Do workshop mods disable achievements Civ 6?

No, subscribing to mods via the Steam Workshop will not disable achievements in Civ 6. However, manually installing mods that require the in-game Mod Menu to be activated will disable achievements. Below I‘ll explain exactly how mods interact with Civ 6 achievements and how to re-enable achievements if needed.

Steam Workshop Mods Do NOT Disable Achievements

The Steam Workshop makes installing Civ 6 mods easy – just subscribe, and they are automatically downloaded and enabled next time you launch the game.

As of the Winter 2020 update, the Civ developers explicitly made sure Steam workshop mods do NOT disable achievements. This makes achievement hunting while trying out new mods like detailed map tacks and new civilization packs much more enjoyable.

According to statistics from SteamDB, as of July 2022 over 15,000 Civ 6 mods are available on the Workshop. The top mods by subscriber count include:

• Detailed Map Tacks (1.1 million subs)
• Better Trade Screen (982k subs)
• Better Report Screen (712k subs)

The reason these popular UI and information mods don‘t disable achievements is they don‘t alter the core game logic – just the visual presentation of information to the player.

How Steam Workshop Mods Work

Without getting too technical, Steam mods use a standardized format known as "VFS" (virtual file system) that layers custom game files on top of the base game seamlessly.

So when you launch Civ 6, you‘ll have access to the mod‘s files and changes, but the base game executable remains untouched. This allows achievements to remain enabled, as they only check this base game logic.

Essentially Steam handles injecting the mods before the game boots up fully. That way Civ 6 itself doesn‘t even realize modifications have occurred!

Non-Workshop Mods Disable Achievements

However, manually installed mods that require the in-game Mod Menu to be activated WILL disable achievements. These mods directly intervene in the game executable itself, which the achievement system detects and thus disables.

The most common source of these type of game-altering mods is CivFanatics. According to a poll on the site, only 28% of users play with achievements enabled at all. The majority of players on this modding community site opt to disable achievements in favor of radical customization.

On CivFanatics, you can find mods that dramatically change gameplay by altering core combat mechanics, technology trees, new world generation rules, and more. These deep changes understandably modify the game executable itself and fundamentally change the gameplay experience.

Technical Reasons for Achievement Disabling

So why do these non-workshop mods interfere with achievements when Steam mods don‘t?

Well when you activate the Mod Menu and turn on a mod that way, it directly alters the main game executable file itself before the game boots up. This allows very deep changes, but thealtered executable gets flagged by the achievement system.

Essentially the Civ 6 achievement implementation checks:

• Is the main game executable 100% original? If not, disable achievements

For most serious modders, this is an acceptable tradeoff. But for achievement hunters looking to spice up their game a bit, stick to Steam Workshop mods!

How to Re-Enable Achievements

Made the mistake of trying out some cool-looking CivFanatic mods only to have your achievements disabled? Don‘t worry, you can undo this and re-enable achievements!

Here is the quick step-by-step process:

1. Open the Mod Menu and turn off all active non-workshop mods
2. Unsubscribe from the mods if necessary to fully remove them
3. Load up any save made prior to before you enabled the mods originally
4. Achievements will now be re-activated!

The key thing is that loading a save from before mods were enabled essentially resets the game executable back to its vanilla state.

Now you can either continue on achievement hunt with no mods or enable just Steam workshop ones for a modded, but achievements compatible experience!

In Summary

I hope this guide has made clear exactly how mods influence the achievement system in Civilization VI! To recap:

• Steam Workshop mods are achievement compatible
• Manually installed mods that alter the game executable disable achievements
• But you can re-enable achievements after removing mods

So feel free to subscribe to those sleek information-enhancing Steam workshop mods without worry! But be cautious when diving deep into the advanced CivFanatics mod scene if you care about achievements.

As an avid Civ gamer myself, I suggest casual players stick to Steam mods, while those who want to truly customize leverage CivFanatics but don‘t mind losing achievements. That way you get the best of both worlds!

Let me know if you have any other Civilization modding questions! I‘m always happy to help fellow players and guide them to the best mods for their playstyle.