Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
(Redirected from Civilization: Beyond Earth)
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth cover
Developers
Firaxis Games
macOS (OS X) Aspyr Media
Linux Aspyr Media
Publishers
2K Games
OS X, Linux Aspyr Media
Engines
LORE
Release dates
Windows October 24, 2014
macOS (OS X) November 26, 2014
Linux December 18, 2014
Reception
Metacritic 81
OpenCritic 81
IGDB 82
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Expansion pack, DLC
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Turn-based
Perspectives Bird's-eye view
Controls Point and select
Genres 4X, TBS
Themes Sci-fi
Series Civilization
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth on HowLongToBeat
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth on IGDB
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth on MobyGames
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth on Wikipedia
Sid Meier's Civilization 1991
Freeciv (unofficial) 1996
Sid Meier's Civilization II 1996
Civilization II: Test of Time 1999
Sid Meier's Civilization III 2001
Sid Meier's Civilization IV 2005
CivCity: Rome 2006
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization 2008
Sid Meier's Civilization V 2010
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth 2014
Sid Meier's Civilization VI 2016

Warnings

Mantle graphics API option requires an AMD video card with a driver version earlier than Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1.[1]

Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is a singleplayer and multiplayer bird's-eye view 4X and TBS game in the Civilization series.

The game received a single major expansion, Rising Tide, in October 2015, which included new civilizations, units, hybrid affinities, and more options for aquatic settlements and units. In November 2014, a minor DLC titled the Exoplanets Map Pack was released as well.

The game's shorter development and support cycles resulted in some performance issues compared to its immediate predecessor, such as leaders being visible only in minimum settings on some systems, and rendering issues common with those in the previous game.

General information

PC Report - Civilization: Beyond Earth on Linux
Civilization Wiki - A detailed wiki for all Civilization games and their spin offs
Apolyton Civilization Site's Civilization: Beyond Earth section - A huge forum dedicated to all Civilization games and their spin offs
Civilization Fanatics' Civilization: Beyond Earth Forums
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Retail
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Sold by 2K Games.
Collection also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Sold by Aspyr Media.
Collection also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Sold by 2K Games.
Collection only.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
GamersGate
Icon overlay.png
Sold by Aspyr Media.
The Collection also available.
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
The Collection
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Mac App Store
Icon overlay.png
Currently single player only. Multiplayer support will be added in a future update.
macOS (OS X)
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Free demo: steam://install/322610
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Amazon.com (unavailable)
Icon overlay.png
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
All Windows and Linux versions require Steam DRM.

Monetization

Type Notes
DLC Minor DLC includes map types.
Expansion pack The expansion pack include multiple civilizations, mechanics, and improvements.
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Exoplanets Map Pack Pre-order bonus
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux
Rising Tide Free demo: steam://install/394170
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

The cinematic intro video can be disabled from the in-game options screen in the "Interface Options" tab.
Delete/rename video files[2]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>.
  2. Delete or rename CivBE_Logos.bk2.
  3. OS X and Linux: delete or rename Aspyr.bik.

Speed up main menu options

Modify MainMenu.xml[citation needed]
  1. Open <path-to-game>\assets\UI\FrontEnd\MainMenu.xml.
  2. Find and replace all mentions of AlphaStart="0" with AlphaStart="1".

Skip legal screen

Skipping legal screen[2]
  1. Open <path-to-game>\Assets\UI\FrontEnd\FrontEnd.lua with a text editor.
  2. Find line UIManager:QueuePopup( Controls.LegalScreen, PopupPriority.LegalScreen );
  3. Replace it with -- UIManager:QueuePopup( Controls.LegalScreen, PopupPriority.LegalScreen ); .
  4. Save the file.

Enable Split-Frame Rendering (SFR)

Enabling SFR results in better multi-GPU performance with more consistent overall frame rates.
Edit graphics settings[3][4]
  1. Go to the configuration files folder.
  2. Open GraphicsSettings.ini.
  3. Change Enable mGPU = 0 to Enable mGPU = 1.
  4. Save and close the file.

Notes

Only works on Mantle-compatible AMD Crossfire setups.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\
macOS (OS X) $HOME/Library/Application Support/Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth/
Linux $XDG_DATA_HOME/aspyr-media/Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth/
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.
Advanced graphics settings can be found in GraphicsSettings.ini.
Cache\ and Logs\ folders are highly compressible

Save game data location

System Location
Windows %USERPROFILE%\Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\Saves\
macOS (OS X) $HOME/Library/Application Support/Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth/Saves/
Linux $XDG_DATA_HOME/aspyr-media/Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth/Saves/
Steam <Steam-folder>/userdata/<user-id>/65980/remote/

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
OneDrive
Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers.
Steam Cloud
Only 10 saves can be synced. Select "Steam Cloud" in the Save menu to access.
Though save files are compatible between systems, you will need to rename them manually when moving. This is because patches to non-Windows releases are sometimes delayed, which might cause compatibility issues.

