So I looked over this fellow's worldgen parameters because I expected it to be some sort of totally weird world, and I wanted to tweak the parameters just enough to get a playable civ so I could adventure there. However, the world gen parameters there are actually fairly "normal"; the thing that made it turn out to be an empty world is that the OP was actually trying to put in 99 civilizations. Ironically, by trying to put in too many civs, and failing, the OP ended up with a world with NO civs.
So I decided to take at face value what the OP's original intent seems to have been, and see what the MOST civs you can pack into a 17x17 world is. I came up with one with 8, but it was mostly human civs and no elves. I wanted to get some more variety so here is a world gen that will pack 7 civs into a 17x17 map: humans, elven, goblin, dwarf, and two kobold caves. (I'm sure someone could do even better than this.) (If a rejects notice comes up with this world gen, just keep hitting "C" for continue.)
Created in DF v0.28.181.40d.
[WORLD_GEN]
[TITLE:EMPTY]
[SEED:102904748]
[HISTORY_SEED:963331740]
[NAME_SEED:1537395024]
[DIM:17:17]
[END_YEAR:1050]
[BEAST_END_YEAR:30:80]
[REVEAL_ALL_HISTORY:1]
[CULL_HISTORICAL_FIGURES:0]
[ELEVATION:1:400:1600:1600]
[RAINFALL:0:100:1600:1600]
[TEMPERATURE:25:75:1600:1600]
[DRAINAGE:0:100:1600:1600]
[VOLCANISM:0:100:1600:1600]
[SAVAGERY:0:65:1600:1600]
[ELEVATION_FREQUENCY:1:1:2:4:2:1]
[RAIN_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[DRAINAGE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[TEMPERATURE_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[SAVAGERY_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[VOLCANISM_FREQUENCY:1:1:1:1:1:1]
[GOOD_SQ_COUNTS:1:2:4]
[EVIL_SQ_COUNTS:1:2:4]
[PEAK_NUMBER_MIN:0]
[OCEAN_EDGE_MIN:0]
[VOLCANO_MIN:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:SWAMP:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:DESERT:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:FOREST:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:MOUNTAINS:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:OCEAN:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:GLACIER:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:TUNDRA:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:GRASSLAND:0:0:0]
[REGION_COUNTS:HILLS:0:0:0]
[EROSION_CYCLE_COUNT:250]
[RIVER_MINS:0:1]
[PERIODICALLY_ERODE_EXTREMES:1]
[OROGRAPHIC_PRECIPITATION:1]
[SUBREGION_MAX:2000]
[CAVE_MIN_SIZE:5]
[CAVE_MAX_SIZE:25]
[MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:3]
[NON_MOUNTAIN_CAVE_MIN:3]
[ALL_CAVES_VISIBLE:1]
[SHOW_EMBARK_RIVER:2]
[SHOW_EMBARK_POOL:2]
[SHOW_EMBARK_M_POOL:2]
[SHOW_EMBARK_M_PIPE:2]
[SHOW_EMBARK_CHASM:2]
[SHOW_EMBARK_PIT:2]
[SHOW_EMBARK_OTHER:2]
[SHOW_EMBARK_TUNNEL:2]
[TOTAL_CIV_NUMBER:7]
[TOTAL_CIV_POPULATION:20000]
[PLAYABLE_CIVILIZATION_REQUIRED:1]
[ELEVATION_RANGES:0:0:0]
[RAIN_RANGES:0:0:0]
[DRAINAGE_RANGES:0:0:0]
[SAVAGERY_RANGES:0:0:0]
[VOLCANISM_RANGES:0:0:0]