Civilization 5 Graphics Mod

Civilization 5 Graphics Mod 2

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It's a Brave New World for Civilization V, and a brave new world for Civ V mods. We've gone through our and tested our collection from the Steam Workshop for 2014 compatibility and freshness.

Sid Meier's Civilization V
Developers
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Publishers
OS X, Linux
Engines
Release dates
Windows	September 21, 2010
macOS (OS X)	November 23, 2010
Linux	June 10, 2014

Civilization
Civilization	1991
Civilization II	1996
Civilization III	2001
Civilization IV	2005
CivCity: Rome	2006
Civilization IV: Colonization	2008
Civilization V	2010
Civilization: Beyond Earth	2014
Civilization VI	2016

General information

PC Report - Sid Meier's Civilzation V on Linux

2K Games Forum - Official Civilization V forum.

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Workshop

Steam Forum Troubleshooting Thread - Troubleshooting Guide for Windows version.

CivFanatics very large Civilization community.

1Availability
2Essential improvements
3Game data
4Video settings
5Input settings
6Audio settings
7Network
9Issues fixed
- 9.1General
- 9.2Multiplayer
- 9.3Windows
- 9.4Linux
10Other information

Availability[edit]

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Retail
Gamesplanet	Sold by 2K Games.
Gamesplanet	Sold by Aspyr Media.
Green Man Gaming
Mac App Store	Campaign Edition. No online play.
Steam

All Windows and Linux versions require SteamDRM.

Version differences[edit]

The Campaign Edition does not support online play; LAN multiplayer can work with other Mac App Store versions, or with the Steam version, if they are the same version. However, they are often updated at different times, so it can be months before they get the same update and are compatible.

The Complete Edition includes all DLC.

Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions

Name	Notes
Gods and Kings
Brave New World
Wonders of the Ancient World
Explorer's Map Pack
Civilization and Scenario Pack: The Vikings
Civilization and Scenario Pack: Polynesia
Civilization and Scenario Pack: Mongols
Civilization and Scenario Pack: Korea
Civilization and Scenario Pack: Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar II)
Double Civilization and Scenario Pack: Spain and Inca
Cradle of Civilization: Mesopotamia
Cradle of Civilization: Americas
Cradle of Civilization: Asia
Cradle of Civilization: Mediterranean
Scrambled Nations Map Pack
Scrambled Continents Map Pack

Essential improvements[edit]

Mods[edit]

Mods are available through multiple distribution channels. Easily accessible through the Steam Workshop, as well as manually installable. Popular sources include CivFanatics.

You must activate a mod after installing in order to make it work. To do so, enter the Mods menu and tick the checkbox next to the mods you want to activate.

Manual mod installation^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration files location.
Copy the mod into the Mods/ folder here.
Activate the mod in the game.

Notes

If the Mod Database is corrupted or deleted, any manual mods will be deleted.

Increasing the zoom level[edit]

Manually edit config.ini^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration files location.
Open config.ini.
Find and edit:
Minimum Zoom Level = 11.000000
Save changes.

Notes

Changing the variable to a lower level will make you able to zoom in closer.

Skip launcher[edit]

Skipping new launcher^[1]^[2]

Right-click on Civilization V in your Steam Library.
Select Properties -> Set Launch Options...
Enter '<path-to-game>CivilizationV.exe' %command%, '<path-to-game>CivilizationV_DX11.exe' %command% or '<path-to-game>CivilizationV_Tablet.exe' %command% to launch in their respective modes.
Confirm changes by pressing OK.

Notes

The path ending in CivilizationV_Tablet.exe will launch the game in Touch Enabled mode on Windows 8 and later.

Skipping old launcher^{[citation needed]}

Right-click on Civilization V in your Steam Library.
Select Properties -> Set Launch Options...
Enter dx9, dx11 or win8 to launch in their respective modes.
Confirm changes by pressing OK.

Notes

win8 will launch the game in Touch Enabled mode on Windows 8 and later.

Skip intro videos[edit]

Delete/rename video files^[3]^[4]

Go to the installation folder.
Delete the file(s) starting with Civ5_Opening_Movie
Go to <path-to-game>/Assets/DLC/Expansion (if present) and delete the file starting with Civ5XP_Opening_Movie.
Go to <path-to-game>/Assets/DLC/Expansion2 (if present) and delete the file starting with Civ5XP2_Opening_Movie.
Optionally, skip the legal screen as well.

