Steam Mods Download Folder

[Civitar]

In case anyone was wondering what on earth Steam does with mods you download from the Workshop, here is the folder that every mod I have tried has gone to before the game unpacks it to the MODS folder in Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\138999164\ugc\referenced\3316078794037456035​

The mods appear as .civ5mod files, not the .modinfo files that are packed inside the .civ5mod (and which appear in the MODS folder).
Usually (it doesn't always work), the mod will unpack by itself. If that doesn't work, moving the .civ5mod to the MODS folder, creating a folder with the name of the mod, and putting the .civ5mod in it will usually work. As a last resort (because this is really hit-or-miss) you can manually unpack the .civ5mod into the folder in MODS (but then you have to include the version number and the exact name of the mod - Example: XXXX's Yyyy Yyyy Mod (v ##)).

I'm sure many people here already know this, at least the part about the .civ5mods (heck, they'd better if they're making mods!). This is just in case anyone finds it useful or wondered what Steam does with their downloaded mods. I know the folder's name and path are not exactly intuitive - it's as if Steam and Firaxis are trying to hide the mods.

 

[Gedemon]

I know the folder's name and path are not exactly intuitive - it's as if Steam and Firaxis are trying to hide the mods.

Well, I guess it's because we shouldn't have to do all that if the system was working correctly

(and thanks for that post, it will be useful indeed)

 

[Nutty]

To be clear, the numerical path after userdata\ appears to refer to be the user number for your Steam account (so that will vary from user to user).

The second numerical path is something else. Unlike Civitar's description, my downloaded mods are spread throughout many numbered folders, one for each mod. It doesn't appear to be the Workshop item (since it's not the same or inclusive of the ID). I believe based on the order that it identifies the Subscribe or Update request.

Depending on where the failure occurred, you may also find other .civ5mods in the previous folder under ..\ugc\temp [or the Mods folder itself], and partly downloaded files in ..\ugc\download