MPMPM - Multiplayer Mod DLC-hack (Updated!)

[daniel25]

You have to take out the %20https// from the link

Thanks Emufarmers! But the link seems to be broken for me

 

[cicero225]

I apologize for long silence, and will try to answer some of the quotes above when I get a chance.

I have dug into some of the persistent bugs people still have. One of them is now mention as Problem 14 in the first post:

Problem 14: After making the modpack, the game complains of missing assets.
"There is a known bug in this where mods that have an internal name containing a colon ( : ) do not properly have their folder copied into the MPMPM folder. Navigate to "\Steam\SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\assets\DLC\MP_MODSPACK\" and look for any missing mod folders. Copy anything folders missing from "Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\MODS". A proper fix is in the works but may take some time."

Also, I finally got around to poking the Superpowers mod. Here is a potentially working version that I have not rigorously tested, but looks fine:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_QtChYZXeeDUHpuNFJiYVFmdDQ/view?usp=sharing

I cannot rule out desyncs or anything like that though. Please report any problems you may have. I will add this to OP.

 

[cicero225]

Is there any chance you could create version for Civilization Beyond Earth?
When Im trying to use the add "Multiplayer Mods Workaround (v 1)" in the mods for CIV BERT I get critical errors.... expected as it has civ 5 dlll in it...

While this is not impossible [I have managed to hack the Misaka and Madoka civ into the game and run MP with it], I have studied the problem before and there's a number of hurdles:

1) We do not have the BERT DLL source code. This would be necessary to make a mod like this move files, write files, etc. automatically, as these functions are locked out of lua. Without this, the best workaround would be to dump information into the .log file and have you copy-paste it manually. Except...
2) BERT's DLC file system is much more restrictive, and I haven't been able to get it to acknowledge .xml files placed into it (even though the ones in the expansion clearly work fine! I don't know what causes this distinction)

This is not insurmountable: I have managed to get this to work anyway by constructing a MPMPM folder by hand, copying the mod files in, then loading a modded .db into a sqlite editor (Firefox has SQLite manager) and convert into SQL command output, then copy-pasting it into C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\assets\SQL\CivBEEngineDatabaseSchema.sql .

I have gotten this to work, but this basically not an automatable procedure at all. I hope this helps though.

Hi, I successfully packed the mod into a dlc. the mod I packed is this one:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=562805217
and I am supposed to be able to use a real world map when I am playing this mod. But after I packed this mod into a dlc and trying to start a new game, I am not able to select the real world map. Why is that?

You can move the .civ5map file into C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\Maps and it should be fine (everyone in a MP game should do this). However, the custom menus etc. will not work.

Could you please look into the issue with the super power: clash of civilizations mod? It is by far the best mod I have seen for civilization V and me and my friend would really like to give it a try. The city levels the mod includes are not showing up, also new unit actions do not show up on the interface. Civilization traits, and pretty much everything else worked fine for me. It would be playable without city levels and unit actions, however the mod includes manpower, and the only place you really get manpower is from city levels.

Someone else asked me to look into this, and I did. I even made a pack at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_QtChYZXeeDUHpuNFJiYVFmdDQ/view?usp=sharing

What I suspect happened with your version (assuming I fixed the problem. I've never played with superpowers so I'm not even sure what might be missing) is a thing that happens with mods that override CityView.lua, InGame.lua, and LeaderHeadRoot.lua. As part of performing some mod patching functions, MP_MODSPACK makes its own override of these files, which can conflict. A proper fix involves taking the mod version and patching it by hand; that's what I did here. A smarter version of this MPMPM maker would do this itself, but that requires coding I haven't gotten around to doing. I...seem to have never added a note about this to the OP, so let me do that. In the meantime, test the link above and let me know!

EDIT: Added:

Problem 13b: I'm not using EUI, but some other mod that makes big changes to the City View, Game main UI, leader UI, or Unit interface. These are bugged out/crashing/missing new features after I make the mod pack.
Possible Solution 13b: There is a good chance your mod has a custom version of CityView.lua, LeaderHeadRoot.lua, or InGame.lua. In that case, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\DLC\MP_MODSPACK\UI and open each .lua file and scroll to the very end. Look for any lines at the end of the file with:

ContextPtr:LoadNewContext(...)

Copy/paste ALL these lines somewhere safe, override the MP_MODSPACK version with the custom version from your mod, then copy/paste these lines to the end of your custom version.

In the future I hope to automate this, but that is not currently the case.

Has anyone been able to make a modpack with the latest version of the Community Patch/Vox Populi (7-27)?

When I start up a game with Multiplayer Mods Workaround (v 1), the Corporations and Monopolies window (from Community Patch) opens and can't be closed.

