How to Master Your Terrain in Cities Skylines 2 

It’s fascinating to see how many times you had to stop being creative because the game wouldn’t let you do something. We really need mods.

I've been pretty cynical about the state of the game at release, but I've gotta say, your tenacity and creativity in this build has really made me excited for what C:S2 can (eventually) offer.

I've found that slope tool very useful when I want to make these cuts for tunnels less bumpy. The hard part to get used is remembering that you should set the target height and start terraforming at the point you want to make the beginning of the ramp.

This is definitely my favorite Cities Skylines 2 playthrough to watch on RU-vid because it feels unique and realistic. I see a lot of people building cities that look pretty much the same, but I'm guessing that will change when more assets and mods become available.

The slope tool is your friend. It would make short work of those tunnel entrances, it's great for reducing lumpies and bumpies when building on slopes, and it makes earthworks for roads way easier.

15:20 is a great example of where the slope tool would do you good, because it lets you get a relatively even grade from point to point

I absolutely love the levels you're able to figure out with CS2! You have such a great creative understanding of doing these city layouts

I love this train line going around the hill and into the tunnel. And the university above adds such a nice atmosphere and sort of history to the place

I think you should not disregard the slope terrain tool. It's great to help you deal with steep slopes, and I think it can be really helpful to you, especially in this map where grading is all over the place.

This area turned out absolutely stunning! I love the level differences, the bridges and the overall vibe, especially during autumn. You truly are an artist. Speaking of art.. will we be seeing Oceania/Sunset City anytime soon?

Levels, Jerry, levels. Awesome episode - these rail rights-of-way are one of the coolest things about the Jersey side, and it’s really cool to see your take ok them.

I laughed for a good minute straight when I saw the title Master Your Terrains and saw the picture of Jerry. Well done 😂😂

9:53 I also love looking at abandoned/repurposed rail lines. If you look up the Iron Horse Trail in California, it was an old Southern Pacific line from 1891-1977 that ran from Livermore/Pleasanton to ports and industries in Martinez/Port Chicago and the huge weapon/ammo storage fields between Concord/Clayton/Bay Point (which still remain as private county/federal land). Almost all of the line has been repurposed as a regional trail, with some self-storage places and parking lots here and there. Old trestles still remain (like where Monument Blvd crosses the canal), and some sections of rail still remain. A lot of industrial lots along the line (especially out towards Dublin/Livermore) were built with spurs off the line. My work's building/lot is one such built right next to the line with a spur that would have gone through our yard. Directly behind our lot there is a small section of rail from the spur that remains visible

Inspiring stuff mate! Love the terrain work

Nice work! Impressed with how you make it look so organic. And the SimCity4 music brought me back down memory lane. Thank you for that haha.

Your videos are so beautiful✨ I really wish to see you build sometime in the future a city based upon major urban areas in Asia like Tokyo, Seul or Osaka. It would be wonderful!

love the rail line it’ll be interesting to see how it’s used in the future

Wow! This is some incredible work. Everyone else I’ve seen has tried to avoid messing with weird heights and terrain as much as possible, but you dove right in and gave the terrain MORE variation, lmao. Your city looks amazing

I'm one of the 5% that got (an appreciated) the thumbnail reference, haha. You're making the most of the wonky terrain. Loving the hillside neighborhood and a shame about the crash.

Lovin it! I appreciate the landscaping inspiration.

I live in Hoboken in New Jersey so this is superrrrrr interesting to see you working on...I now have a newfound appreciation and interest in all this infrastructure surrounding me that I previously never really thought about loll...awesome job thanks dude

Great video! You're doing great with the new game!

really made good use of the terrain. cool video!

Facinating as always Two dollar twenty.

i love the way you’ve designed your city and it has really inspired me to go a little slower and start with a smaller town at first instead of just designing a huge one in the beginning

So far the best content out there about CS2!

Love the different height levels and how natural it looks. I know I probably would have just flattened everything to make it easy. This definitely inspires me try and be more comfortable with unusual terrain.

I think despite the limitations without custom assets and mods you are still managing to make it look like another great two dollar town! The little details like metal bridges, certain elevated terrain really help. Since you are emulating New York / New Jersey I think it would be good to take a look at Dutch cities which I believe were big influences on New York. A lot of Dutch cities are quite compact and they try to fit in green spaces where ever they can which end up being quite beautiful despite being not as grand as normal sized parks! Great stuff as always can't wait to see more.

All those bridges are gorgeoussss

slope terrain tool is actually really useful. flatten tool is obviously on top tho

Being able to turn the cloud on is honestly the largest FLEX ngl.

