The log will also be able to get accessed by clicking on the error dog in the bottom-right corner after loading into a country, which appears each time a new error appears in the log (since files get automatically loaded-in).

Ease of error log opening - As long as there are any errors in the log, the log will automatically open when loading the game.

Enabling debug mode will ensure that all errors that can be logged in the error log will get logged. An example would be the map definition errors mentioned above, as the game crashes before getting a chance to log them.

Extended error log - Certain errors do not get logged in the log unless the debug mode is turned on.

If debug mode is on, the game will continue to load properly. Any map-related errors will crash the game when loading with a message saying 'Some errors are present in the map definition and have been logged to error.log'.

No map definition crash - If the map is edited, there's a possibility for errors to appear.

Note that, however, this only applies to files that were edited mid-session, not created. This will also automatically add the errors in the files to the error log.

Automatic loading - Edits to files done inside the mod folder will show up in-game without the need to use the 'reload' console command.

The launch options are accessed in the menu opened by right-clicking the game and choosing 'Properties.'. Do this by adding -debug to your launch options in Steam.

Debug effectively by enabling Debug mode.

Use comments starting with # character, to remember reasons for writing tricky stuff.

Vanilla uses 1 tab for indentation rather than spaces.

Indent properly to easily spot unclosed braces.

Use UTF-8-BOM for localisation files (.yml).

Consider using a source control system like Git and a collaborative forge like GitHub to manage team collaboration, or just make a copy of the file somewhere else.

Backup your work to avoid losing everything.

Use a proper merge tool (like WinMerge), to merge between folders, and update modified vanilla files to a new vanilla patch.

So choose a name, no one else will ever use, like the name of your mod. (Your files can have any name, all files in the folder will be loaded by the game.

Minimize overwrites of vanilla files by adding separate files and loading from folders whenever possible, to improve mod compatibility and maintenance.

Use a good text editor (like Notepad++, Sublime Text, or Visual Studio Code) to edit files and search into multiple files.

Never modify game files: use a mod even for small changes, and never modify directly game files in Steam Hearts of Iron 4 folder, as your changes may be undone without warning.

Mods for hearts of iron 4