Cities: Skylines (Steam) - Game randomly starts unable to see any mods/doesn't load them, when eventually it does, they are all disabled, when enabled

[antrachton]

Describe your issue
Game randomly starts unable to see any mods/doesn't load them, when eventually it does, they are all disabled, when enabled and loading the game again - again the game can't load any mods (workshop assets seem to stay unaffected).

What is your game version?


What expansions do you have installed?
After Dark, Snowfall, Natural Disasters, Mass Transit, Green Cities, Parklife, Industries, Campus, Sunset Harbor

What mods are you using?
quite a few but less than usual as plenty of them got deactivated since last september - disabling them is not the point here.

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
Edit: I think i've typed it in below by mistake.

Can you replicate the issue? If yes, please explain how you did it.
As above: Game randomly starts unable to see any mods/doesn't load them, when eventually it does (on the 2nd or 3rd attempt), they are all disabled. When I get them enabled and load the game again - again the game can't load any mods (workshop assets seem to stay unaffected).
I suspect it's the new feature of enabling all assets or mods at once which is a blessing - instead of waiting an hours or so, it's all done within... 30 seconds?

Attachments File(s) attached

 

[Xanitus13]

Describe your issue
Game randomly starts unable to see any mods/doesn't load them, when eventually it does, they are all disabled, when enabled and loading the game again - again the game can't load any mods (workshop assets seem to stay unaffected).

What is your game version?


What expansions do you have installed?
After Dark, Snowfall, Natural Disasters, Mass Transit, Green Cities, Parklife, Industries, Campus, Sunset Harbor

What mods are you using?
quite a few but less than usual as plenty of them got deactivated since last september - disabling them is not the point here.

Please explain your issue is in as much detail as possible.
Edit: I think i've typed it in below by mistake.

Can you replicate the issue? If yes, please explain how you did it.
As above: Game randomly starts unable to see any mods/doesn't load them, when eventually it does (on the 2nd or 3rd attempt), they are all disabled. When I get them enabled and load the game again - again the game can't load any mods (workshop assets seem to stay unaffected).
I suspect it's the new feature of enabling all assets or mods at once which is a blessing - instead of waiting an hours or so, it's all done within... 30 seconds?

Attachments File(s) attached

Having same issue here, thought I had everything figured out when I went through the broken mod list they put out early but then I got greeted with this plus other broken mods. Super frustrating that almost every update breaks the game in some way. Hopefully this gets solved soon.

 

[tiannuo0730]

Mods being deactivated or showing as 0/0 mods is a result of the userGameState.cgs being corrupted and deleted so a new one is created. Restarting the game after it initially happens should let you reactivate your mods. I recommend you back up your userGameState.cgs before shutting down the game (the corruption either happens once the game is shut down or when it's starting). That way you can replace the userGameState.cgs if it gets corrupted again.

The userGameState.cgs can be found here:
C：\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines

This solution is what I saw in the forum

 

[Mike_Riggs]

I managed to get them showing by subscribing to the mod "Less Steam" and then enabling it in "Load Order Tool" and also launching the game using the launch function in the tool. Hopefully this works for you too!

 

[antrachton]

Mods being deactivated or showing as 0/0 mods is a result of the userGameState.cgs being corrupted and deleted so a new one is created. Restarting the game after it initially happens should let you reactivate your mods. I recommend you back up your userGameState.cgs before shutting down the game (the corruption either happens once the game is shut down or when it's starting). That way you can replace the userGameState.cgs if it gets corrupted again.

The userGameState.cgs can be found here:
C：\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines

This solution is what I saw in the forum

not the best solution if that gets corrupted each time you restart the game.

 

[antrachton]

I managed to get them showing by subscribing to the mod "Less Steam" and then enabling it in "Load Order Tool" and also launching the game using the launch function in the tool. Hopefully this works for you too!

i've got both of the mods - doesn't help.

 

[co_avanya]

We're investigating this issue. For now, I recommend enabling the mods in smaller batches, backing up the userGameState file, and restarting the game between each batch.

 

[eskalimur]

We're investigating this issue. For now, I recommend enabling the mods in smaller batches, backing up the userGameState file, and restarting the game between each batch.

Is there any update on this issue ?

 

[co_avanya]

Not yet I'm afraid. As soon as we have an update I will let you know

 

[inguy24]

I am following advice given here in terms of enabling mods in small batches, backing up the usergamestate, etc. Unfortunately the game is cannibalizing my usergamestate state file almost immediately. When watching the usergamestate file in windows explorer while starting the game, I have observed the following:

1. Within the first few seconds of the main menu appearing, the usergamestate file increases from 0KB to some amount under 1MB, but there is no consistency to the final number.
2. After a few seconds have elapsed, the usergamestate is immediately reduced back to 0KB. At this point I have not even entered content manager to enable any mods.
3. After enabling a couple of mods I exit the game.
4. Upon restarting the game, usergamestate is immediately deleted prior to the splash screens being displayed.

