Sid Meier's Civilization V

Sid Meier's Civilization V

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Civilization 5 Multiplayer Modding
By Biux and 1 collaborators
A quick guide on how to make (many) Steam Workshop mods work in Civilization 5 Multiplayer games...
   
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Downloading and browsing mod folders
Just a friendly reminder that this method is really hard or near impossible to use with mods that add/modify Civilizations ! ! ! ALSO this will NOT work with every mod, mainly with mods that use .lua code as well since i havent found a solution on how to add them to multiplayer but .XML coded mods are working perfectly.

As we all know there is a big amount of mods available for Civilization 5. But what most people dont know is that they are not usable in multiplayer games before trying them and being dissapointed at the lack of support...,

But wait, there is a solution (for most mods) and i want to share the method. First of all, thanks to civfanatics.com and thanks to user named "Helpful_Dude" with only 2 extremely important and useful posts. Thank you for finding this and sharing it out in the first place!

What do you need?
  • Civilization 5 and all the necessary DLC
  • Mod from Workshop
  • Reading skills :)

Lets begin with downloading Classical Building Pack by thecrazyscotsman


and browsing to workshop mod folder in

C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\my games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\MODS

(Path may be different in different OS versions)


And find the mod you have just downloaded






Making the mod work
So how do i make the mod work?
When you have found the mod you are looking for to add into the game you must browse to your Civilization 5 installation folder found in

D:\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V

(Again, installation path may be slightly different depending on your steam installation, OS and hardware)

Here comes the fun part, you must browse to any DLC folder of the game found in Assets\DLC.

Example: D:\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\DLC\Expansion2
(Expansion2 is brave new world DLC folder so if you dont have it you can go ahead and use Expansion1 or something else for this part)

READ THIS BEFORE PROCEEDING!
YOU MUST HAVE THE EXACT SAME MODS AS THE PEOPLE YOU ARE GOING TO BE PLAYING WITH AS THIS METHOD WORKS PRETTY MUCH THE SAME AS "OFFICIAL" GAME DLC!

Now if you have understood this part you can go ahead and copy "Classical Building Pack" Folder from
C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\my games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\MODS

To here and rename the folder to "[MOD]Classical Building Pack" for finding the mods easier

D:\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\DLC\Expansion2

Like this


And open up Expansion2.Civ5Pkg in notepad or similiar program, file is found in DLC folder and browse right after <Gameplay> and create couple empty spaces


D:\SteamLibrary\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\DLC\Expansion2\Expansion2.Civ5Pkg

Next open up your mod folder and find XML files inside

For example Classical Building pack has 4 .xml files inside XML folder


Last thing you must do is add <GameData> </GameData> and <TextData> </TextData> pointing to each .xml file found in the mod folder.

and the file should look like this after you are done


What now?
Save Expansion2.Civ5Pkg and start up your game, you can start up the game normally without going into "Mods" first.

LAST THING!

Me, Helpful_Dude or anyone else associated with this guide is not responsible for messing up your game. It is easily repaired by deleting the mod folders and removing custom gamedata lines from .Civ5Pkg. THIS WILL AFFECT YOUR SAVED GAMES so back them up well before doing anything

One last thing, this will NOT work with every mod, mainly with mods that use .lua code as well since i havent found a solution on how to add them to multiplayer but .XML coded mods are working perfectly. No more hassle with hotseat mods and emailing since you can just start up an online game and play normally!

Thank you! Please contact me if you find any typing errors or find something to fix in the guide!





306 Comments
Aldogan Ozdemir 12 Jun, 2021 @ 5:18am 
whatamidoing 23 Nov, 2020 @ 12:44am 
Probably better to use this:
https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=361391109
It can be a little finicky with dll mods, and it doesn't seem to manage map scripts (although those are really easy to add yourself, just drag and drop in the map folder), but it works for me with VP, various mods that add civs, infoaddict, etc.
Noticer 4 May, 2020 @ 8:40am 
Worked fine for me, guess im not retarded
Anubite51 30 Apr, 2020 @ 6:47pm 
I have followed the instructions and I have two mods with only .xml files in them, but I can't get them to work. I even put the files in at the end of every single DLC folder's Gameplay sections and it will not work. Is there a special way you're supposed to denote the spacing between the different mod's xml files? What else could I be missing please someone help!
Prophet 21 Apr, 2020 @ 4:59pm 
how do you put just a map in
Foxtrot Twelve 17 Apr, 2020 @ 3:48pm 
This says it will affect saved games but how so? If I follow these steps and the mods are in the folder, and I load Civ V once, will that immediately corrupt all of my saves and make them unplayable even if I undo all of these steps and play normal Civ? OR will saves be fine and just not load unless the correct game condition is met - i.e. the unmodded game saves will only work once you remove the mods from the DLC folder and the modded game saves will only work if you have the mods in the DLC folder? Can someone please explain how the saved game files are affected? Thank you!
JadeWing 14 Feb, 2020 @ 8:22pm 
The most frustrating part is that the main reason I mod Civ is for civs.
Vyctorianbyron 10 Sep, 2019 @ 7:46am 
Could this be used to make scenarios work in multiplayer?
Christmas Treant 28 Feb, 2019 @ 1:09am 
Edit Suggestion (and help for others having issues with mods not working for some civs! ):
"create couple empty spaces right after <Gameplay>" may not be the best direction, especially when your mod is going to update pre-existing game data. This is because the top-down organization of Expansion2.Civ5Pkg determines the load order. If you have your mod code at the top, then it will load before the game loads all of the civs that were introduced or changed in BNW. Instead, you should put your <GameData>ModName.xml</GameData> etc. at the bottom of the <Gameplay></Gameplay> field .

Here's what my Expansion2.Civ5Pkg.txt looks like to use as a guide

<Gameplay>
. . .
<MapDirectory>Maps</MapDirectory>
<GameData>SuperSettler.xml</GameData>
<TextData>SuperSettler.xml</TextData>
</Gameplay>

Where the SuperSettler filenames pertain to my mod.
I shall include an example in my next comment.

I hope this helps someone else!
Christmas Treant 28 Feb, 2019 @ 1:07am 
Here is an example for the issue I described in my adjacent post.

The Super Starter Settler mod defines a "Super Settler" as a new unit class in the mod's xml. It's a new kind of settler that has a lot of movement, extra sight, and isn't affected by terrain. The mod works by updating every civ's "start the game with UNITCLASS_SETTLER" code with "start the game with UNITCLASS_SUPERSETTLER". In-game, it results in your starting settler being the Super Settler instead of a generic 2-movement settler.

However, when I put my <GameData>SuperSettler.xml</GameData> at the TOP of Expansion2.Civ5Pkg's <Gameplay> field, it does not update the starting-unit-defining code for the civs that are loaded later down the line. These happen to be all of the civs introduced with BNW or that have been changed with BNW, such as Venice (new civ with BNW) and France (changed in BNW from the base game).

Thus, me or my friend do not start the game with a Super Settler if we play any of these civs.