New to Hearts of Iron 4
Welcome recruit!
So you're interested in our mod, but have never played Hearts of Iron 4? Well, prepare yourself for the most comprehensive yet accessible World War 2 simulation, combined with a rich world taken from the MLP you know and love.
Installation
Before you try playing with any mods, it's recommended that you at least play through the tutorial available in the official version of Hearts of Iron IV to get the most basic understanding of the game.
Once you are ready, the first step is to get the mod. Your two options are to either subscribe to the mod through the Steam Workshop page, or download it directly through ModDB. The first option is recommended for most players. Use ModDB if you bought your game through the Microsoft Store, want to play an older version for any reason, or don't want your mod to update automatically.
The second step, only for people using ModDB, is unpacking your mod. Navigate to the following path, depending on your OS:
- Windows:
...\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron IV\mod\ - GNU/Linux:
~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/Hearts of Iron IV/mod/ - Mac:
~/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Hearts of Iron IV/mod/
If the mod folder doesn't exist inside the Hearts of Iron IV folder, create one manually. Unpack the contents of your downloaded equestria.zip file inside your mod folder directly. Mods from the Steam Workshop are handled differently; you do not need to move any files manually.
The third step is creating a playset. Open the Hearts of Iron IV launcher. Below the two prominent "Resume" and "Play" buttons, there is a playset dropdown menu. Select "Add new playset" option, and give it a name. Click the "add mods" button. You should now see Equestria at War listed there. Do not worry if the mod's file size appears to be a negative number, it's a common bug which doesn't affect anything. Select it from the list and click "add 1 to playset".
Equestria at War by itself only supports the English and Russian language versions. In the launcher, select "Game settings" from the menu on the left and make sure that your language is either English or Russian. Other languages require an appropriate translation submod, which may not always be up to date with the rest of the mod. Playing Equestria at War in an unsupported language without a translation submod will result in most of the text either missing or showing nonsense. The button in the top right of the launcher window only changes the language of the launcher and it doesn't affect the game itself; choose whatever you prefer there.
You can now go back to the launcher's Home screen, select the playset we've just created from that dropdown menu, and click play. You can easily recognize that you've done everything correctly if the loading screen and the main menu art are MLP-themed.
Playsets and other mods
A playset is pretty much a list of mods that you wish to load together. Your game can only run one playset at the same time, but a playset can have multiple mods included in it. Likewise, you can have multiple playsets saved in your launcher to switch between. Mods that are incompatible with one another (which includes any two "total overhaul" mods, among others) should be kept in separate playsets. If you ever wish to play HoI4 without any mods again, you should also create an empty playset for that (skipping the part where you add the mods to it).
If you wish to add a submod or some other compatible mod to one of your existing playsets. Select "Playsets" from the menu on the left in the launcher. Tucked near the upper-right corner is our familiar dropdown menu. Select the playset you wish to modify, and then click the "add more mods" button next to it. You can probably figure out the rest from there. Keep the main Equestria at War mod at the top of the list of mods in its playset, and any submods below it. The load order can be changed by hovering over the number indicating its position in the list, and then dragging it to your desired place.
You can check out our optional but recommended music mod on Steam Workshop or ModDB. After installation, add it to one of your existing playsets.
Updates
Join our Discord server or subreddit to be notified about new patches.
Steam should be able to keep your mods from the Steam Workshop up to date automatically. If for some reason it hasn't, initiating a file integrity check should force an immediate update (after it's been completed, which may take a few minutes). Alternatively, you can unsubscribe and resubscribe to the mod, but that will likely cause Steam to redownload the entire mod. If you use the ModDB version, you need to download the new version and replace the files manually.
Frequently Asked Questions
I heard HoI4 is really hard, is this true?