I’ve struggled to engage with CS2 and your video is really making me wanna play

@twodollarstwenty As a resident of Hoboken, I've always really enjoyed seeing the ways this area and its infrastructure has developed around the landscape / neighboring NYC and sometimes try mimicking that on Cities: Skylines 1. So really surprised and excited to see the area get its own spotlight and build on your channel. Always thought it was super interesting how Hoboken is practically 'enclosed' from a geographical sense by the rock-wall to the west (namesake of the Heights neighborhood in Jersey City, which has a Light-Rail line run along it's base), the still operating rail yard to the south, the developed riverwalk/Hudson River itself to the east, and highway/viaduct to the north (Separating Hoboken from Weehawken). So worth checking that out if you haven't already!

I know this is an NA themed city, but in Europe there is a high tendency to replace old rail lines by bike paths. Maybe that's something you want to do? New York's high-line on the ground. I personally think they should have kept the tracks and put trams on them, but that's another debate altogether.

Really enjoying this playthrough and I can’t wait to play the game myself also I think the free packs coming will improve it significantly

Cool to see my parts being featured here! NJ represent!

Beautifully done.

I personally dont use the slope terrain tool much but I see a lot of others on youtube do and it seems intuitive for breaking slopes down for infrastructure.

Just started watching your channel, and have to say, love the choice of SC4 soundtrack :)

c'est impressionnant cette manière de donner du réalisme et de la vie à tes créations sur CS2, superbe travail avec le relief bravo ! 👏

the video i needed! thanks!

@twodollars The train line through Journal square is actually commonly used by the PATH Train, a rapid transit service similar to the NYC subway that funnels people from Jersey City, Hoboken, and Newark into Manhattan, and it has operated since the 1900s! However, there are still a lot of abandoned rail right of ways throughout North Jersey, since there is only one big rail terminal left on the hudson river out of many, so dont worry about it maybe being unrealistic!

Developer mode kind of has anarchy already, it's called 'bypass validation' if I'm not mistaken. I've been using it a lot, it's really helpful for overpasses

Very inspiring! Thanks!

You can use devmode to plop assets, haven't used it myself yet but it could be helpful, saw there even are drawable surfaces in there, to add some concrete or fix the park grass.

Awesome build!

I love hearing the Sim City 5 music in your videos :D

Great video!

you can stack roads / railways on top of each other, might be worth a look sometime

I’ve been watching a lot of content about CS2 since release, but man this town gets me. I just love the balance between grid and messiness and that hill omg !! Have you thought of bringing the old train line on the cost and make a station on the waterfront, a bit like in Amsterdam Centraal. Idk might be good might be bad.

love this city so far! i like the terrain around the city with the roads and alleys, makes it a bit more interesting in my eyes and weirdly comfortable and cozy (idk its weird)

Pretty cool with the train line. Around here, when they remove a track, they sometimes make a pedestrian path in its place. We've got some like that around a repurposed passenger station.

This is one of the best series on Cities Skylines on RU-vid!

Nice detail work! Very inspiring. I love this game and what you do with it 👍 Btw. do you know you can use dev mode to e.g. plop growables, surface paint and use anarchy?

I think New Fortune would make a great name

Great Video!

i really don't care about CS2 anymore, this game is a joke, CAN YOU PLEASE CONTINUE YOUR OLD SERIES? I really really REALLY missed them.

17:21 that is a station and a yard right next to it. The waterfront soccer field reminds me of frank sinatra park in Hoboken New Jersey

Love your video's :)

Love this episode of more detail work and creating more realistic layouts with the old railway inspo :) @infrastructurist has made some really great docks with roads and alleyways that feel really realistic, maybe this city could benefit for that style of dock! :)

it took me a while to try out slope mode but I'm glad I did it. I use it in all of my builds now.

Yes. Definitely call it Stratton Island.

Hey! Chicago resident here, not New York, but I'd recommend taking a look at some northern-ish areas of the Brown Line. In areas with a lot of relatively small medium density housing like around Ravenswood it has a veeeeery similar feel to some of the rail you made in residential areas, or at least a similar feel from the point of view of a pedestrian.

I was just thinking today I wish one of the creators would do just this very thing and explain the terraforming. A full terraforming tutorial would be a great subject.

Looking Good! I have also given potential future names some thought as well. Because New York has a lot of history with the Dutch a lot of neighborhoods are named after real life Dutch cities, and the anglicized. Brooklyn for example is named after the town of Breukelen and Harlem is named after Haarlem. My suggestion for these two areas is Hague for Harlem and Berken for Brooklyn. Hague is then named after the Hague, or Den Haag, which is the provincial capital of South Holland, while Haarlem is the provincial capital of North Holland. Berken is named after Bergen op Zoom, it's a smaller town with a a rich history, and was especially more significant during the colonial area, similar to Breukelen. Also the slope terrain tool is very useful for building paths and roads on slopes and it's also useful for straightening out the slopes at your tunnel edges. How it works is you flatten out 2 pads between which you want to slope (not necessary, but makes it easier) and then you right click on the top height and then left click and hold on your bottom height and move towards the top height. You can get very smooth elevations then

Use the slope tool to make mountains. start with a max height, then draw points to the center with the slope tool, then follow up with the smooth. Also to make road slopes straight.

