General Modding FAQ

Q : What do I need to edit to make a new Country?
A : Making a new country from scratch is alot of work. First you would need to Hearts of Iron 2\config\world_names.csv and make change the entry for one of the userdefined countries (U00 - U19) to what you want your new country to be called. Now you take the tag for the country you just named and place it in the list of selectable nations in the Scenario File you wish to use it in. Now you must make a .inc File for that nation. You must also place an entry for that nation Hearts of Iron 2\db\revolt.txt that lists core provinces and the nations Capital. Finally you must place a sheild in Hearts of Iron 2\GFX\map\shields and a flag in Hearts of Iron 2\GFX\map\flags

Q : What about Ministers and Leaders?
A : You must make a Minister File and Leader File for that country. Your tag is the User-Defined tag that you changed into your country in world_names.csv

Q : Where do the pictures for events go?
A : Hearts of Iron 2\GFX\events_pics

Q : How do I change the amount of provinces required to liberate a nation
A : Go to Hearts of Iron 2\db\revolt.txt , Search for the tag of the country which you wish to change. The date and expiry date are the years that the country becomes available to liberate and stops being liberatable. The minimum field is the minimum amount of provinces required the liberate that nation, the nation wil always get these provinces upon being liberated and you will need all of them to liberate it. The extra field is extra provinces that the nation can receive if you control them. If you do not control them, then the liberated nation will instead get national claims on them. The Capital is the liberated nation's capital. intrinsic_gov_type means that only nations of that type may liberate this nation. It also means that if a nation which this liberatable nation has cores in/on is couped by that a governemnt of that type, it will become this liberatable nation. You may comment things out in revolt.txt

Q : I see something like EVT_2200_DESC. What does that mean?
A : I means that piece of text was exported to a config file, In Hearts of Iron 2\config you export long pieces of text for easy use. When looking for exported text, click on the corresponding .csv file to the file you where modding. That is, Exported event text is in event_text while exported tech text is in tech_names. You can also edit and change game text with .csv files.
You can export something of your choosing, in three easy steps:
1. Determine what the export name is to be.
2. Place that name, followed by a semi-colon.
3. Place the text you want to export.
A semi-colon after the exported text is the exported text that will be used in different versions of the game. (IE: One semi-colon after the exported text is the exported text that will be used in the French version of Hoi, While the semi-colon after that is the version that will be used in the German version.)

Q : How do I change each countries Politcal Map-mode color?
A : Go to Hearts of Iron 2\db\country.csv , Search for the tag of the country you want to change, and change each color. Beware that some colors are not what they see, For Example, Light green is more of a Mint-white.

Q : I made an Event Picture/Minister Photo/Leader Photo and it's all streched out!
A : It's too big. See Modding Graphics

Q : How do you add a new unit type?
A : You don't. Unit types are hardcoded, apparently.