Modding Civics: A Crash Course

Modding Civics: A Crash Course v. 1.1

Disclaimer: Never edit the origional files. Make a mod to experiment or back up the origionals!

The following will give you a brief, crash course in editing the civics options for Civ 4. It's written by me, ArbitraryGuy. It may assume that you know a little bit about modding already. First, the main file to edit:

/GameInfo/Civ4CivicInfos.xml
This is the main file for editing civics. You may edit the existing civics, or add on your own. Just make sure you put in "inside" a <CivicInfo> ... </CivicInfo>. The following is what goes on inside of it and a description of what each value does:
---------------------------
<CivicInfo>
To "open" a new civic.

<CivicOptionType>CIVICOPTION_GOVERNMENT</CivicOptionType>
The type of civic this option is. The types are listed in Civ4CivicOptionInfos.xml.

<Type>CIVIC_DESPOTISM</Type>
How the civic is tagged throughout the XML. You can change these if you wish, or add more... but you'll have to edit more files (see bottom). For ease, I'd just keep them the same, if possible.

<Description>TXT_KEY_CIVIC_DESPOTISM</Description>
replace "TXT...DESPOTISM" with the name of your civic

<Civilopedia>TXT_KEY_CIVIC_DESPOTISM_PEDIA</Civilopedia>
replace "TXT...DESPOTISM" with the desired civilopedia text (or none)

<Strategy>TXT_KEY_CIVIC_DESPOTISM_STRATEGY</Strategy>
replace "TXT...DESPOTISM" with the tool tip text in the civics menu (or none)

<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civics/testism.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/Civics_Civilizations_Religions_Atlas.dds,5,1</Button>
I don't know what the first file does (it doesn't show up ever in the game, AFAIK), but the second file looks up the icons for the civic in the civics_civilizations_religions_atlas.dds file. Here, it returns the icon in the 5th column, 1st row Edit the file w/ a dds editor and change these coordinates if needed to change the picture.

<TechPrereq>NONE</TechPrereq>
Replace "NONE" with the key of the required tech. e.g. TECH_MONARCHY or TECH_CONSTITUTION.

<iAnarchyLength>1</iAnarchyLength>
How long anarchy lasts when switching to this civic

<Upkeep>UPKEEP_LOW</Upkeep>
UPKEEP_LOW, UPKEEP_MEDIUM, UPKEEP_HIGH... pretty self explanitory.

<iAIWeight>0</iAIWeight>
I don't know what this does.

<iGreatPeopleRateModifier>0</iGreatPeopleRateModifier>
% bonus to great people production in each city. Put in values like 50, 23, 18, etc...

<iStateReligionGreatPeopleRateModifier>0</iStateReligionGreatPeopleRateModifier>
% bonus to great people production in a city w/ the state religion. Put in whole numbers.

<iDistanceMaintenanceModifier>0</iDistanceMaintenanceModifier>
% increase/decrease in distance maintenance costs (positive or negavite values okay)

<iNumCitiesMaintenanceModifier>0</iNumCitiesMaintenanceModifier>
% increase/decrease in # of cities part of maintenenance costs (+/- values okay)

<iExtraHealth>0</iExtraHealth>
# of extra health per city

<iFreeExperience>0</iFreeExperience>
# of free XP new units receive

<iWorkerSpeedModifier>0</iWorkerSpeedModifier>
% worker speed. Put in whole numbers. I'm guessing negative is okay.

<iImprovementUpgradeRateModifier>0</iImprovementUpgradeRateModifier>
Is the modifier for cottage, hamlet, village, etc growth rates.

<iMilitaryProductionModifier>0</iMilitaryProductionModifier>
% bonus to military production spead (+/- probably okay)

<iBaseFreeUnits>0</iBaseFreeUnits>
# of base free units

<iBaseFreeMilitaryUnits>0</iBaseFreeMilitaryUnits>
# of base free military units

<iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent>0</iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent>
Free units based on population

<iFreeMilitaryUnitsPopulationPercent>0</iFreeMilitaryUnitsPopulationPercent>
Free military units based on population

<iGoldPerUnit>0</iGoldPerUnit>
Cost in gold per unit per turn (negative doesn't work... i.e. getting paid for units)

<iGoldPerMilitaryUnit>0</iGoldPerMilitaryUnit>
Cost in gold per military unit per turn (negative doesn't work... i.e. getting paid for units)

<iHappyPerMilitaryUnit>0</iHappyPerMilitaryUnit>
# of happy faces created in a city per stationed military unit (negative has wierd effects)

<bMilitaryFoodProduction>0</bMilitaryFoodProduction>
Food produces military units (like workers, settlers?)

