS1 sense) right now, and thus all share the same texturing. I hope this is opened up in some way very early on. I actually felt map themes were one of my biggest bottlenecks to map creation in CS1 because the texturing options were so limited. You only had sand and a couple resources for painting. What I'd really like to see is several "freeform" texture layers in addition to the default ground, cliff, etc textures.
  • The other big tool I learned to use for map creation was custom rock assets. I hope either a building or prop editor can be used for this, and I obviously hope we have the ability to clip assets through map geometry (preferably unmodded, but modded is fine too).
  • I think the big, underutilized asset type in CS1 was Decals. Decals have the potential to be extremely powerful for map creation because you can easily create texture variation and suggest detail without adding geometry to the map. However, decals in CS1 were challenging to use for a few reasons. They had no LOD by default, so they either vanished abruptly or caused performance issues if "forced" to render at distance. They also didn't have any obvious layering system, causing them to fight. I would love (love love LOVE) to see a decal system with a few layers, regular/lod textures (would be an easy one to auto-lod), and maybe an easy system for uploading them without fussing with a mesh.
  • This isn't a big deal, but the ability to "glue" assets like rocks and decals to the map would be nice, so by default they could just be built on top of. Obviously with some way to still remove them in-game.
  • Regarding tree assets. My biggest limitation in CS1 was that the auto-generated LOD did not match the rotation of the main tree model, if you used a mod to rotate the trees. This prevented me from doing highly asymmetrical or directional trees (windswept etc) because the LOD-switch would be way too obvious. So, I'm just hoping tree LODs, if they're automatically generated, have the ability to rotate.
  • Can you link multiple textures to an asset? I ask because I would really prefer to keep the foliage texture of my trees separate from the bark texture. Especially if it's possible to share textures between assets as well. This could, for example, allow me to make a dozen Douglas Fir variations, each with their own small and unique bark texture, but all sharing the same foliage texture.
  • I would like to see an asset type specifically for grasses, or similar. I actually think the sprites used in CS1 for grass were a great idea, but I would like to see a more powerful version. Higher res, with variations, etc. I never figured out a great way in CS1 to create lush fields and underbrush without actually using geometry. (although again, decals would help with this).
Lastly, I'd just like to express my optimism about the potential for this game. I know I'm asking a lot in my feedback, but if they game can accommodate, then it will be possible to easily create photo-real maps. Regardless, I'm excited to get working on the types of assets I didn't yet have the skills for while playing the original. I look forward to filling the mod library with maps, trees, structures, rocks, and bridges galore :)
 
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I really can't wait for the editor to be available. I'm especially excited to remake all my palm trees from CS1 and many new ones as well.

My wish for the editor is to support custom animations. Judging by the videos that have released so far, the trees seem to be much better animated as the branches jiggle and move with the wind. Palm trees behave a little different to deciduous trees or conifers. I would just love to have palm trees sway realistically with the individual fronds moving.
So far I made all my palm tree assets in Blender, but I've dabbled a bit with SpeedTree which can add realistic animations. If there was a way to import those animations into CS2, I'd be so happy! Or if there was a shader in CS2 to automatically animate palm trees better.

On another note, I'm excited to see what will be possible with road assets.
 
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As someone who just dabbled in basic road editor stuff, I'm hoping real lessons were learned from the CS1 mod road editor and can be iterated on to allow us to add our own pavers/textures, more lane types (because there are heavy rail trans that share tracks in the road in lots of places) and so on.

Pleased for what's in store, and understand this is just the beginning!
 
Can you elaborate more on the asset editor for the console please, will the functionality be the same as on PC? Thinking of creation of buildings, transport items like trucks, trains etc. Or is it limited a basic asset?
 
I love the timeline without dates ;) But Ok you are not sure when the editor will arrive -- I do get it. But do you know if The Editor will be a DLC that I have to buy or will it be a free update to the game?
 
tbbeaty said:
I love the timeline without dates ;) But Ok you are not sure when the editor will arrive -- I do get it. But do you know if The Editor will be a DLC that I have to buy or will it be a free update to the game?
Click to expand...
It's a free patch in the first days(/week?) after launch and will be expanded in the coming months.
 
CS Devs have done wonders to make it possible for 3D artists to create game assets for CS. And to see my assets fully functional in game is rewarding, well worth the effort. And believe me it takes days to create an asset such as roads, lol, 64+ files and whoa! Heart attack. I hope the procedure for creating new roads in CS2 will be easier. But then again, I also like to use the Map Theme Editor to change the road surface.

I love using all the editors in CS, initially the learning curve for the Asset Editor was tricky! Scale and alignment for networks are the trickiest. Easier once I figured out the workflow between Blender and CS asset editor. Whereas the Map and Map Theme Editors are a cakewalk by comparison.

