An era has ended, and so as of November 18th 2024, Sid Meier’s Civilization V will now use the Steam Launch options to open the game.
The Steam Launch options are exactly the same as the options that were present in the game’s original launcher, with the default (top) option being “Play Sid Meier’s Civilization V (DirectX 9)”, followed by “Play Sid Meier’s Civilization V (DirectX 10/11)”, and “Play Sid Meier’s Civilization V (Touch)”.
As with all Steam games that have launch options, the desktop shortcut will always open the default option, in this case the DirectX 9 version. If you want to launch the DirectX 10/11 version through your desktop shortcut, you can do the following, but it will require some understanding of your PC.
- On the Steam page, go to Civilization V and right click. Select “Manage” then go to “Browse Local Files”
- In the CIV V folder, if you are on Windows 10, Alt+Shift+Right-Click on the desired exe. If you are on Windows 11, just Right Click.
- Select “Copy As Path”
- Back in Steam, Right Click on game and select “Properties”
- Paste the copied path in the “Launch Options" text box. This path must be in quotes.
- After pasting the path, press spacebar and then type %command%. There must be a space between the end quote and the first %.
If you've installed Steam and the game to the default location, it should look like this:
Note: This is how it appears in English, but the text you enter will remain the same regardless of language.
After that, you should be able to use the desktop shortcut to launch in your desired DirectX version!
If you’re not seeing the options while launching from Steam and want to change your preferred version, this can be adjusted in the game’s Properties menu on the general tab. Either right click on the game in Steam or select the gear on the game’s library page in Steam and select “Properties” and you will be able to make the changes right there. Now you should be all set!