Civilization V

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Sid Meier's Civilization V

Developers   Firaxis Games OS X Aspyr Media Linux Aspyr Media

Publishers   2K Games

Engines   LORE

Release dates Windows September 21, 2010 OS X November 23, 2010 Linux June 10, 2014

Civilization

Civilization	1991
CivNet	1995
Civilization II	1996
Conflicts in Civilization
Fantastic Worlds
Test of Time
Civilization III	2003
Play the World
Conquests
Civilization IV	2005
Warlords
Beyond the Sword
Civilization IV: Colonization	2008
Civilization V	2010
Gods & Kings
Brave New World
Civilization: Beyond Earth	2014

General information

2K Games Forum - Official Civilization V Forum.

Steam Community Discussions

Steam Users' Forums for game series

Steam Workshop

Steam Forum Troubleshooting Thread - Troubleshooting Guide for Windows version.

CivFanatics very large Civilization community.

PC Report: Sid Meier's Civilzation V on Linux.

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys
Retail
Green Man Gaming
GamersGate
Mac App Store		Campaign Edition. No online play.
Steam

All Windows and Linux versions require Steam.

Version differences

The Campaign Edition does not support online play; LAN multiplayer only works with other Mac App Store players.

The Complete Edition includes all DLC.

Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions

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

Essential improvements

Mods

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

You need to activate a mod after installing it. To do so, go to the Mods menu and tick the checkbox next to the mods you want to activate.

The OS X and Linux versions do not officially support mods or Steam Workshop.

Manual mod installation Copy the mod into a directory called Mods/ in the configuration files location. Activate the mod in the game. If the Mod Database is corrupted or deleted, any manual mods will be deleted.

Using mods on OS X and Linux

Not all mods are guaranteed to work.

Enable the mods menu Go to the installation folder and go into steamassets/assets/ui/frontend/. Open mainmenu.lua. Fine the line Controls.ModsButton:SetHide( true ); and change it to -- Controls.ModsButton:SetHide( true );

Installing mods Go to the configuration files location for your system. Place the mod files into the MODS/ subdirectory and map files into the Maps/ subdirectory. It's possible to copy the mods from the workshop by going to <Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/ugc/referenced/ and the appropriate subdirectory. If the mod is an archive or .civ5mod file, you may have to extract it, so you have a folder called MODS/modname with the mod files inside it.

Increasing the zoom level

Increasing the zoom level Open config.ini in the configuration files location. Find the line Minimum Zoom Level = 11.000000 Change it to a lower value to be able to zoom in closer.

Skip launcher

Skipping launcher Find Civilization V in your Steam Library. Right-click the game name. Select Properties. Select Set Launch Options.... Input \dx9, \dx11 or \win8 to launch directly in DirectX 9, DirectX 10/11 or Windows 8 Touch Enabled mode respectively. Press OK. Launch the game.

Game data

Configuration files location

	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\
OS X	~/Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/
Linux	~/.local/share/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/

This game supports 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

	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\Saves\
OS X	~/Documents/Aspyr/Sid Meier's Civilization 5/Saves/
Linux	~/.local/share/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

System	Native	Notes
Steam Cloud
GameSave Manager

Video settings

Video settings.

Graphics option	Option	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
High frame rate		No frame rate or refresh rate cap.

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

Functioning using Borderless Windowed.

Mouse offset may be 15px off vertically.

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

Can function if you disable always-on-top.

Input settings

Input settings.

Keyboard and mouse	Native	Notes
Remapping		See Remapping.
Mouse acceleration
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Other
Touchscreen optimised		Only available on Windows 8 and later.

Remapping

Edit CIV5Controls.xml Go to <path-to-game>/Assets/Gameplay/XML/Units/ and open CIV5Controls.xml. Change the controls to match your preference.

Audio settings

Audio settings.

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

Localizations

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

Network

Network settings.

Multiplayer types

Type	Native	Players	Notes
LAN play		6	Campaign Edition only supports LAN with other Mac App Store players.
Online play		6	Campaign Edition does not support online play.
Hot-seat		6
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 (outbound)	53, 80, 1745, 1795, 3074
UDP (outbound)	53, 88, 1745, 1795, 3064, 3074

Issues fixed

General

Mods disappear, fail to download

Clear the Mod Database Go to cache/ in the configuration files location. Delete Civ5ModsDatabase.db. Restart the game, go to the Mods menu, and allow the mods to reinstall.

Game corruption

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

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

Checkerboard patterns

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

Gray tiles, tiles not loading

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

Crash after starting a new game

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

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

Can't select units or end turn

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

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

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

Turning down graphics settings may also correct this.

Leaderhead crash

The game may crash when meeting other leaders.

Change Leaderhead Quality From the main menu, go to options. Go to video settings. Change Leader Scene Quality to low. Leaders will not be animated.

Disable Leaderheads Open %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\config.ini Change LeaderHead = 0 to LeaderHead = 1. Save your changes. Leader screens will be blank.

Multiplayer

The latest patch resolves most of the reported multiplayer bugs.

Multiplayer Games Dropping or Disconnecting During Play

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 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 without removing the quotes with the name of your network connection (e.g. Wireless Network Connection if you are on wireless)

Windows and OS X version mismatch

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

Unable to run DirectX 11

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

Ensure Steam is not running in Compatibility Mode.

Disabling Compatibility Mode 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

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

Black screen (anti aliasing issue)

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)

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%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5 to the correct resolution (1024x768 Minimum).

Virtu MVP

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

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>\Assets\DLC\Expansion

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

Linux

Audio stuttering

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.

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	XP SP3	Vista SP2, 7
Processor (CPU)	AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 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 Core i3 integrated graphics 256 MB of VRAM	ATi 4800 nVidia 9800 512 MB of VRAM

OS X
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.6.4
Processor (CPU)	2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo	Intel Quad core
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	8 GB
Video card (GPU)	ATi Radeon HD 2600 NVidia GeForce 8600 256 MB of VRAM	ATI Radeon HD 2600 NVidia GeForce 8600 512 MB of VRAM

Linux
	Minimum
Operating system (OS)	SteamOS
Processor (CPU)	2.4 GHz Intel Core i3 2.4 GHz AMD A10
System memory (RAM)	4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	10 GB
Video card (GPU)	Geforce 640M Radeon HD 6450 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) will not run Civilization V for SteamOS and Linux, and are unsupported.