The Cold War is one of the most atmospheric settings for Hearts of Iron IV: a bipolar world, an arms race, proxy conflicts and the constant feeling that every decision counts down to the minute. Our catalog carries every major mod for this era — from the historical Cold War Iron Curtain to alternate worlds where the conflict dragged on into the present day. Here is what each one offers, what it requires and how to install it.
Cold War Iron Curtain: the 1945–1991 benchmark
Cold War Iron Curtain: A World Divided is the definitive historical Cold War mod: the game starts right after Germany's capitulation, with two superpowers, a nuclear race and proxy wars on every continent. Detailed focus trees for the USA and the USSR, historical leaders and events. A Russian localization is available as a separate localization mod.
Aftermath: The Cold War takes a more compact look at the same period: a quick start with a focus on the superpowers' economic standoff.
Cold War Iron Curtain: A World Divided
by Realbloodik
Cold War Iron Curtain: A World Divided is a HOI4 Cold War overhaul starting in 1949: UN mechanics, DEFCON and MAD, multiple start dates and a 70-year tech tree.
Aftermath: The Cold War
Aftermath: The Cold War (Beta) A Comprehensive Hearts of Iron IV Total Conversion Mod Start Date: September 2nd, 1945 Mod Version: v0.1.3 Experience the dawn of the Cold War as former allies become bitter rivals. Relive the Chinese Civil Wa
Alternate history: the Cold War that never was
The New Order: Last Days of Europe is the game's most famous alternate-history scenario: the Axis won World War II, and by 1962 the world is split between the Reich, Japan and the USA. It plays like a visual novel with an exceptionally deep narrative — do not expect classic HOI4 mechanics, expect a story. Thousand Week Reich offers a different outcome: a narrow Allied victory and a multipolar Cold War with the Reich still holding Europe.
The New Order: Last Days of Europe
The dictatorial compromise of the Iberian Union was forged out of fear and distrust, and fear and distrust rules it.
Thousand Week Reich
by AP246
Thousand Week Reich is a grounded Axis-victory timeline for HOI4: it is 1952, Germany's New Order is cracking, and you decide whether it holds or Europe is liberated.
The New Order: Rises Again
by TNORA
A fork of TNO After Midnight for HOI4: new and restored content, bug fixes and QoL for the dark 1962 Cold War setting of The New Order.
The modern day: heirs of the Cold War
If the 60s–80s feel too tight, the next step is Millennium Dawn: A Modern Day Mod: today's world with terrorism, sanctions, elections and nuclear deterrence. Installing MD is covered step by step in our dedicated guide, and the optimization submod relieves your CPU. Millennium: Damaged Continuum is a standalone branch of the same idea.
Millennium Dawn: A Modern Day Mod
Millennium Dawn moves Hearts of Iron IV into the twenty-first century: a full conversion that starts in the year 2000 and runs into the modern day.
Millennium Dawn: Optimization Submod
by Conner
This is only the optimization parts of my Multiplayer Overhaul mod for Millennium Dawn without the balance changes. You do not need this if you are using the Multiplayer Overhaul as it is already included.
Millennium: Damaged Continuum
by Millennium: Damaged Continuum
Millennium: Damaged Continuum is a modern-day HOI4 sandbox, formerly the Director's Cut submod: unpredictable events, a contested Arctic and detailed Syria, Portugal and Russia in beta.
Total conversions like Iron Curtain and Millennium Dawn are incompatible within one playset — create a separate mod set for each and do not mix them with content mods.
Installing without breaking the game
Big conversions are sensitive to the game version: check the supported range on each mod's page. Manual installation is covered in how to install HOI4 mods without Steam, load order in HOI4 mod load order, and common crashes in mod errors and conflicts.
For the big picture, see the best HOI4 mods of 2026; World War I content lives in a separate collection.