Civilization VII update 1.5.1: mods disabled, old saves and the Steam legacy branch, plus Liberation and the Great People rework

Video: “Civilization VII Developer Update - November 2026”, official Sid Meier's Civilization YouTube channel, published November 9, 2026 (6:01 PM Paris time), 5 min 20 s. Lead producer Tom presents the 1.5.1 features (Liberation, Randomized Earth and Donut maps, Great People rework, Unit List and Map Search); the mod reset and save advice below come from Firaxis’ written patch notes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7dYYASvyb0

Civilization VII update 1.5.1 has been rolling out to all platforms since November 10, 2026. If your mods suddenly stopped working or your current campaign looks different, that is expected: Firaxis says the update resets and disables all active mods, and some new effects may only appear in a new game. Here is what to do, then what is new. Sources read on November 12, 2026 around 12:00 PM Paris time; TricknFix has not tested the update in game.

Firaxis: “This update will do a reset to disable all active mods.”

The studio recommends giving mod authors a little time to update their work before turning mods back on.

To re-enable a mod that has been updated and is stable: Main Menu > Add-ons, browse your installed mods and toggle on the ones you want.

If the game misbehaves after re-enabling mods, turn them off again and test the unmodded game first: that tells you whether the problem comes from a mod not yet updated for 1.5.1.

Firaxis aims to keep existing saves backward compatible “as much as possible”, but some new abilities or effects may not appear until you start a new game. For the best experience, it recommends starting a new game.

On Steam, you can finish a current save on the previous version with the legacy beta branch: right-click Sid Meier's Civilization VII in your library > Properties > Betas tab > select “legacy”.

Firaxis also recommends updating your graphics drivers and checking the minimum system requirements.

Known issues are listed on the official Civilization support tracker, and bugs can be reported to the team through the support request form (links in Sources).

When you conquer a Settlement or get one through a Peace Deal, you can now Keep, Raze or Liberate it.

If it was founded by another major civ (other than the one you are currently at war with), you can return it to its original owner and get a small diplomatic boost with them.

If it was a City-State you were once Suzerain of, you can restore it as a City-State with you as Suzerain, reactivating your old bonus.

Change to note: losing a City-State (conquered, incorporated or otherwise lost) now also removes its Suzerain bonus. One-time bonuses such as free Units or Techs are not taken back and do not trigger again on Liberation.

Great People have been removed from City Production queues. Each civ’s Great People now unlock through unique gameplay conditions: meet the condition and you automatically receive one from the available pool.

Firaxis’ example: as the Abbasid, place a Specialist in an Abbasid Unique Quarter to receive an Alim.

The conditions are shown on the game setup screen, the loading screen and the in-game details panel. You are notified when you get a Great Person and when you earn the last one of a type.

The baseline number of activated Great People narrative stories goes from 1 to 3.

Unit List and Map Search panels, opened from the top of the minimap (Unit List via the Radial Menu on controller). The Unit List shows health, remaining movement, Unit Tier, reinforcement and Commander respawn times, with Sleep, Alert and Upgrade commands.

New Randomized Earth and Donut map types; a random start option is also added on the TSL Earth map, and map types are now grouped into collapsible categories.

Multiplayer games with turn timers can now be paused, with the ‘[’ hotkey or the game menu.

New “Toggle Details” hotkey (Tab by default) so it no longer conflicts with Skip Turn; First Meet cinematics can be skipped again; Wonder cinematics show the Wonder’s gameplay benefit.

Fixes to narrative storylets not triggering or triggering incorrectly, yield previews that double-deducted production, and more (full list in the official notes).

Did 1.5.1 break a mod or your save, or do you prefer the new Great People system? Tell us in the forum, in the Gaming community.

Firaxis / 2K, Civilization VII: Patch Notes – November 10, 2026 (Civilization Support, updated November 10, 2026): https://support.civilization.com/hc/en-us/articles/57073538595987-Civilization-VII-Patch-Notes-November-10-2026

Steam, Update 1.5.1 Notes - November 10, 2026 (posted November 10, 2026, 4:26 PM Paris time): https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1295660/view/1848664643359938

Steam, Civ VII Developer Video - November 2026 | Update 1.5.1 (posted November 9, 2026): https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1295660/view/1848664643356261

Civilization Support, known issues tracker (read November 12, 2026): https://support.civilization.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/35818812180371