Cities: Skylines II News

Hi everyone, and welcome to this week’s dev diary for the USA Southwest Pack! BadPeanut here, reporting for duty. Let’s take a look behind the scenes at the creation of this exciting new pack.
As I will be writing the final two dev diaries for both the Southwest and Northeast packs, you may notice some content overlap between them.

The pack is available now, for free, on Paradox Mods: https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/101898/Windows

[h2]The Creators​[/h2]
A big team of creators came together to make these packs happen! Our primary team for the Southwest Pack consists of Badi_dea, BadPeanut, Bsquiklehausen, Darf, Gèze, Gruny, King Leno, and Smilies.

[h3]Badi_dea[/h3]
You will know Badi_dea from various community projects, particularly their game-changing Parking Lot Roads, which allowed us to create realistic parking options. Alongside a wealth of clever, network-based assets, Badi_dea also worked on industrial assets, such as the oil refinery collaboration with other well-known community creators.

[h3]BadPeanut[/h3]
You all know me from my various train stations, stadiums, and vehicles released over the years on my workshop for Cities: Skylines, as well as the two Content Creator Packs I released: Train Stations and Sports Venues.

[h3]Bsquiklehausen[/h3]
Needing no introduction (but getting one anyway!), Bsquiklehausen is renowned for creating highly detailed, transit-related models, typically inspired by real-life American infrastructure. In 2022, they created the epic Content Creator Pack Vehicles of the World, which featured an impressive array of vehicles.
Bsquiklehausen narrates the trailers for both of the USA Region Packs and maintains a YouTube channel dedicated to Cities: Skylines, transportation, and the occasional Lego video!

[h3]Darf[/h3]
Darf’s contributions to the Cities: Skylines community focuses on creating extremely accurate and highly detailed buildings, often based on real examples from the United States. Whether you are recreating a bustling downtown or a historic city center, Darf has you covered.

[h3]Gèze[/h3]
You will know Gèze most recently from their outstanding work on the French Pack. They are back with us to work on the Southwest pack, and we are incredibly grateful for it! Gèze’s attention to detail, accuracy, and passion for architecture are put to great use. Gèze also created the Seaside Resorts pack in 2022, filled with heritage-style buildings from the United States.

[h3]Gruny[/h3]
Also, fresh off the French Pack, Gruny has likely already impressed you. If you need a reminder, they have contributed numerous high-quality assets to the Cities: Skylines community in the past, including Parisian assets, vehicles, commercial assets, residential buildings, and amazing props.

[h3]King Leno[/h3]
Known for two incredible Content Creator Packs, University City and Shopping Mall, King Leno’s workshop is packed with American-inspired assets. It is difficult to do justice to their modding career, with over 400 contributions ranging from suburbia to infrastructure, medium and high-rise apartments, offices, parks, and much more.

[h3]Smilies[/h3]
Lastly, but by no means least, we have Smilies! Another prolific creator with close to 400 contributions, I am sure you have used an asset or two from their workshop. Typically focused on American architecture, Smilies’ workshop features a variety of low-density housing - think classic “American dream” living - alongside higher-density options, row housing, and small-town-America commercial assets.

It has been an absolute pleasure working with all these creators. Having known them for so many years, it is fantastic to see what we can create when we come together as a team!


[h2]Concept and Planning​[/h2]

The team members for both of the USA packs overlap so much that we all agreed to treat these packs as a “Part 1 and Part 2” setup. While the contents of each pack are distinct in terms of their intended regions of the United States, they can seamlessly intermingle with one another, much like the architectural diversity found across America.

This decision to create two packs for the United States - given its vast diversity - was made to avoid the limitations of a single pack. By splitting them into two, we were able to increase the overall number of assets included across both packs, allowing us to better capture the distinct regional differences.

Organization for the Southwest content​

For planning purposes, we used a storyboard organizer to help us document various references we had found, which would serve as inspiration and track our individual progress in creating the complete meshes and textures.

