Community-Patch-DLL

This is the repository for the Civ V SDK + Vox Populi Mod.

What is Vox Populi

Started in 2014, Vox Populi (formerly known as the "Community Balance Patch") is a collaborative effort to improve Civilization V's AI and gameplay. It consists of a collection of mods (see below) that are designed to work together seamlessly.

• The Community Patch (CP) is the base mod
  • Contains the gamecore DLL, which is based on C++ code linked against the official Civ V SDK
  • Contains bugfixes (also for multiplayer), performance improvements and many AI enhancements, but minimal gameplay changes
  • Can be used standalone and is the basis for many other mods
• The Community Balance Overhaul (CBO)
  • Expands and changes the core mechanics of the game, offering an entirely new Civilization V experience that feels and plays like an evolution of the series
• City State Diplomacy, Civ4 Diplomacy Features and More Luxuries
  • Additional optional features
• EUI (optional)
  • Enhanced User Interface

Where can I learn more

Check out the forum at https://forums.civfanatics.com/forums/community-patch-project.497/

How can I play this

• You can subscribe to CP on the Steam Workshop, but that version is relatively old.
• One-click installers for the complete VP pack are available on the forum.
• Do not mix both options!
• You need the latest version of Civilization V (1.0.3.279) with all expansions and DLC.

How can I build this

• Just clone the repo. The Visual Studio solution file VoxPopuli_vs2013.sln is included in the repository folder
• Significant portions of the mods are Lua / SQL / XML files. Those can be modified without rebuilding the game core
• You need the Visual C++ 2008 SP1 compiler to actually link the resulting game core DLL
• It is possible to use a recent IDE like Visual Studio 2019 Community though, just make sure to use the correct toolset
• Always install different Visual Studio editions in chronological order, eg 2008 before 2019
• If prompted on loading the solution file whether you want to retarget projects, select "No Upgrade" for both options and continue
• If you encounter an "unexpected precompiler header error", install this hotfix
• A tutorial with visual aids has been posted here, courtesy of ASCII Guy

How do I debug this

To enable logging (for bug reports)

• Logs provide some useful information on AI decisions and other problems
• Logging can be enabled in My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization V\config.ini
• Set the following options to 1:
  • ValidateGameDatabase
  • LoggingEnabled
  • MessageLog
  • AILog
  • AIPerfLog
  • BuilderAILog
  • PlayerAndCityAILogSplit
• Make sure to save your changes! Enabling logging only needs to be done once every time the game is installed.
• The log files will now be written to My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization V\Logs
  • Place them in a .zip file and attach them to your bug report!

To debug the GameCoreDLL

• Use Visual Studio to build the DEBUG configuration of the project (as opposed to the RELEASE config)
• Place the generated .dll and .pdb file (from the BuildOutput folder) in the mods folder (Community Patch Core), replacing the dll there.
• Start Civ V and load the mod
• Make sure Visual Studio is open with the solution file loaded
• In the Visual Studio debugger menu select "Attach to process" and pick Civilization5.exe
• Start the game. In case it crashes the debugger will show you where and why.
  • It may be you only see an address, no code. In that case the crash is outside of the game core dll ...
  • However it may still be possible to learn something from the callstack!
• You do not have to play yourself - the FireTuner from the Civ V SDK has an autoplay feature under the Game tab, so you can lean back and watch the AI
  • You must first enable the tuner in My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization V\config.ini (first option)
• You can also set (conditional) breakpoints in the code to inspect the value of interesting variables.
  • It is useful to place breakpoints where bugged functions are called, as you will see the callstack leading to that function call, and the value of the variables passed to it
• Do not make changes to the code while the mod is running, this will desync the debugger
• You may encounter benign exceptions, usually soon after beginning the debugging process
  • An example of this is an error informing you that a PDB file was not found.
  • These are nothing to worry about, you only want to catch unhandled exceptions (i.e. crashes)
  • If you encounter these exceptions, uncheck the box labelled "Break when this exception is thrown"
  • Then detach the debugger and reattach it to the process to resume debugging. You may have to do this a few times