This feature was originally published on March 23, 2015. It's since been updated with new mods, assets, maps, and visual tools.
The Steam Workshop for mod-friendly city builder Cities: Skylines is stuffed with free goodies, and continues to grow by over a thousand new items per day. Players have been hard at work not just building their cities but making maps, mods, assets, and tools for others to enjoy. We've had a cruise through the Steam Workshop, and here's what we suggest for those looking to enhance their own cities.
Let's get started with mods! Once subscribed, you need only activate them from the Content Manager menu. Remember that Skylines' mods are global, so if you activate one, it'll be in effect for every game you play, until you turn it off.
City Vitals Watch
Tired of clicking between all the different icons to monitor your growing city's needs?
This mod gives you a configurable panel so you can get as much data as possible in a single view. Check on available electricity, water, sewage, crime, education, heathcare, employment, and just about everything else you might want to keep an eye on.
Citizen Tracker
Remember, you're not just a mayor, you're a Peeping Tom. Keep a close eye on anyone you want with the Citizen Tracker, which allows you to bookmark and tag your NPCs with icons so you can easily find them again later.
Improved Assets Panel
Skylines menus aren't particularly great or attractive, but now you can get a nice look at the assets you've subscribed to with the Improved Assets Panel, which gives you a thumbnail view of your various buildings and parks.
Flight Cimulator
Why settle for hovering over your city like a cloud when you can soar across it like a plane? The Flight Cimulator gives you control of one of the airplanes circling your town, turning your city sim into a flight sim.
All Spaces Unlockable
Skylines lets you build on 9 of the map's 25 available tiles, but we wouldn't be PC gamers if we didn't want access to all of them. All Spaces Unlockable does just that. It's not just for those who want to fill every square inch of map with buildings, but also for those who perhaps purchased a new tile and wound up only using a small fraction of it, or maybe decided further down the line to sprawl their city in an entirely different direction than they originally planned. Either way, it's a must-have.
Traffic Report Tool
It's easy to spot traffic problems, but harder to understand and solve them.
The Traffic Report Tool can help. Click a road and it'll show you the path of every vehicle using it, or en route to it. Click a building and it shows you the paths of all vehicles headed to or leaving it. Click an individual vehicle, and it'll show you its entire path, from start to destination. It's still in beta, but it's a promising tool for helping you understand and untangle troublesome traffic snarls.
Fire Spread
While Skylines doesn't officially provide city-busting disasters, there are a few things you can do to unleash hell on your populace. Dams, for example, can be used (or misused) to
bury your city in poo. If that's a little too gross, you can try the Fire Spread mod, which lets fires jump from building to building, perfect for putting your fire department to the test.
Extended Public Transport UI
As your city grows, keeping track of your public transportation network can be tricky. The
Extended Public Transport UI makes it much, much easier, with better, toggled views of individual bus, metro, and train lines. A great tool.
Extended Road Upgrade
A recent update added the ability to upgrade between one-way and two-way roads without having to bulldoze, but the
Extended Road Upgrade mod, which did it first, is still worth checking out. It works a little differently than the unmodded game—and I think a little better—especially when it comes to changing the direction of your one-way roads.
First-Person Camera
Technically
it's a free camera, unshackling you from a bird's-eye view and taking you all the way down to street level for a closer look at your city and its inhabitants. You may not be thrilled with what you see—Skylines wasn't meant to be viewed from quite this close up—but it's still fun to use.
Chirpy Exterminator
It's hard to be legitimately angry with Chirpy: he's just trying to communicate citizen's feelings to you, and he's so darn earnest about it! That said:
die, Chirpy. A patch recently added a volume slider for Chirpy's incessant tweeting, but the Chirpy Exterminator mod lets you ice him for good. Rest in peace, with the emphasis on peace.
On the next page, let's spice up your city with some new buildings.