In the early stages, we spent time on video calls - an especially enjoyable experience during the pandemic restrictions - collaboratively exploring different areas of interest on Google Maps to find fascinating examples of architecture we wanted to include in the pack.

We would then add images and links of these references to a post on the board, where each of us could claim one to work on. You will recognize some of the buildings above as inspirations for what ultimately made it into the pack, while others were left for future endeavors.

For the Southwest pack, we aimed to create more low-rise style buildings. While there are still some high-density buildings, they are generally smaller in stature than their Northeast “Part 2” counterparts.

The Southwest pack also introduces one unique zone that is not represented in the Northeast: Low Density Housing. We wanted to focus on the sprawling suburban areas found throughout the Southwest, giving you the tools to create the urban sprawl of your dreams (or nightmares).

The USA Southwest Pack includes the following:

• Service Buildings
  
• Signature Buildings
  
• Zones:
  
  • Low Density Housing
    
  • Medium Density Row Housing
    
  • Medium Density Housing
    
  • Mixed Housing
    
  • High Density Housing
    
  • Low Density Offices
    
  • Low Density Business

[h2]Making the Assets[/h2]

Below, I have asked my fellow team members to share their first-hand experiences creating some of the assets they personally chose to work on for the pack. Please keep in mind that some of these assets were still a work in progress when I requested their input, so not all of them may have made it into the final pack—and if not, we can hopefully look forward to seeing them in the future!

[h3]Badi_Dea:​[/h3]
I have been doing IT consulting for many years and have worked in many offices throughout the USA. Because of this, I decided to contribute five styles of offices to the USA Southwest Region Pack.

Starting small, the first office is inspired by a combo bistro and office buildings. I can just imagine the employees running down to grab lunch to eat at their desks while they work on spreadsheets.

Office Style 01​

The second office has got to be the spitting image of every bank branch I have ever seen. This rounded front theme will be seen in another office later and is reasonably common throughout the West Coast and into the Rockies.

Office Style 02​

I had to throw in some truly bland offices to capture that authentic Corporate America feel. So, I actually put effort into making these offices as unremarkable as possible.

Office Style 03​

This office is the most unique-looking one of the set and my favorite too. I put a fair amount of thought into the progression of leveling up this building.

You may have noticed that the levels of these buildings increasingly increase in complexity. I think that's represented best in this building. The first level starts out as ground floor only, the 3rd level will add another floor, and finally, the 5th level changes the second level from a squared-off area to a more rounded area.

Office Style 04​

The last office style in the set illustrates my approach of including subtle hints about the prestige of the building level into the propping of the asset. The pavement for the parking lot gets darker, representing that it had been surfaced recently. The lower levels have more haphazard landscaping, whereas it's much more defined in the higher levels. I tried to build in a lot of these hints to all the assets I contributed to this Region Pack.

Office Style 05​

I enjoyed making these assets, and I hope you enjoy using them!

[h3]BadPeanut:​[/h3]
One of my contributions to the pack was the USA SW High School, inspired by a school in Arizona. When we first started the Region Packs, there was no hint of the upgrade system we have now, where you can place sub buildings around the radius of the main building. Instead, much like at launch, the plan was to have extensions on the lot, with sub buildings snapping along the main lot’s boundary.

With that in mind, I decided to design the high school's main lot as a wide, long lot. This allows players to significantly expand the capacity of their cities by allowing more real estate along the boundary to place additional sub buildings!

USA SW High School​

Fast-forward to later in development, after Cities: Skylines II received the update that allowed a radius to be set around the main building for placing sub buildings; I didn’t change the overall size of the main lot (I liked how wide it was!). I did, however, create a couple of variations of the sub buildings to really help shape a cool high school campus. Below, you can see the sub buildings placed further away from the main building.

USA SW High School Sub Buildings​

[h3]Darf:​[/h3]
For years, I had the idea of creating my own version of the General Hospital, inspired by the Los Angeles Medical Center, but this proved quite tricky in the first Cities: Skylines.

