Cities Skylines 2 “Not launching/ Crashing” PC error: Possible fixes, reasons, and more

Cities Skylines 2 is facing severe optimization issues, with players complaining about the game frequently crashing on their systems or, in some cases, not even launching. What makes this issue quite annoying to deal with is the fact that there is no permanent solution that you will be able to try out. When the error occurs, you will receive the following message in Cities Skylines 2:

“General Error. We are unable to parse the launcher settings file. Settings.formatVersion should be integer. Settings.formatVersion should be equal to constant. Make sure you have a valid configuration and try again”

However, there are a few workarounds that you will be able to try for this general error, and this guide will go over some of the ones that are likely to work for you in Citie Skylines 2.

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How to fix Cities Skylines 2 “Not launching/ Crashing” PC error

Here are a few things that you will be able to try in order to deal with the crashing and not launching error in Cities Skylines 2:

1) Repair and change Launcher File settings

One of the best fixes, according to the community, will be to repair and then change the Launcher File settings. To do this, you will first need to find the local-file directory where the launcher file is.

If you did a default installation, the file will be at this path:

• Local Disk> Program Files > steamapps > common > Cities Skylines II > Launcher

You will then need to Run the “launcher-installer-windows_2023.11.msi” file and then select the option to repair.

If this doesn’t fix the launcher issues, then make your way to the “launcher-settings.json” file and then open it with a Notepad. You will now need to change the variable for formatVersion in the text:

• Take the variable from 0 to 1.1.
• Save the file before exiting.

Once done, launch the game, and the crashing issue should be resolved for you.

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2) Close the Paradox Launcher

Closing the Paradox Launcher seems to have worked for many in the Cities Skylines 2 community. To do it, you will need to make your way to the Windows Task Manager by pressing the Alt + Shift + Esc buttons.

In the Task Manager, you will need to select Paradox Launcher and press “End Task”. This will force close the program, and you will need to try and relaunch the game again.

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3) Re-install the game

Another step that seems to have worked for some in the community is to straight-up re-install the game. While it may not feel like much of a fix, restarting the game can be opted as the last resort if the above steps are not working for you.

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4) Reach out to the support team

Cities Skylines 2 is facing a fair bit of issues with optimization, so if the above fixes and subsequent performance patches are still causing an issue on your system, reach out to the Paradox Interactive Support team.