Notes

Expansion is the Gods and Kings DLC; Expansion2 is the Brave New World DLC. These are only present if the DLC is installed.

File names and formats vary based on the game language and operating system (.ogv for Windows, .mov for OS X and Linux).

Skip legal screen[edit]

Skipping legal screen^{[citation needed]}

Open <path-to-game>/Assets/UI/FrontEnd/FrontEnd.lua with a text editor.
Find line UIManager:QueuePopup( Controls.LegalScreen, PopupPriority.LegalScreen );
Replace it with -- UIManager:QueuePopup( Controls.LegalScreen, PopupPriority.LegalScreen ); .
Save the file.

Skip mods warning[edit]

Skipping mods warning^{[citation needed]}

1. Open <path-to-game>AssetsUIFrontEndModdingEULA.lua with a text editor.

2. Find lines:

3. Replace them with: Answers to word search puzzles.

4. Save the file.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%DocumentsMy GamesSid Meier's Civilization 5
macOS (OS X)	~/Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/

This game follows the XDG Base Directory Specification on Linux.

The configuration can be found in config.ini.

User preferences can be found in UserSettings.ini.

Graphical settings for DX9 mode can be found in GraphicsSettingsDX9.ini.

Graphical settings for DX11 mode can be found in GraphicsSettingsDX11.ini.

Save game data location[edit]

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%DocumentsMy GamesSid Meier's Civilization 5Saves
macOS (OS X)	~/Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/Saves/
Linux	$XDG_DATA_HOME/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/Saves/
Steam	<Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/8930/

Save files are differently named for each OS, but are compatible when saved with the same version. To use them, you will need to rename them.

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud	Only 10 saves can be synced. Select 'Steam Cloud' in the Save menu to access.

Video settings[edit]

Video settings.

Graphics feature	State	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD	Interface does not scale with resolution, and can be quite small in 4K. It's recommended to have both the 'Auto Size Interface' and 'Small Scale Interface' UI options unchecked.
Field of view (FOV)	Camera can be zoomed in-and-out freely.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See Borderless fullscreen windowed. Enabled by default on Linux.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)	See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)	MSAA, up to 8x.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS	No frame rate or refresh rate cap.^[5]

Requires a resolution at least 768 pixels tall.

Direct3D 11 graphical features, including anti-aliasing, are not available in the OS X and Linux versions of the game.

Borderless fullscreen windowed[edit]

Functioning using Borderless Gaming.^[6]

Mouse offset may be 15px off vertically.

Change resolution^[7]

Change resolution to any other than the current one.
Change back to previous resolution.
Screen should be stretched correctly, and hitboxes aligned.

Notes

May function if you disable always-on-top.

Input settings[edit]

Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse, touch	State	Notes
Remapping	See Remapping.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Touchscreen optimised	Only available on Windows 8 and later.
Controller
Controller support	Official Steam Controller bindings only.

Steam Input
Steam Input API support	Official Steam Controller bindings only.
Hook input (legacy mode)
Official controller preset(s)
Steam Controller button prompts

Remapping[edit]

Edit CIV5Controls.xml^[8]

Go to <path-to-game>/Assets/Gameplay/XML/Units/
Open CIV5Controls.xml.
Change the controls to match your preference.
Save changes.

Audio settings[edit]

Audio settings.

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls	Music, SFX, ambience and speech.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Traditional Chinese	Windows-only.
French
German
Italian
Japanese	Windows-only.
Korean	Windows-only.
Polish	Windows-only.
Russian	Windows-only.
Spanish

Network[edit]

Network settings.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players
Local play	6	Hot seat
LAN play	6	Campaign Edition only supports LAN with other Mac App Store players.
Online play	6	Campaign Edition does not support online play.
Asynchronous multiplayer	Via the Pitboss system.

Connection types

Type	Native	Notes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

Protocol	Port(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP	53, 80, 1745, 1795, 3074
UDP	53, 88, 1745, 1795, 3064, 3074

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

VR support[edit]

3D modes	Native	GG3D	Notes
Nvidia 3D Vision	3D Vision Ready. GG3D certification might be unjust.^[9]
TriDef 3D
iZ3D

Issues fixed[edit]

General[edit]

Mods disappear, fail to download[edit]

Clear the Mod Database^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration files location.
Go to cache/
Delete or rename Civ5ModsDatabase.db.
Restart the game, go to the Mods menu, and allow the mods to reinstall.