This building has a huge footprint—about 180.000 tris. When we first got the pitch for the Region Packs, I knew I wanted to include it right away. I think this building has the largest footprint of all the American Buildings. It’s a behemoth.

I started modeling it out in SketchUp and textured it in Photoshop and Blender. The base material had a couple of iterations. It started off as a very rough concrete, which I made in Substance Designer, a custom material. It was only after a couple of iterations that I was happy with the overall look of the base material.

This building has many Art Deco elements, so I handpainted the panels, which are also used in many Art Deco skyscrapers. All the arches have handpainted normals and textures—there are a ton of them! This took a huge amount of time, but I’m so happy with how it turned out.

To further emphasize the Art Deco look I made all the windowframes and accents in a gold metal material. This can’t be done in Cities: Skylines, which further emphasizes Art Deco architecture. This building really makes use of all the PBR maps that Cities: Skylines II has to offer.

USA SW Central Hospital​

The propping in the game was quite challenging because of the extensions. However, I actually learned a lot about propping this building, such as how networks work. It has many props because there are so many air conditioning bays.

USA SW Central Hospital​

I don’t know how much time this took. I only finished the model for this building in 2023, and it was during a 2-week modeling session. I really hope you enjoy all the effort I put into modeling this.

[h3]Gèze:​[/h3]
After I finished the French Pack, I worked on both USA packs. For the USA Southwest, I was assigned only a single mixed residential building, which limited my building choices but didn't really hinder my progress in asset creation.

The textures I created for this pack all come with a degree of possible recoloring, which should help with mixing and matching them with other assets in the game.

Mixed Housing​

The building reference that I initially found is located in Los Angeles and is not a mixed residential, but that didn't prevent me from adapting it to fit the game storefront mechanics. I adjusted the ground-floor height, element spacing, decor, and the general building shape.

Mixed Housing with Fire Escapes​

The building's almost austere Art Deco facade is broken up with the fire escape ladder, which is a very common element of facades on the West Coast. I decided to also include proper curvature of the roof as a detail that not many people might notice at first, but one that made the building feel more authentic to me.

Mixed Housing rooftop detail​

[h3]King Leno:​[/h3]
Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and San Antonio were the main cities from which I drew inspiration in creating Southwestern-themed assets. However, some of the Low Density Residential assets were based on buildings from another coastal US city outside of the Southwest that had Spanish-influenced architecture. Houses with features such as stucco walls and terracotta roofs can be found all over the Southwest and really work well with the theme of the region pack. I wanted to choose houses that can be seen in desert, tropical, and urban settings.

Low Density Housing​

I chose brightly colored modern and newly developed apartment buildings to represent Medium Density zoning. Similar style apartments can be found across the US, and I wanted the buildings to be versatile in their style and the way that they are zoned. Some are wall-to-wall and will have a cohesive look when spawned next to each other, but they work just as well as stand-alone assets. Different techniques and road placement can be used to create a sprawling apartment community.

Medium Density Housing​

One of the main challenges in creating large assets for the original Cities: Skylines was the prop limit on a single building and coming up with creative ways to include more props or using the mesh and texture to achieve those details. In Cities: Skylines II, the challenge was the opposite. Cities: Skylines II is packed with amazingly detailed props to enhance assets, and using the vanilla props saved a tremendous amount of time during the creation process. Navigating and managing the nearly unlimited amount of props used for larger assets was a learning experience in addition to surfaces, paths, effects, and area markers that can be included in assets.

I created this large apartment complex that has pedestrian paths leading to each building set away from the main street. Achieving symmetry with the walking paths and surface areas in this asset required a lot of trial and error. 155 surface areas were used, the largest of which has 96 nodes.

Low Rent Signature Buildings​

[h3]Smilies:​[/h3]
I focused pretty heavily on low density houses, medium density and mixed-use residentials for this region. I wanted the houses to be a mix of styles, from the Spanish Revival houses commonly found in California to the Craftsman-style homes found in Washington.

