Modding minister files

Introduction

Editing Ministers is pretty easy, In \Hearts of Iron 2\db You will find a folder called ministers. In this file are the ministers for each country.

Don't quite fancy Stanley Baldwin a Prince of Terror? Think Hjalmar Schacht should be a Laissez Faire Capitalist? Keep reading to find out how to make it so.

Getting Started

The first line in each minister file is just a contents key, the only thing that needs to be changes is the country tag which should be adapted to the country you are currently working on. Below is an example of the first line in a file.

Example:

BHU;Ruling Cabinet - Start;Name;Pool;Ideology;Personality;Loyalty;Picturename;x

In this example, I am editing Bhutan's ministers. Replace the BHU tag with the country you are working on(Assuming it's a Custom Country) or just open the file for the country you are working on.

Also note that as with the Leaders and Tech team files, each field of information is seperated by a semi-colon(;).

The Ruling Cabinet

The first ten ministers after the content key line will be the ministers that will be ruling the country at gamestart. The ones after the ;Replacements;;;;;;;x line are available replacement ministers.

Note that Heads of State and Heads of Government may only be changes by events or slider alterations.

Example:

GER;Ruling Cabinet - Start;Name;Pool;Ideology;Personality;Loyalty;Picturename;Country
1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x
2;Head of Government;Rudolf Hess;NA;NS;Silent Workhorse;High;M40;x
3;Foreign Minister;Constantin von Neurath;NA;FA;Great Compromiser;High;M3;x
4;Minister of Armament;Werner von Blomberg;NA;NS;Infantry Proponent;High;M4;x
5;Minister of Security;Wilhelm Frick;NA;NS;Prince of Terror;High;M5;x
6;Head of Military Intelligence;Wilhelm Canaris;NA;FA;Dismal Enigma;Medium;M6;x
7;Chief of Staff;Ludwig Beck;NA;PA;School of Manoeuvre;High;M7;x
8;Chief of Army;Werner von Fritsch;NA;PA;Armoured Spearhead Doctrine;High;M8;x
9;Chief of Navy;Erich Raeder;NA;NS;Decisive Naval Battle Doctrine;High;M9;x
10;Chief of Air Force;Hermann Göring;NA;NS;Army Aviation Doctrine;Very High;M10;x
;Replacements;;;;;;;x

ID

The first part of each line is the ministers ID field. Each minister needs to have a unique ID. Otherwise the game will give you an error message upon loading a scenario.

Example:

1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x

Start(Designation)

This is the Ministers Job. Below is an example and a list of alternative Jobs.

Example:

1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x

Example:

Head of State
Head of Government
Foreign Minister
Minister of Armament
Minister of Security
Head of Military
Chief of Staff
Chief of Army
Chief of Navy
Chief of Air Force

Name

Next is the name of the minister, Unless the poor guy/girl was born without a name, You will need to write their name in this field.

Example:

1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x

Pool

This is the year each minister becomes available, Ministers with NA in this field are available from the very start.

Example:

1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x
77;Minister of Armament;Hjalmar Schacht;37;NS;Administrative Genius;Medium;M14;x

Ideology

This is what Ideology the minister is. Countries can only select ministers which have their Ideology or a similar one. (IE: Germany can only have PA, NS, or FA Ministers if they are National Socialist)

Example:

Fascist Ideologies
NS - National Socialist
PA - Paternal Autocrat
FA - Fascist

Example:

Democratic Ideologies
SC - Social Conservative
SD - Social Democrat
SL - Social Liberal
ML - Market Liberal

Example:

Communist Ideologies
ST - Stalinist
LWR - Left wing Radical
LE - Leninist

Example:

1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x

Personality

This is the trait the minister has, Here you assign them what trait you think best fits them(or not). Below is a list of traits, You can find their effects on the wiki: Minister_Traits

Head of state Example:

Powerhungry Demagogue
Stern Imperialist
Barking Buffoon
Benevolent Gentleman
Insignificant Layman
Autocratic Charmer
Weary Stiffneck
Ruthless Powermonger
Pig-headed Isolationist
Popular Figurehead
Die-hard Reformer

Head of Government Example:

Political Protege
Flamboyant Tough Guy
Backroom Backstabber
Silent Workhorse
Smiling Oilman
Naive Optimist
Corporate Suit
Old General
Old Air Marshal
Happy Amateur
Old Admiral
Ambitious Union Boss

Foreign Minister Example:

Iron Fisted Brute
General Staffer
Ideological Crusader
Great Compromiser
Apologetic Clerk
Biased Intellectual
The Cloak N Dagger Schemer

Minister of Armament Example:

Military Entrepreneur
Laissez Faires Capitalist
Air Superiority Proponent
Strategic Air Proponent
Administrative Genius
Tank Proponent
Corrupt Kleptocrat
Resource Industrialist
Battle Fleet Proponent
Air to Sea Proponent
Theoretical Scientist
Air to Ground Proponent
Infantry Proponent
Submarine Proponent

Minister of Security Example:

Compassionate Gentleman
Man of the People
Prince of Terror
Crime Fighter
Silent Lawyer
Back Stabber
Efficient Sociopath

Head of Military Intelligence Example:

Industrial Specialist
Political Specialist
Dismal Enigma
Naval Intelligence Specialist
Technical Specialist
Logistics Specialist

Chief of Staff Example:

School of Fire Support
School of Manoeuvre
School of Defence
School of Psychology
School of Mass Combat

Chief of Army Example:

Guns and Butter Doctrine
Armoured Spearhead Doctrine
Decisive Battle Doctrine
Static Defence Doctrine
Elastic Defense Doctrine

Chief of Navy Example:

Base Control Doctrine
Open Seas Doctrine
Decisive Naval Battle Doctrine
Power Projection Doctrine
Indirect Approach Doctrine

Chief of Air Force Example:

Carpet Bombing Doctrine
Naval Aviation Doctrine
Air Superiority Doctrine
Army Aviation Doctrine
Vertical Envelopement Doctrine

Example:

1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x

Loyalty

This supposedly represents the ministers chance of being killed by a random event. Not sure if this is implemented or not.

Example:

1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x

Picturename

This is the ministers picture, The coresponding .bmps can be found in Hearts of Iron 2\GFX\Interface\pics. If you are creating a new picture, It should be 36 x 50 pixels.

Example:

1;Head of State;Adolf Hitler;NA;NS;Powerhungry Demagogue;High;M1;x

Further Notes

Apparently, at least in the version of Doomsday that I have, there are some leaders that ship with too long of names to be used. For example, German leader number 49 will not become head of government, even through event. However, if his name is shortened, all of a sudden the game stops ignoring his existence. So if you're having a problem with a leader you added not showing up in game, at all, then you might try using a shorter version of their name.