Why hasn't the demand bug in the UK pack been fixed yet? When will it be?

[pdx_peanut]

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed some time off over the holiday period to rest, and spend time with your families!
I spent my holiday period looking into and hopefully fixing the UK pack, which I think I have successfully managed. I will not update it immediately as that would be irresponsible to do without testing, which may beg the question why did we post it in the first place without testing? and the answer to that is, we did test it, this bug just wasn't immediately evident and unfortunately got past us.

I will beg your extended patience just a little further and I will hopefully update the pack very soon, and fingers crossed it resolves the problems and we don't miss any new bug. These things always keep me up at night!
Thanks and happy new year!

 

[pdx_peanut]

Will this fix some other UK pack issues? For example, I remember that one of the school extensions added only 50 students. It looks like, for the price, it should have added 500, especially since there are 2 upgrades at about the same price (one adding 500 places, the other 50).

This will depend on what has been reported in the official bug reports forum or not. I can only fix issues I know about and no matter how much I try, I unfortunately can't be in every space looking for issues!
I won't give a detailed list of fixes here just yet though.

 

[pdx_peanut]

OK I just logged it. Hard to know if this was logged before, as the bug forum has 1,000s of items, and they no longer get marked as confirmed or fixed.

Thank you! I am still investigating one other main issue, depending on time, I will see if this fix is included or whether it could make it to a future update!

 

[pdx_peanut]

Any news on this? Interesting if this is still in the pipeline to fix or that attention moved to other items.

Hello!
I am back, sorry for some delay to replying, I've been needing to do work on the upcoming packs at the same time.

The main issue with the UK pack that I am still in the middle of working through is the Medium Density bugs - but it's more a question of how I best solve the issue. Generally speaking, I have the answer of the "why" the bug is happening, thanks to some investigation from Colossal Order. But with the information they were able to give me it looks like there is a fundamental design flaw in the UK pack where the creators assigned exact household numbers to each building, which is not recommended.
I am currently in the process of testing several ideas I have to fix the issue, while still trying to respect the original intent of the creators. There is also a little bit of backend investigation still happening too, which once complete will mean the fix will happen much easier for everybody.

I don't want to give an exact, or even inexact estimate on how long this will take so as not to disappoint if I can't hit that timeframe. I would rather update once with a good fix, than have to come back to the drawing board many times - though of course if that happens, then it happens and I will roll with it.

So that's where I am at. I know it's frustrating to wait, I am appreciative of everyone's patience.

 

[pdx_peanut]

I appreciate your extra effort during the holidays. Is there an ETA for the update? I have been pausing my UK build for a month and waiting for this to be fixed

I've answered above

 

[pdx_peanut]

If I am getting this right, you (or any other creator) shouldn't give a house which you intended to hold say 10 households max this number?
Which in turn would mean that the game somehow determines the max number of households dynamically, is that right?

That is correct. Once the asset editor releases into beta, things like the "hows" and "whys" will be put onto the wiki.

 

[pdx_peanut]

I would recommend putting it in capital letters in the wiki.

Anyway, thanks for your answer

WILL do

 

[pdx_peanut]

On a related note...

It might be good to put those informations in the wiki right now already.
I have the strong feeling that this dynamic determination of max househould numbers already is causing quite some confusion for players who are looking at their apparently not existing demand, not knowing that the game internally handles numbers they aren't aware of.
Having these informations in the wiki right now already might give some vital insight and avoid the above mentioned confusion to some degree.

Just saying...

The calculation done is not directly going to inform the general player about anything. I think it would add to more confusion with people wondering "what am I looking at and why does it affect me" because ultimately it won't make sense to anyone not creating assets.
As for anyone who are making assets at the moment, they shouldn't be because there is too much about what is in the current editor that is not meant to be used until the asset editor releases.
When the time comes, I will make sure it is on the wiki in a good enough spot that people see and understand it if they go looking to learn about asset creation.

 

[pdx_peanut]

Acknowledging that I don't have the full information about the code I nevertheless have to disagree here.

CS2 in its core like any other managerial game is a game about optimization.
You NEED the full set of information available to achieve that goal of optimization.

Keeping information hidden from the player will only cause misunderstandings, and in consequence frustration on the player side.

This may - and I am giving this as a hint - even cause the need to revise the respective parts of the code. Maybe you might want to change it or at least insert some additional functionality to display the numbers currently computed and dealt with by the code.

You really have to let players know what is going on.
Even more so as I assume similar calculations going on for all other kinds of assets like commercial, industrial, special buildings, you name it.

I think you are fundamentally misunderstanding the information we are talking about here.
The information is only and specifically "how to set up a custom asset so it works with the game" not "how does the game calculate demand". You may want the latter information, but that's not what we are talking about here.

I am just making this clear so you know that what I am not going to put on the wiki right now, is something specifically about how to get custom assets working, and the specific reason it's not going on the wiki right now is because it's only to do with asset creation and nothing to do with how to play the game.
It would be something like "make sure you don't do X on the asset you are making otherwise you will break the game" which out of any context of asset creation, will make zero sense to anyone else.

 

[pdx_peanut]

Thanks for clarification. Much appreciated.

