Installed DLC and now can't load game. Says "Missing required DLC".

Hey guys, I'm pretty much brand new to Civ V and am running into some problems. I had been playing Civ V via my friends Steam account that she shared with me, so I was able to play it whenever she wasn't on. Hers was just the regular game and no expansions, and the game ran perfectly normal for me. I decided I liked it enough and purchased it myself, along with Brave New World and and Gods and Kings expansion pack. I entered the codes into Steam and everything confirmed that it had installed successfully. Whenever I try to load my game though, the Load Game button is blacked out saying "Required DLC's is missing". I checked the DLC's and it saves everything is installed and enabled, so I'm unsure of what to do now.

Do I have to move my files someplace else because I was playing the game through a shared account? As in, I don't think the game truly saved onto my laptop since I never actually owned the game before. I was going to uninstall everything but I'm worried that will erase my game data. I'm assuming I just need to back up the files and transfer them perhaps? Where to though?

Sorry, I'm a little confused as to what I need to do. I'd appreciate any help! Thanks!

I don't think that Steam even allows a shared account, and you may get in trouble for it. Steam is free, and you do need an e-mail address which is also free. If you are under age, then perhaps a parent should set up an account for you. Unfortunately if you purchased the game through your friends account, you cannot transfer it to your own. It can only be associated with her account.

If you have your own account, and purchased the game through it. You do have to install the DLC in steam. In the Library right click on the game, and go to properties and the last tab is DLC. this is where you can either install/enable G&K or BNW incase you want to play vanilla or any of the DLC. You can never loose any data, because steam keeps track of the license. You can move your account from computer to computer. You just cannot use your account on two computers at the same time. Any time you switch to a new computer steam will send you a code via e-mail and you have to enter it to enable steam on that computer.

Depending on the DLC you choose, steam will download the files that you need to play. The only thing that is not backed up by steam is any saved games that you might want to keep. Those files are not stored in steam folders, but under Windows Documents under My Games.

I think you misunderstood what I meant. It actually gave me the option the link her library with mine so I could try out games of hers that I didn't have. It just popped up one day, so she approved it and bam... her library was under mine. It allows people to try out games I guess before they buy them, so I was just seeing if I truly wanted to buy the game for myself.

We aren't sharing accounts, no. We both have separate accounts, but she was the owner of Civ V and because her library synced to mine (again, no clue how I got this pop up in the first place), I was able to download and play the game whenever she wasn't playing it. So I'm not breaking any rules, don't worry. I just don't know why I can't play my old game file (that was played on when playing HER game) on my actual game, now that I own the game and it's 2 expansion packs. Everything says it's been downloaded already, which is why I'm lost as to what to do.

Hope this cleared up everything.

edit- wow, I just read my first post and saw how incredibly confusing it was. I meant shared library, not account! We both have individual accounts, no one has access to each other's.

When you had access to her account, her full version of Civ had to have been installed on your machine (there's no cloud-based, SAS-style way to play Civ). Did you try completely uninstalling Civ from your machine?

That was the next thing I was going to do, but I wanted to hear opinions here to see if my files would be wiped if I uninstalled it. I'm not able to find the saved files anywhere on my laptop unless I'm just following the directions wrong to the locations. I'm confused if the files will remain saved like they normally do when you uninstall/reinstall a game, or if it will be wiped since I'm basically uninstalling her version of the game? Like, even though I entered the code for the game and had it install again, I'm not sure if I'm truly playing on my Civ V game or my friend's. Which makes me wonder if the files will be deleted since they're on her game and not mine?

Sorry if this isn't making any sense. I'm fairly far along with the game and I'd hate to start over lol.

Did you look under My Documents in Windows Explorer? Your saved games should be under Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5 with other files that hold your current settings and options found on that local computer.

When you delete local content under steam, it does not delete the files found in the Windows directory. It only deletes the files found under steam\steam\steamapps.

You could manually delete the whole steam directory, and that may be the only way that you can "unshare" her library. If that does not work, then you will have to go into your Windows Explorer and look under My Games in the Sid Meier's Civilization 5 folder and delete the .ini files.

Oh wow, I don't know how I missed them. I checked in that exact location but didn't see my saved files anywhere. Now I actually see stuff, which I'm assuming is my saved games.

Boy I feel dumb lol. Going to uninstall everything and reinstall and see if that works. Thanks for the help! I'll let you know the result~

Did a full reinstallation and still can't open my game file. Is this because my original file was created through the normal game with no added expansion packs, and now the expansions I bought and installed are preventing me from playing it due to missing data?

I thought it would just add the content from the expansion packs to my saved game... but I guess not?

Please attach the save file to your next post and we'll be glad to take a look.

Sorry, what do you mean by attaching the save file? Can you give me an example or instructions as to what you mean?

I'm a bit of a noob at all of this stuff. Sorry.

No problem. Glad to help. Click the Post Reply button (don't use Quick Reply). Scroll down and you should see a Manage Attachments button. Click this button and you should be taken to a window where you can browse your computer for the save file. Select the desired file and then click on Upload. Your file will now be attached to your reply. Hope this helps,

Hehe, I know how to attach the file. I meant, I was confused about where to find the save file since there are multiple locations for the Steam game data to end up in. And I wasn't 100% sure of what I was supposed to post, but I think I found what you're asking for.

Is this correct?

Sorry! I misunderstood your request.

I can load your game file. The load game screen shows the following DLC are required for this save:

• Genghis Khan's Mongolia
• Kamehameha's Polynesian Empire
• Upgrade Data 1

Upgrade Data 1 just means you have to have the latest patch. The bottom of your Main Menu screen should show 1.0.3.144. Also on the Main Menu you can select the DLC option to display which DLC are installed on your version of the game. Do you have the proper version number and the required DLC?

Petek said:

Sorry! I misunderstood your request.

I can load your game file. The load game screen shows the following DLC are required for this save:

• Genghis Khan's Mongolia
• Kamehameha's Polynesian Empire
• Upgrade Data 1

Upgrade Data 1 just means you have to have the latest patch. The bottom of your Main Menu screen should show 1.0.3.144. Also on the Main Menu you can select the DLC option to display which DLC are installed on your version of the game. Do you have the proper version number and the required DLC?

Click to expand...

The version is up to date, but for some reason I don't have the Kamehameha's Polynesian Empire... I have Genghis Khan's Mongolia and Conquest of the New World Deluxe (as well as Brave New World Expansion Pack and Gods and Kings Expansion Pack above). Now I'm really confused lol. Where did this DLC go? O_o Because it played perfectly fine until I tried adding the expansion packs.

If you want to finish that game, you could always uncheck the two new expansions and add them back later after you finish that game. From my experience you cannot just play G&K if BNW is enabled. If you want to play just the vanilla, then it would seem that you would have to disable G&K and BNW.

Just uncheck them or completely uninstall them? Because when I uncheck them, I'm still unable to load my game. :S And dang, I didn't know it'd interfere with my saved files. If I can't get it working, I guess I'll just have to start over.

When I uncheck mine, steam re-downloads files as in the vanilla game. Did you make sure that the two DLC that is in the error message are also available and checked in the DLC list? It also may be based on the actual update version, and there is no way to reverse to an earlier version.

Yeah they were downloaded properly and showed up in the list. :/ I just went ahead and started a new game since I think the expansions probably just messed up my game files. That, or there was no way to play without uninstalling the expansions completely.

I appreciate the help though!