Installing Mods on Civ5 for Mac

[AlanH]

Hmm. I guess we can thank the fact that SteamOS is based on Linux, and once Linux has support for Steam Workshop it's relatively easy to add it to the OS X version. Perhaps Aspyr are not totally anti-mods after all!

It still won't make custom DLL mods work, though.

 

[beetle]

Sorry, what exactly is the Steam Workshop and is there already a Windows version? The announcement seems to be only about Civ5 for Linux, which is cool and new, but then goes on to mention OS X compatibility, which we already have of course. So I was left confused. Thanks!

 

[AlanH]

The Steam Workshop is a mods store on the Steam site. Mod makers can publish their mods there, and players can subscribe to them, which automatically downloads and installs them. It is currently only available to Windows players with Steam versions.

 

[beetle]

Thanks, I was thinking it was something specific to Civ5. Now that I know what it is, I could find the web page:
The Steam Workshop is a central hub of player-created content and tools to publish, organize, and download that content into your games.

Organizing mods seems like it is only shrug worthy, but might we be getting world builder tools?
Explore the modding world of Civ V, and when you’re ready, download the SDK to create and upload your own.

 

[AlanH]

Now that Firaxis are targeting the SteamOS, based on Debian Linux, there's no knowing what they may port to it, and from there to OS X.

However, SteamOS is intended for consoles, and maybe not seen as a creation platform.

We already know how to get Steam Workshop mods for the Mac. It's a tad fiddly, but it works.

 

[lostninas]

Hello,

I have followed the guidelines and installed the mods and enabled them, but when I want to set up a game, the civilizations mods doesn't show up? Is it something with Brand New World?

I'm not quite sure what to do next.

I'm sorry if this has been asked a million times, then please link me to their question.

(I use steam)

x, NIna

 

[AlanH]

Assuming you can see and select the Mods menu option, the most likely problem is that you have not installed the mods correctly.. Make sure that the mod is installed in your Mods folder as a sub-folder containing a xxx.modinfo file and other files and folders.

 

[lostninas]

I can select the mods in the menu.

Okay, well is this not correct?

 

[AlanH]

That looks ok. So select a mod in the menu, and click the checkbox next to it. What happens when you continue?

 

[lostninas]

So I've done that, too. Here is just a screenshot, but the new civilizations won't show up? Should I look elsewhere or shouldn't the be available with the others?

Thanks for replying.

 

[AlanH]

Did you click "Next" after you checked the boxes? That should show you that your selected mods are active. Then select "Single Player". Once you have selected one or more mods, you must keep going forward. If you go back to the main menu, your mods cease to be active.

 

[macseamus1]

I'm having the same issue as lostninas. I have MODS that show up under the Single Player option, but when I go to set up a game there are no mods available to select other than the Scramble for Africa mod that I purchased on Steam.

 

[macseamus1]

replying to myself: I unchecked some of the dlc in the setup menu and now things seem to work. Don't know exactly what changed things since I've started Steam about 10 times since the initial install of the mods.

 

[AlanH]

Hi, welcome.

You have prompted me to do something I should have done a while back. ekc posted a script a few weeks ago designed to automate/simplify the whole mods installation and enabling process. So I figured we need a simple step by step description of how to use it. And here it is. It will only work with the Steam version of Civ5, and mods you can Subscribe from Steamworks.

Step 1. Download the attached Applescript, which is a modified version of ekc's original script. It downloads as a zipped file, and you should unzip it and put it in a location where you can find it again, e.g. your desktop.

Step 2. Open Steam and click on Steamworks. Choose the mods you want, and click Subscribe for each one. They will download to a hidden location on your Mac.

Step 3. Run the script you installed at Step 1 by double clicking it. This will edit your Civ5 software to enable the Mods menu option, and extract the mods you subscribed, and place them in your Civ5 Mods folder.

Step 4. Launch Civ5 from the Steam window. Click the Mods menu option and accept the "Use MODS at your own risk" warning.

