Two tiles at once for a North American mall district: one-way entries and exits, big parking fields, a conference centre with hotels, two custom residential blocks with a tunnel through the middle, the county's first subway line, a dedicated bus lane that ended the foot-traffic jam, a school with its gym and a hand-built public pool. 12.5–13 hours of building in 1 h 45 min.
What happens in this episode
Episode 7 of Cedarpoint County breaks the rules: two tiles at once, because a mall district needs room. It sits a bit away from downtown, with a new underpass, a new highway exit and entry, and its own road layout. The build took 12.5 to 13 hours, cut to 1 hour 45 minutes — the longest episode of the series.
How it was built
A mall without a mall asset
There’s no real mall building in Cities: Skylines II or on Paradox Mods yet, so the mall is assembled from large commercial buildings, starting with the luxury fashion centre. One warning: a supermarket asset broke my save. The game crashed every time traffic started, so I removed it and reported it to the creator.
The layout follows a typical North American mall: one-way roads in and out, two entries and two exits, and huge parking fields. At first there were too many parking lots and too few shops to attract people, so a hospital moved elsewhere and some parking became commercial buildings. Bus stops, small and large, go in from the start, because a mall district won’t work without public transport. A car dealership fills a curved plot nicely; I wish the game had more rounded buildings.
To clear forest quickly, the tree tool’s right mouse button removes trees of one type with a brush. You have to repeat it for every tree and bush type. Better Bulldozer helps for the rest.
Custom parking, a conference centre and hotels
Modified Road Builder roads make a custom parking lot with a through road, broken up by a few parks. Conference centres often sit next to commercial districts with lots of parking and good transit, so one goes here, with hotels next to it for visitors. A viewer tip: invisible footpaths across the beach make it feel busier.
A residential block with a tunnel in the middle
The biggest custom build is a housing complex for well-off residents made from Urban Promenades mixed-use buildings, arranged in a new shape instead of a plain square. Two buildings faced the wrong way. Instead of cheating with an invisible road, I built a real tunnel under the centre of the complex. It’s steep, but only residents and taxis use it. Horizontal concrete pillars cover the tunnel portal, and bushes and flowering shrubs hide them. Its counterpart uses Japanese mixed residential blocks, recoloured for a consistent look, with underground parking, bike parking and a farmers market squeezed in.
The first subway line
The subway needs a depot, just as trains need a rail yard. It sits in the supply area I want to rebuild later. Single tracks link the mall station to downtown, and curved tracks connect the central station and the beach side so trains don’t have to slow down much. The subway took a lot of foot and bike traffic off the streets. An underpass below the highway connects both tiles without the six-lane road, and bike paths keep cyclists off the car lanes.
Housing demand and a sporting goods store
Low-rise demand stays high no matter what. People who want a house with a garden won’t move into a tower, so the second tile gets small homes, some larger ones and row houses. The new skyscrapers bring a lot of residents and workers (I tested them on another map) but are a bit too tall for this skyline. I wanted the sporting goods store in the mall too; it’s so big that part of the highway had to be rebuilt as a tunnel system to make room. High-rise offices follow, because more residents mean more office demand, with mid-size Japanese homes across the street.
A custom school block
The low-rise plot was meant for large houses and an elementary school. In the end the houses went and the school got all its extensions, including a gym I’d never built before, plus a staff and drop-off parking lot. Slopes are secured with a concrete texture, the same technique as in episode 6.
A bus lane ends the pedestrian jam
Crowds still walked and cycled between downtown and the mall. More bus lines helped, but the real fix was rebuilding the six-lane road with Road Builder so one lane in each direction is a dedicated bus lane. That made a huge difference.
A public swimming pool from scratch
The last custom build: three low-rise commercial buildings as the pool complex (they attract foot traffic), a parking lot, a pool basin made from a sunken ship passenger wall as the pool edge, rippled dark-blue water instead of pale blue, a playground, stalls, tables, parasols and plenty of greenery. Parking gates, light poles, safety cones, portable toilets, dirt and road markings finish the district. I still miss the first game’s effect where trees along roads reduced noise.
Next: episode 8, industrial expansion and a geothermal plant.
Video chapters
- 00:00Two tiles for one mall district
- 06:03No mall asset — and one that crashed the game
- 10:28Clearing trees, bus stops, parking balance
- 16:01Custom parking lots and parks
- 20:13Conference centre and hotels
- 24:31A residential block with a tunnel through it
- 31:13Japanese mixed blocks and a farmers market
- 35:33The first subway line and depot
- 47:54Low-rise demand and a sporting goods store
- 58:03Office towers and a custom school block
- 66:42A bus lane fixes the foot traffic
- 87:24Building a public swimming pool
Clicking a chapter starts the video above at that point.
FAQ
Is there a shopping mall building in Cities: Skylines 2?
Not a real one — neither in the base game nor on Paradox Mods when this was built. I assembled the mall from large commercial buildings like the luxury fashion centre, a car dealership and a sporting goods store, with one-way access roads and big parking fields.
How do you delete lots of trees at once in Cities: Skylines 2?
The tree tool's right mouse button removes trees of the selected type with a brush. It works type by type, so you have to repeat it for each tree and bush type. Better Bulldozer helps for single selections.
How did you fix crowds of pedestrians between the mall and downtown?
A subway line took much of the foot and bike traffic, and rebuilding the six-lane road with Road Builder so one lane in each direction is a dedicated bus lane solved the rest.