No downloadable content

[Monthar]

Just move those folders (there's separate folder for each DLC somewhere in steamapps/<civ>/assets/DLC) when game is not running and next time you launch it civ knows nothing of those DLC. Put them back and they are in game again.
Mmm, i can't remember where i read about that trick first.. Ah, found: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=405686

I just confirmed that this works for the Spain/Inca DLC.

First I tried making a new folder inside the DLC folder and moving the Spain/Inca DLC into it, but the game still saw it. So I moved that new folder into "my documents" and relaunched. That time it did the trick, Spain and Inca were no longer on the list of available Civs and my saved games with them told me I was missing the DLC to load it.

Thanks!

 

[Ozbenno]

Just move those folders (there's separate folder for each DLC somewhere in steamapps/<civ>/assets/DLC) when game is not running and next time you launch it civ knows nothing of those DLC. Put them back and they are in game again.
Mmm, i can't remember where i read about that trick first.. Ah, found: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=405686

Echo the thanks for this! Will try and have this posted in a sticky thread in the forum.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

One of the biggest concerns about DLC in general is a level playing field when it comes to competitive settings. While this is a problem in MP (and firaxis has simply disabled DLC for MP lol), it is certainly also an issue in HoF. IMO right now it's probably best to follow firaxis' lead and disable DLC; unfortunately w/o a HoF mod yet in place that's going to be hard to police for "hof beta", meaning that either hand-picking civs or *not* policing it becomes necessary.

Or is there a way to confirm the moved directory?

 

[Monthar]

Or is there a way to confirm the moved directory?

When the directory is moved, you can't load any games created that use the Civ(s) from that DLC.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

When the directory is moved, you can't load any games created that use the Civ(s) from that DLC.

I mean from a HoF policing standpoint; if they can't police it, then the only thing moving the directory does is add convenience for people trying to avoid DLC in a given game.

 

[Monthar]

My point was, if I can't load a saved game created by DLC that had its directory moved, then all they'd have to do is attempt to load a submitted save file with a copy of the game that doesn't have the DLCs deemed "illegal" for the competition. If the saved file can't be loaded then they know the person has one of the banned Civs in their submission. That in and of itself would be enough policing.

To test my theory here, I created a game following the current gauntlet's settings, with my Spain/Inca DLC folder in place, but I manually selected all the civs to ensure those two are not in the game. I then moved the Spain/Inca DLC and could not load that saved game. So even though I wasn't using the civs from that DLC, the save file still counted that DLC as required.

Sure it'd be nice to have a HoF mod that can accomplish the same thing, but I don't think it would be necessary in order to police the submissions.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I see...it's pretty effective as a stopgap potentially.

 

[Neuro]

So what you are saying is, unless I manually move my DLC directories, a person without that DLC cannot load that save file, even if I don't have Spain/Inca/Babylon as one of my opponents? So every time I want to play an HoF game I have to edit my game directories? That seems needlessly burdensome on those of us who purchased the DLC.

 

[Monthar]

I know, which is why I'd much rather have the following categories to compete in:

No paid DLCs
Babylon DLC
Spain/Inca DLC
Babylon + Spain/Inca DLC
Additional categories as more paid DLCs become available.

I'd like to see these for all the competitions, HoF, HoF Guantlet & GotM. It wouldn't really be any different than Civ 4's different categories for each expansion. After all, the paid DLCs are, in essence, mini-expansions.

I'm willing to bet if you purchased those map DLCs that too would cause this same problem.

It's easy to see which DLCs are required to load the game by clicking on the DLC text.

 

[Denniz]

So what you are saying is, unless I manually move my DLC directories, a person without that DLC cannot load that save file, even if I don't have Spain/Inca/Babylon as one of my opponents? So every time I want to play an HoF game I have to edit my game directories? That seems needlessly burdensome on those of us who purchased the DLC.

No you can open any game played with out DLC regardless of whether your DLC is there or not. It is only a problem if you try to open a game with a DLC you don't have.

It might be possible to build a "no DLC" mod that removes the DLC content during play.

I know, which is why I'd much rather have the following categories to compete in:

No paid DLCs
Babylon DLC
Spain/Inca DLC
Babylon + Spain/Inca DLC
Additional categories as more paid DLCs become available.

I'd like to see these for all the competitions, HoF, HoF Guantlet & GotM. It wouldn't really be any different than Civ 4's different categories for each expansion. After all, the paid DLCs are, in essence, mini-expansions.

That is already one more expansion than Civ4 had. I don't believe it would be practical if they keep coming as you would expect. You also have the complication of whether they appear as opponents or not. We'll figure something out eventually.

I'm willing to bet if you purchased those map DLCs that too would cause this same problem.

I don't think it would be a problem since opening a save should not require the mapscript used to generate the map.

 

[Monthar]

No you can open any game played with out DLC regardless of whether your DLC is there or not. It is only a problem if you try to open a game with a DLC you don't have.

It might be possible to build a "no DLC" mod that removes the DLC content during play.

That is already one more expansion than Civ4 had. I don't believe it would be practical if they keep coming as you would expect. You also have the complication of whether they appear as opponents or not. We'll figure something out eventually.


