Intro
Hello! This is Community Extension, an open source DLL patch for Civ VI that stretches the limits of what this game is possible of.
Have you ever had an idea for a mod, but then quickly realized that what you were trying to do was straight up hardcoded and immediately gave up hope after because the only other outcome would be 1500 lines of hacky workaround?
Well, now you can feel that way no longer!
Community Extension is a Civilization VI hack that increases the resources modders have available to them on a request-by-request basis.
Currently, this mod includes:
- A new event dispatch system that allows you to process data before its handed back to the game, essentially allowing you to decide game behaviors from a lua script.
- An interface for directly polling and manipulating (non-executable) program memory, enabling the modder to adjust hidden fields on objects.
- New methods, objects, and singletons to use in lua scripts, such as
PlayerGovernors.NeutralizeGovernorandUnitManager.ChangeOwner.
F.A.Q.
Does this mean we have the source code?
No. I don't think we ever will. But what we do have is leaked debug symbols, which made my job hacking the game much easier.
Is this a script extender, like SKSE?
Yeah it counts as one, though it's not quite the same thing because this mod only hijacks GameCore_XP2_FinalRelease.dll instead of the entire application. This means that it can only make modifications to the game once you choose to load a match. There is a workaround for this if need be, and there's also nothing stopping me from making a version of the mod that hijacks the main exe. It's the way it is currently because it can be published to the steam workshop.
Is this compatible with non-Gathering storm editions?
No. It's only compatible with versions of the game that use Gathering Storm.
Is this compatible with Mac / Linux / other non-Windows platform?
No. I recommend using WINE if you can.
Can you fix the asset limit bug?
I can't promise that there's anything I'll be able to do in that regard, but I do know that it's possible to solve it and I'm not the only one interested in figuring that out.
How do I request a feature?
Open a new thread in this category or the issue tracker. Be precise with your request, so I know exactly what you're looking for.
What happens if GameCore_XP2_FinalRelease.dll gets updated?
This mod will break, but in time it'll be up to date again. I don't expect this to happen very often as Civ 7 is around the corner, so don't fret.
Other details
This project has a very intentional and very relevant license when it comes to derivative works. I intend for people to follow it. If you're a modder who's looking to use this mod as a dependency for an upcoming project, you don't have to worry about that, it's only applicable to you if you fork Community Extension or its individual components and distribute it.
I'm really looking forwards to seeing what people will do. So far nothing has been publicly uploaded yet but I already know of several projects that are experimenting with this mod's features. Currently I'm working closely with another skilled modder to improve this game's AI.
