Fix: Cities Skylines Stuttering, Lags, or Freezing constantly on PC

When it comes to the city-building simulation video game, Cities: Skylines is one of the best in class titles that did release back in 2015. Colossal Order and Paradox Interactive have done a great job with this single-player game, allowing players to engage in urban planning with zone controls, terrain developments, improving public services, transportation, and more.

However, this game requires enough hardware configuration to run properly, especially for PC. Not everyone may have such a configuration to run the game in full resolution and higher FPS. It’s quite common for most PC titles because they’re performance-hungry. Here we’ve provided steps to fix Cities Skylines Stuttering and Lags issues.

Unfortunately, some City Skylines PC players are experiencing multiple issues while in gameplay, like stuttering, lags, crashes, frame drops, etc.. Depending on the compatibility factor, it can be a severe issue on some PCs. So, it’s always better to fix the issue so that at least you can play the game with a respectable FPS count. There may be several reasons behind such an issue that can be resolved by following this guide.

Check System Requirements

Check out the system requirements of Cities Skylines game below to ensure that your PC configuration meets the game’s system requirements.

Minimum Requirements:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7/8/8.1 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 3.0GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 3.2GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260, 512 MB or ATI Radeon HD 5670, 512 MB (Does not support Intel Integrated Graphics Cards)
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 4 GB available space

Recommended Requirements:

Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: Microsoft Windows 7/8 (64-bit)
Processor: Intel Core i5-3470, 3.20GHz or AMD FX-6300, 3.5Ghz
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, 2 GB or AMD Radeon HD 7870, 2 GB (Does not support Intel Integrated Graphics Cards)
DirectX: Version 11
Network: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 4 GB available space

Fix: Cities Skylines Stuttering and Lags Badly

Fixing in-game lags or frame drop issues isn’t easy because it depends on multiple factors, such as PC hardware, the display resolution of the game, maximum FPS limit count, conflicting third-party apps, and more. So, we recommend you try following all the methods individually until the problem gets fixed or reduced. Changing the in-game graphics-related settings or keeping them low can fix several problems in a jiffy.

It may include the Screen Resolution of the game, in-game Texture Resolution, Shadow Resolution, Maximum Frame rate, number of Characters Displayed, or other visual effects that require higher graphics or memory. So, you can follow the steps below to try reducing the lags or frame drops to some extent, depending on which resolution and quality you’re playing the game, apart from FPS count.

1. Use Launch Options

Open your Steam client > Go to Library > Right-click on Cities Skylines.
Select Properties > On the General tab, you’ll find Launch Options.
Enter the launch options -fullscreen = Forces the engine to start in fullscreen mode.

2. Update Graphics Drivers

Right-click on the Start Menu to open up the Quick Access Menu.
Click on Device Manager from the list.
Now, double-click on the Display adapters category to expand the list.
Then right-click on the dedicated graphics card name.
Select Update driver > Choose Search automatically for drivers.
An update will automatically download and install the latest version if available.
Once done, make sure to reboot your computer to change the effects.

3. Run the game as an administrator

Run the game exe file as an administrator to avoid user account control regarding privilege issues. You should also run the Steam client as an administrator on your PC. To do this:

Right-click on Cities Skylines exe shortcut file on your PC.
Now, select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.
Make sure to click on the Run this program as an administrator checkbox to checkmark it.
Click on Apply and select OK to save changes.

4. Set High Priority in Task Manager

Make your game priority in the higher segment via the Task Manager to tell your Windows system to run the game properly. To do this:

Right-click on the Start Menu > Select Task Manager.
Click on the Processes tab > Right-click on the Cities Skylines game task.
Select Set Priority to High.
Close Task Manager.
Finally, run the Cities Skylines game to check for the issue.

5. Verify the Integrity of Game Files

If there is an issue with the game files and they somehow get corrupted or missing, then make sure to perform this method to check for the issue easily. To do so:

For Steam Users:

Launch Steam > Click on Library.
Right-click on Cities Skylines from the list of installed games.
Now, click on Properties > Go to Local Files.
Click on Verify Integrity of Game Files.
You’ll have to wait for the process until it gets completed.
Once done, restart your computer.

For Epic Launcher:

Remember that verifying game files is an excellent troubleshooting step if you encounter crashes, performance problems, or missing content.

6. Change GPU Settings

Make sure to change the graphics card settings on the PC by following the steps below to check whether the problem has been fixed.

For Nvidia:

Open up Nvidia’s Control Panel > Right-click on the desktop screen.
Click on Nvidia Control Panel > Click on Manage 3D Settings.
Select Program Settings > Find ‘Cities Skylines’ and manually add the game if it’s not in the list:
- Monitor Tech: G-Sync (If available)
- Maximum Pre-rendered frames: 2
- Threaded optimization: On
- Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
- Texture Filtering – Quality: Performance

For AMD:

Monitor Tech: G-Sync (If available)
Maximum Pre-rendered frames: 2
Threaded optimization: On
Power Management: Prefer Maximum Performance
Texture Filtering – Quality: Performance

7. Disable Fullscreen Optimizations

Full-screen optimization and DPI settings are the default ones on Windows. You should try disabling it by following the steps below:

Locate Cities Skylines game directory.
Find and right-click on Cities Skylines.exe file.
Select Properties > Click on the Compatibility tab.
Checkmark the ‘Disable Full-Screen Optimizations’ box.
Now, click on the ‘Change high DPI setting’s button.
Checkmark the ‘Override high DPI scaling behavior’ > Select ‘Application’ from the drop-down menu.
Click on Apply and then OK to save changes.

8. Update Cities Skylines

If in case, you haven’t updated your Cities Skylines game for a while, then follow the steps below to check for updates and install the latest patch (if available). To do this:

For Steam:

Open the Steam client > Go to Library > Click on Cities Skylines from the left pane.
It’ll automatically search for the available update. If there is an update available, make sure to click on Update.
It may take some time to install the update > Once done, make sure to close the Steam client.
Finally, reboot your PC to apply changes, and then try launching the game again.