Greetings, Mayors!
The time has come to pull back the curtain on our latest content update! This cycle, our development team has centered their efforts on refining vehicle AI and pathfinding. As we teased in our City Corner #4 – A Peek into Performance, we have been diligently working to make traffic flow more intuitive. We are also excited to introduce the final polish for our shadow rendering system, addressing those lingering visual artifacts that occasionally cropped up when adjusting your camera angles.
Patch 1.5.9f1 – “Morning Dew” launches tomorrow at approximately 10 AM CEST!
Refining Shadow Rendering
Building upon our previous graphical optimizations, this patch introduces significant refinements to shadow behavior throughout Cities: Skylines II. Previously, you may have noticed distant shadows flickering or “popping” in and out of existence when panning your camera toward the horizon. We have stabilized the rendering distance to eliminate this distraction, resulting in a more immersive experience that is significantly easier on the eyes.
We’ve also resolved an issue where shadows would clip and form an unsightly circular border when the camera was angled sharply downward or zoomed in closely. Shadows now transition naturally across the screen, ensuring that your close-up city photography remains pristine and uninterrupted.
Furthermore, we have recalibrated shadow cascade distribution to prevent inconsistent quality drops near the camera—a fix that is particularly beneficial for those playing with lower graphics settings. We have also smoothed out the flickering of tree shadows during the day-night cycle, ensuring the world remains visually consistent as time passes.
Optimizing Traffic Flow
Traffic congestion is a notorious challenge for any city planner. To help mitigate unnecessary gridlock, we have adjusted vehicle pathfinding logic. Vehicles will now be far more selective about performing U-turns. By significantly increasing the “cost” of both legal and illegal U-turns, we have incentivized AI to find more sensible routes, reducing the chaotic traffic patterns that previously hampered your road networks.
Additionally, we have retuned lane selection logic. Previously, vehicles often switched lanes at the last possible second, causing ripples of braking and congestion. Moving forward, AI drivers will merge earlier and navigate highway exits with greater realism. While we will continue to monitor traffic patterns, these changes should provide a noticeably smoother commute for your citizens.
General Improvements and Bug Fixes
We’ve been hard at work addressing community reports to improve the overall quality of life in your cities:
- Natural Resources: Depletion rates on easy mode have been corrected, ensuring your agricultural and industrial ventures remain sustainable.
- Logistics: We have fixed an issue where delivery trucks would become stuck at specialized industry buildings, causing exports to stall. Similarly, Coal Power plants will now correctly receive fuel deliveries instead of losing their supply vehicles to despawning errors.
- Education UI: The education overlay has been patched to accurately reflect the student population, ensuring toddlers are no longer erroneously counted as eligible elementary school candidates.
Looking Toward the Future
As we approach the summer months, our team is hard at work on a major update scheduled for release in June. We remain committed to listening to your feedback throughout the season to shape the future of the game. We are eager to hear your thoughts on these upcoming changes in the comments below!
Until next time!