Hearts of Iron IV, developed by Paradox Development Studios throws you back in time to the 1930s and 40s. You take charge of any nation on the planet and fight as their World War II top general. This WWII sim will have you obsessing over supply lines, internal and geopolitics, and even the weather as everything will affect the outcome of the various battles you will fight to win the war. Naturally, stepping into the position of president, prime minister, or dictator is no easy task. Some might say that cheating in any game goes against the spirit of the game. Other people would say that all is fair in both love and war.
Hearts of Iron IV Premise
The premise of Hearts of Iron IV is less of a story and more of a very complicated game of digital risk. It is in the 1930s and ’40s, and the world is at war. The Axis powers are fighting for control of the world and the evil powers of authoritarianism and fascism. The Allies are fighting for freedom, democracy, and independence in their home countries. Therefore, if you passed 6th-grade world history, then you should have a basic understanding of what is happening.
Where Hearts of Iron IV differs is that you can change the outcome of the story. Loads and loads of alternate histories are possible in this strategy game. Maybe Japan never bombs Pearl Harbor and sets its sights on Darwin, Australia. England might team up with Germany to crush France and Spain. Maybe Mexico takes its place as the global superpower and reigns supreme in the Americas. All of these possibilities are yours if you can control your army and the winds are in your favor. (Note that the game is not designed to go past 1948.)
Hearts of Iron IV Main Characters
Because Hearts of Iron IV is a historical war sim there aren’t exactly characters but instead, there are a number of historical figures you can play as. Here is a general list of the possible leaders you can take the role of. (Please note this is not a full list and just the major powers of the world at the time.)
United States
| Leader | Ideology | Party | In power (1936) | Country names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin Delano Roosevelt | Democracy/Liberalism | Democratic Party | Yes | United States |
| Harry S. Truman | Democracy/Liberalism | Democratic Party | No, can come to power via event (Roosevelt Passes Away) | United States |
| Alf Landon | Democracy/Conservatism | Republican Party | No, can come to power via 1936 elections | United States |
| Wendell Wilkie | Democracy/Liberalism | Republican Party | No, can come to power via 1940 elections | United States |
| Thomas E. Dewey | Democracy/Conservatism | Republican Party | No, can come to power via 1944 elections if MacArthur didn’t campaign for the presidency | United States |
| Douglas MacArthur | Democracy/Conservatism | Republican Party | No, can come to power via 1944 elections if MacArthur campaigned for the presidency | United States |
United Kingdom
| Leader | Ideology | Party | In power (1936) | Country name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stanley Baldwin | Democracy/Liberalism | Conservative Party | Yes | United Kingdom / England |
| Neville Chamberlain | Democracy/Conservatism | Conservative Party | No, can come to power via event (Stanley Baldwin resigns) | United Kingdom / England |
| Lord Edward Halifax | Democracy/Conservatism | Conservative Party | No, can come to power via one of two events (Chamberlain Passes Away event) | United Kingdom / England |
| Winston Churchill | Democracy/Conservatism | Conservative Party | No, can come to power via event (Chamberlain Resigns) or focus Motion of No Confidence | United Kingdom / England |
Germany
| Leader | Ideology | Party | In power (1936) | Country name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adolf Hitler | Fascism/Nazism | Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) | Yes | German Reich |
| Heinrich Himmler | Fascism/Nazism | Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) | No, can come to power via Event (Oster Conspiracy event chain/The Himmler-Putsch/Hitler Found Dead event) | German Reich |
| Hermann Göring | Fascism/Nazism | Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) | No, can come to power via Event (Oster Conspiracy event chain/The Himmler-Putsch) | German Reich |
| Konrad Adenauer | Democracy/Conservatism | Zentrum | No, can come to power via focus The Monarchy Compromise | German Republic / Germany |
| Wilhelm Pieck | Communism/Stalinism | Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD) | No | Socialist Republic of Germany |
Soviet Union