Low Density Housing​

Low density houses were some of the first things I created while I was learning how to make things for this game. I spent a lot of time attempting to learn how to use Substance Painter and Substance Designer while making these houses. I figured it'd be better to make mistakes on smaller houses and fix them as I go than having to re-work larger high-rises.

I tried to do more modern glassy, looking mixed and medium residentials for this region. A lot of it was particularly inspired by California.

Medium Density Housing​

Medium Density Housing and Mixed Housing​

The low density houses, medium, and mixed buildings all were designed to take full advantage of the new color variation mechanic and will have dozens of different paint schemes.

Not everything is a clean, modern, and glassy building, though!

Mixed Housing​


[h2]Crossing the Finish Line!​[/h2]

BadPeanut here once again, and we’ve reached the end of this week’s dev diary! Fear not, though, as I will be back - along with some of our creators - to continue the behind-the-scenes journey with the USA Northeast Pack, which will be released next Monday, March 3, 2025!
Until then, I hope you enjoy the USA Southwest Pack, available now on Paradox Mods: https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/101898/Windows

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Immerse your city in the distinct architecture of China with the China Pack, an extraordinary addition that brings the essence of Chinese architecture straight into your city-building experience. Developed by community creators CM, EmperorLi, Feindbold, MC100, RichardShi, Tomas13TO and VictoriaCity, this starter pack features new zones and an array of service and signature buildings, allowing you to infuse your cities with authentic details.[/h3]


[h3]Download the pack now for free on Paradox Mods - [/h3]

Included in the China Pack:

Hello everyone! Welcome to the dev diary for the China Pack in Cities: Skylines II! I’m VictoriaCity, one of the asset creators behind the pack. Today, I’m excited to share with you the design ideas and development processes that went into creating the China Pack, as well as the diverse mix of historical and modern architecture that brings authenticity to your cities.

[h2]You can download the pack now for free on Paradox Mods - https://pdxint.at/3EvqFBO[/h2]


At first glance, modern Chinese cities seem uniformly distinct—rows after rows of towering apartment complexes and office buildings. But the closer you look, the more you see their true diversity and depth. Chinese cities have been shaped by centuries, even millennia, of history, with traditional architecture still standing alongside ultra-modern skyscrapers.

City Views in Shenyang, Wuhan, Xi’an, and Kashgar.
Source: Chinese National Geography​

With the China Pack, our goal was to capture this unique mix—from the historic charm of courtyard homes to the sheer scale of contemporary high-rise developments. The variety of zones, service buildings, and signature buildings in this pack reflects the rich, multi-layered identity of Chinese cities. Here are some inspirations we use to create the buildings of the pack:

Low Density Residential​

High Density Residential​

High Density Office​

Due to rapid urbanization in recent decades, residential architecture in China has been strongly influenced by distinct time periods. The game allows zoned buildings to have multiple levels, aligning perfectly with our goal to represent different eras of residential developments. With this in mind, we created 2000s high-rise apartments and modern luxury condos that have become popular in recent years. As buildings upgrade, they reflect the evolving pulse of your city, showcasing its growth and modernization.

Additionally, modern reinterpretations of traditional architecture have become a major trend in today’s Chinese urban design, particularly in public service buildings and educational institutions. Integrating this architectural style into the China Pack was one of our key focuses, ensuring that you can incorporate culturally authentic designs into your cities.

Service Building References.​


[h2]The China Pack contains:[/h2]

• 6 Zones
  
• 13 Service Buildings
  
• 10 Signature Buildings
  
• Growable Zones​
  
• The 6 new growable zones are:
  
  • Low Density Housing – Includes both modern and classical rural single-family homes.
    
  • Low Density Courtyard Housing – Traditional walled homes inspired by Siheyuan commonly seen in Beijing.
    
  • Medium Density Housing – Includes older urban apartments from the 1990s and more contemporary mid-rise buildings.
    
  • Low Rent Housing – Similar to medium density residential, also designed to replicate utilitarian housing blocks seen in Chinese urban areas.
    
