Import a height map
Generate the height map
To import a height map into the Cities: Skylines 2 Map Editor we need to create a 4096×4096 pixel 16 bit grayscale height map.
To generate the height map of a area of the Earth,
- Navigate to https://heightmap.skydark.pl
- Enter the name of the city in the search box
- Set the Map size to 14.336 km
- To move the selected area on the map, click and drag the central blue square.
- To move the map closer to the sea level, click the Base level calculator button
- Select Draw water streams to create the correct river and lake beds on the height map.
- To display the elevation contour lines on the map image enable the Show height contours button
- To display the edge of the water on the map image enable the Show water contours button
- Click the Download PNG height hap button to download the height map
- Click the Download map image button to download the map for the background
Create the directories
Heightmaps
The editor selects the heightmaps from the Heightmaps folder
- Create the “Heightmaps” folder for the height map files at “C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\AppData\LocalLow\Colossal Order\Cities Skylines II”
Screenshots
The editor selects the Thumbnail and Preview images from the Screenshots folder
- Create the “Screenshots” folder for the thumbnail and preview files at “C:\Users\YOUR_USER_NAME\AppData\LocalLow\Colossal Order\Cities Skylines II”
Update the height map
- Open the images in Gimp, a free open source image editor
- Resize the image to 4096×4096
- Check the image mode, make sure it is set to grayscale
- Check the color precision, make sure it is set to 16 bit
Save the image in the new Heightmaps folder
- Export the height map as .PNG
- Accept the defaults
Update the map image
Rotate the map image 180 degrees, so the MapImageLayer mod can correctly display it. Save the map image in the Heightmaps folder.
Enable the Editor and image overlay
- To enable the editor before it is officially enabled in the main menu install the Enable Editor mod, see Enable the map editor in Cities: Skylines 2
- To enable the image overlay, see Image overlay in Cities: Skylines 2
Import the height map
Load the height map
- Start Cities: Skylines 2 and open the editor
- At the bottom, select the Modify Terrain icon
- Click the Import Heightmap button
- Select the height map at the top, and click the Load button at the bottom
Add the outside transportation connections
- At the bottom select Add object
- In the upper right corner click None
- Set the filter to only display the outside connections
- Click away the list to close it and display the list of outside connections
- Select the connection type
- Click on the map to place it
Add outside powerline and water connections
To add outside utility connections, we need to search for those.
- Type outside into the search box
- Select the connection type to place it.
Save the map
- In the upper left corner click Map
- Enter the map name, description, and select the starting tiles
- Scroll down to expand the Checklist
- Save the map by clicking the Save Map button
- Enter a file name and click the Save button