Here are my suggestions:

Map Editor:

I love to create straight land bridges for rail, and channels with evenly sloped edges! All done with the level and soften brushes. But it takes hours to complete.

I do this because for two reasons, (1) the seawall and tiered quays LOD's look disappointing when viewed from a distance, and (2) if roads are used as a guide, the edges of the terrain will fragment in many sections once the road is removed, and the top edge may get unwanted bump height in game.

- Suggestion for Additional Brush Options:
1. Straighten (on/off) works with any brush! Locking horizontal or vertical movement, with more options to auto smooth the top edge. This will be a massive time saver.


Map Theme Editor:

1. I think it is very important to have segment samples of assets included in the Theme Editor, such as pavement, roads and other networks, and a large checkered (RGB) Colossal statue, ball or cube. Why? 'Visual Confirmation' for all the main textures, lighting, colors, sun direction and shadows;

2. All simulated 3D environments require 3 point lighting! Fill and Back lights are essential to remove excessive darkening of shadows. The result is for example, a light green building will retain color and better balance of lighting on all sides of the building! And the main light (sun) will not be aggressively too bright as it directly shines on the one side of the building.

3. Bloom (adjust glare/glow, or none) and Anti-Aliasing (soften sharp edges), just two level controls. Very important and very easy to use (just two sliders). Soften Edges is a neat trick to reduce anti-aliasing! In addition when paired with FXAA or TAA the results should be excellent.

4. Add Import Textures for Beach/Water Edge including bump map.

5. Add Import Textures for railways (rail, sleeper, ballast) including bump map.

6. Add Import Textures for pedestrian roads including bump map.

7. Add bump map for road texture, why? I may want to make cracks in the asphalt look more realistic, and that is one of many examples.

8. Global Color Settings such as, color, hue and saturation levels. perhaps someone might want a magenta alien city theme lol.

9. All imported textures should have the file name displayed, and with the currently used listed first in the import menu. This helps to prevent confusion as to which texture is currently being used and possibly needs redoing in Photoshop. Link to external editor would be nice.


Asset Editor:

1. I like the UI simplicity of the road builder, but of don't like auto generated LODs. That is why I prefer the asset editor to import all of my own.

2. Intersection Marking Tool (in the Asset Editor?), the way it highlights the lane that is selected! Smart, because I can see which lane is being edited. And having options to add color or import textures for lanes, sidewalks and medium strip would be very nice.

3. Import - Choose Version of External Software! For example, I am using Blender version 4, that would mean I select that in a drop-down menu, and then the scale and orientation will be corrected if need be for CS2.

4. Station Track Creator:
Options to create any type of network for public transport such as trains, metro, monorail and maglev, and who knows what else lol. Import Mesh Options Panel for: rail, sleepers and gravel/concrete or grass. Then draw the segment. In addition, auto-create spawn point(s) and stop(s). Although have spawn points and stops editing options. When creating a station building there will be a need to add invisible paths. These paths should also be included in the asset editor. Overall these features would be similar to the Advanced Building Editor.

5. Invisible Crowd Marker Extended, would like to have smaller square shape for tight spots. Or better still, make markers resizable.

6. Invisible Crowd Barrier, draw a line similar to a fence, e.g. to prevent zombies walking all over my beautiful garden lol.

7. Lift the prop limit from 64 to 128.

8. Lift the 3D model (mesh) scale limit so I don't have to use the Sub Building option, although it is nice to have that option remain. I would like to see for example, being able to fit a larger train and metro hub building all in one big mesh exported from Blender and imported to CS Asset Editor. I think this would make it easier to do the final work on the asset. But then again something like Procedural Tools as an alternative option for game asset creation.

9. Easier method for multi-lane selection for bulk editing e.g. roads.

10. Construction Kits (Content Packs), highly optimized mesh objects such as walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors, transparent glass panes and more. Each pack presents a theme from old Victorian to ultra futuristic. Each object has a default texture, but with options to change it, color (including hex copy/paste), or import custom textures.png. And of course the option to resize any of these objects using anchor points. This is like having Procedural Tools integrated in to the Asset Editor. Procedural Tools (including Move it) should also be included in game. I think 'Construction Kits' will be very useful, would save me a lot of time having to create many 3D model parts in Blender and then export/import all of them into CS.

11. Color Palette and Hex with Copy/Paste Option. A most useful addition to ensure color is exactly as intended that can be used in other assets or parts of an asset (construction kits).

12. Find it (mod).

13. Move it (mod).

14. Custom Theme Map Selection, this is for whatever theme I want to use for the Asset Editor. This is available in CS1, would like to this option for CS2.

Apologies for the long post! Shoot for the moon and hope for at least some of the above will eventually make it in CS2, no rush, I can wait a few years. I am sure there are more pending priorities for CS2.
 
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