Hearts of Iron IV

Hearts of Iron IV

Expert AI 5.0
Kondi  [developer] Aug 1, 2017 @ 2:25am
Compatible Mods
If you're going to ask about compatibility with a mod, link the mod in your post. Otherwise it will be ignored.

Read before combining mods:

If you are playing Expert AI then I assume you care about the AI knowing how to play the game. If so, do NOT use any mods that change the gameplay even if they are somehow compatible (unless explicitly mentioned otherwise). This mod's AI is ultimately designed to play well only with the vanilla gameplay with attention paid to the smallest details possible and by changing the game you are undoing the work this mod does.

There is no simple rule to determine what is compatible with this mod. Usually cosmetic mods are fine. Anything else - no matter how simple, even if it apparently has nothing to do with the AI - that adds/changes content (focuses, decisions, events), changes gameplay or tweaks parameters should be used with caution.

It is very easy to break the AI in this mod with an incompatible mod and it could lead to the AI not researching or producing anything, completely nonsensical historical behavior as well as a number of less obvious issues that make the AI worse. Just because you can start a game and get no errors or crashes doesn't mean there are no serious issues.

Even a mod that does "simple" changes to the map or adds a focus tree for some minor can break this mod (or vice versa) because quite often they change vanilla tech trees or change vanilla events and such. It depends entirely on how the other mod was implemented.

The best way to tell if it is compatible is to read the other mod's description. If it mentions that it is compatible with virtually everything then it is probably fine to use.

The second best way - and the safest by far - is to look into both mod's files yourself and see if any files used by Expert AI are also used by the other mod. Anything that is shared especially in /common is going to have unpredictable consequences and at the very least a dependency should be set up for one of the mods.

Paradoxos Mod Manager

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/tool-paradoxos-mod-manager.1001308/

This mod allows you to easily check file conflicts and fix load orders.

To make a national focus mod work for example, you'll have to give it higher load priority than EAI. There will usually be file conflicts but you have to make sure no common files are in conflict. Files that related to the modded country (name of the country is in the file name) are usually fine to overwrite, while any technology file conflict is absolutely not going to work.

Updated list of compatible mods

-Cosmetic mods like Unique Infantry Equipment etc.
-Historical Portraits
-Operation Overhaul (EAI is a required mod for this)

Compatible provided give them load priority:
-UMC Germany
-Deutschland Erwache 2: Toasted Germany
-Many other national focus mods that are built similarly to these two mods. However I recommend you only use focus mods for countries that you are playing and not for the AI.

This section is very outdated as of 1.5 that changed how mods work together

NOT COMPATIBLE:

-OVERHAUL MODS: "Kaiserreich", "Black ICE", "Great War", "Road To 56", "Vanilla+" and other overhaul mods. Even if the game doesn't crash, using any of these mods will break the game.

-"Historical National Focus Dates"

-"Random Country Placement", "The Resource War"

-EQUIPMENT MODS: "Improve Any Equipment" - to be on the safe side, don't use mods that edit equipment files unless you make sure it doesn't override files used by EAI.

-"Combat Tactics Fixed" - change the load order to make it somewhat compatible.

-TECH MODS: Anything that changes or adds technologies: "Expanded Technology", "Expanded Industry". Either that mod won't work properly or the AI will be broken. Note that many mods actually edit techs (focus tree mods etc.) despite not being a "tech mod".

-"Ultimate Expanded States"," Nationalism Expanded", other mods that change national focuses for majors and some minors with DLC focuses. Exception: the mod has load priority AND the countries which it affects are not AI. You can in some cases allow compatibility by editing the name of the mod to give it load priority but even then you must make sure that the mod only edits the focus tree. Some focus mods like "China National Focus" are closer to an overhaul than a simple focus mod, which can't be made compatible.

COMPATIBLE:

-DECISION MODS: assuming they were scripted in a compatible way, they should work.

-"Operation Overhaul" - this overhaul mod has built-in compatibility with Expert AI

-Cosmetic mods: WW's Map, equipment/tech/model graphics mods etc.

-Focus trees for minors except for the big ones like "China National Focus" which changes more than just a focus tree. More likely to work if you are the one playing the country with a modded focus tree, there are several ways for the AI to break if they play with the modded focus tree.

-Generally speaking mods that don't edit the vanilla files. Mods that add completely new stuff probably work: "Faction Manager", "Formable Nations", "Coring States", "White Peace Expanded".

-"Increased Resources"

-"Enhanced Peace Conference", "Player-Led Peace Conferences"

-"Bigger Production Menu" and others like that.

-"Historical Portraits & Expert AI: compatibility submod"

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK:

-"Better Mechanics: Frontline". Using two AI mods is generally a bad idea so I don't recommend it. There are overlapping AI strategies causing issues as well as overwritten AI settings that EAI needs in order to work better. If you give Expert AI load priority, these is less chance of a conflict.

