Unusual Civ4 Install Making Mod Install Difficult

[Tjmachado]

Hey all, so I finally got back around to playing Civ4 and I wanted to either pick up my old save from C2C or start again if I couldn't find it (which may end up being the case; new computer), but I'm having issues even starting up the mod.

I did some poking around, and it seems like I'm having similar problems to some other people in the past (GFC Error, yada yada) but the catch is this: I don't have a C:/Users/Program Files (x86)/Firaxis Games folder. At all. My Civ install and any related files are *exclusively* in the ...Documents/My Games/Beyond the Sword folder. I tried installing the mod in there and that's where the GFC Error came up and so on. I also tried transplanting my entire Beyond the Sword folder into the "correct" place (Firaxis Games) but no change (though I did only Copy and not remove from its original location, would that have made a difference?)

My installation... the more I look at it the less I like it. It's very unusual: I can't find a .exe file, and the shortcut on my desktop does nothing and "Windows cannot find the file location". I have to right-click the shortcut and select "Run with graphics processor..." to make it run. After that, Civ4 boots up normally!

Other things:
-the "built-in" mods work fine, though I can't find where in the file structure they are placed if they should be visible.
-I would clean uninstall and reinstall from the disc, but my disc is back at home (currently trying to get it shipped up to my college) and my laptop doesn't even have a disc reader (currently trying to see if things I've heard about USB disc readers being available for me are true or not) so it'll be a while before I could even potentially do that. If that would be the fix I'll wait for it, but I'd like to not have to.

I can provide screenshots of filestructure or other answers about things as needed.

 

[Toffer90]

First thing you gotta do is locate your Civ4BeyondSword.exe

Without knowing where that is, you can't really know where to put C2C.

​

 

[Tjmachado]

For the first time I did a proper, drive-wide search for the .exe instead of just the folder, and I did find it: C:\Program Files (x86)\2K Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete\Beyond the Sword. The additional 2K Games is why I couldn't find it previously. That helps a lot, lets me fix my desktop shortcut to base Civ 4 as well.

I moved (cut-paste, not copy, because I've heard that having a copy in Documents causes issues) my C2C folder from the Documents/... path to the Mods folder adjacent to the executable, and now attempting to load the mod brings me in to a vanilla BtS screen. It does load properly though, so progress is being made.

This is what the folder looks like right now:


Is there anything more I need to delete or clear to force the game to look at the mod properly?

 

[Thunderbrd]

Is it not loading still?

 

[Yudishtira]

Try removing (move elsewhere - not My Documents, maybe desktop - or delete) the User Settings folder.

 

[raxo2222]

Try removing (move elsewhere - not My Documents, maybe desktop - or delete) the User Settings folder.

That folder will be always in Caveman2Cosmos

For the first time I did a proper, drive-wide search for the .exe instead of just the folder, and I did find it: C:\Program Files (x86)\2K Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4 Complete\Beyond the Sword. The additional 2K Games is why I couldn't find it previously. That helps a lot, lets me fix my desktop shortcut to base Civ 4 as well.

I moved (cut-paste, not copy, because I've heard that having a copy in Documents causes issues) my C2C folder from the Documents/... path to the Mods folder adjacent to the executable, and now attempting to load the mod brings me in to a vanilla BtS screen. It does load properly though, so progress is being made.

This is what the folder looks like right now:
View attachment 536972

Is there anything more I need to delete or clear to force the game to look at the mod properly?

You can force game to always load mod.
_Civ4Config - where vanilla settings are is in same folder as BTS EXE.
Actual file is named CivilizationIV.ini and is in C:\<USERNAME>\XYZ\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword - above one i shortcut.

Edit "Mod =" line to this:
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = Caveman2Cosmos

 

[Thunderbrd]

That folder will be always in Caveman2Cosmos

But deleting it or moving it out will force it to be recreated when you start again, which is what it might need in some cases.

 

[raxo2222]

But deleting it or moving it out will force it to be recreated when you start again, which is what it might need in some cases.

Well now it should be automatically deleted, if game detects, that user settings are outdated.

 

[Thunderbrd]

Well now it should be automatically deleted, if game detects, that user settings are outdated.

Ah... ok. I think Yudi was trying to get at what has been a solution for many until recently.

 

[Tjmachado]

Is it not loading still?

It's not loading the mod; it's loading Vanilla BtS. It's loading *something* though which is better than I could say 24 hours ago, I guess?

Try removing (move elsewhere - not My Documents, maybe desktop - or delete) the User Settings folder.

I did try that, and saw it get recreated in the same fashion when I tried to open the mod again.

You can force game to always load mod.
_Civ4Config - where vanilla settings are is in same folder as BTS EXE.
Actual file is named CivilizationIV.ini and is in C:\<USERNAME>\XYZ\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword - above one i shortcut.

Edit "Mod =" line to this:
; Specify a Mod folder (Mods\Mesopotamia), '0' for none
Mod = Caveman2Cosmos

I could do that if all else fails, but I'd like to be able to load into vanilla BtS when I want to play a game of that instead of having to go make and undo that change in the .ini file every time.

 

[Yudishtira]

Ah... ok. I think Yudi was trying to get at what has been a solution for many until recently.

Is there any logfile that generates when the mod loads that might help explain this? (It seems the mod is loading to some extremely limited degree, ie. the degree of recreating UserSettings.) @Tjmachado : are any logs being created? I think they're in a 'Logs' directory outside the mod, or if not there will be a link there pointing to them.

Could the extra level in the pathname be making some paths too long?

 

[Toffer90]

Is there anything more I need to delete or clear to force the game to look at the mod properly?

I'm not sure...
You should be able to click "Advanced", then "Load a Mod", and then find Caveman2Cosmos at this point.

I could do that if all else fails, but I'd like to be able to load into vanilla BtS when I want to play a game of that instead of having to go make and undo that change in the .ini file every time.

Try using the C2C.bat file within the mod folder, it's supposed to start BtS with C2C loaded automatically.

Edit: Try enabling some extra logging, look in:

"...\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\CivilizationIV.ini"​

Set these to lines to this:

HidePythonExceptions = 0
LoggingEnabled = 1​

The first one will make pop up windows appear whenever a python error occur that tells what the error is. The second one will create some extra log files.
Upload the content of the logs folder here in this thread.
"...\Documents\My Games\Beyond the Sword\Logs"

 

[Tjmachado]

the .bat file has the same results as loading it through Advanced>Load a Mod; loading back into Vanilla BtS.

I enabled the logging, and got this set of logs from trying to load C2C. I skimmed through some of the larger ones but of course I wouldn't know what to look for. Which of these logs is of interest for loading the mod? I should note that I didn't get any popup windows from the first .ini change.



EDIT: WAIT A SEC, I just realized something that makes me look kinda stupid. The *title screen* is Vanilla BtS, complete with the music. But I checked the Civilopedia and C2C is definitely loaded from a data-side perspective. I haven't tried to start a game yet (guess I'll start loading one up now) but maybe it's just a title screen bug now? If all I'm missing is the C2C title screen background and music (Civ4 theme with lyrics is very burned in to my memory), this problem is a lot more minor than I realized.

EDIT 2: Okay so it's loading up C2C, just the title screen that's different. Is it just something trivial with the settings, like BtS Classical vs Beyond the Sword for the title screen?

 

[raxo2222]

EDIT 2: Okay so it's loading up C2C, just the title screen that's different. Is it just something trivial with the settings, like BtS Classical vs Beyond the Sword for the title screen?

Yeah, looks like you set custom title screen that is here regardless of mod.