| Leader | Ideology | Party | In power (1936) | Country name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iosif Stalin | Communism/Stalinism | Vsesoyuznaya Kommunisticheskaya Partiya (Bolshevikov) (VKP(B)) | Yes | Soviet Union / Russian Soviet Socialist Republic |
| Lev Trotsky | Communism/Marxism | Vsesoyuznaya Kommunisticheskaya Partiya (Bolshevikov) (VKP(B)) | No, can come to power via event (The Soviet Civil War) if focus The Left Opposition is complete and Trotsky isn’t dead. | Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia (Union of Soviet Republics) |
| Ivan Smirnov | Communism/Marxism | Vsesoyuznaya Kommunisticheskaya Partiya (Bolshevikov) (VKP(B)) | No, can come to power via event (The Soviet Civil War) if focus Integrate Smirnov’s Bloc is complete. | Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia (Union of Soviet Republics) |
| The Supreme Soviet | Communism/Marxism | Vsesoyuznaya Kommunisticheskaya Partiya (Bolshevikov) (VKP(B)) | No, can come to power via focus The Supreme Soviet | Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia (Union of Soviet Republics) / Soviet Socialist Republic (SSSR) |
| Lev Kamenev | Communism/Marxism | Vsesoyuznaya Kommunisticheskaya Partiya (Bolshevikov) (VKP(B)) | No, can come to power via event (The Soviet Civil War or Army Arrests Lavrenty Beria) if the player has completed the focus Align the Zinovyevites | Union of Soviet Republics of Europe and Asia (Union of Soviet Republics) / Soviet Socialist Republic (SSSR) |
Titles of Hearts of Iron in the Publisher’s Series
Paradox Development Studios in their all-seeing strategy gaming glory has been hard at work making Hearts of Iron games for a while now. Starting all the way back in 2002, the game studio has been testing war game strategists for years.
Hearts of Iron – 2002
Hearts of Iron II – 2005
Hearts of Iron III – 2009
Hearts of Iron IV – 2016
Cheat Codes for Hearts of Iron IV
There are notably, several mods for Hearts of Iron IV but those are mostly personal customization and will generally affect your game’s code. These cheats are far more official and are used more as a sandbox tool to speedrun the war or to test if South Africa could take on the whole world at once.
To enable these cheats just open the console in-game by hitting “`” or “~” and typing in any of these cheats below. Some of these cheats will disable certain game items or actions that will help the game run smoother on less powerful or older computers.
| Cheat | Description |
| gain_xp [amount] | This command can be used to add experience to a Leader/General. The specified amount of experience is added to the Leader/General you currently have selected. |
| cp [amount] | This command will add command power (max. 100%). |
| st [amount] | This command will add stability (max. 100%). You can remove stability by specifying a negative number. |
| ws [amount] | This command will add war support (max. 100%). Specify a negative number to remove war support. |
| allowtraits | This command removes restrictions on general trait assignment. Executing this command will allow you to freely assign general traits to commanders, etc. |
| add_equipment [amount] [equipment name] | This command can be used to add a specified amount of any equipment other than naval equipment. You can remove equipment by specifying a negative amount. Note: you may need to have researched certain equipment before using it, use either the ‘research all’ (researches all equipment) or ‘research_on_icon_click’ command if this is the case. |
| add_latest_equipment [amount] | This command adds the specified amount of equipment to each and every piece of equipment you have unlocked/fully researched (so, every equipment type in your logistics menu). |
| whitepeace [country tag] [country tag] | This command instantly makes ‘white peace’ (things return to the way exactly they were before a war started) between the specified countries (specified by their country tag). |
| teleport [province id] | This command can be used to either activate the teleportation tool (if no arguments provided), or instantly teleport any selected ships or armies to the province with the specified ID. |
| allowdiplo | This command allows for the use of any diplomatic action (e.g. declaring war) without justification. |
| debug_nuking | After executing this command, nuking in any province is permitted, regardless of conditions. |
| instantconstruction | This command enables or disables (toggles) the instant construction cheat, making all construction happen instantly (no longer queues up). |
| event [event id] [country tag] | This command will start the specified event in the specified country. |
