Late-Game Slowdown Fix – Save Repair Tool

Fix Your Hearts of Iron IV Late-Game Performance Issues

Are you experiencing a sudden and drastic slowdown in your Hearts of Iron IV games, particularly after loading a saved session? Does your game grind to a halt, with one CPU core maxed out while others remain idle, even after trying common solutions like deleting units or ending wars? If a new game runs smoothly but your meticulously crafted save file has become unplayable, you might be encountering a frustrating, yet fixable, bug.

Understanding the Late-Game Slowdown

This performance degradation is often caused by an inefficiency in how Hearts of Iron IV calculates supply, specifically related to foreign docking rights. When a country grants docking rights, the game creates a hidden supply node within its territory. The game’s current implementation struggles to handle these hidden nodes efficiently, especially after a save is reloaded. This can lead to an extremely slow, hourly supply calculation that consumes excessive CPU resources, effectively crippling your game’s performance.

Crucially, simply cancelling docking rights in the game does not resolve the issue. The existing, problematic supply nodes can persist even after the agreement is terminated. As the game does not offer a scripted way to remove these nodes, manual intervention is required to fully repair your save file.

Introducing the Save Repair Tool

This mod provides a set of tools designed to directly address and repair this specific late-game slowdown bug. It functions as a container for these repair utilities, ensuring they are easily accessible to players facing this issue.

• Repair Existing Saves: Directly targets and fixes the underlying cause of the supply calculation slowdown.
• No Gameplay Alterations: The mod itself does not modify any game content or mechanics when enabled.
• User-Friendly Interface: Includes straightforward batch files for Windows users, simplifying the repair process.
• Multiple Tool Options: Offers Python, batch, and bash+perl versions for users with different technical preferences.

How to Use the Tool

For Windows users, the process is simple. Locate the mod’s “tools” folder, drag your affected save file (ensure it’s in plaintext format – instructions are provided for converting binary saves) onto the “FixDockingRights.bat” file, and the tool will create a fixed copy of your save, typically named with a “_fixed” suffix.

While this tool can resolve the current slowdown, it doesn’t prevent the issue from potentially reoccurring. For a preventative solution, consider exploring the companion mod that disables the granting of new docking rights altogether.