6 Ways to Fix Cities: Skylines 2 Not Launching on a Windows PC

Cities: Skylines 2 is one of the most popular city-building simulation games some players report they can’t start. For example, a player said this on Reddit: “I’m not sure why, but Cities 2 now crashes on launch. It opens the paradox launcher and then when I start the game, it goes to full screen, shows the opening animations, shows the main menu loading bar/circle thing, and then crashes to the desktop with no error message.” This is how you can fix Cities: Skylines 2 not launching on a Windows PC.

Verify the Cities: Skylines 2 Game Files

Players report that verifying game files can fix Cities: Skylines 2 not launching. Running a verification scan for the game might repair some corrupted or missing files. Go through the steps on this Steam help page to run a verification scan for Cities: Skylines 2.

The Verify integrity button in Steam

Bypass the Paradox Launcher

Bypassing the Paradox Launcher has also worked for some players who’ve needed to fix Cities: Skylines 2 not launching. To do this, you can set a launch parameter for bypassing the launcher. This is how you can set Cities: Skylines 2 to bypass its launcher via Steam:

1. Start your Steam software and click its Library tab.
2. Right-click Cities: Skylines 2 in the Steam library sidebar to select Properties.
3. Input C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\Cities Skylines II\\Cities2.exe\” %command% in the launch options box on the General tab.
   
   

   The launch options in Steam

4. Restart Steam and try starting Cities: Skylines 2 again.

Update Visual C++ Redistributables

Some users might need to update (or repair) Visual C++ Redistributable packages to fix Cities: Skylines 2 not launching. You can address this potential cause by downloading and running the files for installing C++ runtime libraries. These are the steps for updating or repairing Visual C++ Redistributable packages:

1. Go to this Microsoft page and click the X86 and X64 download links for Visual Studio 2015-2022.
   
   

   The Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable page

2. Next, open File Explorer and the folder containing the downloaded VC_redist.x64 file.
3. Run the VC_redist.x64 file by double-clicking on it.
4. Click the checkbox for I agree.
   
   

   The Microsoft Visual C++ window

5. Select the Install or Repair option available.
6. Repeat the steps outlined above for the X86 file downloaded.

Disable Antivirus Before Starting Cities: Skylines 2

A few players confirm they’ve kick-started Cities: Skylines 2 by disabling antivirus utilities before launching the game. If you don’t have third-party antivirus software, try disabling the Real-time protection in Windows Security, as covered on this Microsoft page. Those users with third-party security apps will need to select to temporarily turn off antivirus shields within their settings. However, turn your antivirus shield back on after playing the game.

The Real-time protection option

Delete Saved Game Files

Deleting saved game files is a widely confirmed way to fix Cities: Skylines 2 not launching. However, note that applying this fix will erase your saved game data. You can apply this potential fix by deleting the paradox-launcher-v2 and Colossal Order data folders like this:

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the Users > [user_name folder] > AppData > LocalLow directory path.
2. Right-click the Colossal Order folder to select Delete.
   
   

   The Colossal Order folder

3. Next, open the Users > [user_name folder] > AppData >Roaming directory path.
4. Right-click the paradox-launcher-v2 folder and select Delete.
   
   

   The paradox-launcher-v2 folder

Reinstall Cities: Skylines 2

Reinstalling Cities: Skylines 2 has also fixed the game not launching for some players. A reinstallation will refresh the game’s files. This is how you can reinstall Cities: Skylines 2 with Steam:

1. Run the Steam software to access the Library tab.
2. Next, right-click the Cities: Skylines 2 game inside the left sidebar to select Manage > Uninstall.
   
   

   The Uninstall option

3. To reinstall, click the uninstalled Cities: Skylines 2 game and Install.
   
   

   The Install button in Steam

4. Select Install again to proceed.

The troubleshooting methods discussed above are player-confirmed ways to fix Cities: Skylines 2 not launching. So, there’s a half-decent chance one of those potential resolutions will fix your Cities: Skylines 2 game not starting. If the game still doesn’t start, consider submitting a support ticket to the Paradox help service from this page or with the su*****@**********za.com email address.