Note: This entry does not relate to art or design, in the traditional sense of my site. I am writing this to help others that have run into similar problems.
Background
If you’re like me, you might have heard about the game Crusader Kings II through Penny Arcade TV’s Extra Credits show in an episode called Games You Might Not Have Tried #4 and you might have thought, “hm, that looks like a really neat Civilization-type strategy game with a pretty rich story…” But then the narrator said, “Game of Thrones mod…” and you were hooked.
Now, as a primarily console-based gamer, I have to take deep breaths when I hear about a cool PC game because odds are that it won’t work on my Mac, but luckily, in this case, Crusader Kings II is available for PC and Mac, so I went ahead and bought my copy from the Mac Game Store. I downloaded my copy of the Game of Thones mod here, but you can do a quick Google search for the latest version if you’re reading this post months after I wrote it.
Because I purchased my copy of Crusader Kings II through the Mac Game Store, it was a direct download and all I had to do to install the game was drag the app from the .dmg file to my Applications folder. This is where the trouble starts, if you bought the game to play the Game of Thrones mod.
The issue
After figuring out where to put the mod, when launching the game and selecting the mod, the game crashes instantly. This is because the path specified in A Game of Thones.mod doesn’t point to the actual folder with all of the mod’s resources like it should.
The 5 minute solution
It turns out, this isn’t an incompatibility between the mod and the Mac version of the game, it’s an issue with a directory in the A Game of Thones.mod file itself, which was developed by a team who had assumed the mod would be used by a PC user and hadn’t been able to test it on a Mac. Here are my step-by-step instructions on how to get the mod working on your Mac in less than 5 minutes:
Steam users: If you bought your copy of Crusader Kings II through Steam, I’ve added steps to the instructions below to get the mod working for you as well. There may be a few extra and unnecessary steps, but I recommend you follow them all because as inelegant as they may seem, they work. Follow the steps as written originally unless you see a Steam heading below the original step.
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | Unzip the A Game of Thrones mod. |
| 2 | Go to your applications folder, find Crusader Kings II, right-click it and select Show Package Contents.Steam: Skip this step, go to step 3. |
| 3 | Navigate to Contents / game / mod and copy all of the files from the original ZIP here.
 Screenshot of Crusader Kings II package contents Steam: Navigate to Library / Application Support / Steam / Steamapps / common / crusader kings ii / mod / and copy all the files from the original ZIP there. (The copied files within the mod folder should still look the same as in the screenshot above.) If your Library path is hidden, in the Finder, click on the Go menu and then hold down Option or Alt on your keyboard and the Library will appear in the list. Click on it to navigate to Library. |
| 4 | Open the file A Game of Thones.mod with TextEdit. |
| 5 | In the Path field, replace the directory “mod/A Game of Thones” with “/Applications/CrusaderKings2.app/Contents/game/mod/A Game of Thones” and replace user_dir with #user_dir.
 Screenshot of A Game of Thones.mod in TextEdit with changes Save the file and exit TextEdit. It might be locked and ask you if you want to overwrite the original or create a duplicate, make sure you overwrite the original. Steam: In the Path field, replace the directory “mod/A Game of Thones” with “Users/YOUR USERNAME HERE/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/crusader kings ii/mod/A Game of Thrones” and replace user_dir with #user_dir. Save the file and exit TextEdit. It might be locked and ask you if you want to overwrite the original or create a duplicate, make sure you overwrite the original. |
| 6 | The next time you run the game, select the A Game of Thrones in the Select mods to play field before you select Start CKII. Note: The game may still crash the first time you do this, but if it does, launch it again and it will work.Steam: Unzip the A Game of Thrones mod again and this time, do not modify the A Game of Thones.mod. Navigate to your Documents folder and open the Paradox Interactive folder. Open the path to Crusader Kinds II and create a new folder inside named mod. Copy the contents of the unzipped A Game of Thrones folder to this new mod folder. Perform the “normal” step 6. |
| 7 | Enjoy playing out Robert’s Rebellion, and good luck avoiding marrying one of Walder Frey’s hundred children! |
Note: The Steam portion of this guide was made in collaboration with my commenters. As I don’t own the Steam version, I can’t test these steps personally, but they have worked for others. If you find a way to optimize them at all, comment and let me know.
- Steven
Comments 43
Hi Steven,
Ive followed your advice and even bought from the same website as you, but it still doesnt work. it just loads the europe map even when ive made all the changes and ticked the mod box
Please help, Im ready to cry lol
Drew
Posted 08 Jul 2012 at 12:03 pm ¶Drew,
Thanks for commenting. Hopefully we can troubleshoot this and have it working for you so you can enjoy Robert’s rebellion.
