Downloading and Installing a New Civ
With some possible exceptions, most modders construct their civs in generally the same manner. As a result, almost all civs posted can be installed in the same way.
The files which make up each new civ - XML files, graphics, sounds - are typically archieved in 3 formats: ZIP, RAR, and .7z. Because Civfanatics supports ZIP, that is the most common format. For larger civ projects, however, modders may use RAR and .7z for archieving because of better compression rates. These files are usually hosted on other servers.
Occasionally, a modder might use a "self-extracting" file. These files have an .exe extension, and allow you to activate them by double-clicking, without worrying about the ZIP/RAR application. Because many people are cautious when using .exe files, it is fairly rare to see a civ in this format. If you are concerned about opening an .exe file, check with the author and run the file through a virus checker.
First Thing's First
Is the mod you want even available? Many people use the "Requests" thread to inquire about civs for which there are already mods. It is strongly suggested that you use the "Search This Forum" function to check and see if the civ you are looking for has already been created. Almost all of the most-requested civs - Turks, Celts, Zulu, Canada, Vikings, Byzantines, etc. - have been created already. In many cases, multiple versions exists. And in some cases, several of these civs have been combined into larger civ packs. It is proper netiquette to search and see whether your question has been answered before rather than posing it again.
Downloading
To download a civ, simple click the click the modder has provided within the forum post. In some cases, you may have to right-click and select "Save As" to download. This, however, is seldom necessary.
Download the file anyone on you computer, but you should of course choose a location that will be easier to find later on.
Opening an Archive
Most archiving tools/applications can open any of the aforementioned formats. Some of the more common tools include Winzip, WinRAR, PowerArchiver and 7-Zip. Winzip and WinRAR are sharing, PowerArchiver has a time limitation, and 7-Zip is freeware.
In my experience, WinRAR seems to be the cleanest program to use and can uncompress all formats. (To create an archive, it's usually best to use the "native" program).
Double-click on the archive to open it. You may get a message telling you that WinRAR, Winzip, etc. is a trial version or evaluation copy only, etc. This has nothing to do with the file you are opening.
Installing
Once you've double-clicked on the file, you will be given the option to select the location of where you wish to unzip the contents. Most mods are archived in such a way as to lay out the mod folder and all the sub-folders.
The path you should select, threfore - regardless of the civ or author - is:
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV\Mods
or if the mod is a Warlords mod:
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV\Warlords\Mods
There is a 'Mods' directory in the 'My Documents\Firaxis...' folder, but I would recommend not using that as it has proven to
be problematic. It is also strongly recommended that you do not install anything to 'Custom Assets'.
Playing
Now that you've downloaded and installed the mod, you can select it for play. In the main menu, select 'Advanced' and 'Load a Mod'. A list of mods will appear that includes the one you just installed. Select it. The program will exit and re-start, loading the mod for play.
Since its release, Civ IV has had some caching issues. 'Caching' is when an application stores a bit a data in memory so that it can be readily accessed, making loading quicker (just like when your Internet browser loads data from web pages). The problem with caching, though, is that it sometimes gets in the way of new data being loaded. The result is that a new mod may appear to have been loaded, but the new civ is missing from the list of civs to play.
There are two ways to remedy this:
1) When starting Civ the first time, hold down the shift key. This will clear the cache and should allow you to load a mod "clean". This, however, doesn't always seem to work.
2) Edit "_Civ4Config". This file is in your main Civ directory, and it contains the information you set in "Options" (i.e. graphic details, etc.) There is a line about halfway down that reads:
Change this line as follows:
This will tell Civ IV to load the mod the first time you start the program. Using this method, you don't need to select 'Advanced' and re-start the game. This is the best option for those who play with the same mod all the time.
FAQs for New Civs
Q. I've downloaded and uzipped the civ, but it still doesn't show up in the game.
A. Try to things: First, check to see that you have "layered" the mod. That is to say, created a 'Canada Mod'
directory, then unzipped the 'Canada Mod' to it. The result of doing this will be ...\Mods\Canada Mod\Canada Mod. Unzip civ files directly to the 'Mod' directory.