<iMaxConscript>0</iMaxConscript>
# of units you may conscript per turn

<bNoUnhealthyPopulation>0</bNoUnhealthyPopulation>
1=yes, 0=no

<bBuildingOnlyHealthy>0</bBuildingOnlyHealthy>
?Eliminates unhealthiness from buildings? 1=yes, 0-no

<iLargestCityHappiness>0</iLargestCityHappiness>
# of happy faces created in your largest cities

<iWarWearinessModifier>0</iWarWearinessModifier>
% change in war weariness unhappiness. +/- values okay, use whole numbers

<iFreeSpecialist>0</iFreeSpecialist>
# of free specialists per city

<iTradeRoutes>0</iTradeRoutes>
# of extra trade routes per city

<bNoForeignTrade>0</bNoForeignTrade>
1=yes (no foreign trade), 0=no (foreign trade allowed)

<iCivicPercentAnger>0</iCivicPercentAnger>
Causes unhappiness in civs w/o this civic. Emancipation has this value set to 400. What the exact value means, I don't know.

<bStateReligion>0</bStateReligion>
? This has a value of 1 for all the religion choices... it may enable a state religion.

<bNoNonStateReligionSpread>0</bNoNonStateReligionSpread>
With a value 1, there will be no spread of state religions.

<iStateReligionHappiness>0</iStateReligionHappiness>
Happiness caused in a city with the state religion.

<iNonStateReligionHappiness>0</iNonStateReligionHappiness>
Happiness caused in a city with religion other than state. Negative values may or may not cause unhappiness... I tried it and on the civics screen it said -1 unhappiness... needs further testing of negative values.

<iStateReligionUnitProductionModifier>0</iStateReligionUnitProductionModifier>
% unit production bonus in cities with state religion. e.g. 50, 75, 1000.

<iStateReligionBuildingProductionModifier>0</iStateReligionBuildingProductionModifier>
% building production bonus in cities with state religion. e.g. 50, 75, 1000.

<iStateReligionFreeExperience>0</iStateReligionFreeExperience>
# of free experience new units get in a city with the state religion.

<YieldModifiers/>
Changes production bonuses for food, commerce, and shields in each city. Replace this with the following to get an effect (be sure to remove my comments):
<YieldModifiers>
<iYield>0</iYield> ;food % bonus
<iYield>0</iYield> ;hammers % bonus
<iYield>0</iYield> ;commerce % bonus
</YieldModifiers>


<CapitalYieldModifiers/>
Yield modifiers for the capital city. See above but add "Capital" on the opening and closing lines. (NOT ON THE iYield lines)

<TradeYieldModifiers/>
??? Don't know yet... haven't experimented with it.

<CommerceModifiers/>
Changes science, culture, and tax level bonuses in each city. Replace with the following to get an effect (be sure to remove my comments):
<CommerceModifiers>
<iCommerce>0</iCommerce> ;% bonus to taxes
<iCommerce>0</iCommerce> ;% bonus to science
<iCommerce>0</iCommerce> ;% bonus to culture
</CommerceModifiers>

<CapitalCommerceModifiers/>
Changes science, culture, and tax level bonuses for the capital. I'm pretty sure that it's similar as above, but add in "capital" on the opening and closing lines (NOT on the icommerce lines)

<SpecialistExtraCommerces/>
Adds extra commerce for specialists, e.g. each specialist produses. Implement as follows using integers rather than % (else each priest would have, like +50 culture).

