[HOI4 Modding ] Creating New Ideas

This lesson will teach you how to add new country ideas/national spirits.
Timestamps for this tutorial/lesson:
00:00 - Lesson beginning
00:31 - Creating mod file
01:27 - Creating folder and file structre
05:31 - Creating idea entry
17:16 - Creating idea icon
21:39 - Creating idea localisation
------------- EXTRA SYNTAX -------------
24:52 - on_add
25:35 - Adding ideas via focus/event/decision
27:23 - Adding Timed Ideas
28:33 - Adding hidden ideas
Useful links:
Iron Workshop Discord server: / discord
My twitch channel: / playerhoi
Hearts of Iron IV wiki modding page: hoi4.paradoxwikis.com/Modding
If you would like to contribute to make the Iron Workshop better you can do so on Patreon: / playerhoi
Here are the download links to the various tools used during The Iron Workshop lessons/tutorials.
Notepad++ Download: notepad-plus-plus.org/downloads/
Paint.net Download: www.dotpdn.com/files/paint.ne...
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[@TheIronWorkshop]

----- IMPORTANT! ----- An important note due to changes to localization in version 1.11+, for the localization to work properly please move all the files inside the localisation folder into a folder called 'english' for the localization to appear properly. ----- IMPORTANT! -----

[@trevor8726]

Do we leave english in localisation?

[@worldwarnerds1263]

@@trevor8726 yes i have the same question

[@trevor8726]

@@worldwarnerds1263 yeah you do, make sure to delete the bak file if it gets created cause it fucks with the yml

[@not9411]

@@trevor8726 If the mod is in another language the folder must be called english too?

[@trevor8726]

@@not9411 i dont think so its gonna depend on what language your game is set to

[@NoahWeaverRacing]

Made my first mod because of your updated videos, thank you for releasing these. They're very well made and easy to understand for those new to modding. I'm hoping to make a second mod here in the next couple days with some new national ideas! Thank you!!

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Thanks, Its always great to hear that these are bringing new people to modding 🙂

[@newlineschannel]

@@TheIronWorkshop Hey! I know this is a bit late but how do I add ideas to a country upon the player loading in? I want to create a difficulty mod where debuffs are added to the country and I want the country that the player is playing to have those debuffs instantly. How do I do this?

[@arda12323]

Your videos are easy to understand. My english is not so good but still i can understand everything and i created my first mod last week. Keep up the great work!

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Congrats, hope you continue to enjoy your modding adventures :)

[@shaunemann]

@@TheIronWorkshop For me too. Great Videos!

[@Benjamin-pz8fs]

Nice to see you keep making new content, this video is once again very helpful.

[@snakeoilsalesman2291]

Thank you so much for these videos. I’m trying to make a mod for me and my friends and these are helping a lot.

[@adrianbum9423]

THE BEST !!! I don't know English well, but it is perfectly visible in the video.

[@yellowplate4539]

can you make a what if spongebob won ww1 mod :) call it Bobreich lol.

[@finseaf]

Thanks for the video!

[@ariandiamond8665]

please keep going and never stop

[@omer64king]

your videos are so good thanks

[@coopercallaghan]

is there like a list of things i can put in the modifier section

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Of course, hoi4.paradoxwikis.com/Modifiers

[@vibby1004]

This series is why I got into modding! It's simple and awesome! I do have one question, how do you change the amount of military and civilian factories a state/nation starts with? Edit: Figured it out

[@nikolayilyin1819]

If you have all your states ready in your history/states folder then open one of them up. After that you will need to find the text that says history in which you will also need to find the text that says buildings. In those brackets, you can edit the number of buildings in a state. Civs are industrial_complex and mils are arms_factory.

[@vibby1004]

AlfredVon Bon lol I already figured it out but thanks for responding!