Second, try the solutions offered in the section of this guide on 'Playing'. More often that not, that wll solve the problem.
Q. I've tried to download the file but I get a message that the link is invalid or the file no longer exits.
A. Many modders use free file hosting services. Those services tend to remove files that have not been accessed in 30 days. An older mod may not be available for this reason.
Q. When starting the mod I get XML errors related to 'TECH_UTOPIA' and 'LEADER_CHINESE_LEADER', etc. ?
A. This is due to changes made by Firaxis during patch 1.61. The mod you are using has not been updated to fit with the patch. This can be corrected by editing the mod XML files to change a few tags. Information on the specifics of this is available on this site. Generally speaking, LEADER_MAO_ZEDONG has to be chanegd to LEADER_CHINESE_LEADER; TECH_COMMUNISM to TECH_UTOPIA; BUILDING_THREEGORGESDAM to BUILDING_GREAT_DAM; and BUILDING_FORBIDDEN_PALACE to BUILDING_GREAT_PALACE. These changes must be made in CivilizationsInfo, LeaderheadInfo and UnitInfo.
Q. The mod seems to play fine except that the unit flag(s) are white.
A. There are two ways to do unit flags - 1) a static picture of the flag; 2) a black and white version that uses player colours. If a mod maker uses method 1), then the white flag problem may occur if they did not colour the alpha channel completely back, and/or they did not set the <bWhite> flag to '1' in the ArtDefinesCivilization XML file.
To correct this, you can open the flag DDS file with a program like DTXBmp and colour the alpha channel black. To do this, double-click on the alpha channel box. This will load the image as a bitmap in MS Paint (or PaintShopPro, etc.) Save the edited alpha channel, refresh the file in DXTBmp, re-save it and go. You also need to check for the '1' being flagged in the XML file.
For more information on creating and modifying civs, visit the 'Tutorials' forum.
With some possible exceptions, most modders construct their civs in generally the same manner. As a result, almost all civs posted can be installed in the same way.
The files which make up each new civ - XML files, graphics, sounds - are typically archieved in 3 formats: ZIP, RAR, and .7z. Because Civfanatics supports ZIP, that is the most common format. For larger civ projects, however, modders may use RAR and .7z for archieving because of better compression rates. These files are usually hosted on other servers.
Occasionally, a modder might use a "self-extracting" file. These files have an .exe extension, and allow you to activate them by double-clicking, without worrying about the ZIP/RAR application. Because many people are cautious when using .exe files, it is fairly rare to see a civ in this format. If you are concerned about opening an .exe file, check with the author and run the file through a virus checker.
First Thing's First
Is the mod you want even available? Many people use the "Requests" thread to inquire about civs for which there are already mods. It is strongly suggested that you use the "Search This Forum" function to check and see if the civ you are looking for has already been created. Almost all of the most-requested civs - Turks, Celts, Zulu, Canada, Vikings, Byzantines, etc. - have been created already. In many cases, multiple versions exists. And in some cases, several of these civs have been combined into larger civ packs. It is proper netiquette to search and see whether your question has been answered before rather than posing it again.
Downloading
To download a civ, simple click the click the modder has provided within the forum post. In some cases, you may have to right-click and select "Save As" to download. This, however, is seldom necessary.
Download the file anyone on you computer, but you should of course choose a location that will be easier to find later on.
Opening an Archive
Most archiving tools/applications can open any of the aforementioned formats. Some of the more common tools include Winzip, WinRAR, PowerArchiver and 7-Zip. Winzip and WinRAR are sharing, PowerArchiver has a time limitation, and 7-Zip is freeware.
In my experience, WinRAR seems to be the cleanest program to use and can uncompress all formats. (To create an archive, it's usually best to use the "native" program).
Double-click on the archive to open it. You may get a message telling you that WinRAR, Winzip, etc. is a trial version or evaluation copy only, etc. This has nothing to do with the file you are opening.
