This forum contains user modifications for Virtual Villagers: The Secret City. These modifications (or Mods) have all been created by users and are not supported by LDW. Use these modifications at your own risk. If using them causes problems for your game, please do not request support from LDW. It is always a good idea to back up the game's original images before you install an image mod, which will allow you to easily restore the game's original images.

To back up the images folder and install image mods on a Windows computer, perform the following steps. (You may use any method of your choosing to back up the images, of course, but the procedure below is a very simple, step-by-step process for people who need some help backing up files and installing the mod.)

• Make sure that VV3 is not running (quit the game, if it is)
• Open My Computer and navigate to the folder where VV3 is installed (usually c:\Program Files\Virtual Villagers - The Secret City)
• Open the VV3 program folder
• Create a new folder and call it something like Images-Backup
• Open the Images folder
• Ctrl-A to select all of the images in the folder, then Ctrl-C to copy them
• Open the new backup folder that you created previously and Ctrl-V to paste all of the images into the backup folder
• Download the mod that you want to install and save it to a location of your choosing
• Right-click the downloaded mod file and select Extract all... from the popup menu
• Follow the instructions in the wizard and allow the wizard to show the extracted files
• Ctrl-A to select all of the images in the folder, then Ctrl-C to copy them
• Open the original Images folder and Ctrl-V to paste all of the images into the game's Images folder
• When asked if you want to replace the existing file(s), click Yes to All
• Launch VV3 and enjoy the new images in the game!

To back up the images folder and install image mods on a Macintosh computer, perform the following steps. (You may use any method of your choosing to back up the images, of course, but the procedure below is a very simple, step-by-step process for people who need some help backing up files and installing the mod.)

• Make sure that VV3 is not running (quit the game, if it is)
• Open Finder and navigate to the game folder for VV3 (it is placed on the desktop by default, but you may have moved it to Applications or another location)
• Open the VV3 folder
• Create a new folder and call it something like Images-Backup
• Right-click (ctrl-click) on the Virtual Villagers - The Secret City application icon and click Show Package Contents
• Open the Contents folder, then the Resources folder, then open the Images folder
• Apple-A to select all of the images in the folder, then Apple-C to copy them
• Open the new backup folder that you created previously and Apple-V to paste all of the images into the backup folder
• Download the mod that you want to install and save it to a location of your choosing
• If the zip file isn't automatically uncompressed, use an extraction application, such as BOMArchiveHelper or Stuffit Expander, to extract the mod files from the zip file
• Open the extracted folder that contains the image files
• Apple-A to select all of the images in the folder, then Apple-C to copy them
• Open the original Images folder and Apple-V to paste all of the images into the game's Images folder
• When asked if you want to replace the existing file(s), click Apply to all and click on Replace
• Launch VV3 and enjoy the new images in the game!

Note: If you did not back up the original game images, the easiest way to restore your game to original condition is to back up your savegame files using the procedure in this post and reinstall the game. You may also post a request for help on the game forum and you will usually get help from our community.

Special note for Windows Vista users: Windows Vista incorporates security features that can interfere with installing, updating, or removing mods. Once an application is installed in Windows Vista, file changes may be "redirected" to a special user area called VirtualStore, and you may find that the image changes that you've made in the game's Images folder in Program Files are not showing up in the game. You can correct this problem, but you will need to delete files from the VirtualStore to do it. The VirtualStore is a hidden folder, so you will need to change the folder view options to allow you to see VirtualStore. To do that:

1. Open Control Panel
2. Type "folder options" in the search field in the upper right of the window
3. Click on the Folder Options icon
4. Click the View tab
5. Click the radio button next to "Show hidden files and folders"
6. Click Apply

Now that you have the ability to view hidden files and folders, you can look at what's in VirtualStore. To see that folder, do the following:

1. Click Start
2. Click Computer
3. Open Users
4. Open the folder for your user name
5. Open AppData
6. Open Local
7. Open VirtualStore

If you see any files in VirtualStore that are mod images, you can safely delete those and cause the game to use the images that you put in the application folder in Program Files. If you make further changes to the mods that you have installed, you may need to check VirtualStore again to make sure that there aren't game image files there.