Hearts of Iron IV stores its save files at %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron IV\save games on Windows. Checkpoint64 already knows this folder — it backs it up automatically and keeps earlier versions, so a corrupted or overwritten save is one click from restored.
Where Hearts of Iron IV saves are stored
- Windows —
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron IV\save games - macOS —
~/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Hearts of Iron IV/save games - Linux —
~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/Hearts of Iron IV/save games
How to open the save folder
- Windows — press Win+R, paste
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Hearts of Iron IV\save games, and press Enter. - macOS — in Finder press Cmd+Shift+G (Go to Folder) and paste
~/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Hearts of Iron IV/save games.
Backing up Hearts of Iron IV saves automatically
- Install Checkpoint64 (free) and pick Hearts of Iron IV — the save path above is already preset.
- Auto-backup watches the folder and uploads a new version whenever it changes, keeping full history.
- Restore any version in one click if a save corrupts, gets overwritten, or a mod breaks it.
Sharing Hearts of Iron IV saves with friends
Hearts of Iron IV has co-op, so the folder above usually lives on one person's PC — whoever hosts. When they're offline nobody else can carry on, and if two people play separately, one session quietly overwrites the other.
Checkpoint64 lets a small group pass one Hearts of Iron IV world around instead of renting a dedicated server. Whoever plays next takes a server-enforced lock, pulls the latest save, plays, and pushes it back; everyone else stays read-only until the lock frees up, so nobody saves over anybody. Recent versions are kept, so a bad session is one restore away. The dedicated server alternative guide walks through the full take-turns flow.
Every way to do it, from playing live to taking turns: How to share your Hearts of Iron IV world with friends.