This only happens with Multiplayer Mods Workaround (v 1) enabled in mods.

I'd actually like to know how Emufarmers got it to work >_>

I too have a problem similar to jwfoo555's. When trying to create a modpack with Civ IV Diplomatic Features V11, the UI elements associated with C4DF v11 (such as the vassal menu, or the additional trade features) are clearly broken. I have temporarily removed the CvGameCoreDLL_Expansion2.dll file inside the C4DF mod folder, and the associated line ("<File md5="459AFE72A04ECDD7352F03E248DB5A4C" import="1">CvGameCoreDLL_Expansion2.dll</File>") in the Civilization IV Diplomatic Features (v 11).modinfo file before generating the modpack. The modpack is successfully created when I do this, but C4DF's UI elements are bugged. As far as I can tell, the UI elements from C4DF no longer work when I run C4DF and Multiplayer Mods Workaround together. Even prior to creating the modpack, UI elements are bugged when Multiplayer Mods Workaround (v 1) and C4DF are both active. I have not had such issues with other .dll mods, only Civ IV Diplomatic Features V11. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

There's some chance your issue is the same as with the Superpowers mod (see above). Are all the problems you see primarily with:

Main-game interface UI
City view UI
Unit buttons

? If so, that's probably it. Respond to this message and I can maybe walk you through the fix.

 

[JamesGuy]

Someone else asked me to look into this, and I did. I even made a pack at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_QtChYZXeeDUHpuNFJiYVFmdDQ/view?usp=sharing

What I suspect happened with your version (assuming I fixed the problem. I've never played with superpowers so I'm not even sure what might be missing) is a thing that happens with mods that override CityView.lua, InGame.lua, and LeaderHeadRoot.lua. As part of performing some mod patching functions, MP_MODSPACK makes its own override of these files, which can conflict. A proper fix involves taking the mod version and patching it by hand; that's what I did here. A smarter version of this MPMPM maker would do this itself, but that requires coding I haven't gotten around to doing. I...seem to have never added a note about this to the OP, so let me do that. In the meantime, test the link above and let me know!

The pack seems to work fine for the most part, however some things were bugged, like the other player in the game could not mobilize their workers, and also we randomly saw each others cities locations. Anyways thanks for making the mod playable!

Okay, after playing to turn 100, the game has desynced 3 times... so while it is playable, it is still quite annoying.

 

[cicero225]

The pack seems to work fine for the most part, however some things were bugged, like the other player in the game could not mobilize their workers, and also we randomly saw each others cities locations. Anyways thanks for making the mod playable!

Okay, after playing to turn 100, the game has desynced 3 times... so while it is playable, it is still quite annoying.

Hmm, does the mod have any custom menus where you have to click anything? For example, some kind of pop-up where you get to choose one of 3 actions. These... do not really work with MP without substantial coding work, because of Civ 5's lack of real support for broadcasting what you click over the network. This leads to desyncs and is the principle reason why Events and Decisions, for example, just plain doesn't work in MP.

I have no idea about random city location seeing. The worker mobilization thing can potentially be fixed with a small tweak. What does it do?

 

[JamesGuy]

Hmm, does the mod have any custom menus where you have to click anything? For example, some kind of pop-up where you get to choose one of 3 actions. These... do not really work with MP without substantial coding work, because of Civ 5's lack of real support for broadcasting what you click over the network. This leads to desyncs and is the principle reason why Events and Decisions, for example, just plain doesn't work in MP.

I have no idea about random city location seeing. The worker mobilization thing can potentially be fixed with a small tweak. What does it do?

Well, it doesn't have any custom menus, but it does have the new unit action buttons, like the mobilization and demobilization (Mobilization transforms the worker unit into a militia unit, and demobilization transforms any militia unit into a worker unit), and after playing for a little longer we did notice that using some of the custom unit action buttons, like upgrade all units, desynced the game.

Also there was a bug that when the other player clicked upgrade unit button (the vanilla one), he got two upgraded units from one. These bugs really are weird. It might be related to the feature in the mod where you can have two units in one tile.

 

[SillyGosling]

Has anyone gotten Wondrous Nature to work with More Luxuries? When I run the initial game, they seem to play well together, but when I create a Modpack with both of them, More Luxuries doesn't end up in the Modpack. I know Wondrous Nature has a .dll packaged in with it, I'm not sure if that would cause the interference or what.

Thanks!

