Millennium Dawn 2026 Rework

A submod for Millennium Dawn: A Modern Day Mod that adds a new January 1, 2026 start date bookmark to Hearts of Iron IV.

Overview

This mod updates the world state to reflect geopolitical reality as of January 2026. It introduces a fully playable 2026.1.1 bookmark alongside Millennium Dawn's original 2000.1.1 start date, with updated borders, leaders, conflicts, alliances, technologies, national spirits, focus trees, events, and military orders of battle for approximately 70 countries.

Features

• New 2026 Bookmark with 8 featured nations (USA, Russia, China, Ukraine, Israel, Turkey, Poland, Japan)
• 66 updated countries with accurate 2026 leaders, ideologies, and political setups
• Updated borders reflecting Crimea annexation, Donbas occupation, post-Assad Syria, South Sudan, and Kosovo
• Active conflicts — Russo-Ukrainian War, Sudan Civil War, Myanmar Civil War, Yemen division
• 32-member NATO, CSTO, EU (27), BRICS+, AUKUS, SCO, Abraham Accords, Quad
• 5-tier technology system with DLC-aware gating (No Step Back, By Blood Alone, Gotterdammerung)
• 23 shared focus trees — USA, Russia, Ukraine, China, Germany, India, Japan, Turkey, Brazil, Israel, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Poland + France, UK, Iran, Italy, North Korea, Canada, Australia, Taiwan, Egypt, Syria
• 260 new focus nodes across 10 expanded country trees (26 focuses each with 5 branches, mutually exclusive paths, and capstone focuses)
• 210 pre-completed focuses across 23 countries reflecting real-world events already occurred by Jan 2026
• ~75 events across 11 event chains — elections, NATO-Russia tensions, Taiwan crisis, BRICS expansion, Middle East, migration, climate, tech revolution, space race, demographics
• 45+ national spirits (15 base + 22 expansion + 8 focus rewards) for major and regional powers
• 20 strategic decisions across 5 categories (sanctions, NATO, military, geopolitics, economy)
• 65 OOB files with real-world unit names, ~600 named ships across 40+ navies, 200+ air wings with accurate aircraft types and squadron designations, carrier air wings for 5 carrier nations, and creator tags for all imported equipment
• ~1,450 localisation keys (English)

Requirements

• Hearts of Iron IV v1.17.x
• Millennium Dawn: A Modern Day Mod (v1.12.3+)

Recommended DLCs

The mod works without any DLC, but the technology system includes specialized branches for:

• No Step Back — tank designer, advanced armor/artillery modules
• By Blood Alone — aircraft designer, airframe/module technologies
• Gotterdammerung — missile systems (ICBMs, IRBMs, cruise missiles, SAMs)
• La Resistance — intelligence agency system

Installation

Steam Workshop

(Coming soon)

Manual Installation

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Place the md-2026 folder in your HoI4 mod directory:
   • Windows: Documents\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron IV\mod\
   • Linux: ~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/Hearts of Iron IV/mod/
   • macOS: ~/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Hearts of Iron IV/mod/
3. Create a md-2026.mod file in the mod/ directory with the following content:

   path="mod/md-2026"
   

   Then copy the contents of descriptor.mod into this file (after the path line).
4. Enable both Millennium Dawn and Millennium Dawn 2026 Rework in the launcher
5. Make sure this submod loads after the base Millennium Dawn mod

Countries

Tier A — Major Powers (full update + focus trees)

USA, Russia, China, UK, France, Germany, India, Japan, Turkey, Iran, Brazil, Ukraine

Tier B — NATO + Regional (full update, select countries with focus trees)

Poland, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Israel, North Korea, Australia — with focus trees Spain, Romania, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Croatia, Albania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Finland, Sweden

Tier C — Conflict Zones (partial update, select countries with focus trees)

Taiwan, Egypt, Syria — with focus trees Myanmar, Sudan, Yemen, UAE, Ethiopia, South Africa

Tier D — Minimal Update (leader + ideology)

Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan, Afghanistan

Project Structure

md-2026/
├── descriptor.mod
├── common/
│   ├── bookmarks/           # 2026 bookmark + placeholder
│   ├── characters/          # Leader definitions for 66 countries
│   ├── decisions/           # 20 strategic decisions + 5 categories
│   ├── ideas/               # National spirits + decision reward ideas
│   ├── national_focus/      # 23 shared focus trees + 22 base tree copies
│   ├── on_actions/          # Startup event triggers
│   ├── opinion_modifiers/   # Custom opinion modifiers
│   ├── scripted_effects/    # Startup effects + technology tier system
│   └── scripted_triggers/   # Helper triggers
├── events/                  # 11 event files (~75 events)
├── history/
│   ├── countries/           # 66 country history files
│   ├── states/              # 8 updated state files
│   └── units/               # 65 OOB files
└── localisation/
    └── english/             # ~1,450 localisation keys

How It Works

This is a dependency submod — it requires the original Millennium Dawn mod and builds on top of it. The technical approach:

• Uses dependencies in descriptor.mod to require Millennium Dawn
• Uses replace_path="common/bookmarks" to override the bookmark file
• Country history files are full copies of MD originals with 2026.1.1 = { } date blocks appended
• Focus trees use the shared_focus system — new branches are added to existing trees via shared_focus = { } blocks with allow_branch gating
• Events, decisions, ideas, and scripted effects use the md2026_ prefix to avoid conflicts with base MD files
• Technologies use composable year-based scripted effects called at game start via on_actions

Known Issues

• ~30 leader portraits use placeholder images (missing .dds files) — purely cosmetic
• Polish translation not yet implemented
• Some vanilla GFX sprites referenced in events may show as blank if base game files are missing

License

This project is a fan-made modification for Hearts of Iron IV. All rights to the base game belong to Paradox Interactive. All rights to Millennium Dawn belong to its respective authors.

Credits

• Millennium Dawn: A Modern Day Mod team — for the incredible base mod
• Paradox Interactive — for Hearts of Iron IV