With the release of Paradox Interactive’s second title in the Cities Skylines series, Cities Skylines 2 has seen a massive rise in popularity among city-building simulation fans. Although the first game was a huge hit, the second game more or less failed to provide what players were expecting. The gameplay aspect of Cities Skylines 2 is somewhat better than its predecessor; however, the performance issues are what make players rage quit. As such, there have been countless reports of players encountering low FPS and stuttering issues in the game, despite having a decent/powerful system that can run most AAA games. Many also shared that the game fails to utilize their system’s GPU/CPU to the fullest, resulting in low performance. So, is there a fix for such issues? We have shared some effective workarounds to deal with them, so if you are struggling to get decent FPS in the game, consider reading this guide until the end for more details on the same.
Cities Skylines 2 is a city-builder simulator. This means that the game doesn’t need to run at a constant 60+FPS at all times for immersive gameplay. However, this doesn’t mean that stuttering and low fps issues can be ignored. No matter what the game is or which genre it belongs to, a steady FPS is required to get the most out of the experience. This is something that Cities Skylines 2 players are missing out on, which is why we have featured some effective workarounds to get rid of such issues.
Cities Skylines 2 (II) Low FPS, Stuttering, Low CPU/GPU Utilization Issues: Is there any fix yet
The issues related to performance in Cities Skylines 2 are already known to the developers, and they have shared their official acknowledgment regarding the same. They also stated that after the game’s release, update patches will be released to improve in-game performance by removing stutters and implementing GPU and CPU optimizations. So, we are expecting these issues to get fixed soon, once the update patches go live. As to when these updates will be released, no information has been provided yet. Anyway, in the meantime, you can try out the following workarounds and check if the issues get fixed:
Close Unwanted Background Processes
Regardless of whether you have a decent setup, make sure that there are no unnecessary background applications running while you are launching the game. These applications use system resources that can be allocated to the game instead. So, removing them might provide better in-game performance.
Set CS 2 as high priority
First, launch the game, and then press Ctrl+Alt+Del. Now, select Task Manager from the list of options present in this new menu. Once you have access to the Task Manager, head over to the Details tab and right-click on the Cities Skylines 2 process. Now, select the Set Priority option, and choose High. After this, check if there is any performance improvement.
Ensure the game is using the dedicated GPU
Low fps, stuttering, and low GPU utilization issues can also occur if the game is using your system’s iGPU instead of the dedicated one. So, to make sure it uses the dedicated GPU, follow these steps:
- Access the Windows Search bar and type Graphics Settings. Select the first result.
- Now, in the Graphics Settings menu, click on Browse, head over to the game’s installation directory, and select its .exe file.
- After adding the .exe file, find the game on the list, and then click on Options.
- Here, make sure to select the High-Performance option.
- Doing so will result in the game using your system’s dedicated GPU to run.
Update GPU Drivers
Now that you have made sure that the game uses the dedicated GPU of your system, it is time to update your GPU drivers to their latest version. You can do so by visiting the official website of your GPU manufacturer or by using the GPU companion application. Once done, restart your PC, and then launch the game.
Change in-game Settings
For this workaround, you will need to access the in-game settings menu and tweak a bunch of settings to reduce the lag. So, launch the game, go to Options, and switch to the Graphics tab. Here, make sure that the VSync option is disabled. After this, find the Ambient Occlusion option and disable it as well. Now, apply the changes as shown here:
- Screen Resolution: 1920×1080 or lower
- Display Mode: Fullscreen Windowed
- Anti-Aliasing Quality: Low
- Dynamic Resolution Scale Quality: Low/Medium
- Depth of Field Mode: Disabled
- Motion Blur: Disabled
- Volumetric Quality Settings: Disabled
- Global Illumination Quality: Disabled
You can also tweak the various settings in this tab and in the Advanced tab and check whether doing so fixes the issues.
So, these are some of the most effective workarounds you can try to get decent performance out of Cities Skylines 2. However, it is just a matter of time before an official fix eradicates these issues in the game. Anyway, if you find this guide informative, make sure to visit DigiStatement for more such content. Also read: Cities Skylines 2 (II) Blurry Graphics Issue: Is there any fix yet
