Quick Links
Cities: Skylinesoffers a lot of tools to its players. The road tool can create sharp or gentle curves that automatically createoverpasses, tunnels, and bridges when needed, the landscaping tool lets players create and destroy mountains, and the map creator gives players complete control over the shape of the world.
However,Cities: Skylineslikes to go even further. That’s why the game has a lively mod community full of creators who design new assets, bend or break the game rules, and otherwise change the nature of the game so that players can have completely new experiences and push the game engine to its limits. Unfortunately, finding and applying these mods can be a very different experience depending on how and where players bought the game.
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Steam Workshop
By far the easiest way to find and download mods is through the Steam Workshop. Simply go to theCities: Skylinesgame page in the Library and click on the word “Workshop” that sits just below the Play button. This will bring players to a massive library of mods they can browse to find new assets, maps, game mods, building themes, and more. The workshop even has save games that show how other players have used the game torecreate cities both real and fictional.
Other Platforms
Not every platform is as friendly to third-party mods as Steam. Both the Xbox and PlayStation versions ofCities: Skylinesdon’t have full mod support, since creating content for these platforms requires an expensive set of developer’s tools and not just a PC with a decent processor. The game is also availableon the Epic Games Store, but Epic doesn’t have its own version of the Steam Workshop.
Still, PC owners can get mods forCities: Skylineseven if they don’t use Steam. Nexus Mods has a database of mods for an incredible variety of games,Citiesincluded. Users will have to register an account to download anything, but registration is free.The Paradox Interactive websitealso has mods available, though they also need users to register. Then there are less popular websites where players can find mods, but it’s important to always be cautious when downloading anything from an untrusted source.
Once playershave a mod on their PCs, they’ll need to install it in the right location. For Windows, the default location is C:/Users/[user’s name]/AppData/Local/Colossal Order/Cities_Skylines. AppData may be hidden, but Windows users can see hidden folders by clicking “View” on the top bar, then “Show,” and then checking “Hidden Items.”
From this folder, players can add mods to Addons/Mods, assets to Addons/Assets, maps in Maps, saved games in Saves, and so on. If the right files are in the right locations, they should appear in the in-game Content Manager.
Content Manager
Regardless of what platform players use, they can access their mods, styles, assets, and other bonus content using the Content Manager in the game’s main menu. The Content Manager lets players activate and deactivate mods without having to install and uninstall them every time, and it lets them choose what assets they want to use while playing so that their build menus aren’t hopelessly cluttered. The manager is also a way for the developers to advertise all the scenarios, maps, and assets players could getfrom the various expansions.
Even console players with just the base game should check out the content manager at some point.Cities: Skylinescomes preloaded with a few basic mods that work like game cheats, including unlimited money, unlimited ore and oil, and a mode that unlocks all the milestone rewards immediately. There’s even a mod that makes the game harder for players who want more of a challenge. However, activating any of these mods (along with most third-party content) will disable achievements.
Cities: Skylinesis available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
