Since the creator of the original
thread and code, Gedemon, is no longer active on these forums, and there have been significant updates in the meantime, I am making a new thread with an updated first post.
Actually, Gedemon has PM'd me, and I guess I officially have permission now...
(Code last updated: March 31 2016. Steam Workshop
Link. Includes a picture guide!)
The intent of this thread is to provide Civ 5 mod users with the ability to play their favorite mods in multiplayer. It is not terribly user-friendly, but it works quite well, and without the strenous limitations that Jaii der Herr's more user-friendly
project still has. The idea is that by packing all the mods you want to use into something that looks like a dlc pack, Civ 5 can be tricked into loading the mods on start, and then you can play it with mods in multiplayer through the standard multiplayer interface,
but only with others who have the same fake dlc pack.
(Modders who want compatability advice, look
here. Troubleshooting advice for those having trouble making their own modpack is at the bottom of this post.)
In order to play with multiplayer mods, you have two options, which I will detail below. You can either play with a premade dlc pack (PC + MAC (!) +Linux (unconfirmed)), or you can make your own (the person making it has to have a PC).
Premade DLC packs.
Everyone who wants to join a multiplayer mod game must do the following, and use the same pack. The pack must be removed again to play regular civ 5. When starting a game with fake dlc pack, use the normal multiplayer menu (NOT the mods menu).
Windows:
1. Copy paste the folder into Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\assets\DLC.
MAC:
You will probably have to use command+shift+period to reveal hidden files.
1. Navigate to Macintosh HD/Users/{Username}/Libraries/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Sid Meier's Civilization V
2. Right_click -> Civlization V -> Show Package Contents
3. Place dlc folder in Contents/Home/Assets/DLC
Linux:
(Unconfirmed)
This post suggests that it can work on Linux:
https://github.com/Gedemon/Civ5-MultiPlayer-ModsPack-Maker/issues/1
Available packs:
Lynnes: Community Balance Patch for Multiplayer
Cicero225's Anime Pack
Cicero225's Touhou-only Pack Link is dead.
Haken Browning's Wish for a World-centered Anime Pack (Link is to his post, since he explains it better than I can).
Alrek's Five-star Compilation (Again, link to post) Link in post is wrong, though, should be http://www.filedropper.com/mpmodspack Link is dead.
Emeralis Wish for the World centric modpack.
Athaboros Quality of Life modpack.
Khundians JFD Civs pack Note that the only working link appears to be here:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=14177692&postcount=721 EDIT: Apparently that link is dead too now...
DoctorRoosterMD's UPDATED JFD Civs pack (Direct Link)
Bacon Bomb's Ultimate Civ Modded MP Experience Link in post is dead, use
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_QtChYZXeeDcjF6Yk9HdDhQTXM/view?usp=sharing
eharper256's Prime Cuts Pack Link dead for now
Gothic Empire's Light Pack
Working link:
http://www.file-upload.net/download-10872615/ramen_empire_immersion_lite.zip.html
Serp's Multiplayer Improved Experience pack
CivAddiction’s Multiplayer Modpack – CP+CSD+C4DF+Serp’s+And More! (BETA)
darkchaos452 Pack (experimental)
ptr1ck's Steampunk pack
Reisen's Touhou + Community Balance Patch (tested). This is a DIRECT LINK
Mostly Untested Neptunia Pack
Those of you who have made working modpacks, I strongly encourage you to post download links to the compiled version, and I will link them here.
Making your own Modpack! (This assumes you have existing experience working with Civ 5's mod tools, and that you're on a PC)
There is a picture guide at
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=361391109. However, if you have problems, you should read this much more complete guide.
[Note: if you want to make a multilingual modpack, see
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=14105122&postcount=652 for a few more steps to perform]
Preparation:
1. Ensure you have Firetuner 2 installed and civ 5 logging turned on in the config.ini file in your "..\Documents\my games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5" folder. Also, if "EnableTuner = 0" then change it to "EnableTuner = 1" then save the file.
2. Review the mods you want to include and ensure there are no conflicts. (Check known conflicts farther down in this post)
3. If you have a dll mod (one that contains a CvGameCore_Expansion2.dll), remove the dll from the mod and store it somewhere you'll remember.
4. Download
this (or the attachment to this post, it's the same thing) and extract the folder into Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\MODS.
Main Step. Be willing to either turn off your antivirus briefly, or wait 2 hours with civ 5 locked up.