Step 5. Enable the mods you want by checking their tick boxes in the list. Click Next and wait for the Game to Configure. Click Single Player at the top of the next screen, then Setup Game. Choose the settings for the mod. These will depend on the mod(s) you have enabled.

Step 6. Play the game.

You can repeat Step 2 later to download more mods. Run Step 3 each time to install the new mods.

 

[kinase]

I used that script and installed mods and played with them just fine. But now my computer is bugging out, web browsers close constantly, my top bar has duplicated clock, date, wi fi icon and other stuff... weird stuff going on. Is there a kill script or a way to undo what that script has done or others get rid of it? it's any denomination of firefox that quits constantly now, chrome works and so does safari. Cant even leave firefox open, it just closes right away,

 

[AlanH]

Hi, welcome.

I'm sorry if that script has caused problems, though it is difficult to imagine how. All it does to run a Python script that performs the following operations:

1. It looks for the file ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/sid meter's civilisation v/Civilization V.app/Contents/Home/assets/UI/FrontEnd/MainMenu.lua"

2. It edits that file to comment the line "Controls.ModsButton:SetHide". All this does is to enable the MODS option in the Civ5 main menu.

3. It looks for new downloaded mod subdirectories in "~/Library/Application Support/Steam/userdata/<xxxxxxxx>/ugc/referenced/".

4. If it finds new mod files it extracts them to "~/Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/MODS/".

That's it.

It only runs when you choose to run it, and it runs within the limits of your account privileges. It has no special privileges, so it should have no effect on your operating system.

If you want to undo what it has done, all you need to do is to delete the "~/Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/MODS/" folder. The edited MainMenu.lua file cannot possibly affect your system.

What mods did you download? Perhaps they have cause problems?

 

[kinase]

It was a mod that shows the 3 tile radius from a settler so you can see the city limits.

Yeah I'm not sure what's up either. Now my firefox profile is gone and I cant run aurora, nightly, or regular firefox at all so i'm going to have to fix that. I cant imagine what happened either. I'll probably try again after I sort this out.

 

[AlanH]

That doesn't sound like a very dangerous mod

I have the script set up on my Lion desktop system, and it causes no problems as far as I can tell. It's configured as a Folder action watching the appropriate Steam folder. Whenever Steam delivers a new or updated mod, it installs it with zero user interaction.

I have Firefox, and it runs fine, though I use Safari as my primary browser. However, I have no idea how stable (or otherwise) Aurora is, and I don't have it, or a Firefox profile.

I have also run the script manually on my Mavericks laptop, and, again, it shows no signs of issues with standard Firefox. I honestly can't see how there could be any interaction. Which version of OS X are you running?

I'm currently working on making a single-click Applescripted installer that will set this script up as a Folder Action to watch the relevant Steam folder. This is already working on my old Lion system, and I now need to create a "signed" version of it so that it will work under Gatekeeper. I'll then test it on my Mavericks laptop, and all being well, I'll post it here for others to test.

 

[Nelson Minar]

Thanks for this, AlanH, I just tried it and it seemed to work. At least I could enable the mods in the game, although when I started a game I'm not sure my mods were actually running. (Couldn't find the InfoAddict v22 button.) But that may just be user error.

The Python script looks benign to me. If it were me, I'd want to validate that steamDir and parDir exist and are as expected, so that 7za doesn't do something stupid in case the user has non-standard paths.

 

[AlanH]

Thanks for checking it. I'll be trying to make it as robust as possible before I release the Folder Action installer.

Remember that you must keep moving forward through the menus once you have selected a mod. I'll try to check the InfoAddict mod when I have time.

[UPDATE] I installed and activated InfoAddict GNK, and it worked OK. It gave me the InfoAddict option in the Scroll menu at top right, as indicated in the ReadMe text that comes with the mod. You have to hover over the right hand end of its title bar to see the 'X' button to dismiss it - or just use 'esc'. I haven't played any turns, so all the data screens are empty.