The console in Hearts of Iron IV can spice up gameplay, speed things up, and fix commonly-encountered problems. It is a very useful tool for almost every player, regardless of their favored playstyle. This guide explains how to open it, and the definitions of some HOI4-specific terms like country tags and equipment codes. To jump to a particular part of this article, use the following links:
How to Open the Console
Opening the console in HOI4 is as simple as pressing a hotkey. The most commonly available hotkey is `, simply press this key and the console should open up - it is usually positioned in the top left of your keyboard, under the ESC key. If your keyboard doesn't have that key (due to keyboard layout), or that hotkey isn't working, here is a list of other hotkeys to open the cheat console:
- SHIFT + 2
- SHIFT + 3
- ALT + 2 + 1
What is an argument?
An argument is a "parameter", or piece of data you pass to a command. In the command tag ENG, 'ENG' is an argument, and in the command ae light_tank_artillery_equipment_1 100 both 'light_tank_artillery_equipment_1' and '100' are arguments. On HOI4Cheats.com, you can find detailed explanation for each and every argument a command has on its own command page (e.g. the spawn command).
What is a country tag?
A country tag is a 3 letter tag (or code) assigned to a country that is unique. It is used in commands to specify a specific country.
Usually, country tags are quite "obvious": Germany's is GER, Frances is FRA, Poland's is POL, etc - but sometimes tags can be less straight-forward, for example, Iran's is PER (for Persia). If you are struggling to find/guess a country tag, you can search for it on our country tag list.
Newly formed nations that don't exist at the start of the game will have an incrementing tag starting with D and then a number - the first new nation will have the tag 'D01', the second will have 'D02', etc. If you are unable to guess one of these country codes, you can use the tooltip debug command to enable debug tooltips, after which, the country tag will be shown when you hover over the country on the map.
What is an equipment code?
Equipment codes are used to identify pieces of equipment. Much like countries and country tags, each piece of equipment has its own unique equipment code. Equipment codes tend to be less "guessable", and in some cases can be very random, although they usually relate to the item they are for.
The most common command equipment codes are used within is the add equipment command. This command takes two arguments: the code of the equipment you wish to add, and the amount you wish to add.
If you'd like to look for an equipment code, our equipment codes and names list will come in very handy. It is a table of every equipment code to name conversion currently in the game.
Other Games with Consoles
Whilst you're probably here to find out how to open the console in Hearts of Iron IV, you might play other games that have command consoles, we recommend checking out the following articles: