How to Install We The People

[Cueball252]

Hi Team,

With the release of the amazing 2.8 I have had a few queries on how to install the mod. I knocked up a quick video here which should help.

It would be really helpful if you went and gave a like and a comment so that we can get awareness of the mod up. Share it with everyone you know!

I also slapped a link to the video on the /civ subreddit which i think is the biggest subreddit for civ. It would be really helpful to get an upvote and or comment there: https://www.reddit.com/r/civ/comments/ghmn9l/civ_col_how_to_install_we_the_people/

Cheers all and Happy Colonizing!

 

[Mr. ZorG]

small clarification. If you are going to play with two plots right away, you don’t need to copy the file.

 

[Cueball252]

small clarification. If you are going to play with two plots right away, you don’t need to copy the file.

thanks - ill add a note in the pinned comments and description.

 

[Colonization2020]

Does this work for Mac, too?

 

[Kendon]

I successfully installed We.The.People 2.8 but when I came back yesterday to continue my game I got this message, next to the red circle enclosing the white X.
Python Exception Traceback (most recent call last): File "<string>", line 1, in ? InputError: No module named FaireWeatherTweakEx
When I hit OK I got, along with the X in the circle
Python Exception Failed to load python module FaireWeatherTweakEx
When I hit OK again I got the first message again, beginning a feedback loop which I needed Ctrl/Alt/Delete to get out of.
I get the same loop with Religion_and_Revolution which has worked fine for years. I also played We_The_People 2.7 so up til now my install routine has worked well.
The only general change this last week has been a Windows 10 update.
I've been a fan of these mods since TAC so any help you can offer would be welcome.

 

[Tugboatspotter]

@Kendon

I'm afraid I have never experienced anything like that with WTP. (or RaR)

If I were you I would reinstall everything since it will probably be easier than trying to fix a faulty installation.

 

[Nightinggale]

Does this work for Mac, too?

No because Aspyr decided to make the mac port ignore proper mod support. Specifically they do not support modding the C++ code and sadly modding the C++ code is critical for most good mod features. This means no mac support, not just for WTP, but (AFAIK) all colonization mods.

You can however use the windows version on mac if you use bootcamp, virtualization (parallels/virtualbox) or wine and then there will be normal windows mod support.

 

[Colonization2020]

Thank you!!!

 

[Kendon]

reinstall everything

I did as you suggested, but there was an important first step. On Windows 10, Systems in Settings has a button ‟Where Content is Saved”. I'd never bothered with it since I bought the computer but it looks like over the years everything -- applications, photos, documents -- has been directed into the operating system, not the disk; and finally the OS was full.

Once I changed the settings and dumped a few saved games, We The People loaded. I guess the message just means the FaireWeather map was the module that didn't get saved because of the full disk.

We The People now runs like a charm. I look forward to playing. Thank you for your help.

 

[Razbo]

I had the same "Failed to load python module FaireWeatherTweakEx" problem.

I won't claim to know how Python modules work, or how they interact with the op system (I'm on Windows 10), but....

I put copies of the "missing" FaireWeather... python file(s) (found somewhere under the \Mods\...\PublicMaps folder) into the top level
\Civilization IV Colonization\PublicMaps folder
and the problem went away.

I can speculate what happened:
I had been playing using a FaireWeatherTweakEx map. I'm guessing something got saved when I exited the program, and when I restarted, it wanted to load the last map used module. But since the program starts in "vanilla" that particular .py file wasn't found in the top level PublicMaps folder.

I haven't tried it, but I'm guessing I could now play a vanilla game with a FaireWeatherTweakEx map if I wanted to....

 

[raystuttgart]

But since the program starts in "vanilla" that particular .py file wasn't found in the top level PublicMaps folder.

The program only "starts with vanilla" if you do not use the "mod" extension in the shortcut.

Starting vanilla first and then loading the mod is a quite bad practice that can cause lots of small issues with loading times and performance.
It is much better to always directly start the mod you want to play with.

Simply edit the "Target" value of the shortcuts like this:
C:\games\Colonization\Colonization.exe mod="\Name_of_the_Mod_Installation_Subdirectory_for_WTP"

Of course you need to replace the bold red part with the actually mod-folder you use (name of the mod subfolder below "\mods").

Summary:

This is not a bug of the mod.
This is lack of knowledge of players how to use / start huge overhaul mods like WTP in Civ4Col.
(Which is not necessarily the fault of the players though.)

We modders (who know all of these things) should really explain such details - including giving advice for best install directory and how to create shortcuts - in better ways.
Currently we still believe that everybody still playing our mods are long time veterans that know all of that already.

 

[Razbo]

I have been playing this game (and RaR before it) for years and have always launched vanilla through steam and then loaded the mod.

I can report that I have on no occasion had an issue with this method.

Tugboatspotter, if you feel like doing a small science experiment, I am curious to know if you can duplicate the same problem that Kendon and I both experienced.

If you are so inclined, try this:
Launch the vanilla game via Steam
Load the WTP mod
Start a new game using a FaireWeatherTweakEx map
Save the game
Exit
Re-launch the vanilla game via Steam

This is the point where I got a series of cascading load/python error boxes pointing to "something is wrong with FaireWeatherTweakEx". I could usually get past them by hitting OK a dozen times or so; unlike Kendon I didn't have to ctrl/alt/del to (eventually) move on.

So I am curious to know if you have the same issue. If you don't have the same issue, do you have the FaireWeatherTweakEx.py file in the public maps folder of your vanilla installation? Putting a copy of that .py file into that folder solved my problem.

On a separate but related note, to use the shortcut method to start with the modded version:

Simply edit the "Target" value of the shortcuts like this:
C:\games\Colonization\Colonization.exe mod="\Name_of_the_Mod_Installation_Subdirectory_for_WTP"

Of course you need to replace the bold red part with the actually mod-folder you use (name of the mod subfolder below "\mods").

If anyone is still following along, please note that you must get the quotation marks exactly correct. It took me a few minutes of trial and error to make this work. You have to set the shortcut target to:

"C:\games\Colonization\Colonization.exe" mod="\Name_of_the_Mod_Installation_Subdirectory_for_WTP"

Note the two separate sets of quotation marks. Maybe that's the sort of thing that is common knowledge for other people, but I didn't know that.

 

[raystuttgart]

If anyone is still following along, please note that you must get the quotation marks exactly correct.
It took me a few minutes of trial and error to make this work.

You have to set the shortcut target to:
"C:\games\Colonization\Colonization.exe" mod="\Name_of_the_Mod_Installation_Subdirectory_for_WTP"

Note the two separate sets of quotation marks.
Maybe that's the sort of thing that is common knowledge for other people, but I didn't know that.

As far as I know, you only need the second quotation marks (for the exe path) if there are spaces in the path (or strange special characters).
That is one of the reasons, why I always prevent "spaces" in directory paths and thus almost never use suggested default paths of installers.

But don't worry, it is not necessarily common knowledge.

It is only common windows knowledge to avoid shuch spaces if you have grown up in my generation.
(My generation started with DOS. That was before Windows existed).

It is also common knowledge for any programmer, because it makes creating bats and other small programs much easier.
(Basically almost all modders have at least a little programming knowledge.)

So if you are a younger generation or never got experience as a programmer, then there is nothing to be ashamed of.
(You young people are simply spoiled brats ... )