Nevertheless, I think my former statement is still valid but I acknowledge I may not have made it clear enough.
It was more meant as a general remark as I am seeing you as a part of the CO/PDX conglomerate we as players are dealing with. And I for my person have the strong feeling that players are lacking all kind of information regarding the game.
That's the reason why I emphasized the need for having access to all relevant information.

As you are literally the only one still communicating with the player base (thanks for that, btw) I wanted to "misuse" you as a means to transport my view about said informations into your companies.

But yes, I agree that there is a difference between informing people what to do and what not to make assets work in general and the ingame information about the currently processed numbers.

Thanks again for your responses and information given.

I appreciate your sentiments!
I would still encourage you to put any suggestions as a post in the Suggestions Forum and bugs in the Bug Reports Forum. Both are still looked at and used by us. While I can have a conversation with you, there are still limits to my own personal workload and responsibilities that prevent me spending time making reports myself, especially when I know there are other people dedicated to recording those things in the appropriate channels.

I'll be back in this particular thread if I have any meaningful updates about the UK pack issues, or if not hopefully just have it fixed and updated soon!

 

[pdx_peanut]

If anyone is curious about my role in the creator packs, you can read about me and how I helped manage the creation of the packs in my Dev Diary that was shared at the start of the releases of the packs:

Dev Diary: Region Packs from a Content Creator Manager’s Perspective​

And just one point to make as a person who came from the modding scene in CS1 to the modding scene in CSII - CS1's editor was vastly superior to any other game's modding capabilities at the time. I remember another game at the time (back in 2015 era) that you had to write code to inject your asset into the game and it would break every update. CO came up with an elegant and easy to use asset editor. It had its own limitations and the game itself was limited by the technology of the time as you'd expect, but it was a fantastic piece of software.
CSII is vastly superior to CS1's editor - there is so much you can do without needing to write a code mod, that I don't even know how I will write about it all in detail on a wiki. That seriously keeps me up at night. I don't even have the words to express how powerful and how frankly cutting edge the abilities CO gave the in game editor is. Once it is in a more stable state (ie once we get VT and serialisation sorted) it's going to be an incredible tool to use, doing things you could only dream about in CS1.

And sure, in these early times, I have need to be around to help guide creators through the new editor, and even then there are some things we will try that may not work out and cause these demand issues in the UK pack, but there will be a fix.

I appreciate everyone who looks on these teething issues in kindness and not in anger. It makes my job more fun when I can interact with excited and interested people, and balances out any negative interactions I may be on the receiving end of.

 

[pdx_peanut]

Do these issues extend to the service buildings? I seem to notice the "Waiting for a Hearse" warnings a lot more when I use the UK Parish Church, and they're pretty much constantly full even if I have plenty of excess capacity in other crematoria.

No, I believe the higher rate in death some people have been seeing has been from their current generation of population being affected by the realignment of aged citizens from the last patch.
I can't be 100% sure if that's the cause for you, but the UK cemetery is significantly lower powered compared to the base game cemetery (by design) so it will generally have a lot less capacity too.

 

[pdx_peanut]

Is there any way to identify and remove all UK asset pack buildings from a map? In order to try and rid myself of this bug and regain the playability of my city, I disabled the UK pack. This made any UK pack assets appear as grey rectangles. I scoured my city, deleted all of the grey rectangles I could find, but still my demand is not returning. I think it's likely there's a mixed density UK building hiding somewhere in my map that i can't find? I'm really hoping there's a way to identify it and delete it that I haven't thought of. My city is around 550k population so I'd hate to lose it.

That does sound like the most effective way, making sure you find all the grey boxes, so you may need to just wait for the simulation to run its course and make sure you provide new housing for the displaced people to move into, rather than them trying to leave the city or live at parks. Of course I can only advise on what would happen if you are not using mods, because you could potentially be using a mod that say, instantly deletes all homeless people, which would mean my expectations for what should happen in the simulation would be incorrect.

 

[pdx_peanut]

The UK medical centre is very expensive compared to other medical buildings - is that meant to be like that? only 2 ambulances and much higher cost to build?

That design is at the discretion of the UK Pack creators. I would think maybe they wanted to reflect how expensive a medical centre is to run while not giving it unreasonable amounts of ambulances.

 

[pdx_peanut]

Hello everyone,

It’s been a while, and I know that’s frustrating for those invested in this conversation. I haven’t forgotten about this thread, but between tackling ongoing challenges and working toward the best solution, I haven’t had much to add beyond what I’ve already shared. I truly appreciate your patience. And believe me, I’m fully aware of how much time has passed, and rest assured, I’ve been working on this as much as possible, alongside my other work tasks.

As you know, I’ve been diving deep into the density simulation, testing fixes, and identifying the root of the issues. My goal is to determine whether I can resolve them while preserving the original vision of the creators, rather than resorting to the more drastic approach of reverting design choices to align with the base game structure.

This process takes a significant amount of time - far more than it may seem. Even a small adjustment requires extensive testing to ensure it actually resolves the issue without creating new ones, and sometimes, a change simply doesn’t work. This is a standard part of game development, and I want to ensure the final result is as solid as possible.