| research [slot id / ‘all’] | This command can be used to research all equipment, or equipment in a specific technology slot. |
| research_on_icon_click | This command will instantly research any technology when its icon is clicked in the technology tree. This command is also known as the ‘instant research’ cheat. |
| annex [country tag / ‘all’] | This command starts an annex with the specified country tag (an annex claims their territory for your country). |
| winwars | This command will give your country the maximum war score for all wars it is currently engaged in. |
| manpower [amount] | This command adds the specific amount of man power to your country. |
| add_opinion [source country tag] [target country tag] | This command adds an opinion from the specified country tag to another country. |
| tag [country tag] | This command switches your country to the specified country. ‘tag ENG’ would make you play as Great Britain, for example. |
| observe | This command enters you into ‘observe’ mode, in which you are set to play no country at all – meaning the entire game plays on auto-pilot. Messages do not show, and the game is not automatically paused. |
| tdebug | This command enables or disables (toggles) debug mode. In debug mode, IDs for things like states, equipment, provinces, etc are shown when you hover over them which are very useful as they are used in console commands. |
| spawn [unit name/id] [province id] [amount] | NOTE: In order to use this command, you must add ‘-debug’ to your HOI4 launch options – it will not work otherwise. This command can be used to spawn a specified amount of a unit in a province. |
| occupationpaint [country tag] | If no country tag is specified, this command toggles (enables and disables) occupation painting. If the country tag argument is provided, your country will occupy all land that the specified country owns (but not land that they only occupy). |
| setowner [country tag] [state id] | This command sets the owner of a specified state. |
| setcontroller [country tag] [province id] | This command sets the controller of a specified province. |
| xp [amount] | This command adds the specified amount of experience (to all experiences: army XP, naval XP and air XP). |
| pp [amount] | This command adds the specified amount of political power to your country. |
| civilwar [ideology] [country tag] | This command starts a civil war within a country, with the specified ideology. Possible ideologies: ‘fascism’, ‘democratic’, ‘neutrality’ and ‘communism’. |
| add_party_popularity [ideology group] [amount] | This command adds the specified amount of party popularity to the specified ideology group. Ideology groups are: ‘f’ (fascism), ‘d’ (democratic), ‘n’ (neutrality) and ‘c’ (communism). |
| set_ruling_party [ideology group] | This command sets the specified ideology group as the ruling party. Ideology groups are: ‘f’ (fascism), ‘d’ (democratic), ‘n’ (neutrality) and ‘c’ (communism). Note that if you wish to change the ruling party of another country, you will first need to switch to them with the tag command. |
| help [command] | If executed with no arguments (just ‘help’), this command will print a list of commands. If executed with a command as an argument, it will print help for the specified command. |
| focus.autocomplete | This command allows for instant completion of national focuses. Note that this command will affect the game’s AI. |
| focus.nochecks | This command allows for the ignoring of focus requirements. |
| focus.ignoreprerequisites | This command allows for the ignoring of focus prerequisites. |
| decision.nochecks | This command allows for the ignoring of decision requirements. |
| instant_prepare | NOTE: In order to use this command, you must add ‘-debug’ to your HOI4 launch options – it will not work otherwise. Executing this command will cause naval invasions to skip preparation time. |
| nu [amount] | NOTE: This is a Pre-1.5 command. It will not work in later versions. This command adds the specified amount of naval utility to your naval utility count. |
| nuke [amount] | This command adds the specified amount of nukes to your current country. |
| yesman | This command causes country AI to automatically accept any diplomatic offers, regardless of the case. |
| rendertype | This command prints the render type (backend) that is currently being used for your client. |
| tweakergui | This command opens a tweaker GUI. |
| add_ideas [idea name] | This command adds the idea with the specified ID/name to your current country. |
