Bonjour everyone, and welcome to the first dev diary of the upcoming Region Packs - starting with France. In this thread, we will explain our region pack's background and artistic and technical development process, which is now out on Paradox Mods.
Download the pack for free on Paradox Mods. The French team comprises four content creators: Gèze, Gruny, REV0, and Jerenable, with whom you are familiar from Cities: Skylines Workshop. The French Pack includes a variety of zones, including medium row, medium, mixed, office, and low rent, as well as service buildings covering most of your urban needs. Before we get to the details of our pack, let’s talk about the background of Region Pack: France.
Once the French team was created, the area of focus was clear. Paris. The City of Light was selected as it reflected the perfect urban landscape, ideal for Cities Skylines II. The city itself had seen a large-scale urban transformation in the late 19th century under the directives of Eugène Haussmann, the chief architect of Paris. Haussmann oversaw the re-development of Paris and drafted a new city plan, including the large avenues, the many public spaces, and infrastructure, including sewage system and gas lighting across the city, which would later give the city its nickname. He also created an architectural design made for the specific demands of Paris and a building code that would feature central heating systems, tall windows, balconies, and decorated facades.
Haussmann’s mix of classical and modern architecture became the new face of Paris and France. The massive urban planning and the World Expo of Paris in 1889 would set the city at the centre of global attention, setting itself as an example of ideal urban planning and development.
Two examples of building blueprints from Paris.
The historical and cultural background of Paris set the tone for our pack as well. When we were developing our pack, we focused on Haussmannian architecture, aiming to represent this unique and recognizable style in each of our assets. We also picked service buildings that would still look ageless in the context of a city builder game with a contemporary art style and buildings that would make visual sense in terms of the service range and quantity they provide.
Historic blueprints, diagrams, and books were used to set standards for the pack content. Based on these parameters and zoning instructions given by Colossal Order, we started cataloging inspirational material, locations, and buildings and separated them by zone and lot. Later, some members of the team took references on-site during a trip to Paris.
Photo collage from the Paris trip.
Creation of the Pack: Mesh and Texturework
The planning process of region packs started around 2020. At the time, there were a lot of unknowns regarding the development process of a “Cities: Skylines II” asset. However, we were lucky to be provided with early technical documents by Colossal Order. With official specifications in mind, we started to prototype assets. We tried to establish a modeling pipeline to develop the pack content. This involved creating a set of textures and testing them in a PBR-compatible render software since importing them into the game was not possible at the time. This was the phase during which we tried to get used to Cities: Skylines II's different asset creation requirements. Compared to the original game, Cities: Skylines II relies on a higher level of detail, gives the player the ability to get much closer to buildings, and uses a higher standard texture resolution compared to the original game (1024x1024 for the original and 4096x4096 for the sequel).
Aside from the texture resolution, the level of detail on the mesh was also different compared to the original game. This time, elements that were previously textured, such as window frames, handles, and other surface details, would have to be modeled. Anything involving windows would also have to be modeled due to the separation of window glass with the use of a parallax interior shader.
A Cities: Skylines growable vs. The Commercial Signature from our pack – both assets were made by Gèze.
We also switched texturing software for Cities: Skylines II content creation. As Cities: Skylines II is a PBR game, our team switched its pipeline in early development from Photoshop to Substance Painter/Design, which we would use to texture our assets.
Once the basics were established, we developed a texturing pipeline in which we would quickly swap textures per asset when needed. We applied the basics of the trim sheet method, as it’s commonly known in the industry, in which we used a set of tileable textures on assets to maximize the texture space.
To save time and standardize the production quality across all assets and team members, we created a set of meshes that could be used across the pack. This set included roof vents, windows, doors, handles, dormers, rain gutters, and other elements.
Some of the standard elements were created ahead of building production.
Since Haussmannian design relied on decorative elements, we also created around a hundred custom balcony fences and decorative elements to be used on assets. These are based on historical and real-life references, as shown earlier. Aside from fences, a set of corbels and trims were made and then baked to be included in our texture template. Later in production, a set of chimney props and walls were created. Parisian chimneys are a very recognizable part of the roof skyline, and we tried to reflect that as accurately as possible.
A classic Parisian rooftop vs. Region Pack France content.
Creation of the Pack: Propping
Once all the mesh and texture work was completed, we started importing assets into the game. Propping around 400 assets took the team about two weeks.
As mentioned previously, rooftops received special attention since these are the areas that players will see most of the time. They are decorated with a plethora of chimneys and antennas to represent the chaotic rooftops of Paris. For the backyards, we used a variety of base-game hedge lanes and props, benches, surfaces, props, and trees.
Each growable in the French Pack comes with colour variations assigned to different parts of the building, sometimes the ground floor, sometimes doors or window frames, adding an extra layer of variety. We also tried to pay attention to picking neutral and realistic colors, which are common on Parisian streets.
