CIV 6 - Change XML files without modding?

[Misplay]

Hi folks!

I tried to tweak the xml files, as I don't know how to make mods but... Nothing happens.

Example 1:
I want to add 1 scout at the beginning of each game. I opened the "eras.xml" file (steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Assets\Gameplay\Data) and added this line:
<Row Era="ERA_ANCIENT" Unit="UNIT_SCOUT" NotStartTile="true"/>
between those two lines:
<Row Era="ERA_ANCIENT" Unit="UNIT_WARRIOR" NotStartTile="true"/>
<Row Era="ERA_ANCIENT" Unit="UNIT_SETTLER" AiOnly="true" MinDifficulty="DIFFICULTY_EMPEROR" DifficultyDelta="0.5"/>

Example 2:
I want to reduce the cost (production) of the scout. I changed this line:
<Row UnitType="UNIT_SCOUT" BaseMoves="3" Cost="30"
To:
<Row UnitType="UNIT_SCOUT" BaseMoves="3" Cost="20"


Then I deleted all the files in the "My games" folder (Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization VI) and started a new game. Still nothing.

What did I do wrong?!

 

[gyogen2]

adding <Row Era="ERA_ANCIENT" Unit="UNIT_SCOUT" NotStartTile="true"/> should work (I tested to be sure before I misspoke)
perhaps there is an error in you actual code. could you copy the whole xml and post?

 

[Misplay]

Thx for the quick reply. Here's the file (eras.xml):

 

[gyogen2]

Well, there's nothing wrong with your xml. I even copied onto my own and started new game and it worked, did you change anything else that may have affected it. also, you could look at, or post your database.log file to see if there are any errors.

 

[Misplay]

did you change anything else that may have affected it

No.

database.log

Where is it?! I tried to search in "Sid Meier's Civilization VI" folder, but I can't find it, sorry.

 

[Misplay]

Weird. I removed two others files I had in the Data folder (steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Assets\Gameplay\Data), called:
> "eras (base).xml" (the original "eras.xml" file)
> And "eras (modif).xml" (the custom file)
And it's working now... I didn't change anything else.

(I copied those files back in the Data folder, and the issue was here again: I didn't start with a scout).

 

[gyogen2]

Good it's working, for future reference all the logs are in:
C:\Users\CompName\Documents\my games\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Logs
if you edit/mod any xml/sql files then database.log the ones to look at

 

[Misplay]

Ok, thx a lot Gyogen 2!
Here's the database.log (I added".txt" because the Website can't upload a file with a ".log" extension). That's weird: the files I deleted shouldn't conflict with the whole game.

 

[gyogen2]

Here's a quick mod to add starting units. I only did scout, since that's what you initially had. If you want to add more, just follow the format/
Can also add Quantity by adding it to the line:

Spoiler Example :

INSERT INTO MajorStartingUnits('Era', 'Unit', 'Quantity', 'NotStartTile') VALUES ('ERA_ANCIENT', 'UNIT_SCOUT', 2, 'true')

If you can, it's usually better to do mod than just change vanilla files, mainly because when the game updates, you could lose all your changes.

EDIT: Took down file since not working

 

[gyogen2]

Here's what your problem was:

Spoiler :

[987480.174] [Gameplay] ERROR: UNIQUE constraint failed: Kinds.Kind
[987480.174] [Gameplay]: While executing - 'insert into Kinds('Kind') values (?);'
[987480.174] [Gameplay]: In XMLSerializer while inserting row into table insert into Kinds('Kind') with values (KIND_ERA, ).
[987480.174] [Gameplay]: In XMLSerializer while updating table Kinds from file Eras (modif).xml.
[987480.174] [Gameplay] ERROR: UNIQUE constraint failed: Kinds.Kind
[987480.174] [Gameplay]: While executing - 'insert into Kinds('Kind') values (?);'
[987480.174] [Gameplay]: In XMLSerializer while inserting row into table insert into Kinds('Kind') with values (KIND_ERA, ).
[987480.174] [Gameplay]: In XMLSerializer while updating table Kinds from file Eras.xml.
[987480.470] [Gameplay] ERROR: UNIQUE constraint failed: Kinds.Kind
[987480.470] [Gameplay]: While executing - 'insert into Kinds('Kind') values (?);'
[987480.470] [Gameplay]: In XMLSerializer while inserting row into table insert into Kinds('Kind') with values (KIND_UNIT, ).
[987480.470] [Gameplay]: In XMLSerializer while updating table Kinds from file Units.xml.