Installing
Once you've double-clicked on the file, you will be given the option to select the location of where you wish to unzip the contents. Most mods are archived in such a way as to lay out the mod folder and all the sub-folders.
The path you should select, threfore - regardless of the civ or author - is:
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV\Mods
or if the mod is a Warlords mod:
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization IV\Warlords\Mods
There is a 'Mods' directory in the 'My Documents\Firaxis...' folder, but I would recommend not using that as it has proven to
be problematic. It is also strongly recommended that you do not install anything to 'Custom Assets'.
Playing
Now that you've downloaded and installed the mod, you can select it for play. In the main menu, select 'Advanced' and 'Load a Mod'. A list of mods will appear that includes the one you just installed. Select it. The program will exit and re-start, loading the mod for play.
Since its release, Civ IV has had some caching issues. 'Caching' is when an application stores a bit a data in memory so that it can be readily accessed, making loading quicker (just like when your Internet browser loads data from web pages). The problem with caching, though, is that it sometimes gets in the way of new data being loaded. The result is that a new mod may appear to have been loaded, but the new civ is missing from the list of civs to play.
There are two ways to remedy this:
1) When starting Civ the first time, hold down the shift key. This will clear the cache and should allow you to load a mod "clean". This, however, doesn't always seem to work.
2) Edit "_Civ4Config". This file is in your main Civ directory, and it contains the information you set in "Options" (i.e. graphic details, etc.) There is a line about halfway down that reads:
Change this line as follows:
This will tell Civ IV to load the mod the first time you start the program. Using this method, you don't need to select 'Advanced' and re-start the game. This is the best option for those who play with the same mod all the time.
FAQs for New Civs
Q. I've downloaded and uzipped the civ, but it still doesn't show up in the game.
A. Try to things: First, check to see that you have "layered" the mod. That is to say, created a 'Canada Mod'
directory, then unzipped the 'Canada Mod' to it. The result of doing this will be ...\Mods\Canada Mod\Canada Mod. Unzip civ files directly to the 'Mod' directory.
Second, try the solutions offered in the section of this guide on 'Playing'. More often that not, that wll solve the problem.
Q. I've tried to download the file but I get a message that the link is invalid or the file no longer exits.
A. Many modders use free file hosting services. Those services tend to remove files that have not been accessed in 30 days. An older mod may not be available for this reason.
Q. When starting the mod I get XML errors related to 'TECH_UTOPIA' and 'LEADER_CHINESE_LEADER', etc. ?
A. This is due to changes made by Firaxis during patch 1.61. The mod you are using has not been updated to fit with the patch. This can be corrected by editing the mod XML files to change a few tags. Information on the specifics of this is available on this site. Generally speaking, LEADER_MAO_ZEDONG has to be chanegd to LEADER_CHINESE_LEADER; TECH_COMMUNISM to TECH_UTOPIA; BUILDING_THREEGORGESDAM to BUILDING_GREAT_DAM; and BUILDING_FORBIDDEN_PALACE to BUILDING_GREAT_PALACE. These changes must be made in CivilizationsInfo, LeaderheadInfo and UnitInfo.
Q. The mod seems to play fine except that the unit flag(s) are white.
A. There are two ways to do unit flags - 1) a static picture of the flag; 2) a black and white version that uses player colours. If a mod maker uses method 1), then the white flag problem may occur if they did not colour the alpha channel completely back, and/or they did not set the <bWhite> flag to '1' in the ArtDefinesCivilization XML file.
To correct this, you can open the flag DDS file with a program like DTXBmp and colour the alpha channel black. To do this, double-click on the alpha channel box. This will load the image as a bitmap in MS Paint (or PaintShopPro, etc.) Save the edited alpha channel, refresh the file in DXTBmp, re-save it and go. You also need to check for the '1' being flagged in the XML file.
For more information on creating and modifying civs, visit the 'Tutorials' forum.
