Civilization 5 Instructions to enable and install mods on Mac

(Here is some Instructions for anyone Interested in modifications for the Mac and Mac AppStore version of Civilization V)


Step 1. Enable the mod button that is disabled in the main menu of Civilization V

The Mods button is disabled in the MainMenu.lua file. To re-enable this button you will need to navigate to the MainMenu.lua file, open it with a text editor and comment out line
~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/sid meier's civilization v/assets/UI/FrontEnd/MainMenu.lua
If you have the AppStore version - Civ5 Campaign Edition - then you need to follow this path instead:
/Applications/Civilization V Campaign Edition.app/Contents/Home/assets/UI/FrontEnd/

The line is:
Controls.ModsButton:SetHide( true );
To comment it out simply add two hyphens like this:
-- Controls.ModsButton:SetHide( true );
This should re-enable the Mods button on the Main Menu.

Step 2. You now need to take your mods that you have downloaded from civifantics or any other mod site you prefer and expand the file you can do this by using Ez7z you can download it here http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/19139/ez7z when you have expanded the file it will create a folder that you can then put in your MODS folder which is located here

~/Library/Application Support/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/MODS/ or ~/Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/MODS/ depending on whether you have changed the setting to use the Library instead of Documents.

If you are running OS 10.7 (Lion) then Users/<your_name>/Library/ is hidden in Finder. Hold the Alt key down and select the Finder's Go menu. You will see Library as one of the options in that menu.

If you have followed these instructions correctly you should now be able to add and use civilization v mods on the mac.

Moderator Action: Moved to Civ5 - Mac.

No idea what Alan will do with this thread, but here he'll at least see it.

Welcome to the Mac Civ5 forum, Legionnaire1831

I'll let it rest here in peace. It pretty well paraphrases my posts on the subject, but maybe someone will understand this description better than mine.

I have moved two posts by Sandgrounder relating to creating mods on a Mac into their own thread, as they relate to a different topic.

Someone had the Adolf Mod working? It crashes everytime i try, and i wanna kick his ass

I followed everything you said, but when I "expand" the mod (which is a file that ends with .civ5mod) I get an error with the expansion program Ez7z.

I tried putting the .civ5mod file in the MODS folder, but it still didn't show up.

The button is displayed in Civ 5, but there is no mod listed in the game.

Can anyone help?

Hi, welcome

You have to expand the mod. The Mac software cannot read the .civ5mod file itself.

Which mod file are you having trouble expanding?

Hey guys!

I'm having a problem with finding Mainmenu.lua. I have the steam version of the game on mac and when I go to application support there is no steam file there. I tried searching directly for Mainmenu.lua but it returned 0 results. I'd appreciate any help on this.

Thanks.

Where are you looking for Application Support? I'm guessing you may be looking in the wrong place.

It's in /Users/<your name>/Library/

On OS/X Lion you get to this location by Alt-click on the Finder's Go menu option and selecting Library.

AlanH said:

Where are you looking for Application Support? I'm guessing you may be looking in the wrong place.

It's in /Users/<your name>/Library/

On OS/X Lion you get to this location by Alt-click on the Finder's Go menu option and selecting Library.

Click to expand...

I found that, I got library and application support but inside that folder there is no steam folder.

Also, my library folder isn't inside my users folder, it's in the same folder as my users folder. Could that be an issue? Because I don't have a library folder inside my users folder.

That's what I meant. You are looking in the system's library folder, not your own personal Library folder. If you are running Lion, then your own Library folder is hidden. Hence the instruction for getting to it using Alt-click on the Go menu.

AlanH said:

That's what I meant. You are looking in the system's library folder, not your own personal Library folder. If you are running Lion, then your own Library folder is hidden. Hence the instruction for getting to it using Alt-click on the Go menu.

Click to expand...

Found it! Thanks a lot, I just finished playing my first modded game. Very cool.

I've downloaded the mods, expanded them (At least I think I have), and sent them to the MODS folder while using Ez7z. The problem is that the mods aren't showing up in the folder, can anyone give me some help here?

HI, welcome

If each mod is not showing in the MODS folder, inside its own folder, then you haven't done what you said you have done. I suggest you do it one step at a time. Expand one mod into a new folder on your desktop. When you are sure that mod is expanded, move that folder into your Mods folder. Then relaunch Civ5 and see if it appears in the Mods browser. When you have managed it with one mod, then repeat with other mods that you want.

I did that with a few mods, the ones that actually went to the MODS folder and displayed in the Browse Mods section would not load. When I pressed "Load Mod" the Civ V cursor changed to my normal cursor the game just sat there not allowing me to click anything (I did this multiple times). The first few mods actually showed up in the MODS folder after being expanded, after that Ez7z would say that the mods had been expanded but they would not show up.

You really don't have to trust Ez7z to tell you whether it has expanded your mod. Look in the folder you told it to expand into. It should be full of files/folders.

Please remember that (a) you only need to use Ez7z to expand files with names like xxxx.civ5mod or xxxx.7z. It the mod comes as a xxxx.zip file then the Finder should be able to expand it.

Please remember that, if you are using Ez7z, you need to make a new folder to expand the mod into. Otherwise you just get a mess of files and folders wherever you tell Ez7z to expand into.

I realized that that the last few mods that did not work were .zip files. Dumb move by me. I can use my mods now. Thank you for your help!

I went to /Users/<your name>/Library/
found the 'Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/sid meier's civilization v' but couldnt find 'assets/UI/FrontEnd/MainMenu.lua'

any ideas why?

Hi, welcome :wavy:


The world changed yesterday with the release of a new patch and the Gods & Kings expansion.

Please see my posts #21 and #24 in this thread