<SpecialistExtraCommerces>
<iCommerce>0</iCommerce> ;# bonus to tax per specialist
<iCommerce>0</iCommerce> ;# bonus to science per specialist
<iCommerce>0</iCommerce> ;# bonus to culture per specialist
</SpecialistExtraCommerces>


<Hurrys/>
For hurrying.
For gold:

<Hurry>
<HurryType>HURRY_GOLD</HurryType>
<bHurry>1</bHurry>
</Hurry>
For pop rushing:
<Hurry>
<HurryType>HURRY_POPULATION</HurryType>
<bHurry>1</bHurry>
</Hurry>

<SpecialBuildingNotRequireds/>
Makes monestaries not required for missionaries. Haven't experimented with others. Here's what that looks like:
<SpecialBuildingNotRequireds>
<SpecialBuildingNotRequired> <SpecialBuildingType>SPECIALBUILDING_MONASTERY</SpecialBuildingType>
<bNotRequired>1</bNotRequired>
</SpecialBuildingNotRequired>
</SpecialBuildingNotRequireds>


<SpecialistValids/>
Enables unlimeted specialists of various types in cities (like Caste System). Put in as may as you'd like. Example:
<SpecialistValids>
<SpecialistValid>
<SpecialistType>SPECIALIST_ARTIST</SpecialistType>
<bValid>1</bValid>
</SpecialistValid>
</SpecialistValids>

Try it with ARTIST, MERCHANT, SCIENTIST, PRIEST, ENGINEER. I think those should all work.

<BuildingHappinessChanges/>
Buildings make more happiness. I haven't experimented with unhappiness, but I'm interested to know if it'd work.
Example (make the palace give 400 happiness):
<BuildingHappinessChanges>
<BuildingHappinessChange>
<BuildingType>BUILDING_PALACE</BuildingType>
<iHappinessChange>400</iHappinessChange>
</BuildingHappinessChange>
</BuildingHappinessChanges>
Just put in a valid building name and you're all set.

<FeatureHappinessChanges/>
Happiness from terrian. Yea! Example:
<FeatureHappinessChange>
<FeatureType>FEATURE_JUNGLE</FeatureType>
<iHappinessChange>1</iHappinessChange>
</FeatureHappinessChange>
Haven't experimented with other terrains (other than the ones for environmental economic civic) yet, but it should work.

<ImprovementYieldChanges/>
Makes worker improvements produce more stuff. Don't use comments, though.

<ImprovementYieldChanges>
<ImprovementYieldChange>
<ImprovementType>IMPROVEMENT_WORKSHOP</ImprovementType>
<ImprovementYields>
<iYield>1</iYield> ;# of extra food
<iYield>0</iYield> ; # of extra shields
<iYield>0</iYield> ; # of extra commerce??
</ImprovementYields>
</ImprovementYieldChange>
</ImprovementYieldChanges>


<WeLoveTheKing>TXT_KEY_CIVIC_WE_LOVE_DESPOT</WeLoveTheKing>
Replace "TXT...DESPOT" with new text the "We love the XXXXXX" day.

</CivicInfo>
To close the civic.

-----------------------------------
Important, other files you MAY HAVE TO EDIT the following

/GameInfo/Civ4CivicOptionInfos.xml
Changing the name of civics catagories. Just change the descriptions with normal text. I wouldn't mess around with the option types.

Note: If you change any <Type>'s or add new ones, make sure you do the proper adjustments to the following files. Or you may need to adjust them for your scenario anyway:

/GameInfo/Civ4VoteInfo.xml
To change civics appearing in UN resolutions.

/Civilizations/Civ4LeaderHeadInfos.xml
To change perfered (favorite) civics.

/Civilizations/Civ4CivilizationInfos.xml
To change default (beginning game) civics.

Well, that's it. Let me know if I left out anything, or if I'm totally wrong about something. If you know what one of the things does that I don't... please inform me. Thanks, and happy modding!

I haven't played with the civic's really but I think these explanations are correct according to the other civics in the file.

<iImprovementUpgradeRateModifier>0</iImprovementUpgradeRateModifier>
I believe, this is the percentage that it adds to the speed of Building city improvements. ie Forge or Broadcast Tower

<iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent>0</iFreeUnitsPopulationPercent>
This allows you to keep a number of units without upkeep on them relative to your (I think total) population.

<iFreeMilitaryUnitsPopulationPercent>0</iFreeMilitaryUnitsPopulationPercent>
Same as above but with military units.