Game corruption[edit]

This may be caused by database files and user settings becoming damaged.

Erase game cache^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration files location.
Remove cache/.

Remove user settings^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration files location.
Remove cache/, Logs/, ModUserData/, Text/ and all *.ini files.

Checkerboard patterns[edit]

Decrease MaxSimultaneousThreads^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration files location.
Open config.ini.
Halve the value of MaxSimultaneousThreads (e.g., if it is 8, change it to 4).

Gray tiles, tiles not loading[edit]

Enable MinimizeGrayTiles^[10]

Go to the configuration files location.
Open the configuration file for your graphical mode (DX9/DX11).
Change the value of MinimizeGrayTiles = 0 to MinimizeGrayTiles = 1

Crash after starting a new game[edit]

This is particularly important on DirectX 9 or graphics cards with low memory.

Fog of War Crash Fix^[11]

In the video settings, change Fog of War to low.

Can't select units or end turn[edit]

If you have a delay in units responding, or the end turn button does not work, try the following:

Disable EnableGameCoreThreading^{[citation needed]}

Go to the configuration files location.
Open config.ini.
Set EnableGameCoreThreading to 0.

Notes

This has been improved in the latest patch, but the problem still exists.

Turning down graphics settings may also correct this.

Civilization 5 Graphics Mod 2

Leaderhead crash[edit]

The game may crash when meeting other leaders.

Change Leaderhead Quality^{[citation needed]}

From the main menu, go to options.
Go to video settings.
Change Leader Scene Quality to low.

Leaders will not be animated.

Disable Leaderheads^{[citation needed]}

Open %USERPROFILE%DocumentsMy GamesSid Meier's Civilization 5config.ini
Change LeaderHead = 0 to LeaderHead = 1.
Save your changes.

Leader screens will be blank.

Restore the original launcher[edit]

Restore the original launcher^{[citation needed]}

Right-click on Civilization V in your Steam Library.
Select Properties -> Set Launch Options...
Enter '<path-to-game>Launcher.exe' %command%.
Confirm changes by pressing OK.

Notes

The original method of restoring the launcher using a Steam beta access code discussed on reddit^[12] is no longer valid and cannot be used to restore the original launcher. The original launcher is still included in the files, so the code is unnecessary.

Multiplayer[edit]

The latest patch resolves most of the reported multiplayer bugs.

Multiplayer Games Dropping or Disconnecting During Play[edit]

Sometimes players will be dropped after a multiplayer match has progressed for several dozen turns or more. After reloading the game, the player will repeatedly disconnect. This problem can be caused by an insufficient MTU value on the network connection. Changing it before starting the multiplayer game can often fix the problem. To do so, enter the following in the command prompt:

Set network MTU value^{[citation needed]}

Open Windows command prompt (⊞ Win+R and type cmd)
Enter the command set subinterface 'Local Area Connection' mtu=1500 store=persistent. Replace Local Area Connection with the name of your network connection (e.g. Wireless Network Connection if you are on wireless)

Windows and OS X version mismatch[edit]

The OS X version is not handled by Firaxis or 2K Games, so they only develop patches for Windows. Another company (Aspyr) handles the OS X version of the patches, after they have been released on Windows. As a result, OS X patches are released later than Windows patches. You cannot play multiplayer unless the versions match, so after a Windows update, you cannot play online against OS X until the OS X has also been patched.

Windows[edit]

Unable to run DirectX 11[edit]

If the DirectX 11 option is unavailable, try the following.

Ensure Steam is not running in Compatibility Mode.

Disabling Compatibility Mode^{[citation needed]}

Quit out of Steam.
Right-click on the Steam.exe application (found in the Steam installation folder) and select 'Properties', then select the 'Compatibility' tab.
At the bottom of this tab is a button called 'Change Settings for All Users'. Click it.
Make sure Compatibility Mode is unchecked.
Relaunch Steam.

This may also be caused by out of date drivers.

DirectX 10/11 Mode will not work on XP.

Not all video cards are capable of running DirectX 10 or 11, even with Windows 7. Intel Core i3 integrated graphics do not support DirectX 11 Mode in Civilization V.

Disappearing cursor[edit]

Enabling pointer trails in Windows may cause the cursor to disappear or act strangely. Disable this feature while playing.