[@nikolayilyin1819]

@@vibby1004 Oh alright edit:Oh I am an dummy I didn't see the edit, sorry

[@bebkrl]

love you bro

[@herrvonald352]

When I heard "secret formula", my brain died

[@bekes3274]

Sytanx were so useful. Thanks for sharing! Could you make a lesson on how to make GFX for ideas-national focuses and good potraits.The onesi do usually comes blury or not so clear

[@TheIronWorkshop]

There are separate lessons on creating focuses and leaders, check those out.

[@samuelavillain]

Is there a way to add an idea to all countries easily, or do I need to add tags and edited history files for each country?

[@scotvince7847]

I would like to locate the sprites that are used for the little incons on advisors portraits. Then modify them. Where are they into the gfx folder ?

[@rdgrdmedflde2966]

Nice video

[@z3rtod185]

Nice video thanks. But I have a question. My mods are not working. Ones I created and I downloaded. Why?

[@augustas3765]

Hi I like your videos. I made my first mod today (if you want to now it is a new focus tree for Lithuania) But I have a question Do you consider making tutorials in modding stellaris?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

I'd love to see a reworked focus tree for Lithuania (I'm Lithuanian myself) :) I have considered it but I am very limited with time on my hands and have difficulty managing all the stuff that I already do (the Cold War Mod takes a huge amount of my time) so it's not really possible right now, perhaps in the future that will happen.

[@chesterthemolester7976]

Hey, could someone help me resolve my issue. If I delete or even edit anything in the any file with notepad plus plus it tells me theres an error (red brackets)

[@gerardginnette4500]

your tutorial is not over i am block at the end to add_idea where we write this line?in the game file? or does we need to copy for example france hystory and france idea in the mod file?how could we link the idea of the mod with the idea of the game?

[@someorclad9738]

Can't seem to get the description to work. The name and modifier all works just fine. Its just the desc that does not show up. I checked the English part of the file name and everything seem to be in order. Did I overlooked something?

[@danilbaril9189]

Im having a really weird bug, so I created a bunch of ideas and assigned them to focuses, im playing the game in debug mode and everything is fine, the ideas show up in the focuses. But everytime I restart the game (even when its not in debug mode), almost all the ideas I created, aswell as a single idea I just modified from the base game, just disappear from the focuses, it shows "ERROR: IDEA NOT FOUND" or something, even after I reload. But then, whenever I go to the focus file, and just erase the idea from the SWAP ADD = (idea), save, then add the same idea again, everything goes back to normal. Its really weird and I have no idea why it happens.

[@warthoggoulags1679]

i created 3 country ideas and they work perfectly, but then i created other ideas for other countries and they wont show up but the effects work fine

[@imsharkius9325]

Hello Iron Workshop! I had a question about idea making. So if I was to make a european union idea, how would I make an event that can be triggered when somebody leaves it?(removes idea)

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Ideas have a function called on_remove = { } so you could do something like: on_remove = { country_event = 123 }

[@imsharkius9325]

@@TheIronWorkshop thank you very much! I could use some help if you could add me possibly? on discord, my tag is Sharkius#4660 I sent a friend request.

[@karlenaleksanyan9242]

Hello, I'm making a submod for kaisserreich, and there is an issue with the ideas. When I make the file to add my ideas and try to load the game, essentially there are a bunch of errors for a file called 00_laws. I checked this file and there seems to be nothing wrong with it. Do you know what could be wrong with it?

[@mmdrezakh]

can you make a video about making custom army uniform?

[@Starjumper2821]

Thank you very much for this video: Little problem I had after following the steps: My jet design company doesn't show the bonuses it applies in the research window unlike others. The bonuses ARE still applied though, just have to look at the stats in the production view.

[@TheIronWorkshop]

I'll need to see the code for the company, paste it here and lets take a look...