Can you share screenshots of the directories and A Game of Thones.mod in TextEdit? I can provide an extra set of eyes to make sure everything looks in order.
Just to test, try removing the .app part of the directory in the A Game of Thones.mod file. (/Applications/CrusaderKings2/Contents/game/mod/A Game of Thones)
We’ll figure this out.
- Steven
Posted 09 Jul 2012 at 12:29 pm ¶Would this work with the Steam version of the game as well?
Posted 12 Jul 2012 at 2:51 am ¶The mod and steps will work with the Steam version as well, but since Steam installs the game to another directory, you’d have to do some poking around and find the mod directory to copy the files to / change the directory in the mod file.
I’m out of town at the moment, but when I get home, I’ll add a comment with the Steam information (directories).
- Steven
Posted 12 Jul 2012 at 11:05 am ¶Hey, I went ahead and did it, and the checkbox showed up for the Game of Thrones mod, but it keeps crashing on startup. Any advice? Maybe I can send you a screenshot or something of what’s going on?
Posted 12 Jul 2012 at 2:13 pm ¶Hey, I’m in the same boat as my namesake here. Managed to find the right path for steam, but still no load. just crashes on startup. Changed the user directory to have # before it and all that. Any help would be ace !
Posted 13 Jul 2012 at 8:18 pm ¶I am using steam and can’t find the path anywhere? Any love?
Posted 18 Jul 2012 at 4:18 am ¶I am using this path – path = “/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings II/mod/A Game of Thrones v0.2″
And no mods are showing up at all…
help?
Posted 18 Jul 2012 at 4:56 am ¶OK, I’m just going to keep posting.
I finally found the proper place to put the mod. The trick was you have to go into finder click on the ‘Go’ drop down menu. Then hold down ‘option’ and ‘Library’ will appear. You can now find the steam folder and steam games in this path – /Library/Application Support/Steam/Steamapps/common/crusader kings ii/mod/A Game of Thrones v0.2″
Still hasn’t worked for me though.
Posted 18 Jul 2012 at 5:25 am ¶Joseph – If the mod is showing up when you’re starting the game, that means that you’ve put the files in the right directory, so you’re on the right path. Could you post a link to a screenshot of the directory you have the .mod file in and one of the .mod file opened in TextEdit? If it’s crashing, it’s probably because the path in the .mod file is incorrect, try using the one below.
Tim - Thanks for posting your progress. Try using this directory: “/Library/Application Support/Steam/Steamapps/common/crusader kings ii/mod/A Game of Thrones” (assuming the .mod file is named “A Game of Thones.mod”).
I’m going to do some sleuthing this evening and will post more as well as modify the original post to include Steam instructions as well for future visitors who may not read the comments.
- Steven
Posted 18 Jul 2012 at 12:31 pm ¶I finally got it working after about ten hours of playing around with everything. Not sure why it works but it does. Quick summary is this.
1. Use the technique I previously mentioned to find the files.
2. I had initially just moved the whole downloaded mod folder (A Game of Thrones v0.2) into the mod fold (as above path shows) What you need to do is copy its content in to the mod folder. ( As you mentioned in the OP)
3. This is the bit I fluked that made it work. Open the paradox Interactive folder in your document folder open the path to crusader kings II, create a mod folder.
4. Extract the downloaded mod again and copy into this. DO NOT edit the .mod file this time.
5 For some reason this allows it to work. God knows why. God probably doesn’t care.
This is the edit I did to the .mod file -
name = “A Game of Thrones”
path = “Users/(put your user name here)/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/crusader kings ii/mod/A Game of Thrones”
user_dir = “A Game of Thrones”
I hope this helps any other poor Mac/Steam users.
Posted 18 Jul 2012 at 8:34 pm ¶To clarify I edited the .mod file in the library path NOT in the document path
Posted 18 Jul 2012 at 8:36 pm ¶All these tips are great, can someone just make one overall simple summary for mac steam users, I tried following your one Tim but I am too much of a numpty. Thanks.
Posted 19 Jul 2012 at 1:40 pm ¶Thanks for the comment, Bob; my plan is to edit the original post later this evening with the new Steam steps that we’ve managed to piece together. Check back later for concise steps I hope anyone can follow!
Tim, thanks for posting your findings. I had a good laugh at your God comments.
- Steven
Posted 19 Jul 2012 at 2:27 pm ¶That would be great, determined to get this going, thanks !
Posted 20 Jul 2012 at 6:54 am ¶The steps have been updated to include Steam support – let me know if you experience any issues.
Tim – Do they look like they accurately capture what you did?
