Installation overview

You must be a system administrator or have elevated privileges to install CityEngine in a deployment environment.

The following flowchart shows the installation process:

Installation flowchart

Licensing types

  • Concurrent Use Licensing—Licenses are consumed from a shared license manager (separate server).
  • Single Use Licensing—The license is locked to the machine on which CityEngine is installed.
  • Named User Licensing—Licenses that are saved to your ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise organization can be used for CityEngine.

Run the CityEngine setup program

Download the CityEngine2023.1 installer .zip file, extract it, and run setup.exe. For more information about installation, see Install CityEngine.

CityEngine Administrator Wizard

After installation is complete, the CityEngine Administrator Wizard appears. Select the product type. If you will be using a concurrent-use product, define the compatible license manager. If you will be using a single-use product, authorize the software for use.

Windows Installer technology

The CityEngine setup was created using Microsoft Windows Installer technology. This technology uses a package file (.msi) and a client-side installer service (msiexec.exe). Windows Installer is a service that runs on your operating system. This service enables the operating system to manage the installation and uses the information contained n the package file to install the software.

The msiexec.exe service is a component of Windows Installer. The msiexec.exe service uses a dynamic link library, msi.dll, to read the package files, apply transformations (.mst), and incorporate command-line options.

Note:

Windows Installer 5.0 (minimum) is required for the CityEngine setup. If you are installing using setup.msi directly, you must have at least Windows Installer 5.0 on the target machine. It is recommended that you use setup.exe to install CityEngine when possible.

More information about Windows Installer is available in the Windows Installer Software Development Kit (SDK) documentation on the Microsoft website.

The setup.msi installer package can be used to deploy CityEngine in Windows Installer-supported environments such as Active Directory and Microsoft System Management Server. See Install CityEngine silently for information about command-line options. A deployment technical paper is available on the Esri Technical Support website.

CityEngine 2023.0 and earlier

CityEngine 2023.1 can be installed side by side on machines that have an earlier version installed. However, CityEngine 2023.1 must be installed in its own unique location.

License Manager and authorization resources

For more information, see ArcGIS License manager for CityEngine quick start guide.

For more information about authorizing the software for use, see Authorize the software.