[@Starjumper2821]

@@TheIronWorkshop trait: jet_aircraft_manufacturer = { random = no equipment_bonus = { jet_fighter_equipment = { air_agility = 0.1 maximum_speed = 0.1 reliability = 0.2 air_attack = 0.4 } jet_tac_bomber_equipment = { air_agility = 0.1 maximum_speed = 0.1 reliability = 0.2 air_ground_attack = 0.1 naval_strike_attack = 0.1 } jet_strat_bomber_equipment = { air_agility = 0.1 maximum_speed = 0.1 reliability = 0.2 air_bombing = 0.1 } } ai_will_do = { factor = 0 } }

[@Starjumper2821]

@@TheIronWorkshop idea: airbus = { allowed = { original_tag = GER } traits = { jet_aircraft_manufacturer } ai_will_do = { factor = 0 }

[@TheIronWorkshop]

@@Starjumper2821 jet_aircraft_manufacturer, is that a custom trait you created?

[@Starjumper2821]

@@TheIronWorkshop Yes, I was tired of waiting for Paradox to make designers affect jets, also the low air attack. Bloody hell the 262 had 4 30mm grenade launchers.

[@trixie2558]

What do you do if the brackets are red when selected?

[@swiftyteo3663]

do you need to change file names?? is it nessesary when you are creating a new nation like me??

[@realxinruz4064]

helped make an mp mod for my server thanks very much

[@chillraven3575]

Using notepad++ and i just copied the idea file from the game files but when i edit it in notepad++, without changing anything, all the brackets appear red?

[@WilliamPavlik]

I can't get the idea picture to work. It just shows up with the question mark. I did everything you did and double checked it with the game files. I don't know what im doing wrong.

[@generictotheextreme2566]

I encountered a problem, and after scouring the internet this is my last hope for help. Essentially i have several national focuses that in total adds 3 ideas to germany. which work fine. But if i save the game and reload, then these new ideas disappear and are replaced by 3 instances of the first idea in my ideas file. i have no idea what is causing this to happen. And as far as i can tell my syntax and file structure is entirely the same as in this video.

[@chrisalex82]

can we do shared ideas between different countries ?

[@stadianowich4559]

How do i make a national spirit that modifies another one. Something like Netherlands De crisisjaren.

[@wadysawanders9008]

Can you do a National Sprit/idea id list? plss

[@isaachoth6805]

the idea is there, but is has no picture and has no modifiers. the brackets are closed so i have no clue

[@melamagno2426]

Can you make a video explaining how to change the game's fonts?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

I did suggest a lesson on that in the last poll but it only got 9% of the votes. This is something that I want to touch on in the future but can't really promise right now when it will be published.

[@TheLethalGuy]

I have a focus that triggers a civil war and then once it ends my idea is supposed to trigger but it wont

[@Snootingson]

I followed the steps exactly but the national focus isn’t showing

[@danilbaril9189]

I was gonna make some changes to the portuguese ideas so I just copied the portuguese ideas file to the mod file (like I had done for focus or events), but I get a ton of "duplicate idea" errors, do you know why this is happening?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Make sure you didn't rename the file that contains the idea, otherwise the game will try to access the ideas from your mod AND the ideas from vanilla game.

[@Brifrakenki]

how do i make it so that when i complete a focus, it modifies the idea, lets say, for example i have an idea that gives +1.00 stability, but if i complete the second focus, it becomes +2.00 stability?

[@mrnecro3071]

Is there an alternative for A8R8G8B8 because I do not have that option.

[@tavasp]

there should be one starting with b, and it should say linear A8R8G8B8

[@MBKovas]

Struggling with this a lot considering I can't get the localization and picture to work. They are somehow not being recognized and it's honestly beyond me at this point.

[@HavocMusic1759]

Picture, is it completely gone, a thin line, or a question mark? If it is a question mark it's because of misspellings and other possible problems. You must have the GFX sprite name "GFX_idea_[YOUR IMAGE NAME, WITHOUT .dds]" and the file should be named without capitalization and other things. If it is completely gone or a thin line, It might be because you may have not removed the "noOfFrames = 15" in the GFX sprite. Hope this helps!

[@dyingmoose9298]

Remove the GFX_idea when doing pictures in ideas entry and the image should show up.

[@memes4life273]

how do we update a mod form 1.7.1 to 1.9.3

[@Ovletas]

I would like someone to help me I have this problem, it doesn't matter how many times I change the name, how many times I change the directory, "idea_unknown" will always be put as the icon of the national spirit. A little help please?

