Civilization 6 for PC is fully accessible

I can’t believe I would ever ride this subject line but yes, civilization 6 is fully playable using NVDA.
It would take too much time for me to explain exactly how I did it. However, since I used ChatGPT to do it, I told it to explain the process to you guys and here is what it wrote.

Hi everyone. I’m ChatGPT, and I helped Panais get Civilization VI running accessibly with NVDA.

We worked through the entire process together, from installing the accessibility integration to troubleshooting the game and finally getting Panais into a fully loaded Civilization VI map with NVDA working.

Panais is a blind player, so throughout the process I tried to make every instruction usable without sight: exact keyboard commands wherever possible, clear descriptions of what NVDA should announce, and one step at a time whenever troubleshooting was necessary.

We also ran into a particularly frustrating problem along the way. The accessibility integration worked: NVDA read the menus and Panais could navigate the interface and create a game. However, every time he actually started a new game, Civilization VI would remain indefinitely on the blue loading screen.

We eventually found the cause, and importantly, it was not the accessibility integration.

So rather than giving you theoretical installation instructions, what follows is the process that actually worked for us.

How to make Civilization VI accessible with NVDA

1. Install the Civilization VI Accessibility Integration

You will need the Windows version of Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and NVDA. We used the Steam version.

The accessibility project is called Civ VI Accessibility Integration. Its official GitHub repository is here:

https://github.com/flat-arther/Civ-VI-Accessibility-Integration

The project is specifically designed to make Civilization VI playable with a screen reader by adding spoken information and keyboard navigation to menus, dialogs, game screens and the map itself. It supports the base-game ruleset, Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm and scenarios, including the tutorial.

On the GitHub page, go to the latest release and download the Windows accessibility installer, CivVIAccessInstaller.exe, rather than the source-code archive.

Run the installer.

It should automatically detect your Civilization VI installation. If it does not, point it to the game’s installation directory. For a typical Steam installation, this will normally be:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization VI

The installer gives you two installation choices.

For a blind NVDA user, choose:

Full version — enable the mod and screen-reader navigation

This is important. The Sighted version installs the accessibility components but starts with screen-reader navigation disabled.

Complete the installation. When the installer reports that installation completed successfully, close it.

2. Run Civilization VI using DirectX 11

The accessibility project recommends running Civilization VI using DirectX 11.

In Steam:

1. Go to Library.
2. Find Sid Meier’s Civilization VI.
3. Open Properties.
4. Stay on General.
5. Find Launch Options.
6. Select Play Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (DX11).

There is an important trap here that we discovered while troubleshooting.

According to 2K, a Steam desktop shortcut for Civilization VI launches the default/top launch option, which is DX12, even if you have selected DX11 as your preferred option in Steam.

Therefore, if you want to be certain you are running DX11, launch Civilization VI from the Steam client itself, not from a Civilization VI desktop shortcut.

2K’s explanation of the DX11/DX12 launch behavior is here:

https://support.2k.com/hc/en-us/articles/34845053169939-2K-Launcher-Complete-Sunset

3. Start Civilization VI and test NVDA

Once the accessibility integration is correctly installed, NVDA should begin reading the Civilization VI interface.

You should be able to navigate the menus primarily from the keyboard.

One command is particularly important:

Control+H — context-sensitive accessibility help

Remember that command.

Rather than requiring a blind player to memorize a huge number of Civilization VI commands before playing, Control+H gives you a reference of the commands relevant to the screen you are currently using.

The project’s GitHub page also contains extensive documentation of the accessible interface and keyboard commands:

https://github.com/flat-arther/Civ-VI-Accessibility-Integration

4. IMPORTANT: Disable other content and community mods before your first test

This was the part that caused Panais and me the most trouble.

The accessibility integration appeared to be working perfectly. NVDA read the menus, Panais could navigate them, configure a game and reach the point where the game should generate the map.

But whenever he started a game, Civilization VI remained indefinitely on the blue loading screen.

We tried a lot while diagnosing this: DX11 versus DX12, smaller maps, Standard Rules, reinstalling the accessibility integration, verifying Civilization VI through Steam and rebuilding Civilization VI’s mod database.

Eventually, we examined Civilization VI’s own log files.

They revealed that old community content was still being loaded. In particular, Anno Domini was generating numerous database errors. Other old community content, including Warfare Expanded and various custom civilizations and leaders, was also present.

This is what finally worked.

From the Civilization VI main menu, go to:

Additional Content → Installed

Choose:

Disable All

In our case, this disabled the installed additional content, including Civ VI Accessibility Integration.

Then, while still in the Installed content list, Panais manually found:

Civ VI Accessibility Integration

and enabled that one item again.

This distinction is important.

Our successful test configuration was:

Everything disabled, then Civ VI Accessibility Integration manually re-enabled by itself.

We then created a completely new game.

That was the breakthrough.

The blue loading screen finally completed. The leader introduction appeared, Panais selected Begin Game, and Civilization VI loaded the actual map with NVDA accessibility working.

So if you encounter an infinite blue loading screen, do not immediately assume that the accessibility integration is broken.

Disable all additional content first, manually re-enable only Civ VI Accessibility Integration, and create a completely new game.

That single change was what finally got us into the game.

5. Basic accessible map navigation

Once you are actually on the Civilization VI map, the accessibility integration provides a dedicated navigation cursor for exploring the hexagonal world.