  • High Density Housing – One of the highlights of the pack, featuring 80s-90s residential towers, modern high-rises, and luxury penthouse apartments.
    
  • High Density Office – The first high-rise office zone in any Region Pack released so far. Includes 80s-90s towers, modern box-style buildings, and curved skyscrapers, offering a flexible placement for standalone towers or business districts.

Instead of focusing purely on the number of assets, we designed 37 unique styles of growable buildings in this pack to allow for a broad range of combinations, enabling you to construct authentic Chinese urban layouts.

Lineup of all styles of growable buildings. The number of total unique buildings is much higher!​

High-rise residential buildings in China are typically part of gated communities, meaning they don’t always have fixed "street-facing" facades. This posed a unique challenge in the game, where zoning rules assume buildings align along roads. To address this, we created more facade variations than what is typical in real life and moved building entrances inwards using pedestrian paths. To satisfy the required lot size combinations for each zone, we also had to create some more compact, smaller-footprint high-rise buildings. These will be particularly useful for ultra-dense city centers, helping you to build cities inspired from not just China, but anywhere around the world where optimizing urban space is the key!

[h2]Service and Signature Buildings​[/h2]
The China Pack’s service buildings include:

• Community Kindergarten
  
• Ruby Rock Elementary School
  
• High School
  
• Community College (also called Junior College in China)
  
• University
  
• People’s Hospital (yes, that’s usually the name of the best hospital in town)
  
• Local Police Station
  
• Fire Rescue Brigade
  
• Fire Station
  
• Fire Department
  
• City Library
  
• District Hall
  
• City Hall

One thing we noticed is that modern Chinese residential communities almost always include a kindergarten as part of their planning. Kindergartens are a fundamental component of Chinese urban neighborhoods, typically housed in standalone buildings with dedicated facilities. However, the game’s education system starts with primary school, so we had to be creative with how kindergartens work in the game. That’s why we are excited to introduce a modern-style kindergarten as a Service Building in the Administration category. It uses the mechanics of the welfare office template, increasing Well-Being within 800 m and boosts outdoor recreation – pretty solid clues that your citizen’s young kids are taken good care of!

The Community Kindergarten is found under the Administration menu.​

Lineup of all Service Buildings.​

For signature buildings, we introduced:

• Book Shop
  
• City Shopping Mall
  
• United Mall
  
• Local Office Building
  
• Downtown Office Building
  
• Yin Yun Tower (traditional Chinese tower)
  
• Western Observation Tower (modern TV tower)
  
• Peony Tower (supertall skyscraper)
  
• Financial Center (another supertall skyscraper)
  
• Skyline Palace (tallest structure ever!)

Lineup of all signature buildings. Only part of the 3 skyscrapers are framed – they’re left for you to explore in the game!​


[h2]Challenges of Vertical Density​[/h2]
While the China pack does feature a variety of classical and ancient style buildings, here we would like to focus on the creation process of high-rise buildings since it presents entirely different challenges from making smaller structures. Such challenges require us to develop a workflow that ensures both efficiency and quality.

[h2]Modular Techniques​[/h2]
The polygon count for each individual building is much higher in Cities: Skylines II than in the Cities: Skylines. For blocky residential and office towers, we had to be especially careful with polycount – a polygon budget of less than 80000 triangles distributed among over 50 floors only allows for 400 triangles per facade. And more height or floor area doesn’t equally give more texture space either. We still need to reach a similar texel density as much smaller buildings on a 4K texture. These challenges have motivated us to take on a modular approach to create high-rise buildings to balance detail, efficiency, and variety.

Our design of the buildings started from minimal repetitive units, such as a single panel of the facade or a corner element. Here we’ll use a set of residential towers as an example. It's building blockfive contain five types of panels with windows, 2 types of wall panels, and an extruded corner. Each unit was modeled and UV unwrapped separately, and the UV maps of all units were coalesced into a single texture. Once the base units were created, we assembled them into complete buildings through mix-and-match, plus a few custom-made ground floor and roof modules. Here’re how the base units look like and how the final buildings look in game:

Building blocks of a high density residential set in Blender (ground floor and roof units excluded)​

The high density residential set in game.​

[h2]Procedural Techniques​[/h2]
21st-century China has been the proving ground of architectural innovation, with organic and curved designs playing a key role in shaping its modern skyline.