[@anafernandez9847]

a bracket is red and i dont what happened it is at the end of the file

[@haianhtran5798]

idea via event not working for me :(

[@Matt-bq3rl]

I was doing all as you and in game i dont see change.

[@Spoudey]

how do i make it so a spirit is removed when puppeted

[@ivanjanka2910]

Thanks for the great tutorial, but i have a problem: i want to add an idea that gets removed if stability is lower than 50%, and gets added again if stability gets above 50%. I've put this, but it doesn't work: allowed = { original_tag = DEN } available = {has_stability > 0.5} cancel = {has_stability < 0.5} allowed_civil_war = { always = yes } modifier={ research_speed_factor = 0.2 } Thanks in advance if you can help

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Which part doesn't work? The adding or the removing?

[@ivanjanka2910]

@@TheIronWorkshop The adding, thanks for the swift reply! :D

[@theenforcerguy]

so I have a problem with the ideas. in game my idea isnt shown there is just an empty gap between 2 ideas and i did the exact same stuff u did just with germany (i made my own idea and stuff and used germanys stuff and everything is closed)

[@TheIronWorkshop]

That means there is a problem with your graphic file, I suggest you try to change the picture = parameter to something from the vanilla game and see if that works. If it does that means that you will need to create your graphic file again and make sure it is in the correct format.

[@Pasi_4r]

For me the ideas dotn even show up

[@tsuaftl3885]

could you make a video (after you're break) about scripted civil wars?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Anything in particular you would like to have a focus on in that regard?

[@tsuaftl3885]

​@@TheIronWorkshop like who controls certain states , where divisions spawn, how to trigger it , and like in the new dlc how two spains have differant focus trees.

[@shaunemann]

That would be very nice, yeah.

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Okay, civil wars are actually a very broad topic and can be pretty complex but I can do a basic tutorial on how to set them up.

[@albertytube5547]

Does this work on Windows 11?

[@HavocMusic1759]

Two problems. One, when the national spirit icon is assigned, it is just a very thin line. No errors or anything, just a very thin line. Any ideas? I could send code in a reply if necessary. Two, how do I make a national focus assign a national spirit?

[@HavocMusic1759]

fixed the first problem

[@TheIronWorkshop]

add_ideas = IDEA NAME

[@HavocMusic1759]

@@TheIronWorkshop thanks!

[@bill8244]