Thanks BrentRitchie! I'm going to test them later to make sure they're correct.

<iAIWeight>0</iAIWeight>
My guess is this is basicly a "how much does the AI want this civic". Changing it would probably be a very bad idea for now, as there's not much info on how the AI functions.

thedaian said:

<iAIWeight>0</iAIWeight>
My guess is this is basicly a "how much does the AI want this civic". Changing it would probably be a very bad idea for now, as there's not much info on how the AI functions.

Click to expand...

Yeah, by default in the game they're all zero... so it may or may not have any functionality in the current build.

<iImprovementUpgradeRateModifier>0</iImprovementUpgradeRateModifier>
Is the modifier for cottage, hamlet, village, etc growth rates.

Updated to 1.1

Hell, seems this got lost. It should be in the how to forum. Please move it someone!

<iMilitaryProductionModifier>0</iMilitaryProductionModifier>
% bonus to military production spead (+/- probably okay)

Negative values are OK, but you never get less than the base production for the city even though the total hammers can display negative.

<iHappyPerMilitaryUnit>0</iHappyPerMilitaryUnit>
# of happy faces created in a city per stationed military unit (negative has wierd effects)

The negative value gives you -unhappiness, so if you used -1 and put a unit in a city with 1 unhappy citizen, he becomes happy.


<TradeYieldModifiers/>
??? Don't know yet... haven't experimented with it.

I had a quick play with this, using the same syntax as the other yield modifiers let me give trade routes extra gold (as a percent), I haven't tried anything else yet though.



<SpecialBuildingNotRequireds/>
Makes monestaries not required for missionaries. Haven't experimented with others.

I played with this to try and allow police state to let you build spys. I put scotland yard in here, but it only let me build scotland yard, not the spies. This requires some more experimenting. I suspect it's related to how the special_building is defined in the buildinginfos.xml.


If I manage to figure anything else out I'lll post it here

Does anyone know how to make a specific religion needed for a civic change, let's say for example christianity is needed to change to the civic universal suffrage or so.

Thanks in advance for some help, I need this option urgently for my mod

Is there a way to make a city produce extra gold based on what buildings are in it?

I was messing with the the yield modifiers to recieve a 50% commerce boost

<YieldModifiers>
<iYield>0</iYield>
<iYield>0</iYield>
<iYield>50</iYield>
</YieldModifiers>

but I keep getting alot of errors when i load the game. This is the only change I've made. Any ideas anyone?

good god man! thats not a percentage thats number of coins. my guess is thats its way too high, the game can't handle it.
edit sorry i mess up you should have it right , just make sure its between <CivicInfo> and </CivicInfo>

that's so weird. Now that I bought Beyond the sword and edit those files, it works fine

Hah i spoke too soon. So as soon as I added those 5 lines to the civics .xml, i get the error again.

failed loading xml

hmmm the only other thing i can think of is indentation, that probably needs to be perfect too.

I think i indented it right too, i just copy and pasted one from another line in the .xml I've noticed whenever I add new lines, I get that error message.

I am currently making a mod for bts and I need to know exactly how the taxes in Civilization work.

<CommerceModifiers/>
Changes science, culture, and tax level bonuses in each city. Replace with the following to get an effect (be sure to remove my comments):
<CommerceModifiers>
<iCommerce>25</iCommerce> ;% bonus to taxes
<iCommerce>0</iCommerce> ;% bonus to science
<iCommerce>0</iCommerce> ;% bonus to culture
</CommerceModifiers>

Click to expand...

For an example if I put 25 in the taxes row dose this mean the city loses gold or what?

It would up gold production in every city by 25%, just like a market.

I noticed you were wondering how
<AiWeight>0</AiWeight>
functioned.

I decided to experiment with this myself. Small changes had no effect, but setting the value to -100 caused all AI civs to avoid that civic altogether.

For those like me who are graphically-challenged, you can also get new icons for your civics by replacing the <Button> entry on your civic by one directly copied and pasted from a tech tree entry in CIV4TechInfos.xml.

An example:
<Button>,Art/Interface/Buttons/TechTree/Mysticism.dds,Art/Interface/Buttons/TechTree_Atlas.dds,4,11</Button>

Maybe other things would work also, I'm not sure.