UPDATE (2018/06/17): I haven’t bothered to run the Game of Thrones mod in a few years; I find, for the hassle, it doesn’t actually make that much of a difference over the original Crusader Kings… but William recently commented on this post and suggested that this method works a charm, so give it a shot:
In this series I start during Robert’s rebellion as Lord Eddard Stark, where will our house end up? Sub-mods used; Dynastic stability More decisions Realistic battles Challenge to duel Wish to. Crusader Kings II explores one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy. Medieval Europe is brought to life in this epic game of knights, schemes, and thrones. Key features: Start a game at any point between 1066 and 1337 and play until 1453.
UPDATE (2016/08/22): Since this is such a popular post and is still one of the top results for how to install the mod, here are the updated instructions:
A Game Of Thrones Ck2 Macbeth
If you, like me, bought the game from macgamestore.com way back in the day, they’re no longer updating the game for whatever reason. Thankfully, if you go into your purchase history, they give you a Steam key that you can redeem on Steam for the latest version of Crusader Kings II. Now onto the instructions:
A Game of Thrones (AGOT) is a full-conversion mod for Paradox Interactive’s Crusader Kings II (CK2). Set in the world of George R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire (ASoIaF) fantasy saga where lords great and small vie for control over the lands of Ice and Fire, from Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms in the west, to Qarth in the east.
| Step | Action |
|---|---|
| 1 | After you uninstall the MacGameStore version of the game (if applicable), then install the Steam version, run it for the first time so that it recreates the Paradox Interactive folder in your Documents folder then quit the game. |
| 2 | Download the latest version of the mod from here (make sure to download the Zipped Files version) and make sure to take note of which version number of the CK2 game it’s compatible with. That should match for consistent results. You can find out which version of CK2 you have installed in the game’s launcher: |
| 3 | In Finder, go to YOUR-USER/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings II/ and create a folder called A Game of Thrones and another folder called mod. |
| 4 | Unzip the A Game of Thrones folder and the A Game of Thrones.mod file from the ZIP you downloaded into the newly-created mod folder. |
| 5 | Run the game and select A Game of Thrones in the mod panel of the launcher. |
| 6 | Rule. |
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:
A Game Of Thrones Ck2 Steam
Ck2 Game Of Thrones Steam
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.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
A Game Of Thrones Mod Ck2 Steam
| 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. 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! |