A severe Cities Skylines 2 launcher settings error is preventing the game from starting up. Some players receive a message about the launcher settings file or invalid game settings. One variation of the launcher error causes a prompt to pop up with a very long error: “We were unable to parse the launcher setting files. Settings.formatVersion should be integer. Settings.formatVersion should be equal to constant. Make sure you have valid configuration and try again.” This refers to a variable in the game files that is causing a conflict. Thankfully, there are two solutions for this launcher error for Cities Skylines 2 for PC.
How to fix Cities Skylines 2 launcher settings error
There are two ways to fix the launcher settings error for Cities Skylines 2, one that involves changing the game files and another that involves reinstallation:
- Reinstall the Paradox game launcher – In Windows, open the Add or Remove application in your control panel to uninstall the Paradox game launcher. Then restart Cities Skylines 2 on Steam, which will prompt the launcher to download again with the latest version.
- Change the Launcher Settings files – Find the file launcher-settings.json in the proper game folder on Steam. Open this file in notepad and find the variable for formatVersion and change it from 0 to 1.1. Then save the file and try to open the game again and see if this works.
Unfortunately, there are other performance issues that the developer Colossal Order has acknowledged but has decided to fix later on after launch. There are other launch problems that some players are experiencing as well including black screens, blue screens, and even an orange screen. There also doesn’t seem to be an auto-save system, so we recommend that you save your game as soon as you can given reports of crashing.
For more Cities Skylines 2 guides, here’s how to prevent everyone from dying in a session and whether there is a fix for the game’s frequent crashing to the desktop.