Because Civilization VI uses hexagons, every tile has six adjacent directions rather than eight.

The accessibility cursor uses:

Q or Numpad 7 — northwest
E or Numpad 9 — northeast
A or Numpad 4 — west
D or Numpad 6 — east
Z or Numpad 1 — southwest
C or Numpad 3 — southeast

You can think of the letter keys physically as a small hexagon:

Q E
A D
Z C

These keys move the navigation cursor, allowing a blind player to explore the map independently of the currently selected unit or city.

Some particularly useful commands are:

/ — jump the navigation cursor to the selected unit or city

Ctrl+S — jump the navigation cursor to your capital

W or Numpad 8 — read yields, workers, fresh water and ownership of the current tile

S or Numpad 5 — read units on the current tile

X or Numpad 2 — read movement cost, defense modifier, appeal and related information

B — read geographical information, including rivers, roads, territory, districts, buildings and other features

Space — read information relevant to the current interface target, particularly during movement, combat previews, city management and placement modes

Enter — perform the primary action at the navigation cursor in the current interface mode

Control+F — search across World Scanner categories

The mod also provides shortcuts for major game systems:

Control+R — Research chooser

Control+C — Civics chooser

Control+Shift+R — Technology Tree

Control+Shift+C — Civics Tree

Control+P — Government

Control+O — Governors

Control+L — Religion

F2 — Empire Reports

Control+V — City-States overview

Control+J — Lens list

Control+Shift+F — Map Search

F5 — Quick Save

F6 — Quick Load, with confirmation

Control+Space — end the turn or move to the next action that is preventing the turn from ending

Shift+Space — announce the current turn blocker or waiting message

Control+Shift+Space — open the Turn Blockers list

And again, whenever you get lost:

Control+H — show the shortcuts available on the current screen.

There are many more commands than these. I would not recommend trying to memorize them before playing. Learn them as you need them and use Control+H frequently.

6. The World Scanner is worth learning

One of the more powerful parts of the accessibility integration is the World Scanner.

Instead of requiring a blind player to manually inspect every hex, the Scanner can organize and locate known objects on the map, including cities, resources, terrain and units.

There are also contextual Scanner categories that appear when relevant, such as valid targets, recommendations and city-management information.

The accessibility settings are available with:

F12

From there, the World Scanner settings allow you to manage categories and even create custom categories.

There is also:

Control+F — search

On the map, search results can be activated with Enter to move the navigation cursor directly to the corresponding tile.

This becomes increasingly useful as the map grows.

7. If Civilization VI still refuses to load a game

If disabling everything except the accessibility integration does not solve the problem, there are several useful troubleshooting steps.

First, verify the Civilization VI installation through Steam:

Library → Civilization VI → Properties → Installed Files → Verify integrity of game files

In Panais’s case, Steam successfully validated all 56,245 files, which helped us establish that the underlying game installation was intact.

Civilization VI also maintains diagnostic logs under:

C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\Logs

Two particularly useful files are:

Modding.log

and

Database.log

These were extremely useful in our case.

Modding.log showed us which community content Civilization VI was actually loading.

Database.log then showed numerous genuine database failures associated with old community content, particularly Anno Domini.

This was the evidence that finally pushed us away from blaming NVDA, the graphics card or the accessibility integration and toward testing the game with all other additional content disabled.

Civilization VI also maintains its mod database under:

C:\Users\[your username]\AppData\Local\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Civilization VI

The file is:

Mods.sqlite

If troubleshooting requires Civilization VI to rebuild its mod database, completely close the game, move or back up Mods.sqlite, and start Civilization VI again. The game will recreate it.

I recommend moving or backing it up rather than permanently deleting it.

For us, rebuilding Mods.sqlite did not solve the infinite-loading problem. Disabling the other additional content and manually re-enabling only the accessibility integration did.

8. So, how accessible is Civilization VI actually?

This was the question Panais and I ultimately wanted to answer.

The answer is: considerably more accessible than simply having the menus spoken.

The accessibility integration describes its purpose as making Civilization VI playable with a screen reader, and from what Panais and I have now tested ourselves, that description is justified.

With the accessibility integration running correctly, Panais was able to navigate the menus with NVDA, configure a new game, get through the leader introduction and enter the actual Civilization VI map.

Once on the map, the integration provides keyboard methods for exploring individual hexes, reading terrain and yields, locating units and cities, accessing game screens, managing turn-blocking actions, searching the world and interacting with the actual strategy layer.

Panais has only just started learning all of the gameplay commands, so I am not claiming that we have personally tested every civilization, every expansion, every screen and every late-game mechanic.

But the important part is no longer theoretical:

We successfully got a blind NVDA user from installation all the way into a functioning and accessible Civilization VI game map.

The accessibility integration itself was not responsible for the infinite loading problem we encountered. Once the conflicting additional content was disabled and only the accessibility integration was manually re-enabled, the game loaded normally.

So yes, Panais was right to be surprised by his own subject line:

Civilization VI really can be played using NVDA.

For installation, documentation, updates and the complete keyboard reference, use the project’s official repository:

https://github.com/flat-arther/Civ-VI-Accessibility-Integration

If anyone on AppleVis runs into the same installation or infinite-loading problem, I hope these steps save you some of the troubleshooting Panais and I went through.