Explore and run Cork City¶

A screenshot from my poor RTX2060 trying to run the game on 16GBs of RAM.

Preface¶

The creator of Cork city published an old save game'on the Steam workshop.

The creator of the save file recommended the following specs:

However, all the comments on the workshop asset were saying that no one was actually able to open the save file:

UPDATE¶

We had a discussion in the 2^nd meeting (31/8/2021) and then we gave up on opening the city.

However, two days ago (6/9/2021), someone wrote this comment on the steam workshop:

So I thought I should give it another try. I downloaded all the assets and followed the instructions mentioned in the workshop description. However, there were a lot of errors and I wasn't able to open the city.

After Googling A LOT and reading error logs, I managed to finally open the city (some assets are missing, but it looks fine). I fixed some dependency errors and removed outdated mods that were causing most of the errors.

To run the city on 16GBs of RAM, I increased the paging file size in Windows 10 to 64GBs on my SSD hard drive (I don't think you can load the city on HDD hard drives, SSD was slow). So when the game runs out of RAM it can store all the other assets on the paging file.

Note:'The paging file (or swap file/partition) is used when the operating system runs out of memory. The system moves some of the least used RAM content to the paging file on the hard drive. But since retrieving data from hard drives is way slower than retrieving data from RAM, it drains the performance. It acts as a slow virtual memory.

The city was running on ~8 frames per second. But it wasn't laggy at all. You can see in the screenshot that GPU utilization was 28%, and CPU utilization was 26%. I ran the city on the minimum and maximum graphics settings, both had the same ~8 FPS average. The RAM (and probably VRAM) were causing the bottleneck.

Tested on the following specs:

RTX2060 6GB (Mobile-version)
16GB DDR4 2933Hz RAM
Intel I7-10750H, 6 cores
512GB SSD

How to open Cork City¶

Subscribe to the official Cork City savegame.
Subscribe to these Mods: Mod1, Mod2
Open the game and enable the first mod. (Content manager -> Mods -> look for Auto-Enable Mods -> mark the checkbox to enable it)
Close the game
Subscribe to all the following workshops:
1. Map
2. Mods
3. Buildings #1'
4. Buildings #2
5. Trees & Props
6. Vehicles (optional)
Unsubscribe from the following MODs: Mod1, Mod2.
Open steam and wait for the assets to be downloaded (~1.5GBs).
Download, extract and copy the following files to your game folder: %localappdata%\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines
1. Archive1
2. Archive2
Change Windows 10 paging file size (even if you have 32 GBs of RAM).

This link'will help you. You should set the paging file size to x2 the size of your RAM. You will need to restart your device after.

Open the game -> Options -> Loading Screen Mod -> Enable all the following 3 options (you have to re-enable them again if you close the game)
1. Remove all vehicle agents
2. Remove all citizen agents
3. Try recovering from simulation errors
Get back to the main menu -> load game -> choose cork city savegame. It might take some time to open, just leave your device for a while (even if it looks frozen). It took my laptop around 7 minutes to load.
The game should load without any errors if you have followed the steps carefully.

Creator's Screenshots:

https://imgur.com/gallery/gAoiT

Creator's Reddit account:

https://www.reddit.com/user/vokepasa21/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caLfHADNcOc

Useful mods (used in Cork City)¶

Optimization Mods:¶

Loading Screen Mod

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=667342976

The mod contains an optimized custom asset loader that is significantly faster than the built-in loader. Displays information on the loading screen and adds new options. Automatically loads the assets that are used in your city, no matter if they are enabled or not.

Transparency LODs Fix

'https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=922939393

Fixes the issue of semi-transparent assets disappearing from LOD distance.

Relight

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1209581656

Rebalanced and customizable lighting and tone-mapping.

Sharp Textures

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1200563430

This mod makes textures appear sharper by increasing anisotropy and

decreasing mipmapping.

'Adaptive prop visibility distance

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=625608461

Prevents large props (like planes, containers, etc.) from disappearing on zooming out. Adjusts LOD distance for trees depending on their size.

'Mesh info

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=453956891

Find out how well-optimized custom assets are.

Dynamic Resolution (Fixed for 1.9!)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812713438

Better anti-aliasing. Upscale/downscale from any resolution.

'Ultimate Level of Detail (ULOD)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1680642819

Make use of your graphics card! Configure the LOD distance of trees, props, buildings, and networks.

Less Steam

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=812107110

This mod reduces unnecessary network traffic between Cities and Steam.

The Content Manager makes a lot of requests if you've subscribed to a lot of workshops. The mod disables all of those requests until you actually open the content manager and try to load mods/assets. That traffic is not used for gameplay.

Tree Movement Control

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1388613752

This mod provides a slider that lets you reduce or entirely stop the movement of tree assets in the wind.

¶

Gameplay-control Mods:¶

'Improved unlimited money

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=555375742

Gives you unlimited money and the money doesn't go negative if you remove the mod later.

No Fires

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=552324460

This mod provides an option to disable/enable buildings to catch on fire.

Remove the need for power lines

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=572888650

Remove Need For Pipes

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=576997275

This mod removes the need to place pipes all over your city, water will reach every building without pipes.

Demand master

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=409776678

View RCI values (0~100)
Adjust RCI values as you wish
Fix RCI values at any time

Speed Slider

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=406354745

Make your entire game run faster or slower including things such as the camera.

No abandonment

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=552309905

Disables building abandonment

81 Tiles (Fixed for 1.2+)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=576327847

Unlocks all game tiles at any time.

Pollution, death, garbage, and crime remover

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=769744928

Flood Damage Control [BETA]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=912484109

Buildings no longer become abandoned nor collapse due to flooding.

'No Problem Notification

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=917543381

Disables all problem notifications from the game.

Unlimited Trees Mod v1.12

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=455403039

This mod unlocks the game's limitation of 262,144 trees to allow you to use just over 2 million.

¶

Helper Mods:¶

'Auto-enable mods

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=903285221

Enables mods by default after subscribing.

Procedural objects

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1094334744

Vertex manipulation for any building/prop

Prop snapping

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=787611845

Allows you to snap props to buildings and roads like in asset editor

Airport Roads

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=465127441

Adds runways and taxiways to the airport menu.

Clouds and fog toggler

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=523824395

Disables clouds and fog that are blocking the view while zooming out.

Ship path anarchy

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=707759735

Disables water depth checking for ship & ferry paths.

Unlimited Outside Connections

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=497033453

Add outside connections using roads that don't normally connect to the outside.

'Prop precision

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=791221322

This mod allows props to be placed much more precisely.

'Zoning toolset

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=592076973

Adds multiple buttons to the road build panel that gives you more control with regards to zoning and traffic lights

Ploppable RICO

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=586012417

This mod will allow you to plop buildings that function as:

Residential
Industrial
Commercial
Office

The Ploppable RICO mod will convert any compatible ploppable'asset to a RICO building.

'Farther zoom

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=410227672

Allows farther zoom in and out.

Advanced toolbar

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=563229150

Introduces new functionality to the toolbar including an expandable asset panel and auto-icon center.

TotalyFree Camera

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=602077938

Makes regular camera mode behave like free camera mode (but with UI visible).

Toggle it

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1764637396

This mod allows toggling different visual elements in the game.

Quay Anarchy

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=650436109

Allows placing quays and floodwalls anywhere. Also fixes 'Height too high' for quays, floodwalls, cargo, and passenger harbors.

'Building Themes

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=466158459

This mod makes it possible to apply building themes to a district or the whole city. Only buildings which are contained in one of the selected themes will grow in a district. You can subscribe to theme mods from the workshop, or create your own themes in the game.