Representative organic architecture in China (Shanghai Tower, Shanghai / Wangjing SOHO, Beijing).​

Moving beyond box-like structures, contemporary architecture embraces fluid, sculptural forms that enhance aesthetic appeal, energy efficiency, and structural performance. In the China Pack, several buildings reflect this trend, calling for procedural techniques to achieve their complex geometries. When making the set of high-rise office buildings in the organic style, we started with a similar approach using base units.

Most of the facades in the organic High Density Office set are made from this single unit.​

However, this time we only used one single unit. All the rest of the facade was taken care of by non-destructive workflows, specifically, a Blender modifier stack. We used a Bezier spline to outline the horizontal section of the building, followed by two array modifiers that populate the unit horizontally and vertically, and finally a lattice modifier to deform the whole structure for a dynamic look.

Blender modifier stack to construct the whole structure (except for ground floor and roof) with controlling spline and lattice displayed on the side.​

Despite being made from extremely simple building blocks, they turned out really nice in the game!

The organic High Density Office set in game. The Peony Tower Signature Building also comes from this set.​

The most complex high-rise structure we created was the Skyline Palace, the tallest building in the pack and in the whole game so far. This superstructure transitions from an oval-like base to an almost triangular top, for which we implemented the design using Blender’s Geometry Nodes. The underlying principle was actually the same as Blender’s shrinkwrap modifier, but we had to reinvent the wheel in Geometry Nodes to make the shrinkwrap offset a function of height.

Geometry Nodes graph to generate the shape profile of Skyline Palace and the custom implementation of shrinkwrap.​

Compared with creating cross-section profiles by hand, this allowed for precise control over the shape, ensuring a smooth and consistent deformation from base to top. It also enabled rapid iterations and fine-tuning the design.

With the overall shape done, we then used another few Geometry Node modifiers to instantiate the base building blocks, which involved quite a bit geometry calculations to ensure that UV-unwrapped panels and frames perfectly align with the curved shape.

Geometry Nodes graphs to scatter frame units on the seed mesh.​

The result is epic!

Skyline Palace in game.​


This pack is a true collaborative effort, so let’s extend our appreciation to all other incredible creators who contributed to the China Pack: RichardShi, CM, MC100, Emperor Li, Feindbold, and Tomas13TO. We come not only from China, but from around the world, and it is such a boundless Cities: Skylines community that finally brought us together! Also, special thanks to RichardShi for his invaluable insights and inputs to shaping this Dev Diary!



Developing the China Pack was an ambitious project, but one that pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in Cities: Skylines II. While this pack provides a foundation for building Chinese cities, it is only the beginning. The diversity of Chinese cityscapes means that there is still so much to explore — and we look forward to seeing how the Cities: Skylines II community expands upon it!

You can download the pack now for free on Paradox Mods - https://pdxint.at/3EvqFBO

[h3]Hello everyone! Welcome to the development diary of the Eastern European Pack for Cities: Skylines II! I’m Alex_BY, one of the first modders of Cities: Skylines. Today, I’ll tell you a bit about how we worked on this vast building pack and the concept behind it.​[/h3]

[h3]You can download the Easter European Pack here: https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/98960/Windows[/h3]

[h2]Concept and Inspiration​[/h2]
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the phrase “Eastern Europe”? Depending on what you’ve seen in pop culture or what you’ve read, you might have thought that it looks something like this:

A frame from “Eurotrip” (2004).​

And, I must say, there’s some truth to that! Although, in reality, things are (usually) not that bad. Our primary goal in creating the Eastern Europe Region Pack was to bring into the game everything needed to build a typical Eastern European city: panel houses, panel houses, a few more panel houses, and, of course, service buildings made from the same panels.