I was only successful getting usergamestate to retain information once, but it was prior to being able to copy a backup. Since then, usergamestate has always reduced to 0KB within the first few seconds of the menu appearing and then remains there... only to repeat the cycle as outlined above.

I am trying to be patient, but after paying for the base game and DLCs, I have a small fortune invested in this game. It is frustrating not having the option as to when the game updates on my own machine, which would have allowed me to choose to upgrade after the dust has settled. At some point can Colossal Order and Paradox please give a more detailed update on the issue and an expected timeline for a fix? If a fix is not forthcoming, there needs to be an option for a rollback on this update, especially for multiple users like me who have not been successful in any workaround.

 

[paulxiep]

Even the vanilla mods like unlimited oil&ore and unlimited soil get deactivated each time this happens. This is annoying.

 

[martinwang9]

Mods being deactivated or showing as 0/0 mods is a result of the userGameState.cgs being corrupted and deleted so a new one is created. Restarting the game after it initially happens should let you reactivate your mods. I recommend you back up your userGameState.cgs before shutting down the game (the corruption either happens once the game is shut down or when it's starting). That way you can replace the userGameState.cgs if it gets corrupted again.

The userGameState.cgs can be found here:
C：\Users\%username%\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines

This solution is what I saw in the forum

I would like to add that for some people, this does not solve the issue. In my case for example, adding a userGameState.cgs file that appears to not be corrupted (had more than zero bytes of data), when added into the Cities Skylines game folder, and then once the game was launched, would cause the file to go back to zero bytes. Sometimes this happens after a few minutes of running the game, other times it doesn't even last a second before the assumingly uncorrupted file becomes corrupted.

Here is a video link describing the issue:

 

[co_avanya]

We just pushed an update to fix the userGameState.cgs resetting resulting in all mods being disabled. It will be applied the next time you start the game. Thank you for your patience on this!

 

[antrachton]

We just pushed an update to fix the userGameState.cgs resetting resulting in all mods being disabled. It will be applied the next time you start the game. Thank you for your patience on this!

Not a problem. You were quick anyway
It seems to work now.
Thank you very much

 

[SentientKind]

We're investigating this issue. For now, I recommend enabling the mods in smaller batches, backing up the userGameState file, and restarting the game between each batch.

This is great advise. You're very helpful on this topic, much appreciated! Thank you.

I've been monitoring updates from both Steam and CS, and the workshop.

Recently I saw many assets (including many by Mr.Maison) these had all vanished and then reappeared! This occurred over night (between 1am to 4am). Perhaps Steam is under pressure?. I re-subbed but some are still missing in action however, still going through the list and checking it twice for a few other missing assets. I have not seen this happen with other updates and can't understand why this would happen - coincidence?

PC User / Another concern:
I got the following message while saving a "New" game,

An error occurred while packaging to the save file.
A backup was created at C:\Users\******\AppData\Local\Colossal Order\Cities_Skylines\Saves\Temp\c11f9cf9-9b05-47ca-a416-0be2af845eda.ccs and should still be loadable. [System.IO.IOException]

Whenever there is a major update (such as new content and UI changes), I create a new game for testing purposes, I also do this for testing assets such as train stations.

EDIT: ((Solved))

That New Game Error has not returned! I found out why this happened! It began when Steam suddenly decided to remove and reinstate all assets (never seen this happen before)! I was monitoring system activity (it was busier than usual)! Poor timing with Steam doing this strange glitch (all assets gone and then assets are back)! This occurred around 1am to 4am while I was creating a new game and tried to save it. I swear, it felt like I entered the twilight zone. But now all assets are reinstated and no error when saving a new game. Perhaps Steam was doing a maintenance. The question is, why didn't CS notify of missing assets? That is because of the timing, just poor timing I guess. I have no other explanation.

--NoWorkshop is a nifty preference! But it would be nice to make it a checkbox instead of having to type it in.

So what I do is 'remove the two dashes' (--) in front of the text: NoWorkshop for when I want uncompromising game play with mostly essential mods (about 25 mods). The March 22 (2023) update caused mods to freak out (I understand this, that is the nature of the beast, I've been using other complicated software with third-party plugins for years, I know the drill) and therefore I switched to --NoWorkshop , just type in dash dash (--) and I'm in vanilla mode checking out the new Hubs and Transport;

I love the new 4-lanes 2-way highway (long overdue)! And that monorail over the road is a beast! And so many other goodies, I can honestly say this will be worth waiting for Thanks

Meanwhile I've created two new maps and themes, with preference: --NoWorkshop