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If Cities Skylines 2 performance has you worried, play this instead

Cities Skylines 2 performance on PC is causing worry for fans of the giant Paradox city builder. While its new features and tools are all welcome additions, and it offers a much greater scale and creativity than the original Cities Skylines, CS2 struggles on even the strongest gaming rigs, with our own Cities Skylines 2 review citing numerous issues. If you've got concerns about the upcoming sequel, but still want a great new building and management game, Cities Skylines 2's closest rival, Highrise City, is the perfect option.


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Update: Winner, Winner Chicken & Cake

Greetings Builders!

Once again we would like to thank you all for playing Highrise City and for providing us with tons of feedback. After leaving Early Access we did not stop working on the game and started throwing around ideas on how to extend the game even further while also fixing reported issues and improving the performance of the game.

Today we would like to introduce a new product for your citizens: Cake. The bakery now becomes a building with a switchable resource. The bakery is now either a bakery or a pastry shop. To produce cake you will also need a new resource: Eggs. Which can be produced with a chicken farm:




We have also updated the building menu slightly, giving it a better structure and making it clearer and easier to understand. As a small tease here: We are currently reworking the icons in general and will introduce a fresh building menu later this year.



Something we’ve also been working on is the overall performance of the game. And yes, we will keep working on it to improve it even further - one of the most important aspects in the end for a city builder is the performance, especially when creating cities with millions and millions of inhabitants.

Besides general performance improvements underneath we’ve also introduced a new video option called “Reduced Assets” which can save several gigabytes of RAM in the lategame as it removes unneeded assets. This will allow also weaker machines to create even bigger cities.

Now also available (this was a function available in the Beta Branch for a few days now): If you are among the players hit by freezes, we’ve implemented a tool to figure out where exactly in the code they happen. If freezes happen, the game will generate a StackTrace file within 60 seconds, even if the game permanently freezes (it can take up to 60 seconds). The file will be stored under "C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\CityNext\Saved\Config". It can tell us where exactly in the code the freeze happened. Thanks to people using the Beta Branch we already identified two errors which could cause a freeze and fixed these.

[h2]Full Changelog:[/h2]
  • Building Menu only shows categories of buildings which can be build
  • Some Achievement conditions were adjusted (we know that two are still not working properly, that’s next on our list)
  • New Video Option “Reduced Assets” can be activated. Especially in bigger cities players can save a few gigabytes of RAM with this option
  • General performance improvements
  • Fixed two errors which could cause freezes
  • Added a StackTrace creation tool to identify issues if the game freezes
  • Fixed a display error when many resources were traded
  • New building: Chicken Farm (produces Eggs)
  • Neu Product Chain: Cake
  • Updated Credits of the game
  • Slightly adjusted the satisfaction level of consumer goods
  • Adjusted milestones so that they can be achieved quicker
  • Improved public transport so that the game now should properly save the amount of vehicles and not reset them to 1 anymore
  • Fixed smaller issues and bugs
  • Increased way costs for workers on “Middle” and “Hard” a bit


What’s Next?
We will keep updating the game. That’s for sure. We have some ideas to add some additional complexity to the game over the coming months. We have also started working on some additional content. We’ll keep you posted on that very soon.

Beta Branch Updated

Greetings Builders,

We have updated the Beta Branch which you can freely pick in Steam. Usually we don't post changes made in the Beta Branch but this time it's a different situation. We are reading all the posts in the forums and on Discord and some players are still affected by regular crashes.

We were able to implement a tool to be able to analyze the freezes. If freezes happen, the game will generate a StackTrace file within 60 seconds, even if the game permanently freezes (it can take up to 60 seconds). The file will be stored under "C:\Users\USER\AppData\Local\CityNext\Saved\Config". It can tell us where exactly in the code the freeze happened.

We'd be thankful if you could provide us the StackTrace files if you are having these crashes.

Patch 1.2.0 20230921 Released

Hello dear Mayors!

