Command Line Options

[ruff_hi]

I found the following ...

Civ IV Command Line Options

Ever wonder what command line options are available for Civ IV, well here they are:

mod=foo // specify the modname
multiple // allow multiple civ instances to run
ini=foo // specify the ini file
/altroot=foo // specify alternate root for save files
/FXSLOAD=foo // specify file to load

... thanks to a post here. This answers one of my questions (namely, starting the game to play a specific mod like HOF) but it doesn't answer my other question (see below).

I would like to start the game with no mods loaded. At the moment, I have an empty customassets folder (called 'CustomAssets-Empty') and each time I want to play a vanilla Civ IV game, I rename my standard customassets to 'CustomAssets-Mods' and rename 'CustomAssets-Empty' to 'CustomAssets' prior to starting the game. I would like to have this done automatically via a switch, batch file or similar - any suggestions?

If I can get this going, I will end up with three short cuts ...

• shortcut loading civ iv with HOF mod
• shortcut loading civ iv with my standard mods
• shortcut loading civ iv with no mods

 

[crunch]

Hmm. Actually... why do you mess with custom assets folder at all? Perhaps I am wrong, but mods generally do not belong into the custom assets folder, but under C:\Program Files\your_Civ_folder\Mods\

(where your_civ_folder is by default something like Firaxis Games\Sid Meiers Civilization IV\)

Therefore, the command line parameters should be all you need. I have successfully tested the following command:

"C:\Program Files\Civ4\Civilization4.exe" mod="The Ancient Mediterranean"

Edit: As for playing without mods, perhaps you should move your CustomAssets-Mods to C:\Program Files\your_Civ_folder\Mods\MySexyMod\Assets. Then make the Custom Assets empty again and run civ without mods. Use the parameter mod="MySexyMod" to launch your blue marble and such.

Edit#2: If you really want to keep it based on custom assets, you should keep a backup custom-assets-mods directory. The batch files should use commands like this:
del "C:\Documents and Settings\sk1u0371\My Documents\My Games\Civ4\Custom Assets" /q /s (for the vanilla thing)
copy "C:\...\CustomAssetsMods" "C:\...\Custom Assets" (for your mod)

 

[ruff_hi]

Well - when I say mod, it really more a small set of add-ons that I would like to always play - eg BlueMarble.

 

[Llewen]

I realize this is a really bad necropost, but this is to benefit anyone looking for information, and this thread was at the top of google when I searched.

The correct format for starting a mod is "[path to Civ IV executable and executable]" mod="[space][name of mod folder]". There needs to be a space between the first quote after ''mod=" and the name of the mod. If you don't do that, the shortcut won't work. This is true on Windows and Linux when you run the game through wine. It is also true if you add the parameter to a steam shortcut to launch the game with a mod. It applies to Civilization IV and Civilization IV - Beyond the Sword, so I'm guessing it applies to every version of Civ IV.

So from the example above:

"C:\Program Files\Civ4\Civilization4.exe" mod=" The Ancient Mediterranean"

I don't know why this is the case. My guess it's just a typo in the original code that was never caught.

 

[gnome]

I realize this is a really bad necropost, but this is to benefit anyone looking for information, and this thread was at the top of google when I searched.

The correct format for starting a mod is "[path to Civ IV executable and executable]" mod="[space][name of mod folder]". There needs to be a space between the first quote after ''mod=" and the name of the mod. If you don't do that, the shortcut won't work. This is true on Windows and Linux when you run the game through wine. It is also true if you add the parameter to a steam shortcut to launch the game with a mod. It applies to Civilization IV and Civilization IV - Beyond the Sword, so I'm guessing it applies to every version of Civ IV.

So from the example above:

"C:\Program Files\Civ4\Civilization4.exe" mod=" The Ancient Mediterranean"

I don't know why this is the case. My guess it's just a typo in the original code that was never caught.

Interesting. As an argument in GoG launcher, it only works WITHOUT the space. Tried it just now resurrecting my copy of BTS with Better BAT AI.

 

[garfunkel]

It depends on whether you use "" or not.

mod= Caveman2Cosmos

and

mod="Caveman2Cosmos"

both work but if you include a space inside "" then it won't work and if you have neither "" or a space, then it won't work either.

 

[Llewen]

That isn't accurate. The format for the command line is as I described, both *with* double quotes and *with* a space at the beginning of the mod name.

edit: If there are no spaces in the name, the quotes might not be necessary, but the space after the "=" absolutely is, with or without the quotes.