Installing Mods
To install a Mod you need to copy the modified files into your "My Documents\My Games\GalCiv3\Mods" folder. Many mods come as .zip or .rar file and need to be extracted to this folder.
Enabling Mods
To enable mods open the game options, click on "Gameplay" and select "Enable Mods". You have to restart the game after changing this option.
Creating Mods
Simple gameplay modifications
1) In your "My Documents\My Games\GalCiv3\Mods" folder is a textfile called "ModdingReadme". It's short, read it.
2) Either copy the ExampleMod folder (it's empty, only has folders) and rename it, or create the necessary folders manually (ParticleScriptDefs, Text, Core and Game)
3) Copy/paste the .xml files you wish to modify to the appropriate folder of your mod. Edit values.
Example mod:
This tiny modification sets the number of turns between trades with an AI player to 5.
File: \data\Game\GalCiv3GlobalDefs.xml goes into the mods Game folder
Changes:
- <AITradeCooldown>5</AITradeCooldown>
How to use custom images for your factions
To use your own images you need to put them into your "My Documents\My Games\GalCiv3\Factions" folder. There are four subfolders for:
Leader Background
Folder name: LeaderBGs
Suggested Image Dimensions: 1920x1080 Pixels*
Leader Foreground
Folder name: LeaderFGs
Suggested Image Dimensions: 1920x1080 Pixels*
Leader Portrait
Folder name: Portraits
Suggested Image Dimensions: 128x128 Pixels*
Faction Logo
Folder name: Logos
Suggested Image Dimensions: 128x128 Pixels*
*(other sizes work but try to keep the aspect ratio)
Faction Links
User created factions are now plentiful and growing. This section attempts to provide links to a number of locations allowing downloads of player created factions. There are two sections, one for simple factions and one for mods. It is important to realize that factions created as mods allow more extensive changes, such as including ship design types, but are far more fragile with respect to updates to the GalCiv3 program itself, and so are much more likely to become "broken" after a patch or update. Thus, some testing may be necessary to assure these factions work properly. Also, it is important to remember that modded factions will not appear unless mods are activated the program options.
Of course any of the factions downloaded may be edited as wished by clicking on the faction picture in the Start Game area and then clicking "Edit" in the lower right corner of the faction picture. If you then click the save button you will have a new faction. Alternatively, you can "copy" the faction to leave the original faction unchanged and save the new modified faction separately, as you choose.
Installation Instructions:
If the faction is not a mod, one can simply copy (after decompressing the file) the appropriate faction pieces into the appropriate sub-directories of C:\Users\Your User Name\Documents\My Games\GalCiv3\Factions. The sub-directories may include entries for foregrounds, backgrounds, or portraits. Some novel factions only need to copy the actual faction file into the above faction directory, as the faction code includes all needed information.
If the faction is a mod, the faction must be placed into C:\Users\Your User Name\Documents\My Games\GalCiv3\mods; AND the "Use Mods" button must be clicked in the Game Options. Be careful to note whether the author of the faction indicates any special instructions for installation or perhaps for updating a modded faction.
General Link (parenthesis include author handle - please correct if there is an error!):
Seilore's faction thread is a great place to start picking up new factions: http://forums.galciv3.com/465323/page/1
List of 45 factions (various): http://www.filedropper.com/factions
Several Mods(rKade8583): http://www.mediafire.com/download/gk9rx59p99i1kl8/Factions.rar
United Earth Planets (BogdanUkr1984): http://www.mediafire.com/download/1dce27m0zz9e6rm/Factions.rar
Eight Additional Mods(SmegInThePants ): http://www.stafford-the-bastard.com/gc3/smegsfactions.zip
Iron Sky(RavenX): https://www.dropbox.com/s/o6cke1dcmhq13iy/Iron%20Sky%20X.zip?dl=0
Several Factions, including The Global Dominion, Sim Federation, Sixam, and NanoTrasen (James009D): https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3SQtG3J8t1renlGbnA1NDQwV00/view?usp=sharing Faction (exNihil): https://www.dropbox.com/s/bh4t3gf0ci9bzzx/Factions.7z?dl=0
Ten Custom Factions (PierreLuc): Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yxb1mzv2c1lp1u5/Factions-PLH-V1.zip?dl=0
Two Factions (RavenX): http://www.gamefront.com/files/25011217/Honor+Harrington.zip