1. Start Firetuner
2. Start Civ 5
3. (Highly Recommended) Set Civ 5 graphics to Windowed mode. This will provide easy access to Firetuner and will let you more easily do other things on your computer.
4. In the Mods menu, load all desired mods, as well as "MultiPlayer ModsPack Maker (v 1)" (which should be on the list)
5. Start a single player mod game with any settings.
6. Once game is loaded, switch to fire tuner. The active tab should be "Lua Console". Below the tab name, there is a dropdown menu. Select the MPMP_Maker from that list (should be one of the first, the name may be truncated but will start with "\Users\[yourName]\Documents").
7. The real-time protection of antiviruses, such as Microsoft Security Essentials, Windows 8's built-in Windows Defender, or AVG, will hyperventilate on step 8, turning a 20 second process into a 2-hour process. It is best to disable your antivirus now, unless you're feeling paranoid.
8. Type CreateMP() into the command line at the bottom and press enter.
9. If you did not do step 7, then go make lunch, eat lunch, etc. It will take a while, ~2 hours. This is normal. It will seem to be stuck forever on "\Users\USER\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\MODS\MultiPlayer ModsPack Maker (v 1)\MPMP_Maker: Copying: Language_en_US". That is also normal.
10. Once civ 5 begins working again, and if there are no errors noted in firetuner, exit out of civ 5 entirely.
Remember to turn your antivirus back on!
11. If you have a dll from step 3 of the preparation stage, copy it now into "\Steam\steamapps\common\sid meier's civilization v\Assets\DLC\MP_MODSPACK". Also copy it back into its original location, so the original mod will work.
12. The next time civ 5 starts, both single player and multiplayer should include all mods.
All players in a multiplayer game must have the dlc pack for it to work! Distribute the folder "\Steam\steamapps\common\sid meier's civilization v\Assets\DLC\MP_MODSPACK" to all players and have them copy it into the same place! If you wish to play normal civ 5 again, you must remove this folder. Use the normal multiplayer menu to play, not the mods menu!
Additional Operations (Highly Recommended, but a bit involved)
Double check the database.log (in Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\Logs) for any errors. Unfortunately, there will be many errors even if it's working fine. See
here for a database.log for a working dlc pack (none of these errors are meaningful). Be especially worried about "No such table" errors.
To fix some missing sound effects:
1) Go to "...\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\assets\DLC\Expansion\Sounds\XML", find Audio2DScriptsExpansion1.xml and AudioDefinesExpansion1.xml
2) APPEND their contents into the same files in "\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\assets\DLC\MP_MODSPACK\Override" (Don't delete what's already there!) Append the stuff within the outermost brackets (<Script2DFile> and <AudioDefinesFile>), of course. (If you know xml, you know what I'm talking about).
Actually, this is unnecessary. It seems both versions of the file get included
Known Mod Conflicts:
Unresolved:
Ask Nicely and Someone May Give Figure Out a Hotfix:
Beyond the Future
Ocean Cities: desyncs whenever the nonhost founds a city
Europe with Capitals has no scenario
Don't Ask, it Can't Fixed Without a Lot of Work:
Events and Decisions: Desyncs
every turn after the first decision has been taken. Unfortunately, probably can't be fixed without a major rewrite of the mod itself.
Resolved Issues (requires hotfix/additional modification):
Whoward's Pick 'n Mix dll pack (v54 and later)
See the second part of Problem 3 in troubleshooting below.
Whoward's Pick 'n Mix Mods Summary or Overlay mods (luxuries, barbarians, etc.)
See
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=13766459&postcount=288. Only include the Contextptr lines that are relevant to the mods you are trying to include.
More Luxuries
If the luxuries have missing graphics/you cannot build improvements, then remake the modpack. When loading the mods, first uncheck all mods, make sure to reselect More Luxuries
first, then reselect the rest. Make the rest of the modpack as usual.
Communitas map
Workaround: After starting the game, IMMEDIATELY SAVE. Quit, and then reload the saved game. Now everyone should have the host's version of the map.
Community Patch
A number of workarounds is needed, see:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=553187 . It is recommended to use the precompiled version by Lynnes unless you want to add your own additional mods.