No... HoI4 is probably the easiest of Paradox's Grand Strategy games. With an understanding of the mechanics, some basic effective army templates, and a healthy dose of common sense, you should be able to successfully war against the AI as a major nation without much trouble
...and yes. HoI4 is a bewildering array of stats and mechanics. They aren't hard, once you understand them, and know what to pay attention to and what to ignore. But until then you'll accidentally leave your army cut off from supply in the middle of a jungle, let the enemy bomb you to bits with close air support, start a land war in Griffonia, or any number of other classic blunders.
Fortunately, it's quite possible to learn this quickly, and for best results, we strongly recommend you watch the game as its played by others. See Learning HoI4 for more info.
Do I need DLC?
No. Its nice to have, but its not essential. The mod is coded to handle any events using DLC features and non-DLC feature as available to ensure you don't miss out. And if you love boats Man the Guns is essential (if you don't it will only make things needlessly complicated)
Man the Guns - Allows ships to be designed module by module, amphibious vehicles plus a few other advanced naval features. Adds Governments in Exile - a feature rarely used in EaW.
La Resistance - Allows spying, deciphering enemy ciphers. Useful for changeling nations for obvious reasons.
Battle for the Bosporus - Does not see use, as it is a country pack. It only offers a few voicelines and other cosmetic tweaks.
No Step Back - Allows for tank design, unlocks railway artillery, military spirits, and logistics bombing. Valuable if you like tanks, otherwise will just complicate things.
By Blood Alone - Allows for Aircraft design, embargoing, unit medals and additional peace conference actions.
Arms Against Tyranny - Allows for Special Forces Doctrines, Global Arms Market, and Military Industrial organizations.
Trial of Allegiance - Does not see use, as it is a country pack. It only offers a few voicelines and other cosmetic tweaks.
What country should I play?
Well we happen to have a page called exactly that.
But for your first game...
- If you want to plunge right into the action and experience the ponies we all know and love, play
Equestria - turning Historical Focus off might give you some breathing room- but beware you will have big armies to manage - you will have to build up before the Changelings inevitably invade - make sure to save before the war begins so you can learn by trial and error - you might be pushed back but make the changelings bleed for it! - If you want something a bit quieter, but still with some war -
Lake City to the east might be your style - its got ponies, a border with the Griffons, and both peaceful and more aggressive - If you want to be a powerful conqueror - the
Griffonian Empire might be what you want - though be warned - Wingbardy, Aquileia, Griffonian Republic and Skyfall will grow to try to challenge you. - If you want to be part of a big war but not at the front lines try
Stalliongrad - its one of our early nations so the writing and mechanics are a bit dated, but if you can look past that they are well-positioned - they pack a punch but can rely on Equestria to bear the brunt of the changeling assault.
Does all of this match canon?
Surprisingly, it mostly does. Or it doesn't contradict canon, at least. The MLP:FiM canon and setting is generally intact, and the devs have borrowed liberally from the comics, fanfics and overall fanon where its suited their purposes, ignoring them where its not.
However, there are some key divergences. Let's rip the band-aid off quickly, shall we?
- The tech level has been advanced several decades to be in line with a WW2 setting. My Little Pony has always been a bit schizophrenic about this, with candles sitting alongside DJ turntables, but generally, the writers have attempted to keep their tech, in their words, Edwardian Era (<1910) and earlier.
- The map is not the same. Equestria at War features a detailed, massive custom map that was inspired by, but diverges greatly from the colourful, but mostly high concept, maps used by the show.
- Notably, the vast continents of Griffonia and Zebrica exist to the east and south respectively.
- Discord exists but is not really interested in helping anyone, as long as Fluttershy isn't personally threatened, and is thus uninvolved in this game. In fact he considers war the most boring form of chaos.
Equestria at War is now a few years old, and thus has diverged over time from Season 6 onwards, though where the lore is compatible it has been kept.
- (Season 6) - Chrysalis never tried to replace the Mane 6, and Starlight Glimmer never led a party to defeat her. Chrysalis has instead been working hard to industrialise, unite and militarise the Changeling Hives.
- (Season 6) - Starlight Glimmer eventually grew uncomfortable with her place with the Mane 6, thanked Twilight Sparkle for her tutelage, and journeyed off to support Friendship and Harmony in her own way.