Buildings are plopped in batches in the editor and then propped per set.
Pack Content
Growables
Each Pack in Region Pack comes with their unique zone type, allowing you to zone specifically the content of the region pack in question.
When we picked the zone types, we looked at the most important ones that players would need the moment the game was out. After assessing the art of the vanilla game and available content, the team prioritized the following zone types to provide maximum and coherent custom content in order to create a fully functioning city.
A few different areas with different zones.
The French Pack includes the following zone types:
-Mixed Housing
-Medium Density Housing
-Medium Density Row Housing
-Low Rent Housing
-High Density Offices
The level progression of buildings is represented in various ways, depending on the asset;
-Buildings gain height as they level up,
-Buildings gain decorative elements towards the maximum level,
-Buildings change construction elements towards the maximum level;
-From plaster to brick facades
-From ceramic roofing to zinc roofing
These combinations allowed us to represent the visual evolution of a skyline, from a humble small city on level 1 to a prestigious capitol skyline at level 5.
Aside from the visual changes on mesh/textures, some buildings also have different decorations in backyards to further pronounce the wealth change on buildings. While Level 1 buildings may have basic propping in the backyard, Level 5 buildings are usually decorated with benches, tables, and other elements to make them more interesting.
Buildings at different levels.
Services
We prioritised service buildings that would be the most important in a city, such as healthcare, law enforcement, and education. By including these buildings, we aimed to let players create an artistically cohesive skyline. Therefore, the pack contains the following buildings:
-Fire House and Fire Station
-Police Station and Police Headquarters
-Clinic, Hospital, Crematorium
-Elementary School, High School, College
-Water Tower, Power Station
-Train Station
-City Hall
These buildings also come with upgrades, providing various benefits for the city and boost the services they provide.
From left to right: City Hall, Fire House, Fire Station, and Hospital – default vs. all upgrades applied.
Signatures
The French Pack contains five signature buildings for the following zone types: residential, commercial, and office. The ‘cool’ factor for these buildings was important, as we wanted to pick buildings that would stand out compared to the growable or service assets and immediately give the player visual feedback on which RCOI type these buildings belong to. Aside from looks, signature buildings provide various city effects.
Folies Bèrgere is inspired by its real-life counterpart, located in the 9th Arrondissement of Paris. In real life, Folie Bergère is a music and cabaret hall, but it serves as a commercial signature building in Cities: Skylines II.
Maison des Savoirs Numériques is the office signature building of the pack, and it stands out with its size compared to the modestly sized growable.
Au coin de la Bouteille is the signature residential building of the French Pack. Its bottle-shaped rooftop gives the building its French name.
Café de Paris is one of the two mixed signature buildings. In its backyard, it houses a Parisian café where your citizens can have their breakfast or relax after a busy day.
Le Carré Gastronomique is the second mixed signature building featuring a restaurant establishment on its ground floor.
Team’s Favorites
French pack has more than 400 assets, but of course, we have some favourites to pick:
The train station of French Pack is inspired by the Biarritz station, located southwest of France. Built in a strategic location as a gateway to the Basque Coast, its design and compact size make it suitable for most cities.
City Hall is inspired by the Mairie of Clichy-la-Garenne in Hauts-de-Seine, built in 1878 and expanded in 1907. In Cities: Skylines II, the city hall and its upgrades provide various city effects.
Police Headquarters is based on the actual police headquarters located on Quai de Gesvres. In the game, the building has extra upgrades that increase jail capacity and reduce crime city-wide.
The water tower is inspired by the Neo-Byzantine one atop Montmartre hill in Paris. Its design will make it a landmark wherever it is placed.
Final Notes
The Region Pack initiative started in 2020 following our confirmation that Cities: Skylines II was in development. The goal was to provide custom content created by community veterans ready for the community to enjoy in Cities: Skylines II. We are happy and proud that our work has finally reached its destination and is now available for players and fans to use.
A lot has happened since we started development; some creators have not been able to be part of the full journey, but to all who were originally part of region packs who set sail into the sea of the unknown to the recent additions, we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all content creators who, in any shape or form, took part in this project despite its initially challenging nature.
We hope that the Cities: Skylines community as a whole enjoys the results of this colossal project. As the French team, we look forward to creating more content for Cities: Skylines II!
Thank you for reading, and if you have any feedback or questions, don’t hesitate to comment in this thread or on PDXforums.
You can find us on Cities: Skylines Modding Discord and, of course, PDXMods:
Modding Discord - https://discord.gg/ExfdGrYvS4
Gèze PDXMods - https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/authors/Gèze
Gruny PDXMods - https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/authors/Gruny
REV0 PDXMods - https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/authors/R3V0_76
Jerenable - https://mods.paradoxplaza.com/authors/Jerenable