Confirmed Working:
Vice Virtuoso's Miku, Nanoha, and non-Wish for the World Madoka civs. Arturia, and Gilgamesh. Railgun, Hidamari, Cthulhu, Recettear, Illyasviel von Einzbern, and every Touhou civ except Aya and Tanuki (have not been tested). Fire Emblem - Beorc Civpack v2. Active Multiplayer AI and New Beliefs. ALL of JFD's civs, plus Ayyubid and Oman.
Great Admiral Aquaculture v1, New Beliefs v1 (Sep 3 2014), Scorchers v2, Resource Buildings v1, Truly Free Great People v1. Civ Names by Policy. Enhanced UI.
Vice Virtuoso's Wish for the World works, provided that you fix Whoward's Pick 'n Mix dll pack as detailed above.
Troubleshooting
Problem 1:
Should be automatically dealt with, with newest version of code
Problem 2: Trying to run CreateMP() gives a "invalid pattern capture" error.
Possible Solution 2a: Go back over the .modinfo file in all the mods you're using within "Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\MODS". If any of them has SupportsMultiplayer set to 0, change it to 1.
Possible Solution 2b: Unless you are
absolutely certain you downloaded the code off of THIS POST after Sep 5, 2014, you may have an outdated version of the MPMP code. Redownload, and then you will probably have to skip down to Problem 11, below.
Problem 3: Trying to run CreateMP() gives "attempt to call field 'DeleteMPMP' (a nil value)". There is a dll mod included in the set of mods.
Possible Solution 3: Ensure that your dll mod has "CvGameCore_Expansion2.dll" temporarily removed. If the error still occurs, open the .modinfo for the dll mod and temporarily remove the following line (YOURS WILL BE DIFFERENT):
Code:
<File md5="{Your md5 will vary}" import="0">CvGameCore_Expansion2.dll</File>
DO NOT LOSE THIS LINE. PASTE IT SOMEWHERE AND SAVE IT.
After compiling, copy this line back into the .modinfo in both ""\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\assets\DLC\MP_MODSPACK\" and the original mod in
"Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\MODS".
Problem 4: Certain core game sound effects are missing.
Possible Solution 4: See Additional Operations above.
Problem 5: Custom mod music is missing/some game text is missing
Possible Solution 5: Ensure that you have downloaded the version of the mod pack maker included in this post (
this) and not the old version in the previous thread..
Problem 6: Custom mod unit sound effects are missing.
No Current Solution: Currently, custom unit sound effects is not supported. Ask in the thread and someone may hotfix it.
Problem 7: Custom unit action buttons are missing/not working
No Current Solution: Having multiple mods that have custom unit actions is a known conflict. It is being worked on.
Problem 8: The dlc pack is HUGE.
No Current Solution: Your mods have a lot of custom music. There is nothing that can easily be done about that. You can try deleting all .mp3, .ogg files if you don't care about music, but this is risky.
Problem 9: Cannot start multiplayer game; one of the players reports a "Cannot select civilization error"
Possible Solution 9: Ensure once again that all players (and the player with the error in particular) have
identical copies of the modpack.
Problem 10: Multiplayer games keep de-syncing at the end of the turn!
Possible Solution 10: Ensure once again that all players (and the player with the error in particular) have
identical copies of the modpack.
No Current Solution: Multiplayer games do not play well together with the Events family of event handlers. Many of these, particularly the one that fires at the end of a turn, cause desyncs. It is possible that one of the mods you use has such a function. If you are skilled enough, you can try to fix it...or you can ask the guy who made the mod.
Problem 11 CreateMP() returns the error "Failed! Couldn't find folder for mod: {whatevermod}"
Should no longer occur. Obviously, post if it does.
Problem 12: When attempting to start a modded game before running the MPMPM maker, the Single Player button is greyed out.
Possible Solution 12: It is likely that one of the mods you have included has SupportsSingleplayer set to 0 (though this is very rare) in the .modinfo file. If this is the case. Set it to 1 and try again.
Problem 13: After starting a game, the City View screen is completely broken. Also, Enhanced UI for Civ 5 is involved (at least one of the players/modpack maker has it)
Possible Solution 13: Unfortunately, the version of MPMPM that is made depends on the version of EUI being used by the modpack maker. The easiest solution is to ensure everyone has the EXACT SAME version of EUI, probably the most-updated one. Alternatively, everyone who has a different version of EUI (or no EUI) can make their own version, but that's obviously kind of a pain. Alternatively, if you ask in the thread, there does exist an involved method for editing an existing modpack to work for a given computer, if you prefer.
