In Hearts of Iron IV, every nation runs on a three-letter identifier called a country tag. If you're opening the console, writing script files, or debugging mods, knowing these exact codes saves hours of frustration. The United States starts as USA, but depending on your historical path, civil wars, and total conversions, that simple three-letter string expands into a variety of splinter states, formables, and dynamic tags.
This guide breaks down every official and historical United States tag in HOI4, how to use them with console commands, and where to find them in the game files.
The Primary American Country Tag
When you launch a standard 1936 or 1939 campaign, the base game assigns a single master tag to the United States.
- USA: The default identifier for the United States of America. It controls the standard democratic focus tree, unique military branch spirits, federal events, and the historical political tree.
Whenever you trigger events, tag-switch, or spawn units via console commands for the standard government, you'll reference USA. It remains the anchor for every official expansion pack from Man the Guns to By Blood Alone.
Civil War and Splinter State Tags
Hearts of Iron IV models the volatility of alternate history through distinct civil war tags. When the American political landscape fractures—such as during a fascist or communist uprising—the game engine spawns dynamic tags or specific preset tags for breakaway factions.
- CSA: The Confederate States of America. This tag appears during historical or alternate-history American civil wars if the fascist or conservative rebellious factions trigger a split. It features its own unique cosmetic tag variants depending on the ruling party's ideology.
- TEX: The Combined Syndicates of America (or Texas-centric breakaway tags depending on major overhaul mods like Kaiserreich). In vanilla HOI4, syndicalist or communist revolts often generate dynamic tags or use preset regional identifiers.
- CAL: California or Western breakaway states. Similar to regional splinters, major overhaul mods utilize specific tags for the Pacific States of America to simulate a three-way or four-way American civil war.
When modders build custom civil war events, they assign specific cosmetic tags so the flag and country name change dynamically while keeping the underlying country file clean.
Formable Nations and Dominion Tags
If you're playing historical strategy variants or managing puppet states, the United States interacts with several broader geographic tags.
- DAF: Defense Aid Field or specialized dominion descriptors used when North American territories are partitioned.
- CSA (Formable): Can be formed by specific southern rebellion paths under certain fascist or non-aligned focus tree branches.
- CAN / MEX: While Canada and Mexico are separate sovereign nations (tags CAN and MEX), conquering or unifying North America through the American continental union focus branches transfers core states directly into your primary USA tag pool.
How to Use Country Tags in Console Commands
Country tags form the backbone of HOI4's debugging and testing tools. To use them effectively, open the console using the ~ (tilde) key and apply these standard syntax patterns:
- Tag Switching: Type
tag CSAortag USAto instantly switch your playable nation to that specific tag. This lets you inspect enemy stockpiles, research progress, and AI focus trees firsthand. - Event Triggering: Type
event [event_id] [target_tag]to force specific political or economic events to fire for the United States or its splinter states. - Annexation: Type
annex USAorannex CSAto instantly absorb the target nation into your current country without waiting out peace conferences. - Teleporting Divisions: Select your armies, open the console, and type
tpto instantly move selected divisions across states—useful for testing front-line stability during American civil war scenarios.
Finding and Editing Tags in Game Files
If you want to create custom tags or inspect how Paradox Interactive structures North America, you don't need to guess. The game files are organized in plain text format within your installation directory.
Navigate to your Hearts of Iron IV installation folder and open common/country_tags/00_tags.txt. Inside this master list, you'll find every official three-letter code mapped to its specific localization and flag file path.
To create a custom tag for your own personal mod, follow these steps:
- Create a new text file inside your mod's
common/country_tags/directory (for example,01_custom_tags.txt). - Define your tag using the standard format:
MY_TAG = "countries/My_Country.txt". - Create the corresponding history file in
history/countries/to define starting tech, leadership, and industrial capacity. - Add your flag graphics into
gfx/flags/using 32x32 TGA files for medium flags and 82x52 for large flags.
Modding the United States requires caution because its focus tree relies heavily on specific USA tag triggers. Changing the primary tag breaks event targets unless you update every corresponding script reference in the national focus files.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the console command to switch to the United States?
Press the tilde (~) key to open the console and type tag USA. This immediately shifts your control to the American government.
Why do some mods use different tags for American splinter states?
Vanilla HOI4 relies on preset tags like USA and CSA, but overhaul mods like Kaiserreich or Old World Blues introduce entirely new tag architectures to support complex multi-faction civil wars with unique trees.
Where are country flags stored for custom tags?
Flags must be placed in your mod folder under gfx/flags/ (with subfolders for medium and small variants) and saved in uncompressed 32-bit TGA format.
Can I change the country tag of an existing save game?
Yes, you can edit save games using a text editor by searching for the country block (tag=USA) and replacing it, though doing so often causes stability issues or breaks active focus trees.