The biggest panel district in Eastern Europe - Saltivka, Kharkiv, Ukraine.​

A pinch of historical architecture, a few village houses – and there you have it, the ability to build a true Eastern European city!

Again, Saltivka, Kharkiv, and Ukraine, but from a different angle from the first picture.​

[h2]The Development Process​[/h2]
[h3]Challenges in Planning​[/h3]
During the planning phase of our pack, we already encountered some challenges. First, the pack was going to be really huge. My reference file alone was almost 1.5 GB.

The PureRef doc is where we collected our main references.​

The things I focused on included the following:

A bunch of low-rent buildings.

• All the residential Medium and High Density, as well as Mixed Density.
  
• Low Density Commercial
  
• A big part of service buildings.

This file already contained over one hundred assets, not counting the Residential Low assets, the remaining majority of Commercial and Service buildings, and the Signature category from other creators

Spoiler alert: the final delivery list includes over 300 entries, and with the levels and styles taken into account, the total number of assets in the pack approaches a thousand.

The bottom row of the Eastern Europe assets list.​

[h3]Technical Hurdles​[/h3]
One of the toughest challenges was adhering to Colossal Order’s detailed technical specifications for models. Unlike traditional workflows, where tiled textures are often used, Cities: Skylines II required every building to fit into a texture with a maximum size of 4096x4096 pixels.

In the original Cities: Skylines, many modders used a technique where textures were often mapped to a smaller resolution, with UV islands extending far beyond the 0,1 UV boundaries.



This screenshot is an example from an old model of mine where you can see this method being used. However, for Cities: Skylines II, all these UV islands would need to fit inside that 0,1 UV boundary, and that means stacking the UV islands over one another rather than extending them beyond the boundary.

For this pack, I was going to create more than 100 buildings, and I couldn’t use 100 different 4 K textures. Thus, planning became the most critical stage of the pack’s development.

Optimization became the mantra.

[h3]Optimization: Reuse and Innovate​[/h3]
Thus, our first major goal in working on the pack became optimization. It became clear that we needed to reuse details and textures as much as possible wherever we could. The beauty of real-world Eastern European architecture came to the rescue: most buildings that we were inspired by were explicitly designed to be built very quickly and to create many different structures from the same panels. This design philosophy translated perfectly into game assets.

And it worked!

Medium and High density, and the panels and details that they are made from.​

The UV map for Medium + High Density residential.​

In these two screenshots, you can see buildings that are mapped to a single texture. There's even some space left on it! Here's how it looks with the textures:




This brings us to another important concept of our pack:

[h2]From Gray to Gorgeous​[/h2]
Yes, here we can circle back to that very first association with the words "Eastern Europe.” People living in countries of the former Eastern Bloc (all the way to East Berlin) likely understood this concept right away. In modern times, many old gray panel buildings have been renovated or are undergoing significant renovations, transforming into quite decent and visually pleasing homes.

With the pack, we decided to bring the same idea to life. The more leveled up your city becomes, the better it will look! While at the beginning of the game, neighborhoods with panel buildings might appear rather gloomy and depressing, over time, you’ll see them flourish!

As you can see from the screenshots below, players will see this transformation unfold in-game:

• Level 1-2: More gloomy, monotonous facades.
  
• Level 3-4: A splash of color and added character.
  
• Level 5: Fully renovated, visually striking structures.
  

Screenshot of a test layout from in-game during the development of the pack.​

[h2]From Panels to History​[/h2]
As I mentioned earlier, the Eastern Europe Region Pack includes a wide range of panel buildings and some historical architecture.

A distinctive feature of many Eastern European cities is that panel housing districts surround their old historical centers. At the same time, historical buildings have long been repurposed for business and commercial use.

Therefore, we decided that Low Density Commercial in our pack would represent the low-rise historical buildings.

There are also the Low Density Residential buildings. We also have many historical wooden houses that you can find all over Post-Soviet Eastern Europe, and their colorful exteriors stand out among the gray and snow.