First of all: We would like to thank you. The launch of Highrise City left us without words and we've crawled through your feedback and prepared a first patch - but that's not all. We plan to update the official Trello Roadmap tomorrow so that you know what's coming next. And that's for sure: There will be more. But for today, here are the patchnotes:

[h2]Patchnotes[/h2]
  • Improved the updating of Bus Stations when upgrading or removing a street
  • Trading: Single tasks are saved correctly
  • Trading: Improved inserting texts
  • Trading: Displaying of Single Tasks has been improved
  • Trading: Current in-stock gets displayed
  • Trading: When you insert numbers manually the number will only be taken if you have finished inserting it
  • MegaTowers do not disappear anymore after upgrading streets
  • Fixed a bug which caused issues with Bus Stations when upgrading a street (sometimes no new connections were possible anymore)
  • Improved how production and use of garbage is displayed
  • Fixed an issue where citizens would produce too much garbage
  • Noise and polution are removed completely if you move a building or if you destroy it
  • Farms display the full costs now if resources are missing. Previously the missing resources were displayed
  • Fixed a bug where Mega Towers would be treated as regular houses and couldn't be moved correctly
    • That also fixed the issue that they could ignore collision
  • Fixed a bug which could cause Mega Towers from being build due to missing resources
  • Set minimum number of Public Transport vehicles to 1
  • Fixed a bug so that the recommended number of Public Transport vehicles can never be 0
  • Improved a tooltip while building streets regarding possible collisions
  • Removing of bus stations when a crossroad gets too close has been made more tolerant
  • Included the removing of a bus station from the list if it gets removed from the player
  • Localized the text when quitting the game correctly now
  • Many small improvements regarding Public Transport
  • The Resourcelist for trading has been added with customizable slots
    • This was made so that you can better check how many you have in stock and what might make sense to buy or sell
  • Fixed a rounding error for productivity of buildings
  • Fixed a bunch of translation errors
  • Garbage Powereplants and Recycling have been updated so that they use more garbage
  • Many smaller errors and bugs which were reported by the community have either been fixed or we improved the current status quo
  • Added Big Substation

Welcome to Highrise City 1.2!

Hello, dear mayors!

The time has finally come! Highrise City is now available in version 1.2! With this, the game leaves Steam's Early Access program after 18 months of hard work.
Before we get to the most important new features in this update, we would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire community, both on Steam and in the official Highrise City Discord! Without your suggestions, ideas and bug reports, Highrise City would definitely not be what it is today.
Thank you so much!

We're also celebrating our special day with a launch discount of 20%, starting today until September 18! So if you've been holding off on Early Access, now is a great time to start your journey as the mayor of your own megacity.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Version 1.2 also adds a whole bunch of new features to the game - and this list is really huge! For example, Highrise City now comes with a storyline and missions that not only tell you a story around your rise as mayor, but also reward you if you complete the challenges. At the end of your journey, there's even a huge mega-project waiting for you: your own spaceport, which has to be built in several stages!



After completing the main story, you'll have the opportunity to jump into the "New Game+" mode! This mode is meant for real professionals and comes with new challenges, a completely new construction mode and much more detailed micromanagement of your workers, where each industrial building requires a certain type of worker.

But that's not all, of course! In addition to a number of new buildings and all-new resources, such as lithium, batteries and electric cars, mayors in Highrise City must now manage their power supply in greater detail. For this purpose, high-voltage cables must now be built and linked to substations in order to be able to supply every corner of your city with energy and to make your city planning even more realistic.

And for friends of public transport, there is now also the possibility to plan bus routes, which can open up new routes for your workers to get to their workplace and, with thoughtful planning, greatly reduce the amount of car traffic in your city!



You can look forward to this and much, much more in Highrise City 1.2!
We, the whole team of FourExo Entertainment and Deck13 Spotlight, would like to thank you very much for your support, your criticism, your suggestions for improvement, your ideas and the video and stream content of the whole Highrise City community! Without you, this mammoth project would never have been possible!

