Having trouble getting new mod's text to display. txt_ errors.

[Spacepup]

I play Civ5 on Steam, Windows 7 64bit, and whenever I try out a new mod, it seems to have about a 50/50 chance of actually displaying the correct text when I load the mod. The most obvious are most of the Civilization mods, displaying txt_key so on and so forth, instead of displaying the civilization's names. Those that add new techs or buildings have the same problem, always displaying a long string that starts with txt_ instead of a name, and usually having no picture or description to go along with it.

It seems to vary from computer to computer, on my laptop - also running Windows 7 64bit - Queen of the Iceni displays correctly, but on my desktop it doesn't, and neither display Halcyon's 16 civ pack.

I've tried clearing the game's cache, and re-verifying the game's files in steam, and running the game in both DirectX 9 and 10/11.

Anyone know what's going on or how to fix it?

 

[Spatzimaus]

You'll see TXT_KEY_whatever if two mods (or one mod and the vanilla game) try to modify the same key. This is, by far, the most common error if the mod in question is a custom civ; if the civ tries to add, say, a city name that the core game (or a DLC) has already added, then the entire file containing that key won't load. Not just the single duplicated text key, the entire file of the mod containing that key, so the TXT_KEY you're seeing displayed might not be the one that's actually causing the problem.

Most of the mods on the Mod Browser, including the Iceni mod, are horribly out-of-date. In many, many cases, the mod is completely incompatible with the current game; some fail due to various format changes (like the VFS change from December or the alternate-language change from March), some conflict with DLC, some conflict with other mods. There's no easy way to see which mods are up-to-date, which is one of the many reasons I never use the Mod Browser any more.

 

[Spacepup]

Yeah, I originally thought it was the conflicting mods, and I don't have any DLC. I guess I'll just have to do some trial and error or find mods from here then. Thanks

 

[Spatzimaus]

This is, by far, the most popular modding site for Civ5. Or more specifically, it's really the only site for mods. All you need to do is go over to the Modpacks and Mod Components fora, and look for active mods ("active" meaning posts within the past month or so, and ideally some confirmation of ongoing updates after each patch).

If you downloaded a mod off the Mod Browser and you see that its thread here is dead, then it's a pretty good indication that the mod is no longer supported, and probably won't work. For instance, the Queen of the Iceni mod was made by Kael, but he left Civ5 behind last December when he got a full-time job, so it has little hope of ever being updated again.

This sort of headache is also why my own mod isn't on the Mod Browser, and is only available here. Well, that and it's not entirely done yet, but that never seems to stop anyone.

 

[bedlamboy]

Thanks for the tip, Spatz, I'll download from here as I did for Civ IV, but can you explain why the ones on the browser are out of date if they are still being worked on? I don't know ANYTHING about modding, but it seems modders would use the in game browser since its so easy for people like me to use. I think it has a helpful interface.

Alternately, what is the chances of someone developing something like the nexus mod manager for skyrim? That would be ideal....