Even those happy with Cities: Skylines have probably peered down at their creations and wished there was a bit more diversity in the types of buildings. A few too many identical skyscrapers or residences can take some of the wonder away from your city and make it feel a bit too plain. No worries. There's thousands of new buildings to subscribe to, and once you do, they'll start appearing in your city.
DP's Beautification Sets
This is an easy pick for you and a simply massive amount of work by DPruett2333, who has been filling the workshop with prettier, updated versions of Skylines's buildings by adding flourishes like benches, bushes, parking spaces, and other little details to the game's hospitals, power plants, schools, and homes. Grab all of DP's beautification sets: the
Building Set, the Residential Set, and the Commercial Set, and make your city more pleasing to the eye.
Gula's buildings
By now you've heard a former Maxis artist is making custom assets for Skylines, and they're well worth grabbing for your own city. From the
coal power plant that produces more power, but also more pollution, to the adorable Down-and-Out Burger restaurant and Sherlock's Coffee shop, to the replica of Tampa's SunTrust office tower, these finely detailed creations should be part of your town.
Ericsson Globe
Straight outta Stockholm, the Ericsson Globe is the largest hemispherical building in the world. While it's not to real-world scale in the game, the
Ericsson Globe by ArakanI is still a beautiful recreation of a unique building that will delight your residents and give your city another notable landmark.
Space Shuttle
Houston, we've solved a problem. This unique building lets you plop a space shuttle memorial in your city, giving your residents and tourists the nice eyeful of NASA you've been looking for.
Stargate Metro System
Proving a metro for your citizens is great, but not particularly exciting. Replacing your metro station with an Atlantis Stargate? That's a little better, even if it just takes them to the mall and not another planet.
Wayne Enterprises
Every city needs a hero, and every hero needs an office building to serve as headquarters for his multi-billion dollar corporation. Wayne Enterprises makes a nice addition to your city and a place for Bruce Wayne to sleep through shareholders meetings, especially if you build it on the Gotham City map.
Space Needle
Seattle's iconic observation tower has been a tourist attraction since its construction for the 1962 World's Fair. Now the Space Needle can tower over your own city, pointing up at space as if to say, "Hey, space."
Turning Torso
Another real-world landmark, the Turning Torso is the tallest skyscraper in Sweden. This recreation nicely captures its grace and elegance. While it's scaled down to match Skylines' native buildings, it's still a classy landmark for your metropolis.
Combine Citadel
Welcome to City 17. It's safer here, and nothing inspires a feeling of safety like a towering alien monolith, right? Plunk down a Combine Citadel in your town to remind the concerned citizens below that you've got everything under control. Just keep an eye peeled for trouble-making scientists.
Ghostbusters Firestation
While ghosts, ghouls, and giant marshmallow golems don't present a threat to your city—for now, at least—fires certainly do. You can still let bustin' make you feel good by adding this replica of the Ghostbusters fire station HQ.
Recycling Center
Tired of landfills and incineration plants stinking up your beautiful city? Replace them with the Recycling Center. It's slower to process garbage than the traditional choice, but it's clean and green.
Bluth's Banana Stand
Why not add the Bluth's Banana Stand to your commercial district? I hear there's money in it. It's also a nice landmark for your residents, since they can agree to meet at the big yellow joint. May burn down occasionally.
Chirper HQ
If you haven't completely killed Chirper using the mod on the first page, you've probably at least minimized and muted it. Still, why not give it a spot in your city with the Chirper Headquarters? It's a unique building so it'll allow employment and tourism, and it'll give the adorable yet annoying bird a chance to (quietly) show its face.
On the next page, some new options for your city's most important features: roads.
So. You've built a beautiful city but you can't help notice a few problems, like the fact that your citizens are living in piles of garbage and corpses? Unless you've simply slashed your municipal budget to the bone, this is probably due to traffic issues. Here are some intersections you can drop in your city to get traffic flowing smoothly.
Pedestrian Suspension Bridge
With so much focus on cars, it's easy to forget to make nice walkways for foot traffic as well. Found in the parks menu, this lovely Pedestrian Suspension Bridge is pleasing to both the eyes and the feet of your little citizens.