- Steven
Posted 21 Jul 2012 at 10:12 am ¶Yep pretty much exactly what I did. Only difference was I didn’t put the hash in front of user_dir. I will be interested to hear if any other steam mac users got it working of if I just some how fluked it.
Posted 24 Jul 2012 at 2:09 am ¶I have been pulling my hair out here, but this page has gotten me the closest to playing this mod I’ve ever been, lol.
I think I’m having the same problem Drew up there is. I finally got the mod to appear in the Crusader Kings 2 launch menu, and I click it, but the regular game launches. Any ideas what I’m missing?
Posted 28 Jul 2012 at 12:34 am ¶Eric, if you could post links to screenshots of the .mod file in TextEdit and the mod directory in Finder, we’ll try to help you.
- Steven
Posted 28 Jul 2012 at 10:03 am ¶http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb15/Erison1/ScreenShot2012-07-28at10822PM.png
I assumed my user name referred to my Steam user name, and I tried both with and without the hash tag.
Posted 28 Jul 2012 at 1:12 pm ¶OK, two things that I notice:
- Rename the A Game of Thrones 2.mod file to A Game of Thrones.mod
- The user name in that path should be your Mac user name, not Steam
Hopefully that solves it, otherwise we can try a few other things…
- Steven
Posted 28 Jul 2012 at 3:33 pm ¶Alright, I feel like I’m getting close.
http://i210.photobucket.com/albums/bb15/Erison1/ScreenShot2012-07-28at70752PM.png
I changed the user name, and unzipped the mod duplicate directly into the document, which took away the extra ’2′. The game still launches to the European map, even when I click on the mod to select it.
Posted 28 Jul 2012 at 7:11 pm ¶Eric –
1. Did you place an UNedited .mod file in the document file path?
2. Not sure if it was you or not but saw on another forum someone was using their Steam Username instead of the Username on the computer.
Let us know if either of those fix the problem.
Posted 29 Jul 2012 at 4:34 am ¶That did it! Thanks Tim. Putting a newly downloaded unedited version of the mod into the documents folder got it working. And thanks Steven. This page needs to be put on a plaque somewhere!
Posted 29 Jul 2012 at 2:54 pm ¶I am having the same problem as Joseph and Joe. Here is my screenshot.
http://i.imgur.com/BzT9Y.png
Please help! I really want to play this mod!
Thank you in advance.
Posted 06 Aug 2012 at 5:46 pm ¶Continued post from above, more screenshots:
http://i.imgur.com/L5NNm.png
When I start, it begins with this screen:
(There are very faint markings in the black, tilting a computer screen at an angle might aid their visibility)
http://i.imgur.com/rQ88V.jpg
and lastly, this screen:
http://i.imgur.com/dsqDh.jpg
It then crashes. Please help!
Posted 06 Aug 2012 at 5:57 pm ¶How do I get the game to show up on the menu, I never used mods on the mac and I have no clue how to get it on the CK II launcher?
Posted 26 Sep 2012 at 12:39 am ¶Hi all,
Showing up a bit late to the party, but I’m having the same problem. Downloaded the mod from the link above, and CK2 from Macgamestore. I adjusted the .mod file as per instructions, click on the ‘GoT’ mod click box when I start the game, but it just loads up a map of Europe.
Also, @ Drew & Tim, you mentioned putting an unmodified .mod file in the Documents folder. What ‘Documents’ folder are you speaking of? Is it a Steam thing?
Cheers
Posted 30 Sep 2012 at 9:07 am ¶Okay, found the document file referred to by Tim and Drew – do you put the .mod file in the Paradox file? the CK2 file? or just in Docs?
Cheers
Posted 30 Sep 2012 at 12:04 pm ¶Having identical problems to Mike. What document file are people referring to?
Posted 08 Oct 2012 at 12:02 am ¶I have the Steam version of the game. I have followed the directions verbatim, and I get so far as to have the mod in the launcher. When I run it the screen is black with very faint text as described above. After that it crashes every time. Has anyone devised a fix for that? Thanks for helping me get this far, but I’d really love to get it working!
Posted 08 Oct 2012 at 8:25 pm ¶What version of the mod is this valid for? I have the steam version of the game and an struggling to make the mod work
Posted 26 Oct 2012 at 7:34 pm ¶yeah I’m having problems too. I get a load page with some broken title to the game of thrones mod it then starts to load and then crashes every time. So close yet….uuurgh
version 0.2.1
Posted 28 Oct 2012 at 7:02 pm ¶I was finally able to get the mod to appear when I load the game but when it starts up its still loading the normal game. I’m not sure where to go from there to get the mod to actually run. Can anyone give me some insight?