I don't think it would be a problem since opening a save should not require the mapscript used to generate the map.

To illustrate my point, look at these screenshots. I started this HoF Gauntlet 7 game without moving my Spain/Inca DLC folder. Instead, I did as initially suggested in that thread and manually selected all the civs.

Spoiler :

You can see from the in game screenshot that I've met all 7 AI civs and none of them are Mongol, Spain nor Inca.

Spoiler :

Yet, when I hide just the Spain/Inca folder it will not let me load this game, tells me I'm missing the required DLC and specifies that Mongolia, Spain/Inca and Update 1 DLCs are required.

This is why I say if you own any DLC that another player does not, ever if you are not actually using that DLC in the game you're attempting to share, that other person will not be able to load the file.

I believe the reason it still requires those DLCs, even though the Spanish, Incas and Mongols are not in this game, is that the Dev team has the currently installed DLCs embedded into the file at the time the map is generated, even if those DLCs are not actually used on that map.

So you can verify what I'm saying I've also included the saved game file in this post.

 

[Denniz]

To illustrate my point, look at these screenshots. I started this HoF Gauntlet 7 game without moving my Spain/Inca DLC folder. Instead, I did as initially suggested in that thread and manually selected all the civs.

Spoiler :

You can see from the in game screenshot that I've met all 7 AI civs and none of them are Mongol, Spain nor Inca.

Spoiler :

Yet, when I hide just the Spain/Inca folder it will not let me load this game, tells me I'm missing the required DLC and specifies that Mongolia, Spain/Inca and Update 1 DLCs are required.

This is why I say if you own any DLC that another player does not, ever if you are not actually using that DLC in the game you're attempting to share, that other person will not be able to load the file.

I believe the reason it still requires those DLCs, even though the Spanish, Incas and Mongols are not in this game, is that the Dev team has the currently installed DLCs embedded into the file at the time the map is generated, even if those DLCs are not actually used on that map.

So you can verify what I'm saying I've also included the saved game file in this post.

:Hmm: I guess they changed something when they put the DLC warning on the load screen. It is probably a flag in the save file. I guess it was easier to check what you have installed rather than what you are using. I wonder what that does to my idea for a no DLC mod.

 

[kcd_swede]

:Hmm: I guess they changed something when they put the DLC warning on the load screen. It is probably a flag in the save file. I guess it was easier to check what you have installed rather than what you are using. I wonder what that does to my idea for a no DLC mod.

It also reduces the value of simply banning DLC civs, if the goal is for everyone to be able to open the saves and try to learn from them. You'd have to require people with the banned DLC to hide it by moving the directories... which understandably is a PITA.

Thanks a lot, Firaxis!

 

[Denniz]

:Hmm: I guess they changed something when they put the DLC warning on the load screen. It is probably a flag in the save file. I guess it was easier to check what you have installed rather than what you are using. I wonder what that does to my idea for a no DLC mod.

I created a No DLC Mod to test out the concept. It worked from the standpoint of altering the game setup but the DLC flag is independent of all that. So you can't open the save of a player that has DLC installed unless you have the DLC. Shame.

Does anyone think there is reason for me to make polish my No_DLC_Mod up a little and make it public?

 

[MadDjinn]

I created a No DLC Mod to test out the concept. It worked from the standpoint of altering the game setup but the DLC flag is independent of all that. So you can't open the save of a player that has DLC installed unless you have the DLC. Shame.

Does anyone think there is reason for me to make polish my No_DLC_Mod up a little and make it public?

Only if you can make it work fully. I'd rather a mod to allow HoF play than having to move files back and forth between plays.

 

[Monthar]

I created a No DLC Mod to test out the concept. It worked from the standpoint of altering the game setup but the DLC flag is independent of all that. So you can't open the save of a player that has DLC installed unless you have the DLC. Shame.

Does anyone think there is reason for me to make polish my No_DLC_Mod up a little and make it public?

Only if you can make it work fully. I'd rather a mod to allow HoF play than having to move files back and forth between plays.

I agree the mod wouldn't be worth it if we still have to move the DLC folders to get rid of the flag.

 

[Ozbenno]

No, the mod will stop the DLC civs being able to be selected for use without them having to be moved.

 

[Monthar]

Even if you manually select the civs to not have any of the DLC civs, the game is still flagged as requiring that DLC be installed to load the saved game file. This is why the DLC folders have to be moved. So if the mod can't remove this flag as well, then it will be worthless to accomplish the goal of letting folks without the DLCs load the saved game files.

 

[MadDjinn]

Even if you manually select the civs to not have any of the DLC civs, the game is still flagged as requiring that DLC be installed to load the saved game file. This is why the DLC folders have to be moved. So if the mod can't remove this flag as well, then it will be worthless to accomplish the goal of letting folks without the DLCs load the saved game files.

you know..

It'd only be a few lines of perl or something for the mod to call to move the files from one directory to another, then back at the end of the session.

 

[Monthar]

you know..

It'd only be a few lines of perl or something for the mod to call to move the files from one directory to another, then back at the end of the session.

If that worked then it would solve the flag problem. However, I doubt that can be done with a mod.