Video

Video Options.
Video Options.

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
See Issues unresolved.
Multi-monitor
Broken on AMD cards[citation needed]
Ultra-widescreen
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
MSAA on all systems. On Windows with Nvidia cards CSAA, with AMD cards EQAA
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Interface Options.
Interface Options.

Remapping

Edit CIVBEControls.xml[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>\assets\Gameplay\XML\Units
  2. Open CIVBEControls.xml.
  3. Change the controls to match the desired ones.

Audio

Audio Options.
Audio Options.

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Music, sound effects, ambiance, and speech
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Hungarian
Fan translation.
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Russian
Spanish

Network

Multiplayer Options.
Multiplayer Options.

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
Local play
8 Hot seat
LAN play
8 Seems to have issues with more than 4 players.[citation needed]
Online play
8
Asynchronous multiplayer

Issues unresolved

AMD - Actual mouse cursor position becomes offset

AMD has reported an issue where the actual mouse position becomes offset from the cursor position. They are working with Firaxis to correct this issue.
Go to Windows Settings and adjust Text Scaling[5]
  1. Right-click the desktop.
  2. Select Screen Resolution from the menu which appears.
  3. From the window which appears, select Make text and other items larger or smaller.
  4. Set DPI scaling to 100%.
  5. Click the OK button.

Unable to use resolutions beyond 1280x720 on 144Hz monitors

Run game in windowed mode[6]
  1. From the main menu, go to the Options menu, then to the Video tab.
  2. Deselect Fullscreen.
  3. Click on the Accept button.
  4. Exit the game, then restart it.

Notes

Changing the refresh rate of the monitor to 60Hz in-game or otherwise does not fix this issue.[7]

Leaders scenes are visible only with minimum settings

[8][9]

Issues fixed

Game crashes on "Configuring Game Data"

Configuring Game Data[citation needed]
  1. Go into the Options menu, then the Video tab.
  2. Uncheck Fullscreen
  3. Click the Accept button.
  4. Exit the game, then restart it.

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11
OpenGL 4 OS X and Linux only.
Mantle support
Requires an AMD video card with a driver version earlier than 19.5.1 (2019).[1]
Shader Model support 5
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)
Linux

Middleware

Middleware Notes
Audio Miles Sound System
Cutscenes Bink Video
Multiplayer Steamworks

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) Vista SP2
Processor (CPU) AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.0 GHz
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz
System memory (RAM) 2 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 8 GB
Video card (GPU) ATI Radeon HD 3650
Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT
Intel HD 3000
256 MB of VRAM
DirectX 11 compatible
Sound (audio device) DirectX 9.0c compatible
macOS (OS X)
Minimum[10]
Operating system (OS) 10.10
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i3 2.2 GHz
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 10 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GT 640M
ATI Radeon 4850
Intel HD Graphics 4000
512 MB of VRAM
Linux
Minimum[10]
Operating system (OS) Ubuntu 14.04, SteamOS
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i3 2.4 GHz
AMD A10 2.4 GHz
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 8 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
1 GB of VRAM
ATI/AMD and Intel GPUs are not officially supported on Linux.


References

  1. 1.0 1.1 AMD - Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1 Highlights - last accessed on 2019-05-15
    "Support for AMD Mantle API Technology has been discontinued starting with Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.5.1. Users who wish to continue to use AMD Mantle API Technology may do so with prior supported Radeon Software releases."
  2. 2.0 2.1 Verified by User:Plok on 2021-09-05
  3. ExtremeTech - Investigating AMD Mantle’s superb multi-GPU scaling in Civilization: Beyond Earth, page 2 - last accessed on 2014-10-27
  4. Anandtech - Civilization: Beyond Earth CrossFire with Mantle SFR: Not Actually Broken! - last accessed on 2014-10-27
  5. AMD Catalyst™ 14.9.2 Beta Windows® Driver - last accessed on 2014-10-27
  6. Problem Running Civilization: Beyond Earth in Full-Screen – 2K Support - last accessed on 2014-10-27
  7. SegmentNext - Civilization: Beyond Earth Crashes, Errors, Resolution, Refresh Rate, Graphics, Performance Fixes - last accessed on 2014-10-27
  8. Metal Gear Solid: Outer Heaven :: Steam Workshop - last accessed on 2015-01-30
  9. The Japanese Empire :: Steam Workshop - last accessed on 2015-01-30
  10. 10.0 10.1 Sid Meier's Civilization®: Beyond Earth™ –The Collection - Aspyr