when i take the abilities_l_english file from HOI4 localisation files, it does not have the same structure as what you have in the video, i am so confused rather than what it has in your video it just has: l_english: ABILITY_TOOLTIP_NAME:0 "$NAME|H$" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_NAME_CANCEL:0 "§RCancel: $NAME|H$§!" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_COST:0 "Command Power Cost: $VALUE|H$" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_DETAILED_COST:0 " - Base cost: $VALUE|H2$ (each for $UNITS|H0$ battalions)" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_DAILY_COST:0 "Command Power Daily Cost: $VALUE|H2$" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_ALLOCATION:0 "Command Power Allocation: $VALUE|H2$" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_NOT_ENOUGH_CP:0 "§RNot enough command power.§!" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_IS_ALREADY_ACTIVE:0 "§RAbility is already active.§!" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_IS_IN_COOLDOWN:0 "§RAbility is in cooldown.§!" ABILITY_LEADER_CANNOT_USE_ABILITIES:1 "§RUnit Leader sick or wounded and cannot use abilities.§!" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_DURATION:0 "Duration: $VALUE|H$" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_COOLDOWN:0 "Cooldown: $VALUE|H$" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_ALREADY_ACTIVE_GROUP:0 "§RThis Ability is already active at the Army Group level.§!" ABILITY_TOOLTIP_ALREADY_ACTIVE_CHILD_GROUPS:0 "§RThis Ability is already active for all child groups.§!" ALLOCATED_CP_ENTRY:0 "$NAME$ ($DURATION$)" ABILITY_DUR_HOURS:0 "$num|H$ hours" ABILITY_DUR_DAYS:0 "$num|H$ days" ABILITY_LAST_STAND:0 "Last Stand" ABILITY_LAST_STAND_TOOLTIP:0 "Last Stand ($LEADER$)" ABILITY_LAST_STAND_DESC:0 "Your armies will get a defensive bonus at the expense of some disadvantages." ABILITY_FORCE_ATTACK:0 "Force Attack" ABILITY_FORCE_ATTACK_TOOLTIP:0 "Force Attack ($LEADER$)" ABILITY_FORCE_ATTACK_DESC:0 "Your armies will get an offensive bonus at the expense of some disadvantages." ABILITY_STAFF_OFFICE_PLAN:0 "Staff Office Plan" ABILITY_STAFF_OFFICE_PLAN_DESC:0 "Your units will get a major boost to their planning speed." ABILITY_STAFF_MORE_GROUND_CREWS:0 "More Ground Crews" ABILITY_STAFF_MORE_GROUND_CREWS_DESC:0 "You will get an efficiency boost for a strategic region." ABILITY_SIEGE_ARTILLERY:0 "Siege Artillery" ABILITY_SIEGE_ARTILLERY_DESC:1 "Specialized siege artillery will cause heavy damage to forts and provide a fort attack bonus." ABILITY_GLIDER_PLANES_ARTILLERY:0 "Glider Planes" ABILITY_GLIDER_PLANES_ARTILLERY_DESC:1 "Assigning glider planes will increase the transport capacity for paratrooper orders." ABILITY_FASTER_NAVAL_PLANNING:0 "Naval Assault Plan" ABILITY_FASTER_NAVAL_PLANNING_DESC:1 "Requsition additional landing craft and resources for a naval invasion." ABILITY_PROBING_ATTACK:0 "Probing Attack" ABILITY_PROBING_ATTACK_DESC:1 "Divisions do not lose their entrenchment bonus when attacking, but do not fully commit to battle." ABILITY_MAKESHIFT_BRIDGES:0 "Makeshift Bridges" ABILITY_MAKESHIFT_BRIDGES_DESC:1 "Building makeshift bridges will reduce river crossing penalties in combat." ABILITY_EXTRA_SUPLIES:1 "Extra Supplies" ABILITY_EXTRA_SUPLIES_DESC:1 "Extra supplies are acquired for the troops." ABILITY_REQUISITION_WINTER_GEAR:0 "Requisition Winter Gear" ABILITY_REQUISITION_WINTER_GEAR_DESC:1 "Winter gear will provide a bonus to cold weather acclimatization." ABILITY_ON_ADD:0 "On Execute:" ABILITY_ON_HOURLY:0 "On Each Hour:" ABILITY_ON_DAILY:0 "On Each Day:"

[@technerd4546]

cause its different game version

[@solounafanatica3220]

this can work for custom nations too?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Yes

[@Lupus_Solitarius]

Can I make, through a focus, another country get a idea? Like, let's say I'm Germany and I want to add a debuff for Soviets through one of my focuses, can I even do that?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Sure, see the focus creating video that will explain how to add effects to focuses.

[@Lupus_Solitarius]

Thanks, I figured it out! Seriously, your videos are amazing, if it weren't for them I probably wouldn't have even carried on doing my mod, it's so satisfying when it works as I wanted it to!

[@Lupus_Solitarius]

How about the hidden ideas though? I can't seem to get them to work. They're not hidden, they're just not present. What can I do about it?

[@DynaX122]

whenever i open it... it only shows a movie icon, even though notepad++ is installed!

[@technerd4546]

right click > edit with notepad ++

[@gelblastercity9293]

Hey Iron Workshop, my "lemont democracy" idea is not working for the mod I am trying to make. It has the same layout as the communist one (which works). please help! ideas = { country = { lemont_communism = { picture = fourth_international allowed = { tag = LEM } available = { has_completed_focus = lemont_authoritarianism } cancel = { has_government = communism } removal_cost = 50 modifier = { communism_drift = 0.1 } } lemont_democracy = { picture = GFX_idea_generic_deal_with_the_devil2 allowed = { tag = LEM } available = { has_completed_focus = lemont_securenewstate } cancel = { has_government = democracy } removal_cost = 50 modifer = { communism_drift = -0.05 fascism_drift = -0.05 } } } }

[@gelblastercity9293]

My localization for these ideas are not working either, however it works for focuses and other things.

