CO Word of the Week #3

[Iron_Potato]

Once again, thank you for the lovely transparency! I do hope to get more assets soon, and am excited!

 

[ThomasK_7]

Now I know, I can safely wait months before buying the game until it arrives in perhaps an acceptable condition.

 

[Rhel]

Good to hear! What if anything are the plans for post release support of the region Packs? Like adding regional variants of DLC buildings, etc?

 

[Angius]

tl;dr: no pipeline to import assets yet, expect editor to be released in a few months, console version will launch with the editor so it'll take them a few months for that as well, they'll be adding LODs soon and future patches will be bigger but more scarce

tl;dr of tl;dr: if you're on the fence with buying the game, wait until summer vacation at least

 

[avguy2]

In the last three weeks, we’ve had a very quick pace with the patches. There is one more of those landing soon, but after that, we’ll be focusing on bigger fixes that take longer to work on. The team is now focusing on LODs and improving GPU performances, and while geometric LODs are largely automated, there are a ton of tweaks and adjustments required. We are expecting a relevant performance boost with these asset fixes. The workload is significant and unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to improve the performance at once, instead, it requires several tasks completed before we are happy with it. This results in less frequent updates so we won’t have weekly patches going forward. Please check the future Word of the Weeks for more information, as I plan to keep writing one every week until further notice.

For those of us who aren't so much interested in city painting: What does that mean for the myriad of bugs and issues with the simulation? When will we see improvements to the gaming part of the game?

 

[Ludonope]

I think you should clarify the difference between importing assets and using assets from Paradox Mods, as to me when you said that console couldn't import assets it sounds like no assets at all.

Good luck on the team for all the work that is left, it's a bit later than expected but I do trust that you'll deliver what we want and more

Also, would be great to have some words about using props as it's a big missing feature for most people that want to do at least a bit of detailing, maybe you can put the dev menu in a more accessible way for those of us.

 

[sanverm]

Excellent! Keep up the good work.

 

[Thoddy398]

Last week I promised to give you an update on where we are with the modding of Cities: Skylines II. The Editor is in the works and we shared an updated version of it with the closed Modding Beta group for a feedback round just last Friday. The Editor currently includes only maps and support for code modding and we’re looking forward to getting those ready for an initial release. I’m calling it an initial release as we will be adding to the modding tools throughout the game's lifetime, just like we did with Cities: Skylines.

We do not have the asset import feature available yet, so the creators are currently unable to import their own assets into the game. After we have the import feature in place we’ll be running it through the Modding Beta group. When the asset part of the Editor is ready, we’ll have the Paradox Mods nicely populated with the Region pack assets that the asset creators have been working on. The assets are looking amazing, and I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun choosing the ones most fitting to your cities! If you haven’t already, check out the Region Pack teaser here:

Our goal is to release the Editor as soon as possible, and we will keep you updated on the progress. We expect it will take a couple of months to get the Editor in a shape where we can release it, but we don’t have a concrete timeline yet as we don’t want to make promises we can’t keep. Once the Editor is out we will continue to work on it with your feedback and suggestions to help us prioritize the most wanted features and improvements. We’re very much looking forward to seeing your creations and mods too!

As an update on console, the game will have all the intended Editor features in place when the console versions are released, so you’ll be able to catch up to the PC players in no time. The Editor on console will be on par with the PC version in all but two features: code modding and asset importing as these are not possible within the console restrictions. However, you will be able to download user-created assets from Paradox Mods and create custom maps! The performance improvements we are currently working on also benefit the console version, and we’re actively working on the console versions so they will be ready for you in the first half of 2024.

In the last three weeks, we’ve had a very quick pace with the patches. There is one more of those landing soon, but after that, we’ll be focusing on bigger fixes that take longer to work on. The team is now focusing on LODs and improving GPU performances, and while geometric LODs are largely automated, there are a ton of tweaks and adjustments required. We are expecting a relevant performance boost with these asset fixes. The workload is significant and unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to improve the performance at once, instead, it requires several tasks completed before we are happy with it. This results in less frequent updates so we won’t have weekly patches going forward. Please check the future Word of the Weeks for more information, as I plan to keep writing one every week until further notice.

Before I go, here’s a link to last week’s patch notes if you want to check what it brought! Thanks to everyone who reported an issue and gave feedback. Your effort is most appreciated!

Since

 

[Thoddy398]

When will the Map-Editor be released?? In 2024?

 

[Sovetskysoyuz]

We expect it will take a couple of months to get the Editor in a shape where we can release it, but we don’t have a concrete timeline yet as we don’t want to make promises we can’t keep.

Clarification requested: “a couple of months” is the estimate for the “initial release” with map editing and code modding? Or for the version with asset importing?

 

[Otis Slayer]

That is, Early Access

 

[Thaimasker12]

Months for mods? The game is dead in the water for me for months then. There is no challenge and I was hoping for at least mods to be able to fix that.