Colorful Low Density Residential is in their final stages of propping.


Some examples of Low Density Residential and Commercial.​

[h2]Service buildings​[/h2]
Of course, we absolutely had to create an expansive range and complete set of service buildings. The Eastern Europe Region Pack includes:

• Elementary School
  
• High School
  
• Medical Center
  
• Hospital
  
• Police Station
  
• Police HQ
  
• Post Office
  
• Welfare Office
  
• Research Center
  
• Disease Control
  
• City Hall
  
• Water tower
  
• Firehouse
  
• Fire Station
  

As you can see, the list of buildings is quite impressive.

The service buildings are just a part of what the Eastern Europe Region Pack has to offer!​

[h2]Spotlight on Disease Control​[/h2]
However, I would like to highlight one service building in particular. I came up with the idea for this building during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.

The whole Disease Control Center in all its glory.​

The Disease Control Center, as presented in the game, is one of the most inhumane representatives of the Brutalist architectural style. The actual building that inspired it houses an oncology center.


Despite its grim facade, this structure embodies hope and healing—proving that what’s inside truly matters.

Final Thoughts and Screenshots​
Developing the Eastern Europe Region Pack was a monumental effort that tested our skills and creativity. From overcoming technical constraints to faithfully capturing a region's essence, this pack has been a labor of love.

A lot has changed since we began in early 2020, but one thing remains constant: our passion for creating immersive, authentic experiences for Cities: Skylines players. We hope you enjoy exploring and building with the Eastern Europe Region Pack as much as we enjoyed making it!

Now, some screenshots!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Unlock the charm of Eastern European cities with the Eastern Europe Pack. Curated by talented community creators Alex_By, Komurka, Robal, and Tomas13TO, this pack is designed to bring the distinctive character of Eastern Europe to life in your cities.[/h3]

[h3]The pack features a range of unique zones, a variety of essential service buildings, and iconic Signature Buildings inspired by Eastern Europe’s rich and diverse heritage. Whether you’re envisioning charming small towns or bustling urban hubs, the Eastern Europe Pack is your gateway to craft your perfect Eastern European-inspired cityscape.[/h3]

[h3]Download the pack now for free on Paradox Mods - https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/mods/98960/Windows
[/h3]

Included in the Eastern Europe Pack:

• Service Buildings
  
• Zones:
  
  • Low Density Housing
    
  • Medium Density Housing
    
  • Mixed Housing
    
  • Low Rent Housing
    
  • High Density Housing
    
  • Low Density Business
• Signature Buildings
  

[h2]Creator Dev Diary [/h2]
Discover the inspiration and creative process behind the Eastern Europe Pack in our latest dev diary! Join community creators Alex_By, Komurka, Robal, and Tomas13TO as they share the stories and design philosophies that brought this charming region to life. Don’t miss this behind-the-scenes look at how this pack came to life!

[h3]Read the full Developer Diary here - https://pdxint.at/4hif87z[/h3]

[h2]Cities Around the World Giveaway[/h2]
Don’t forget about the cool giveaways that can be your chance to play weekly and win exclusive limited-edition CSII collectibles.

[h3]Find out more about the Cities Around The World Giveaway here - https://pdxint.at/42yGem7[/h3]

[h2]Stay on top of your travel itinerary:[/h2]


[h2]We’re kicking off 2025 with an exciting roadmap for the rest of the region packs. [/h2]

Next up is the China Pack, launching on February 10, 2025. With its rich cultural heritage and striking architectural styles, this pack will bring a whole new flavor to your cities.

After the China Pack, we’ll be boarding a long flight to the other side of the world, to the United States!

Here’s what’s next:
US East Coast Pack – February 24, 2025
US West Coast Pack – March 3, 2025

From the bustling energy of the East Coast to the laid-back vibes of the West Coast, these additions are full of unique style and details to inspire your city-building journey.

[h2]We can’t wait to see how you bring these regions to life in your cities. Happy building! [/h2]