Hello from Uzbekistan! I want to play this game so much😍

I was thinking about a passenger train station put behind the school on that road. The elevation can look nice up to the the school's level, in my opinion. And later it can continue and the bridges would be visible from that hill.

With dev settings, you can place props and even colour the ground! You mark it in the same way as specialized industry and it's all ground textures including pavements etc.

Time to do some detailing … TREEEEEEEEES 😂 CS2 really needs more assets and mods! Even just some rocks would make a massive difference! Also the slope tool is amazing I use it all the time, you should really give it a go

2:05 That cliffside you mentioned is called the Palisades, and if you go further up the Hudson north of the Tappan Zee Bridge by Tarrytown and Nyack, you'll see that there's a state park on the West side of the River. That's because John D. Rockfeller lived on the east side of the river at Kykuit in Pocantico Hills just Northeast of Tarrytown, and he bought all that land on the West side of the River in the Pallisades so that no developments there could obstruct his view of the nature on the other side. I live around there and thought it would be cool if at some point further up the river you did something similar with a small town and a big estate like Lyndhurst or Kykuit on one side, and a large park on the other. Could look nice.

I present a detail challenge: I think a rail bridge over the last road (far left of frame at 8:47) that is disconnected from the end of the rail line would look neat. Sort of give the idea that the rail was removed, but the bridge is still present.

i dont know if you knew but if you enable developer mode you can place down props, enable some kind of road anarchy and you can also place down concrete and other surfaces. Have been playing with it on for a while now and it works pretty well

Ah the Simcity Music gets me right in the feels everytime

A feature I noticed as missing is being able to set intersections to different heights. They can only be placed on ground level. It forces you to make your own if you need them at height

Excellent use of Jerry in the thumbnail.

perfect timing as im playing cs 2 now lol, I suck at terraforming

when you were talking about the trains you sounded like my dad also there was abandoned railroad that ran out of Pontiac Michigan and what took place of it was a path

You should check out the different New Jersey Transit light rail lines in the area. Some are street running, some use old rights-of-way

1. the slope tool is very usefull 2. the game has a kind of built in surface painter. You need the devmode too use it.

What they need to do is add dynamic height to buildings. In steep cities like San Francisco, the building's entrance is higher than the windows down the slope in the same building. It seems like the buildings flatten or like melt into the slopes which is not how most cities operate.

You really are a master of your own domain.

First? This never happens to me. 😅 Excited to see this one.

My god move it will be a god send i still remember going from playstation to pc and using move it for the first time

beautiful city

Most of my experience with the terrain tools is in C:S1 but it's honestly so transferable. I use all of them to varying degrees, the raise/lower tool the least unless I'm making mountain ridgelines using that technique from the map making tutorials that were uploaded to the @CitiesSkylines YT channel.

Cant wait for bikes dlc, do a bike path on top of former freight line like the inner circle trail in Melbourne

The slope tool isn't so bad...try it!

You might be able to get around your low clearance bridges by setting up a tiny district right at the crossing and giving it the heavy traffic ban.

Suggestion: place the fire watchtower on the park you did last. Looks like the local lookout platform

great video! but since when did you got this skyscraper? 8:58

If you want anarchy and plop specific buildings, use developer mode. Don't be nervous about that. I use it all the time and it doesnt break the game. I just use "anarchy" and plopping buildings and surfaces. Those won't break your game for sure!! I also use manual temperature when it's snowing.

Wake up, our king has posted!❤

What is the music from @7:30? I cant find it in SC4 or SC3000 soundtrack. Sounds so familiar.

I know the basis for Two Dollarton is new york/new jersey, but the unbuilt area north of the college where the train line runs, reminds me a fair bit of Vancouver and Vancouver North, cpuld be a little bit of flavour to throw in?

They often if leveled enough just paved road over it , giving insane big radie for roads but normal for rail tho thats often in rural areas or suburban expressways Anyways the lines going trough the neighbarhood are built (minus some vertical curvature) realisticly

If you don't mind using dev mode, there is an area tool you can use to make concrete spaces, similar to how specialized industry areas work

As a Staten Islander, I appreciate the "Straten" Island part lol.

You van use the path from the terraforming menu and place it just slightly elevated above water to make fake marinas. Its not much but its something for now.

You're really mastering your domain.