Of course, this is not the end of our journey yet! In the coming days and weeks, we'll be working regularly on potential bug fixes as well as other convenience features based on your feedback. We are also already working hard on completely new content and can't wait to tell you more about it!

Full Changelog:


[h2]Main Features:[/h2]

  • 16 new buildings
  • New energy economy with substations and high-voltage cables
  • Missions
  • New multiple upgrading of buildings
  • Mega project: space port
  • Bus lines
  • New resources: lithium, battery, electric cars, paint, hazardous waste
  • Recycling economy with selectable production goods
  • New large production chain: electric cars
  • Supermarkets and shopping malls
  • Huge skyscrapers
  • Narrative story set to music
  • New playable map: Hong Kong
  • Language Updates: English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Chinese Simple, Chinese Traditional, Turkish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, Ukrainian,
  • New Game+ with new challenges:
    • New Construction Mode: resources are built by a construction company. This also allows for a Blueprint mode, where the player gives their city more construction contracts than resources are available.
    • Worker levels: Each industrial building requires a certain type of worker. This increases the complexity of city management enormously and is only something for real professionals in Highrise City.


[h2]Side Features:[/h2]

  • Many buildings have been greatly improved visually
  • Upgrade button on the left side of the building menu: Provides a good overview of which buildings are upgradeable and can be improved with one click.
  • Tutorial adapted
  • Many new pictures and in-game videos created or revised
  • The amount of garbage has been increased
  • New resource: Hazardous waste (only convertible to garbage with the reprocessing plant)
  • All mines and battery factories produce hazardous waste
  • New service: "Shopping”
  • Building: "Space Memorial" raises the satisfaction of the inhabitants in an area.
  • Delivery mission: Deliver goods with a truck.
  • Some other buildings, such as the Mayor's Mansion, raise the satisfaction of nearby residents.
  • Building editor: camera can be moved closer to the ground
  • Construction of buildings improved for more collision tolerance
  • New filter: building influence
  • Targets of milestones slightly simplified.
  • Blueprint mode possible with new building "Construction Company"" (Available in NewGame+)
  • When spending all research points, the HUD no longer says 99999 research points
  • Main menu shows the maximum reached population per region
  • Plants from farms are placed only in your own farm
  • The highest difficulty level is unlocked in all settings menus only after you have exposed the satellite.
  • Income from electricity and water surplus trade slightly reduced
  • Vehicles and people have shadows (At highest shadow quality level)
  • In the building menu, when the building info view is displayed, if it is too close to the edge, it is moved more to the center of the screen
  • Lag reduced when constructing buildings.
  • Performance in general increased
  • Lags on computers with less than 8 cores significantly reduced
  • 3 new researches
  • Building shows more precisely what it is missing. e.g. if electricity is missing or if the power connection to a substation is missing
  • If you use the filter on a forwarding company, the settings are saved correctly
  • If you click on a water tower or water points, you can now easily place water pipes
  • Some of the most powerful researches can be unlocked only after launching a satellite
  • Zones are correctly made invisible when a building is placed on them
  • Many much new ingame tips
  • New voice recordings
  • UI improvements
  • UI has new sounds
    new public transport menu to create and manage bus lines
  • In the balance menu, local public transport breaks down how the costs are made up
    when a building is upgraded, the zones underneath remain invisible
  • Clouds create moving shadows
  • Buildings upgraded with cubemap details
  • Maintenance costs of water pipes slightly increased
  • Construction costs of water pipes are displayed on the mouse pointer
    Construction company: number of buildings under construction is displayed on the left side of the HUD
  • When clicking on a water tower or water points, the water filter is displayed correctly
  • In recycling centers the type of recycling can be selected
  • Costs of large roads slightly increased
  • The total number of buildings in the city is displayed at the top right of the city name
  • When the mouse pointer is over an industrial building, the building level is displayed with stars
  • Icons above residential buildings for too high air pollution and noise made a bit more tolerant
  • Added new ways to get more research points
  • Balancing