 

[Caliphate]

Thanks for the awesome workaround/tutorial Cicero! I do have a slight problem though. Everything works great with respect to the mods themselves, but as you might know, the max number of civs by default in a huge map on multiplayer is 12. I use to just edit the values in Civ5Worlds.xml (Assets\DLC\Expansion2\Gameplay\XML\GameInfo) to 22, and it would work fine. However, this DLC-hack's Civ5Worlds.xml overrides my changes lol. I'm not sure how this hack works, but all the xml files in the folder are blank and I can't just manually copy-paste the contents of Expansion2's Civ5Worlds.xml for some reason (the UI for setting up the game bugs out). Either way, I'm just wondering - how can I increase the default number of civs to 22 again while using the MP Modpack? Thanks again

 

[Emperor of Tea]

hello was wondering is there a way to edit MP Modpacks to add more mods to them without making a fresh pack? as i want to use the JFD civs pack but add his Cultural Diversity core civ 4 diplo enlightenment era and r.e.d modpack to it? i have tryed before making a modpack but was unable to get it working properly.

 

[cicero225]

Well, it doesn't have any custom menus, but it does have the new unit action buttons, like the mobilization and demobilization (Mobilization transforms the worker unit into a militia unit, and demobilization transforms any militia unit into a worker unit), and after playing for a little longer we did notice that using some of the custom unit action buttons, like upgrade all units, desynced the game.

Also there was a bug that when the other player clicked upgrade unit button (the vanilla one), he got two upgraded units from one. These bugs really are weird. It might be related to the feature in the mod where you can have two units in one tile.

That's not too surprising...it probably doesn't work for the same reason custom menus don't work, and would be just as hard to fix (though it's not actually impossible...there's hackery you can do with sending signals by making and deleting invisible buildings, since the function that deletes buildings actually allows you to attach some information) Is the game playable without using the buttons?.

Has anyone gotten Wondrous Nature to work with More Luxuries? When I run the initial game, they seem to play well together, but when I create a Modpack with both of them, More Luxuries doesn't end up in the Modpack. I know Wondrous Nature has a .dll packaged in with it, I'm not sure if that would cause the interference or what.

Thanks!

Have you tried copying the More Luxuries modpack manually into the MPModspack/Mods folder? Sometimes things fail to copy due to a bug I haven't fixed yet. If that's the only issue, this should fix that...

Thanks for the awesome workaround/tutorial Cicero! I do have a slight problem though. Everything works great with respect to the mods themselves, but as you might know, the max number of civs by default in a huge map on multiplayer is 12. I use to just edit the values in Civ5Worlds.xml (Assets\DLC\Expansion2\Gameplay\XML\GameInfo) to 22, and it would work fine. However, this DLC-hack's Civ5Worlds.xml overrides my changes lol. I'm not sure how this hack works, but all the xml files in the folder are blank and I can't just manually copy-paste the contents of Expansion2's Civ5Worlds.xml for some reason (the UI for setting up the game bugs out). Either way, I'm just wondering - how can I increase the default number of civs to 22 again while using the MP Modpack? Thanks again

Sort the xml files in the folder by size, and open the biggest files. One of them should have an entry you can change that's equivalent to what you would normally change in Civ5Worlds.xml.

hello was wondering is there a way to edit MP Modpacks to add more mods to them without making a fresh pack? as i want to use the JFD civs pack but add his Cultural Diversity core civ 4 diplo enlightenment era and r.e.d modpack to it? i have tryed before making a modpack but was unable to get it working properly.

Unfortunately, only in the most limited of cases, and in your case almost certainly no. That's one of the problems to this approach of making modpacks...

 

[Emperor of Tea]

That's not too surprising...it probably doesn't work for the same reason custom menus don't work, and would be just as hard to fix (though it's not actually impossible...there's hackery you can do with sending signals by making and deleting invisible buildings, since the function that deletes buildings actually allows you to attach some information) Is the game playable without using the buttons?.



Have you tried copying the More Luxuries modpack manually into the MPModspack/Mods folder? Sometimes things fail to copy due to a bug I haven't fixed yet. If that's the only issue, this should fix that...



Sort the xml files in the folder by size, and open the biggest files. One of them should have an entry you can change that's equivalent to what you would normally change in Civ5Worlds.xml.



Unfortunately, only in the most limited of cases, and in your case almost certainly no. That's one of the problems to this approach of making modpacks...

ok thank you for the reply and damm well maybe i will soon try and make it from scratch hopefully i will have more luck with this pack.

 

[Bobisback]

Has there been any progress on this
"Problem 7: Custom unit action buttons are missing/not working"

I just made a Superpowers modpack and this seems to be the main issue with it.

Thanks,
Sean

P.S Hey just tried the modpack you posted and it seemed to work! I have unit actions now. Cheers! You should update the one on the main page.

 

[OUGHT]

Hello!
I love Civ: Beyond Earth, and this game is based on Civ5 engine. I want to make a multiplayer modpack for BE. Is there a way to make this DLC-packing method work on BE?