| reload [file name] | This command can be used to reload a file without opening and closing your game. Useful if you modify a file to change a setting and don’t want to completely restart your game. Common files: ‘loc’ (localisation files), ‘focus’ (focuses) and ‘landcombat.gui’ (land combat interface). |
| time | This command prints the current time. |
| reloadfx [map / .fx file] | This command (without any arguments) reloads the game shaders. You can optionally specify either a mapname, postfx or filename (ending in .fx). |
| particle_editor | This command opens the particle editor GUI. |
| testtool | This command opens the testing tool. |
| analyzetheatres | Executing this command will check all threatres in the game for errors. |
| massconquer | This command opens the mass conquer tool. |
| deleteallunits [country tag] | This command will delete all units (armies and fleets) of the specified country tag. |
| aircombat [scenario] [result] [province id] [airbase state id] [airbase state id] [equipment] [equipment] [equipment creator] [equipment creator] | This command initiates an air combat in the specified location from your desired country, airbase and equipment. |
| theatersrebuild | This command rebuilds all existing theatres. |
| fronts | This command enables or disables (toggles) the visibility of foreign fronts. |
| aidump | This command dumps AI data from your currently selected unit to a log file (for e.g. debugging purposes). |
| traderoutes | This command enables or disables (toggles) the visibility of trade routes. |
| debug_tactics | This command enables or disables (toggles) the visibility of the tactics debug tooltip. |
| reloadsupply | This command reloads all supply systems.. |
| deltat [speed multiplier] | This command will change the speed of animations in the game. The number specified is a multiplier – 2 would double the speed, 0.5 would half the speed. |
| building_health [building type] [state id / province id] [level] [amount] | This command can be used to modify the health of an existing building. |
| nomapicons | This command enables or disables (toggles) the visibility of icons in the map. |
| nopausetext | This command enables or disables (toggles) the visibility of the pause menu (useful for screenshots). |
| nextsong | This command skips to the next soundtrack in the in-game music playlist. |
| combatsound [frequency] | This command can be used to modify the frequency of a random sound being emitted from the combat view. The number given should be between 1 and 50. |
| morehumans [amount] | This command will the specified amount humans to your current country (or remove if a negative number is specified). |
| window [open / close] [gui name] | This command opens (‘open’) or closes (‘close’) the GUI with the specified name. |
| reloadinterface | This command reloads the game interface. |
| reloadtechnologies | This command reloads all technologies. |
| updateequipments | This command forcefully reloads equipment-related files (/Hearts of Iron IV/common/units/equipment/). |
| updatesubunits | This command forcefully reloads unit-related files (/Hearts of Iron IV/common/units/). |
| reloadoob [country tag] | This command reloads the OOB (order of battle) of the country with the specified tag. |
| update_loc [localisation key] | This command reloads the specified localisation key. |
| poll | This command polls valid events. |
| pause_in_hours [hours] | This command pauses the game after the specified amount of time. Useful if you want to leave the game running, but not for too long. |
| add_autonomy [country tag] [amount] | This command adds or subtracts from a the specified country’s autonomy level. |
| testevent [event id] [character id] | This command tests the specified ID without triggering it. |
| resign | This command, as you might have guessed, causes you to resign from your current position. |
| add_interest [country tag] | This command adds the country with the specified tag to your interest. |
| remove_interest [country tag] | This command removes the country with the specified tag from your interest. |
| add_diplo | This command adds diplomatic enroute for your current country. |
| printsynchstuff | This command prints the current seed of your game. |
| setrandomcount [count] | This command, if executed without any arguments (just ‘SetRandomCount’), will set the random count to 0. If a number is provided as an argument, the random count will be set to this. |
| ai | This command enables or disables (toggles) AI. |
| human_ai | This command enables or disables (toggles) AI for human countries. |
| ai_invasion | This command enables or disables (toggles) the AI for naval invasion. |
| ai_accept | This command enables or disables (toggles) whether or not AI will always accept diplomacy. |