-"New World Order", "Hearts and Minds" - some parts of these mods won't function but they may still be used, HOWEVER the effect on the game is hard to predict.

-"Better Post-War Europe" - Some GER AI diplomacy changes from Expert AI won't work (it will behave more like vanilla).

-"Realistic Casualties and Manpower" - technically works but highly likely to cause serious problems for the AI regarding how many units it builds

-"Expanded Resources" - might mostly work, may or may not cause AI issues.

-"Beautiful States" - might work but only on non-historical focuses.

-Mods that rebalance major parts of the game, such as industry or combat in a way that significantly changes how the game is played. It might technically work but the AI won't adapt to it.
Last edited by Kondi; Jun 17, 2020 @ 11:27pm
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Showing 1-15 of 171 comments
what about focus trees?
Kondi  [developer] Sep 21, 2017 @ 2:49am 
Originally posted by Reichskommissar Edward:
what about focus trees?
Simple focus tree mods for minors should work without issues. China National Focus is not a simple focus mod for example so it won't work. Focuses for majors may or may not work, you'll have to look into the files and possibly do editing to make them work.
Originally posted by Chondrite:
Originally posted by Reichskommissar Edward:
what about focus trees?
Simple focus tree mods for minors should work without issues. China National Focus is not a simple focus mod for example so it won't work. Focuses for majors may or may not work, you'll have to look into the files and possibly do editing to make them work.
Alright just wondering because ive been working on one for Switzerland and other minors and I wanted it to be compatable
Zamalek Sep 25, 2017 @ 6:55am 
What about an event-based white peace mod? Would that mess with the AI's diplomacy? Referring to this mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1128861437
Kondi  [developer] Sep 25, 2017 @ 2:07pm 
Originally posted by yossarian:
What about an event-based white peace mod? Would that mess with the AI's diplomacy? Referring to this mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1128861437
Yeah it works.
Gp.holland Sep 26, 2017 @ 7:50pm 
It's a stupid question, but would 'Better Mechanics: Frontline AI' Work with this.
Pelmen Sep 27, 2017 @ 2:21am 
Originally posted by gp.holland:
It's a stupid question, but would 'Better Mechanics: Frontline AI' Work with this.

"USE AT YOUR OWN RISK:

-"Better Mechanics: Frontline". Using two AI mods is generally a bad idea. There are already some conflicts with this mod but they may or may not break your game (and I have no way of knowing if a future update to this mod does something that really breaks compatibility). If you REALLY want to use this mod, the safest way is to extract the define changes into your personal mod."
TerryADavis69 Sep 29, 2017 @ 8:17am 
i would love to use this mod with road to '56 but im sure making it compaitable would be an absolute ♥♥♥♥♥
ThatGuyFromCollege Dec 10, 2017 @ 11:55am 
How about a mod that modifies the terrain penalties by increasing the effects of rough terrain? I'm talking about Meaningful combat and meaningful terrain.
Kondi  [developer] Dec 11, 2017 @ 8:10am 
Originally posted by ThatGuyFromCollege:
How about a mod that modifies the terrain penalties by increasing the effects of rough terrain? I'm talking about Meaningful combat and meaningful terrain.
Terrain works, the other one works but might cause AI issues.
Jaeger_Invicta Dec 21, 2017 @ 2:02pm 
Hey do you think this mod would work with the 'expanded resources' mod, thanks.
Last edited by Jaeger_Invicta; Dec 21, 2017 @ 2:02pm
Kondi  [developer] Dec 21, 2017 @ 2:26pm 
Originally posted by Jaeger_Invicta:
Hey do you think this mod would work with the 'expanded resources' mod, thanks.
It looks like it might mostly work, except for a few units that will use vanilla resources instead. I can't say anything about how whether the AI will use those resources properly or causes it to have sever shortages that make the game easier or such.
The Requimen Dec 30, 2017 @ 10:11am 
What about Authentic Units-Manpower?

SUMMARY
Unit manpower has been changed to more accurately reflect what the unit represents. This includes corresponding changes to Equipment, Supply Consumption and Weight.
Supply Consumption on some units (mainly artillery) has been increased to reflect their ordnance usage.
Training time for some of the specialist units has been increased.
Revised unit manpower has been doubled to account for the "division slice".
The Recruitable percentage in the Conscription Laws have been adjusted.
Kondi  [developer] Jan 1, 2018 @ 12:50pm 
Originally posted by The Requimen:
What about Authentic Units-Manpower?

SUMMARY
Unit manpower has been changed to more accurately reflect what the unit represents. This includes corresponding changes to Equipment, Supply Consumption and Weight.
Supply Consumption on some units (mainly artillery) has been increased to reflect their ordnance usage.
Training time for some of the specialist units has been increased.
Revised unit manpower has been doubled to account for the "division slice".
The Recruitable percentage in the Conscription Laws have been adjusted.
No, several conflicts.
The Requimen Jan 1, 2018 @ 1:09pm 
Thought so, thanks.
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