Recently, I’ve grown more confident that I can align the packs with their original intent. However, this means updates will still take time (I know that’s not what anyone wants to hear). The UK pack will require updates to nearly every single asset, while the Japan pack and possibly others will also need adjustments.

That said, my priority is to update the UK and Japan packs first. I currently plan - tentatively - to update the first four packs together, followed by the remaining four. These plans may evolve, but I’ll share more details when I can.

For now, I’m considering locking this thread to help keep the focus on this latest update and avoid confusion. However, I’ll leave it open for a short time to allow for a few more replies, as I want to ensure there’s still space for anyone with further thoughts or questions. If you’d like to share your thoughts, I just ask for continued understanding as I work to get this right. I’m committed to the outcome, and I genuinely care about delivering the best result possible.

As always, I truly appreciate everyone’s patience, and I’ll provide more updates when I have them.
Doing my best,
Peanut

 

[pdx_peanut]

@ZuluWhisky Thank you. I assure you, I’m not the only one looking into the issues, but having multiple people attempt to implement fixes simultaneously wouldn’t be the most effective approach in this case and could end up slowing things down rather than speeding them up.

@Emaer I understand the frustration, but within a large publishing company, resources are allocated across many priorities, and in this case, it wouldn’t be feasible to have multiple people working on the same issue in parallel. Since I’m the main person handling the packs and know them inside and out, bringing someone else up to speed would take valuable time away from actively working on the fixes.

@Civ5rako Thank you. Yes, as I mentioned, they are both my priority. However, the German and French packs (as far as I am aware) only need zoning icon updates, UI order adjustments, and some minor balancing - most of which I’ve already completed while testing fixes for the UK and Japan packs. So, it makes sense to update all four as soon as possible.

@ProfessorHornbuckle I appreciate the sentiment. However, continuously returning to answer more questions pulls me away from the more critical task of implementing the fixes. While I could choose not to respond in order to focus on the fixes, that often leads to accusations of taking too long to reply, going silent, or being dismissive - none of which are particularly constructive to hear, and certainly not my intention - I especially don’t want to dismiss anyone’s frustrations.

I’ve tried to engage positively in this thread to keep everyone informed about my progress, but at this point, I’d rather lock the thread so my latest response - which is already buried under several newer posts - remains visible and easier to find. As we've seen in this discussion, many people tag me for updates, possibly without seeing my previous responses, which makes it harder for me to stay focused on getting the fixes out as quickly as possible.

I know this situation is frustrating, and I truly appreciate everyone’s patience. I’m doing everything I can to get these updates out as soon as possible.

I am locking this thread now. Please reach out to me via DM if there is an extremely urgent matter regarding this situation, though I want to be clear that I may not be able to respond immediately.
Otherwise, I truly appreciate your patience and understanding.

 

[pdx_peanut]

Over the next few days, we’ll be rolling out updates for the first four released Region Packs - France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Japan. The remaining four Region Packs will receive updates at a later date - we’re actively working on them!

As each pack is updated, please note that once you’ve downloaded the update, existing saves may take some time for the changes to fully take effect. Generally, any changes will occur as buildings are leveled up, bulldozed, or modified in some way.
To see updates to buildings more quickly, bulldozing and replacing them is the fastest approach.

We’ve also improved Paradox Mods' ability to patch subscribed mods. Now, when updating a mod to the next version (e.g., from version 1 to version 2), only the changes between versions will be downloaded, reducing the overall file size. However, if a mod update skips one or more versions, a full download of the latest version will be required.

Each Region Pack update will include a changelog, which will be listed alongside the mod version as it's released.

A huge thank you to everyone for your bug reports, feedback, and most importantly, your patience!
If you come across any new issues, please create a post in the Bug Reports Forum.

 

[pdx_peanut]

Here's the update from today!

Changelog:​

• Updated the design of icons and UI priority in the asset drawer to better reflect the base game design. Zone icons are now colored and match reflect the UI priority - region pack icons will no longer be at the end of the asset list, but instead in order of base game equivalents.
• Service Buildings will also have new UI priorities, where they are in order of balancing/price/upkeep/capacity.
• Most Service Buildings now have service vehicle parking.
• Added custom unlock requirements for Signature Buildings, for added gameplay challenge.
• Changed Medium Density Semi-Detached Housing and Medium Density Terraced Housing to Low Density Semi-Detached Housing and Low Density Terraced Housing - Icons have been updated to reflect the change in density.
• Fixed multiple assets across multiple zones from charging 0 rent. Citizens living in these buildings will now have to pay rent like everyone else.
• Fixed some residential buildings complaining about really negative housing sizes.
• Allow more types of commercial businesses to rent Mixed Housing commercial spaces.
• Commercial companies renting Mixed Housing now correctly pay rent, and have the correct number of employees.
• Fixed the missing Name and Description showing on The Fox Inn Pub (Commercial Signature building)
• Force all UK props to stand upright (excluding hedges) regardless of the terrain slope.
• Other miscellaneous minor fixes and balance changes.

If you come across any new issues, please create a post in the Bug Reports Forum.