| fow [province id] | This command will toggle (enable or disable) FOW (fog of war) either in general, or in the province of the specified ID. To clarify, if this command is executed without any arguments (‘fow’), it will turn off fog of war completely. If a province ID is specified as an argument, fow will only be toggled for that province. |
| collision | This command enables or disables (toggles) the collision debug GUI. |
| savegame | This command forcefully saves the game. |
| savecheck | This command can be used to check that saving is functioning correctly. It will make a save file named ‘Test_01’, load it, and then save that again as ‘Test_02’. The two files should be the same (in size, etc), if not, there is likely a problem with saving. |
| ip | This command prints your IP to the console. |
| requestgamestate | This command prints the gamestate. |
| nudge | This command opens the nuge tool. |
| mapmode [mapmode id] | This command changes the map mode to the specified type. Map mode IDs: 1 (Default), 2 (Naval), 3 (Air), 4 (Supply), 5 (State), 6 (Resistance), 7 (Resource), 8 (Diplomacy), 9 (Faction). |
| fullscreen | This command enables or disables (toggles) fullscreen mode. |
| prices | This command prints price info to game.log. |
| add_core [state id] [country tag] | This command adds the specified state as a ‘core’ of the specified country. A ‘core’ is a state that’s considered to be a rightful part of a country. |
| remove_core [state id] [country tag] | NOTE: This command has been reported as broken – if it isn’t working for you, it’s due to a fault in the game, not your own! This command removes the specified state as a ‘core’ of the specified country. A ‘core’ is a state that’s considered to be a rightful part of a country. |
| debug_zoom | This command will cause the game to zoom in. |
| debug_types | This command is an advanced debug tool, it only works if running RTTI. This will print the data type for all dynamic reference objects to console. |
| debug_show_event_id | This command prints the current event ID. |
| debug_commands | This command prints the current ‘commandcount’ to the message.log file. |
| debug_events | This command will initiate event counting, print data collected from this with the ‘debug_dumpevents’ command. |
| debug_dumpevents | This command will print data collected since the ‘debug_events’ command was last executed. |
| debug_diploactions | This command will initiate diplomatic action logging, print data collected from this with the ‘debug_dumpdiploactions’ command. |
| debug_dumpdiploactions | This command will print data collected since the ‘debug_dumpdiploactions’ command was last executed. |
| debug_assert | This command enables or disables (toggles) asserts. |
| debug_smooth | This command enables or disables (toggles) frame smoothing. |
| debug_nomouse | This command enables or disables (toggles) the scroll wheel’s (mouse) functionality. |
| debug_terrain | This command enables or disables (toggles) terrain. |
| debug_cities | This command enables or disables (toggles) cities painting mode. |
| debug_water | This command enables or disables (toggles) water. |
| debug_fronts | This command enables or disables (toggles) the interpolated fronts debug screen. |
| debug_off_front_snap | This command enables or disables (toggles) the offensive fronts snapping debug screen. |
| debug_borders | This command enables or disables (toggles) borders. |
| debug_trees | This command enables or disables (toggles) trees. |
| debug_rivers | This command enables or disables (toggles) rivers. |
| debug_postfx | This command enables or disables (toggles) PostFX. |
| debug_sky | This command enables or disables (toggles) the sky. |
| debug_tooltip | This command enables or disables (toggles) tooltips. |
| flagsoutput [path] | This command will generate and save a texture atlas file to the specified path. |
| cityreload | This command reloads cities. |
| error | This command will print errors from the log file. |
| version | This command prints the current version of the game to the console. |
| debug_nogui | This command enables or disables (toggles) the game GUI. |
| debug_volume [volume] | This command can be used to adjust the volume of the game. |
| debug_lockcamera | This command enables or disables (toggles) the camera lock. |
| debug_lines | This command enables or disables (toggles) debug lines. |
| debug_entities | This command enables or disables (toggles) entities. |
| debug_info | This command enables or disables (toggles) the debug info screen. |
| debug_particle | This command enables or disables (toggles) particles. |