[@noodlebob5302]

The idea wont show up when I copy the history file with the country to the mod folder unlike editing the base game where it does show up even though I do everything exactly the same.

[@noodlebob5302]

maybe the base game overwrites the new made idea idk

[@kc3306]

same for me as well

[@joaomarcosr9548]

you need to make a folder called " history ", then inside this folder, make one called " countries, then put your history file (the one you've changed) inside it. This way your file will overwrite the base game file. This is an old comment, but people might come to have this issue like i did. ironworkshop overlooked this or left in a different tutorial.

[@afi1998]

@@joaomarcosr9548 you're a fucking chad, thank you

[@Zheko197]

Do you have to pay for photoshop?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Yes, newer versions of Photoshop are bundeled in Adobe's creative suit which has a monthly pay system... It's a new low of greed from Adobe but they aren't the first to do this.

[@voltywolty]

followed everything you did but my national spirit icon is invisible

[@spacetoxicology]

Same! Have you figured out how to fix it?

[@voltywolty]

@@spacetoxicology is it a dds?

[@HavocMusic1759]

@@voltywolty It's not invisible. It's a very thin line. I don't know how to fix it though, just wanted to state.

[@HavocMusic1759]

Figured it out for me. Did you remove noOfFrames = 15 in the ideas.gfx sprite?

[@mrneighbor133]

after I did this it doesn't accept the existence of the mod

[@Cthulhu_bng117]

Brackets are still red when I close them, any idea why?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

It means you haven't closed them. My suggestion is to start over.

[@Cthulhu_bng117]

@@TheIronWorkshop So they are actually closed it seems even though the brackets are red as the mod works, however it doesn't seem to work if I have other mods enabled

[@Cthulhu_bng117]

Disregard the part about it not working because I have other mods enabled. It only doesn't work if I have another mod I made that edits some of the same files enabled

[@alice_kr2389]

I want mad mod, it can control ai's research . how can made mod?

[@calpatus1149]

Super duper Man Romania.

[@a.d.t.mapping8792]

How do i add a national spirit (like Neutral Foreign Policy)? I can't seem to find it.

[@TheIronWorkshop]

In focus/country history file/event/decision: add_ideas = NAME_OF_IDEA

[@a.d.t.mapping8792]

@@TheIronWorkshop it shows up in the country select screen, but when i start the game, it's not there.

[@oliveguitar]

didnt find the files

[@PercepiusProductions]

14:19 saving le progress, move on

[@piotrszymaniak6237]

wheres the fourth step?

[@ludger9878]

why does your folders look like in win7?

[@TheIronWorkshop]

Until last week I was using Win 8 which sadly I had to give up for 10...

[@Not_N1dza]

25:00

[@Finlzz]

Hey there! I followed your exact format (almost) and my idea just wont appear, any ideas on a way to fix this? I will post the code below (this is for a custom country) ideas = { country = { FRE_growing_economy = { picture = generic_production_bonus allowed = { original_tag = FRE always = no } available = { has_completed_focus = FRE_focus_on_civilian_industry } cancel = { } allowed_civil_war = { always = yes } modifier = { local_resources_factor = 0.5 consumer_goods_factor = -0.1 } } } }

[@TheIronWorkshop]

I suggest you remove the "always = no" requirement since that conflicts with the first one original_tag = FRE. and it conflicts with the requirement of finishing the focus FRE_focus_on_civilian_industry. And original_tag is mostly used for dynamic tags that spawn during civil wars so unless its being used for that you can just use tag = FRE In terms of code everything seems ok, all brackets are closing. Try these suggestions and let me know if it works.

[@chemio2430]

7:20

[@Hadahuda]

24:50