Best Cities: Skylines II settings for the Steam Deck (RDNA2 iGPU) (2026)
On a Steam Deck (RDNA2 iGPU) (paired with a balanced AMD Ryzen 3 3300X-class CPU), Cities: Skylines II runs at roughly 61 FPS at 1080p with our optimized settings — up from about 26FPS with everything maxed. Here's the configuration and what each setting costs.
| Resolution | All-High FPS | Optimized FPS |
|---|
| 1080p | 26 | 61 |
| 1440p | 15 | 37 |
| 4K | 8 | 18 |
💡 Cities: Skylines II: Big cities are limited by your CPU, not your GPU - upscaling won’t fix that.
🚀 Biggest free win: enable FSR (Balanced) — about +55% FPS for a small sharpness trade.
Recommended settings
Upscaling — FSRBalanced+55% FPS
Cities: Skylines II supports DLSS and FSR. A free FPS boost - enable it first, though big cities are limited by your CPU, not the upscaler.
Global IlluminationLow+14% FPS
Bounce lighting across the city - one of the heaviest GPU settings. Medium is a clean trade.
VolumetricsOff+10% FPS
Volumetric fog and clouds. Expensive for the payoff - drop a notch for an easy win.
Shadow QualityLow+8% FPS
Shadow resolution and range over the city. Medium is the value pick.
Level of DetailLow+7% FPS
How detailed distant buildings stay - also leans on the CPU. Medium for big cities.
Depth of FieldOff+6% FPS
Background blur when zoomed in. Cheap to turn off if you don't want it.
Texture QualityHighbaseline
Surface sharpness on buildings and terrain - cheap on FPS if it fits your VRAM.
⚡ Fine-tune this for your exact CPU & target FPS →
Cities: Skylines II on other GPUs
Other games on the Steam Deck (RDNA2 iGPU)
Frequently asked
What FPS does the Steam Deck (RDNA2 iGPU) get in Cities: Skylines II?
With FrameCoach's optimized balanced settings, the Steam Deck (RDNA2 iGPU) averages around 61 FPS at 1080p in Cities: Skylines II — up from about 26 FPS with everything on High.
Can the Steam Deck (RDNA2 iGPU) run Cities: Skylines II at 1440p?
At 1440p with optimized settings, the Steam Deck (RDNA2 iGPU) averages roughly 37 FPS in Cities: Skylines II; turn on upscaling or aim for a locked 60 for the best feel.
What are the best Cities: Skylines II settings for the Steam Deck (RDNA2 iGPU)?
Turn on FSR (Balanced), keep ray tracing off for maximum FPS, and ease the heaviest options like Global Illumination and Volumetrics down a notch. The full per-setting breakdown is above.
FPS figures are estimates from a generalized model (hardware tier × game load × per-setting weights), not live benchmarks — real performance varies by scene, drivers and game version.