Timbo's Marvelous Interchange Emporium
While I still struggle to draw a simple off-ramp that doesn't look like it's already weathered a few earthquakes, Timboh's been cranking out a ton of beautiful and useful interchanges. Subscribing to Timboh's Emporium means you'll never be at a loss for having a great way to make roads meet and greet.
Public Transport Place
I'm guilty of making public transportation an afterthought, with train stations, metro stations, and bus depots simply plopped where I can find room among everything else. This pre-made collection of roads and walkways makes it easy to centralize your public transportation, and allows passengers to quickly find their way between buses, trains, and metro tunnels by using raised walkways. All you have to do is plug the buildings into the right spots.
Double-Paperclip
This interchange is so big it didn't even fit into the game's asset manager, but it's worth it. With realistic slopes and angles, this Double Paperclip interchange will get your citizens on their way in a smart and realistic fashion.
8-Way Roundabout
I feel like building an entirely new city around this beauty. Built to handle traffic from eight directions, this roundabout also features enough room in the center for bus stops, metro stations, several plazas, and even a couple buildings.
Small Green Roundabout
The thing about most roundabouts is that they're huge, and tough to fit into a city you've already built without destroying a good portion of it. The Small Green Roundabout is a nice option for neighborhoods or places without a lot of heavy traffic. Includes footpaths and nice decorations.
Elevated Pedestrian Roundabout
Cars aren't the only thing that need to get around. This slick Elevated Pedestrian Roundabout makes it easy for walkers to get through your city as well, with walkways up and down to street level, and room for a small park in the center.
On the next page, let's add some new parks, plazas, and statues to your favorite city.
I'm sure your city is lovely already, but you're probably tired of adding the same old parks and plazas. Here's a few more to choose from.
Enterprise Park
Let your tiny citizens boldly go where no one has gone before, like this handsome park commemorating the USS Enterprise.
Modern Art Plaza
Are games art? How about cubes? Invite your residents to visit this Modern Art Plaza, where they can stare at a large black cube and pretend to understand just what it means.
Sunken Plaza
Perfect for your downtown areas, this attractive sunken plaza gives your citizens a spot to relax among the skyscrapers in a busy city.
Public Soccer Field
Skylines has a stadium for professional athletes, but how about local talent? This public soccer field should please the sports fans in your neighborhoods. While I haven't seen any games break out on my field, people do walk around in it a bit.
Shrine of Azura
Cities: Skyrim? Sure, why not. Your city probably has a few followers of the Daedric prince, so now they've got a place to worship or just chill out. This Shrine of Azura statue has the same properties of the Statue of Wealth. Talos is available as well.
Jesper's Fields
It's easy to neglect your industrial areas, and it's also a little weird to place city plazas and playgrounds alongside them. That's why this collection of fields by Jesper is perfect for your farming areas. They blend in perfectly without drawing a crowd.
Skate Park
Teenagers in your city can be occasionally seen with skateboards, so why not give them a spot to shred? This concrete skate park has ramps, rails, and even graffiti.
1x1 Swing Park
Sometimes you want to improve a crowded town without having to destroy anything to make room. If you've only got a single square of available space, this 1x1 Swing Park is perfect for brightening the neighborhood without removing a single house.
Next up, some of the best maps you can start building on.
Now that you've got ton of new stuff to build with, where do you actually want to build? Here's a collection of maps and saved games you can put your personal mark on.
Catan XL
Finally, a map that really calls out for a multiplayer version Skylines. This Catan XL map gives you hexes to build on, each with their own separate resources.
Sea Turtle Falls
With rivers, mountains, beaches, valleys, and waterfalls, Sea Turtle Falls has something for just about everyone, and presents a beautiful and interesting challenge for city builders.
River Dale
This massive and impressive circular city bisected by a river sports almost 300,000 residents. There's still plenty of room to grow, however. Can you add a few more rings?