 

[co_avanya]

For those of us who aren't so much interested in city painting: What does that mean for the myriad of bugs and issues with the simulation? When will we see improvements to the gaming part of the game?

Last week we released a patch to address some of the gameplay issues you have reported, and we're investigating several others as we're working our way through the issues that have been brought to our attention.

 

[[Delta ²k5]]

Thank you Mariina for the update

For the future I'd wish to see some details about vehicles asset creation being uncovered, especially when it comes down to some of the amazing new functionalities I saw on vehicles like trains, boats and the police helicopter (working articulations, pantographs switching directions, tilting and turning bogies, rotating spotlights and cameras, rotating radars...).

I guess the way these are done is quite different from "just" submeshes on C:S1 especially on the articulations it's some dynamic manipulation of the mesh (moving edges/vertexes to "glue" them between individual cars and to stretch the mesh somehow).

Hopefully modders will be able to make use of these magic tricks too

 

[DEUPLECT]

I'm on the lookout for a city-building game that really pushes the boundaries of difficulty—a hard mode that injects an element of risk, pushing players to think strategically and find ways to maximize profits. I'm particularly drawn to the idea of a complex economic system involving the importation of local goods and navigating the fluctuating prices of exported goods in large quantities. Despite understanding the challenges you're currently tackling, I'm more than willing to wait for those fixes if it means the addition of a truly challenging hard mode to the game.

 

[TheLazyHangman]

Does this mean that the GeForce Now version will not get the Region Pack content (or any other extra content delivered via Paradox Mods)?

 

[Cruxador]

Now I know, I can safely wait months before buying the game until it arrives in perhaps an acceptable condition.

If this is your mindset I would say that the best benchmark to look for is the console release. I don't think they're going to do that without making sure that the game is in a much better place first.

 

[Mazisky]

Hello Mariina

At the moment it seems like the map editor can only allow for existing climates chosen from presets.

Will we be able to create our custom climate and weather patterns in the future?
Cities 1 kinda allowed a similar thing within its limitations

 

[Lynx92]

Last week I promised to give you an update on where we are with the modding of Cities: Skylines II. The Editor is in the works and we shared an updated version of it with the closed Modding Beta group for a feedback round just last Friday. The Editor currently includes only maps and support for code modding and we’re looking forward to getting those ready for an initial release. I’m calling it an initial release as we will be adding to the modding tools throughout the game's lifetime, just like we did with Cities: Skylines.

We do not have the asset import feature available yet, so the creators are currently unable to import their own assets into the game. After we have the import feature in place we’ll be running it through the Modding Beta group. When the asset part of the Editor is ready, we’ll have the Paradox Mods nicely populated with the Region pack assets that the asset creators have been working on. The assets are looking amazing, and I’m sure you’ll have a lot of fun choosing the ones most fitting to your cities! If you haven’t already, check out the Region Pack teaser here:

Our goal is to release the Editor as soon as possible, and we will keep you updated on the progress. We expect it will take a couple of months to get the Editor in a shape where we can release it, but we don’t have a concrete timeline yet as we don’t want to make promises we can’t keep. Once the Editor is out we will continue to work on it with your feedback and suggestions to help us prioritize the most wanted features and improvements. We’re very much looking forward to seeing your creations and mods too!

As an update on console, the game will have all the intended Editor features in place when the console versions are released, so you’ll be able to catch up to the PC players in no time. The Editor on console will be on par with the PC version in all but two features: code modding and asset importing as these are not possible within the console restrictions. However, you will be able to download user-created assets from Paradox Mods and create custom maps! The performance improvements we are currently working on also benefit the console version, and we’re actively working on the console versions so they will be ready for you in the first half of 2024.

In the last three weeks, we’ve had a very quick pace with the patches. There is one more of those landing soon, but after that, we’ll be focusing on bigger fixes that take longer to work on. The team is now focusing on LODs and improving GPU performances, and while geometric LODs are largely automated, there are a ton of tweaks and adjustments required. We are expecting a relevant performance boost with these asset fixes. The workload is significant and unfortunately, there is no silver bullet to improve the performance at once, instead, it requires several tasks completed before we are happy with it. This results in less frequent updates so we won’t have weekly patches going forward. Please check the future Word of the Weeks for more information, as I plan to keep writing one every week until further notice.

Before I go, here’s a link to last week’s patch notes if you want to check what it brought! Thanks to everyone who reported an issue and gave feedback. Your effort is most appreciated!

Sincerely,
Mariina

some questions:
- will there still be pre-order bonuses on consoles?
- will there be a limit on the assets downloadable via paradox mods on console?
- in the long term, is this how the industrial system will evolve, particularly with regard to the fact that assets pop up on their own and without any real coherence?