 

[Bobisback]

So we have found in our games that the mobilize demobilize for workers only work on the host machine. Is there something that can be done about this? The icon shows up for the other players but it is grayed out.

My guess is that the function that check for if it is in players territory is checking the hosts territory instead of the current players territory. Idk just a guess lol.

 

[Bobisback]

@cicero225 Could you walk me through the steps you took to package up the mod. I may need to repackage it and was wondering how you did it different to fix the issues in it?

Thanks,
Bob

 

[cicero225]

Hello!
I love Civ: Beyond Earth, and this game is based on Civ5 engine. I want to make a multiplayer modpack for BE. Is there a way to make this DLC-packing method work on BE?

I know it's kind of buried but the opening part of my earlier post talks about this: https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...dlc-hack-updated.533238/page-45#post-14840248

tl;dr: Not in the same way, though it's not impossible.

So we have found in our games that the mobilize demobilize for workers only work on the host machine. Is there something that can be done about this? The icon shows up for the other players but it is grayed out.

My guess is that the function that check for if it is in players territory is checking the hosts territory instead of the current players territory. Idk just a guess lol.

@cicero225 Could you walk me through the steps you took to package up the mod. I may need to repackage it and was wondering how you did it different to fix the issues in it?

Thanks,
Bob

Part of the same post (https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...dlc-hack-updated.533238/page-45#post-14840248) I linked for the other guy talks about what I did for superpowers. See the part right under the EDIT. It's basically the same procedure as everything else but with that extra step. Let me know if it's too confusing.

Re: buttons being greyed out, you're probably right about the function checking the wrong territory (It's probably checking Player1/Host rather than the current player). That being said, I have some skepticism that the custom buttons will even work without causing a desync. See my conversation with Emperor of Tea. The netcode for Civ 5 doesn't have the hooks for custom buttons/menus to latch onto...currently the only known solution is a hack involving deleting buildings that would require extensive additional coding.

 

[Bobisback]

Man sorry i totally missed that when I read your post. Thanks a ton. i understand it completely.

Cheers!
Bob

 

[Bobisback]

@cicero225 So one of the major issues with the buttons desyncing is generals cannot build the military academies. With the superpowers mod this is a big problem since certain units need this building to be built. So you mention there are some solutions to the issue. Is there any easy work around to getting that building into a city from a great general that is multiplayer compatible?

 

[cicero225]

@cicero225 So one of the major issues with the buttons desyncing is generals cannot build the military academies. With the superpowers mod this is a big problem since certain units need this building to be built. So you mention there are some solutions to the issue. Is there any easy work around to getting that building into a city from a great general that is multiplayer compatible?

Unfortunately it requires a coding fix. Basically, only a subset of the available lua functions in civ 5 are broadcast over the network. Many are unsafe to call directly, and manipulating game data directly is also unlikely to work. You'd have to change whatever actually puts the building into the city to be something that broadcasts over the network, and somehow rig it to give you the building..

E.g. if the city the capital you could manufacture a fake social policy that gives you a military academy then adopt the social policy (then use the trick that prevents this from inflating social policy cost). That would broadcast over the network. Another idea is to have a fake invisible building in every city whose only purpose is to hijack the delete-building function (which is also broadcast over the network) to fire an event that causes another function to place the academy in the city. They're all fairly hackerish, and the rule of thumb is: if it's a button that exists in the base game for people to click and has an effect on the game, the functions associated with it probably go over the network.

There was a guy who made a tool for making a bunch of fake buildings and semi-automating the process of hijacking, but it didn't seem to get much interest, probably because the people who make big mods don't feel that thrilled about rewriting a bunch of their stuff to do crazy loops just so it works in MP.

 

[Bobisback]

Problem 13b: I'm not using EUI, but some other mod that makes big changes to the City View, Game main UI, leader UI, or Unit interface. These are bugged out/crashing/missing new features after I make the mod pack.
Possible Solution 13b: There is a good chance your mod has a custom version of CityView.lua, LeaderHeadRoot.lua, or InGame.lua. In that case, navigate to C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Assets\DLC\MP_MODSPACK\UI and open each .lua file and scroll to the very end. Look for any lines at the end of the file with:

Code:
ContextPtr:LoadNewContext(...)

Copy/paste ALL these lines somewhere safe, override the MP_MODSPACK version with the custom version from your mod, then copy/paste these lines to the end of your custom version.

In the future I hope to automate this, but that is not currently the case.

So the file in \DLC\MP_MODSPACK\UI should be my custom one with no changes. And the UI files that are in my mod should have the LoadNewContext lines in them? Or should both files have the LoadNewContext lines?

Thanks,
Bob

p.S also I noticed that there was no change to the CityView.lua in the \DLC\MP_MODSPACK\UI compared to my mod.