Volcano Crown
Perfect for aspiring supervillains, this map features an extinct volcano that now hosts a lake. With rivers trailing down to the sea, and several nearby islands, you can turn this beautiful map into a thriving city.
Boulder Rapids
With beaches, rivers, mountains, and hills, Boulder Rapids is a nice map to start a city on, especially if you plan on using a dam at some point: there are great locations for several.
Bora Bora
Not only is this Bora Bora map beautiful, it's a remarkably challenging location with an extremely limited amount of building space. Can you build a working city without destroying its natural beauty?
Delta of the Pharaoh
With ore-rich mountains, expansive sandy reaches, and fertile flood plains, this map inspired by the Nile Delta is a great spot for creating your own jewel in the desert.
Los Santos
While we wait for GTA V to appear on PC, here's a fun way to visit the sprawling city of Los Santos, already built and containing districts that accurately mirror the game's locations. If you want to build your own city, here's a version only containing the roads.
Mission to Mars
Mars needs donut trucks! Civilize the red planet by taking advantage of pockets of ore and carve out a working city on this map based on Mars's Daedalia Planum. It goes great with this Mars color correction tool.
Cologne, Germany
This highly detailed map of Cologne, Germany features the Rhine, highways, lakes, and resources. Will you build an accurate replica of the city, or something completely new?
Zion National Park
The problem with national parks is the government gets upset when you start building skyscrapers all over them. Problem solved. This replica of Utah's Zion National Park is not just beautiful but extremely challenging to build a working city on.
Gabe Newell's Face
If you've ever dreamed of building a city on Gabe Newell's face, then I have good news for you. I also have bad news, because that's a very troubling dream.
Finally, let's spruce up the way Skylines looks with some visual tools on the next page.
Skylines is plenty pretty, but so are tons of games, and PC gamers never stop trying to make them look even better. Here are some visual mods and tools to get the game looking as sweet as possible.
Dynamic Resolution
The Dynamic Resolution mod will let you tinker with your game's internal resolution and scale it up or down depending on your wants or needs. Pressing F10 brings up a slider to make adjustments, though be prepared for a major FPS hit if your GPU can't handle it. Nicely, the mod shows your FPS while you're making adjustments, and even provides a tickbox for another graphics tweak, the Ambient Occlusion mod, which can be used to make the game even prettier.
Moving Sun
If you don't care for the static sunlight of Skylines, how about a sun that moves across the sky all day? There's no nighttime—as soon as the sun sets, it rises again—but it's still nice to watch the shadows grow and lengthen as the day comes to an end and to see the sunlight spill over your city in the morning.
Isometric Camera
Turn the clock back on city simulators with this Isometric Camera tool. It gives this new game a distinctly retro feel.
Bordercities Visual Overhaul
Enjoy cell shading and want to bring it to your city? This configurable tool lets you apply a fresh coat of Borderlands-like visual style to Skylines, and once activated can be toggled on and off with the key of your choice.
1977
Revisit the 70's with this Instagram-inspired 1977 LUT. I can already hear the bell bottoms scraping the pavement and the cops growing bushy moustaches, can't you?
Sun Shafts
If you can stand a little performance hit, you might want sun shafts to pretty up your city. They can be toggled on and off and give the visuals a heavenly touch.
Toy Film Camera
I don't keep the tilt-shift effect on when I play Skylines, but it's nice for screenshots, and when combined with this Toy Film Camera LUT, you can really give your city a bright, fun, novel appearance.
Mirror's Edge Menu LUT
Maybe the government in Mirror's Edge was a wee bit oppressive, but it's hard to argue that one of the positive results was an extremely neat and tidy city. Now you can emulate it with the clean white, sharp red, and cool blue of the Mirror's Edge Menu LUT.
No doubt while we've been compiling this list, a few thousand more custom creations have appeared in the Cities: Skylines Steam Workshop. Don't forget to check it regularly to find your own favorites.