Posted 29 Oct 2012 at 1:25 pm ¶Right I think I’ve cracked it, well it works for me anyway!
What I did was update to the latest CKII patch 1.07b and then downloaded the latest version of the mod V.0.3.2 from here:
http://citadel.prophpbb.com/topic1652.html
Then followed the instructions i.e strip out ALL of your old mod files and then copy the new ones ONLY to the Documents/paradox interactive/crusader kings II/mod
Initially this still didn’t work so I went into the A Game of Thrones.mod file and added a # in front of user_dir so it looks like this:
name = “A Game of Thrones”
path = “mod/A Game of Thrones”
#user_dir = “A Game of Thrones”
replace_path = “history/characters”
replace_path = “history/diplomacy”
replace_path = “history/provinces”
replace_path = “history/titles”
replace_path = “history/wars”
replace_path = “common/buildings”
replace_path = “common/cultures”
replace_path = “common/dynasties”
replace_path = “common/landed_titles”
replace_path = “common/minor_titles”
replace_path = “common/nicknames”
replace_path = “common/on_actions”
replace_path = “common/opinion_modifiers”
replace_path = “common/religions”
replace_path = “common/traits”
replace_path = “common/objectives”
replace_path = “common/graphicalculturetypes”
replace_path = “events”
replace_path = “decisions”
Then in mod/a game of thrones/gfx I deleted the ‘loading screens’ folder and BOOM the bastard worked!!!
Hope that helps
Posted 31 Oct 2012 at 1:53 pm ¶same problems as meghan and mike. any suggestions?
Posted 05 Nov 2012 at 4:56 pm ¶Hi,
I’ve tried all the suggestions listed here and so far nothing’s worked for me.
I have the edited .mod file in the /library path, with a header that looks like this:
name = “A Game of Thrones”
path = “Users/rafdizzle/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/crusader kings ii/mod/A Game of Thrones”
#user_dir = “A Game of Thrones”
and in the /documents path I have the unmodified .mod and folder.
When I open up CK2, A Game of Thrones is listed under Select Mods to Play, but when I select AGOT, it crashes and gives me an error message that reads “The working directory doesn’t seem to be correct”.
What can I do to fix it? help!
Posted 12 Nov 2012 at 7:02 pm ¶Update: I got it to work!
based on the updated, super-complicated instructions from the mod page (http://citadel.prophpbb.com/topic1652-60.html#p15639), I did the following:
1. in /users/(my name)/documents/paradox interactive/crusader kings II, I created a folder called “mod”, into which I unzipped the CKGOTO32.zip.
2. In the newly unzipped folder, delete the loadscreens (…/mod/A Game of Thrones/gfx/loadingscreens). If you leave them in, the game will crash after the loadscreen.
3. Copy the entire “A Game of Thrones” folder, and move it up one level into the Crusader Kings II folder. So the path, once again, is /users/(my name)/documents/paradox interactive/crusader kings II/A Game of Thrones.
(NOTE: if you leave the other files inside the mod folder, the game WILL load, but when mine loaded in, there were no characters)
4. Then, in your new “A Game of Thrones” folder (in the CKII folder), delete ALL the items except for “gfx”, “logs”, and “settings.txt”.
Then, just as you did in the first “A Game of Thrones” folder, delete the loadscreens files, otherwise the game will crash after the loadscreen.
SUCCESSSSSSSSSSS!!
Posted 12 Nov 2012 at 8:09 pm ¶AUGH!!! i got it working. I finally loaded after hours or trying and tweaking, but then it will crash about 30-40 seconds in.
Posted 09 Dec 2012 at 1:38 pm ¶Hi,
I have a problem, with your explication the mod don’t work, and i read others ideas but it’s always the same problem, so someone have a solution?
I read the Attilathefun post, but, this one doesn’t work too, so someone can help me please?
Thks
(sorry for my language, I’m French)
Posted 16 Dec 2012 at 12:43 pm ¶This helped me out SO much… Would have never got it to work if it wasn’t for this… Still took me a couple of hours to get working for some reason, but it was from ideas on here I got it to work! Thank you so much!
Posted 22 Dec 2012 at 6:36 am ¶there is no file on Show Package Contents crusaders king 2
Posted 06 Jan 2013 at 9:56 am ¶I am extremely frustrated. I have tried all of these methods and nothing has worked. I bought the game off the Mac Game store. I am running version 1.08 of the vanilla game trying to instal 0.46 of the mod. Please help, I’m terrible with computers but chomping at the bit to play this.
Posted 01 Aug 2013 at 11:22 pm ¶