| debug_ai_budget [country tag] | This command prints AI budget information to the console. |
| debug_textures | This command can be used to print texture debug information to the game log (not console. |
| debug_texture | This command enables or disables (toggles) textures like bloom. |
| debug_wireframe | This command enables or disables (toggles) the game’s forced wireframe. |
| debug_achievements_clear | This command will clear all of your achievements and stats (irreversible). |
| moveunit [unit id] [province id] | This command moves the specified unit to the specified province. |
| spawnactor [name] [province id] [animation] | This command spawns an actor. If an animation specified as an argument (optional), the character will spawn with that animation. |
| guibounds | This command enables or disables (toggles) the bounds debug GUI. |
| cameraclamp | This command enables or disables (toggles) the camera clamp. |
| provtooltipdebug | This command enables or disables (toggles) province tooltip debug info. The debug info includes things like province ID, state ID, etc when you hover over a province on the map. |
| reloadweather [seed] | This command reloads weather. |
| weather | This command enables or disables (toggles) weather – if this feature is off, weather will be disabled. |
| debug_air_vs_land | This command enables or disables (toggles) debug mode for air vs land combat. |
| mapnames | This command enables or disables (toggles) map names. |
| profilelog | This command will output profiling data/information to ‘time.log’. |
| run [file name] | This command runs a list of commands in a specified file. |
| oos | This command makes the client go out of sync. |
| debug_crash | This command is a debug tool, when executed it will debug client crashes. |
| sleep [duration] | This command will pause the game for the specified amount of time (seconds). |
| goto_province [province id] | This command moves the center of your camera to the specified province. |
| goto_state [state id] | This command moves the center of your camera to the specified state. |
| trigger_docs | This command |
| 3dstats | This command enables or disables (toggles) 3D stats. |
| hdr | This command enables or disables (toggles) high-dynamic-range imaging. |
| hdr_debug | This command enables or disables (toggles) high-dynamic-range imaging debugging. |
| srgb | This command enables or disables (toggles) color debugging. |
| bloom | This command enables or disables (toggles) bloom. |
| posteffectvolumes.default [post effect] | This command can be used to toggle a specific post effect, relative to the specified name. |
| night | This command enables or disables (toggles) night. |
| filewatcher | This command enables or disables (toggles) the filewatcher. |
| createlean | This command generates LEAN textures. |
| helplog | After executing this command, a list of all commands will be outputted to the game.log file. |
| hsv | This command converts HSV to RGB. |
| tag_color [rgb] | This command can be used to set the tag color of your current country. |
| browser [url] | This command opens the browser window and loads the specified URL. |
| browser_base_url [url] | This command sets the URL of the browser (loads a page). |
| aiview | This command enables or disables (toggles) debug info for the AI. |
| airealism | This command enables or disables (toggles) realistic AI for the game. |
| instant_wargoal | This command allows for the application of any war goal without justification. |
| set_country_flag [country tag] | This command sets the flag of the specified country as your current nation’s flag. |
| set_cosmetic_tag [country tag] [country tag] | This command will change the name and flag of the specified country to that of another country. |
Hearts of Iron IV FAQs
Is there a command to win wars in Hearts of Iron IV?
Yes, all you have to do is enter winwars in the command console. Your country now has the max war score possible. However, only in wars that you are directly involved in.
How do you give yourself units in Hearts of Iron IV?
The cheat code spawn [unit name/id] [province id] [amount]. Just replace the worlds in brackets with the relevant info and boom you have a fresh round of troops to send to the front.
What is the shortcut to select all units in Hearts of Iron IV?
The Hotkeys in Hearts of Iron IV are simple. Next, just click the Divisions Assignment Mode button in the game or while holding control “^Ctrl”, left-click on a battle plan to assign the currently selected units to that plan. Alternatively, you can right-click on any battle plan while holding control “^Ctrl” to select all units currently assigned to that plan.