- (Season 6) - The reformed rainbow changelings (aka skittlebugs) do not exist, and as far as anyone knows, cannot exist. Thorax never met Spike and is currently advocating for a system of trading goods with other nations for love.
- (MLP: The Movie) - The Storm King never invaded Equestria, and was defeated by the Mane 6 and Hippogriffs as he was preparing to attack.
- (Season 8) - Twilight's School has been established, though without the support of the reformed changelings and Starlight Glimmer, does not perform quite as well, though shows some promise in these troubled times.
- (Season 8) - The Kirin are located in eastern Zebrica.
- (Season 9) - The entire season is not canon in the mod - Celestia and Luna and not thinking of retiring (yet), and no defeated villains have been returned.
- Note: Equestria Girls, while having little to no impact or implications on anything in the world of Equestria at War, is canon, at least for the most part (more information on specifics will be released in the future). Altered characters from the franchise made to fit the adjusted world can be found in both Equestria and New Mareland.
OK, so what's been added beyond the canon?
Too much to count. over 50 nations have been spun into existence from basically nothing, with histories, leaders, cultures, ministers, industrial firms, cities, and states. But to speak broadly...
Continent of Equus
- Equestria has a breakaway Communist state named Stalliongrad to the north east.
- A griffon colony,
Nova Griffonia has been settled in the north. - In addition to the Yaks, Penguins and Polar Bears have nations in the chilly north.
- A new race, the Deer, have been added in the nation of
Olenia to the west of Equestria. - Batponies / Thestrals, always semi-ascended fanon, are a canonical full pony variant in EaW. Most favoured Luna, and most moved away from pony society to live in hills and caves, after distrust, suspicion, and lynchings from others during the first rise of Nightmare Moon. Batponies are equals in Equestria... legally speaking. But that's about it.
Continent of Griffonia
- The
Kingdom of Griffonstone, briefly mentioned in the show, has been expanded to include an entire continent of Griffons, Griffonia, filled with intrigue and chaos. It all exists in the shadow of the now shattered Griffonian Empire, which began to collapse after the loss of the Idol of Boreas. - Griffonia features the home island of Iron Will,
Asterion. - This continent also features the River Coalition, ponies of the east who have very little contact with Equestria, and have existed without alicorn rule, forced to war to repeatedly defend themselves against Griffons. They never had the magic of friendship to unite them and are still largely divided into the three tribes.
- Equestria has a colony in Griffonia called
New Mareland. - A few other races live here, including an island of changelings, a Zebra colony, and a small nation of Deer.
Continent of Zebrica
- Northern Zebrica features
Hippogriffia, the land of Hippogriffs, 
Chiropterra an enclave of loyalists of Nightmare Moon. - Kirins span across Northeastern Zebrica, especially in the
Realm of Kiria. - The
Macawian Archepelago in Northern Zebrica features the race of Harpies. - Gargoyles and Centaurs, featured in the IDW's My Little Pony comic series, makes an appearance in Southern Zebrica on
Kingdom of Gargiloya and 
Kingdom of Senturya respectively. - The yetis of the Storm Kingdom, now shattered into different warlord states, can be found as well in Southern Zebrica.
- Zebrica alone hosts the largest diversity of different races apart from the other continents, including Deers, Llamas, Horses, Donkeys, Camels, and a small minority of Dragons, Diamond Dogs, and Griffons.
Learning HoI4
A combination of trial and error, reading, and watching people play is essential to learning HoI4. We highly highly recommend watching a playthrough to understand HoI4. You can also check out the official Hearts of Iron IV: Complete Beginners Guide on YouTube.
Trial and Error
- For plain HoI4, Italy is an excellent starter nation (indeed the Paradox tutorial uses Italy).
- For Equestria at War, Lake City or Griffonian Empire aren't bad places to start
Reading
Join us on the Discord
Our devs and players alike hang out in our Discord channel - it is the core of our community, and very welcoming. Come say "Hi!" here!