Somehow the same entry was getting updated twice, which basically results in canceling each other out, and neither being loaded.

 

[Misplay]

Very nice, Sir!
I'm not fluent in english, so it's hard to explain how much I thank you for your time and your mod. Un grand merci à toi!

 

[gyogen2]

De rien, if I put that right, don't want to be too embarrassed by my weak French.

 

[Misplay]

. This is perfect!

 

[LeeS]

You cannot leave any extra xml files in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Base\Assets\Gameplay\Data folder. The game will attempt to load the contents of such a file. I dropped a file called NewBuilding.xml with the following contents into the folder, and the game loaded and executed the code:

<!-- Author: LeeS/lshipp -->

<GameInfo>
	<Table name="Quatloos">
		<Column name="QuatlooType" type="text" notnull="true" unique="true"/>
		<Column name="PrereqTech" type="text" reference="Technologies(TechnologyType)"/>
		<Column name="Name" type="text" default="0"/>
		<Column name="Description" type="text" default="0"/>
	</Table>
	<Kinds>
		<Row Kind="KIND_QUATLOO"/>
	</Kinds>
	<Types>
		<Row Type="QUATLOO_EARLYBUMP2" Kind="KIND_QUATLOO" />
	</Types>
	<Quatloos>
		<Replace>
			<QuatlooType>QUATLOO_EARLYBUMP2</QuatlooType>
			<Name>LOC_DISTRICT_HOLY_SITE_NAME</Name>
			<Description>LOC_DISTRICT_HOLY_SITE_DESCRIPTION</Description>
			<PrereqTech>TECH_ASTROLOGY</PrereqTech>
		</Replace>
	</Quatloos>
</GameInfo>

An inspection of the DebugGameplay.sqlite showed the full xml contents of the file were loaded into the game's database.

Having backup files or other copies of original gamefiles in the folder will cause the game to attempt to load both files worth of code. But since you cannot pre-determine which will be added 1st, 2nd, 3rd, you cannot know which set of code will be used. Only code from the 1st such file accessed and loaded into the game's database would get completely implemented.

This load up everything in the folder behavior is probably true of any of the other game folders.

 

[Misplay]

@ Gyogen 2:
I hate to be that guy, but I tried your mod this morning (unzip in the mod folder, activation when you start the game), and sadly, nothing happened. Any ideas?

@ LeeS
Understood. Still surprised, as I used to do that with XCOM 2 (an other Firaxis's game), and never had troubles.

@ Others
A new topic (from Gyogen 2), to learn how to make mods!
http://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/starting-modding.604319/

EDIT:
Ok, this file should work! I used the xml version (cf link below). I also had a french translation (name of the mod).

@ Gyogen 2:
Thx a lot (again). Nothing would be possible if you didn't write the other topic!

 

[Gedemon]

@ LeeS
Understood. Still surprised, as I used to do that with XCOM 2 (an other Firaxis's game), and never had troubles.

You must expect troubles at some time when modifying the original files, any patch can change the way the files are loaded, IIRC it happened with civ5.

 

[gyogen2]

I hate to be that guy, but I tried your mod this morning (unzip in the mod folder, activation when you start the game), and sadly, nothing happened. Any ideas?

Sorry about that, I didn't test because it was simple enough code, I'll have to check it and see if i accidentally hit an extra key or something.

 

[Lord Yanaek]

Understood. Still surprised, as I used to do that with XCOM 2 (an other Firaxis's game), and never had troubles.

XCOM2 is an UnrealEngine 3.5 game while Civilization6 uses a dedicated engine. Totally different applications even if they come from the same developers (well, the same developer company because i doubt the same team worked on both projects)

You must expect troubles at some time when modifying the original files

And yes, expect issues sooner or later when doing this and try to remember you changed game files so if your game breaks at some point you'll know why.

 

[Marcos11]

Hi! If you change the cost of any parameter, it will also applied to AI? Or only to Human player?