Black screen (anti aliasing issue)[edit]

Enabling anti-aliasing on DirectX 11 mode may cause the game to turn black. It is recommended that you enabled anti-aliasing through your graphics software, and not the game. If antialiasing is enabled and this issue is present (causing the screen to be black), you can edit GraphicsSettingsDX11.ini to fix this.

Issues with resolution (screen cutoff)[edit]

Sometimes after installing the game, the game resolution will be larger than the screen and parts of the game will be cut off. To fix this, go into options and change the game resolution. If you are unable to access the options, manually edit GraphicsSettingsDX9.ini or GraphicsSettingsDX11.ini (depending on which DirectX mode you use) in %USERPROFILE%DocumentsMy GamesSid Meier's Civilization 5 to the correct resolution (1024x768 Minimum).

Virtu MVP[edit]

If the game does not run, or will not start most of the time, and nothing else seems to fix the problem, Virtu MVP might be causing the issue. Try unchecking Civ 5 DirectX 9 and Civ 5 DirectX 10/11 in the Virtu MVP control panel.

Issues with opening movies[edit]

If the game crashes to desktop or loads to a black screen, then there may be an incompatibility with the video files. Deleting the WMV video files from the Civilization V folder may allow the game to run, as the expense of losing the opening movies.

The video files for Civilization V are located in the installation folder. If you have Gods and Kings, you will also need to delete the videos from <path-to-game>AssetsDLCExpansion

'N' Versions of Windows may not be compatible with the opening videos.

Linux[edit]

Audio stuttering[edit]

To fix the audio stuttering when using PulseAudio just follow this guide:Setting the default fragment number and buffer size in PulseAudio

If the issue persists, close the game, run pulseaudio -k and start the game again.

Game crashes on launch[edit]

If your game crashes immediately after launching it you can try changing your launch options to:LD_PRELOAD='./libcxxrt.so:/usr/$LIB/libstdc++.so.6' %command%or:LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib32/libopenal.so.1 %command%

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	9, 11
OpenGL	3.3	OS X and Linux only.
Shader Model support	3, 5
64-bit executable

Middleware[edit]

Middleware	Notes
Audio	Miles Sound System
Cutscenes	Bink Video
Multiplayer	Steamworks

System requirements[edit]

Windows
Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP3, Vista SP2, 7	Vista SP2, 7
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz AMD Athlon X2 64 2.0 GHz	1.8 GHz Quad Core
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT Nvidia GeForce 7900 GS Intel Core i3 integrated graphics 256 MB of VRAM DirectX 9.0c compatible	ATI Radeon HD 4800 Nvidia GeForce 9800 512 MB of VRAM DirectX 11 compatible
Sound (audio device)	DirectX 9.0c compatible

macOS (OS X)
Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.8.5
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz	Intel Quad Core 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATI Radeon HD 2600 Nvidia GeForce 8600 Intel HD 4000 256 MB of VRAM	1 GB of VRAM

Linux
Minimum
Operating system (OS)	SteamOS, Ubuntu
Processor (CPU)	Intel Core i3 2.4 GHz AMD A10 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce GT 640M AMD Radeon HD 6450 Intel Iris Pro 1 GB of VRAM

Ubuntu and other distributions of Linux should be compatible with the game, albeit this isn't guaranteeed.

Intel Integrated video chipsets (GMA 9XX, HD 3XXX) are officially unsupported with SteamOS and Linux, although they might work anyway.

References

↑Sid Meier's Civilization V :: New and Improved Launcher Added to Civilization V and Civilization VI
↑How to bypass the stupid launcher page 3 CivFanatics Forums
↑How to skip start-up logos (NOT the intro movie) :: Sid Meier's Civilization V General Discussions
↑Trezker comments on Can you skip the annoying Civ 5 intro screens?
↑New 120Hz Games Report
↑Verified by User:Andytizer on 18 June 2012
↑Play all your games in Windowed borderless mode. - Page 9 - Steam Users' Forums (retrieved)
↑'F12 conflict; how to remap keys?' - Steam Community Discussions
↑Civilization V GeForce
↑Civ V Hot fix released - Civilization Fanatics' Forums
↑Problems after the latest patch? :: Steam Community Discussions
↑PSA: You can disable the new CIV 5 launcher by typing 'ineedlegacyaccess' into the betas tab. : civ