Home

Paradox Modding Toolkit

About this wiki: This wiki is currently mainly AI-generated and has limited human review and moderation. The information is generally accurate, but errors and omissions may remain. It primarily describes the latest preview version of the toolkit, so some details may differ from the stable release or older versions. Please report incorrect or outdated information.

Mod development for Crusader Kings III, Victoria 3 and Europa Universalis V, in VS Code, end to end.

The extension bundles a language server with a real Paradox-script parser, so you get completion that knows what scope you are in, hover docs merged from the game's own script_docs dumps, instant diagnostics for the silent-failure class of bugs (unbalanced braces, missing BOM, folder-name traps), deep tiger integration, an event simulator, an interactive event graph, a pixel-accurate visual GUI editor, visual creators for CK3 content (traits, cultures, traditions, dynasty legacies, dynasties, coats of arms), DDS texture tooling, a searchable Examples Wiki built from vanilla usage, Steam Workshop publishing straight from the editor, and Project controls and Explorer views for mod inventory, localization coverage, overrides and conflicts.

Everything the toolkit "knows" is derived from the game itself: your script_docs dumps, the vanilla files, Paradox's own _*.info format docs, a small verified schema table. So it stays current across patches instead of rotting.

Two more things worth knowing up front:

• It is not tied to VS Code. The language server is standard LSP over --stdio and runs from neovim, Zed, Helix or your own application. See Outside VS Code and npm Packages.
• Modding with an AI agent is a sibling project, not part of the extension: paradox-ai-modding holds the agent skills for Crusader Kings III and Victoria 3, for any agent that reads SKILL.md files.

Beta notice

The latest published release is 0.5.0. It includes a guided start, clearer Project controls, current-workspace mod discovery, batch image conversion and safer navigation through unsaved edits.

Read the release summary for the changes and detailed patch notes. Compatch is planned for 0.6.0.

This is beta software. Features, commands and defaults can change; please report a reproducible problem when you find one.

• GitHub issues: https://github.com/JDeffner/paradox-modding-toolkit/issues
• Wrong or missing folder mappings, especially for EU5, have their own Schema gap issue form.

Concrete bug reports (what you did, what happened, what you expected) are the most useful thing you can send.

Want to work on the toolkit itself? Contributing covers setup, the development loops and the PR flow.

Coming from the old CK3 Modding Toolkit? The extension changed its identity in 0.3.0 and the old listing does not update into this one. Read Upgrading first, it is a five-minute migration.

Suggest a wiki addition

If you know a guide, tip, tool or example that would help the modding community, contact me on Discord or open a GitHub issue. Share what you would like added to the wiki and why it would be useful. You do not need to write a complete page or make a pull request.

Where to go next

Getting the extension running

• Feature Overview - the visual tour: every major feature with a screenshot.
• Getting Started - create or find a mod, choose its window, make a first edit and connect optional tools.
• VS Code Setup Guide - annotated screenshots of the real editor, installation, layout, setup, editing and Git checkpoints.
• Supported Games - what CK3, Victoria 3 and EU5 each get, how the game is detected, and where each one writes its dumps.
• Editor Features - the day-to-day guided tour: completion, hover, navigation, diagnostics, tiger, and the workflow commands.
• Examples Wiki - the searchable browser over every trigger, effect, target, modifier, datafunction and variable your game knows, with real vanilla examples and per-scope listings.
• Sidebar Views - the Project controls and Explorer views (mod overview, problems, localization coverage, overrides, event graph, GUI widget tree).
• Content Creators - the CK3 forms that write a trait, a culture, a tradition, a legacy track, a dynasty or a coat of arms into your mod.
• GUI Editor - the visual .gui designer: select, drag, inspect, and write your file surgically.
• Event Graph - the event workbench: chains laid out left to right in firing order, with an inspector that edits events as words, not script.
• Flag Builder - the coat-of-arms editor for Victoria 3 and EU5: compose, drag, recolor and save flags as script. CK3 gets the Coat of Arms Designer instead, on Content Creators.
• DDS and Images - preview .dds textures inline, convert PNG/JPEG/WebP to DDS, and the measured image-size guidelines.
• Steam Workshop - publish and update your mod's Workshop item from the editor: description, tags, translations, changenotes and live statistics.
• Running the Game - the Run button and F5: debug mode, the per-game launch presets, and permanent option sets in launch.json.
• Custom Calendars - show a total conversion's own eras on every script date, and generate the in-game date localization.

Reference

• Configuration - every setting, grouped, plus the default keybindings, the full # px:ignore inline-suppression documentation and the diagnostic-code list.
• Steam Workshop Error Codes - every Steam result code a Workshop upload can fail with, what each one means, and the ones you meet uploading without the toolkit.
• Multi Mod and Translation - working on many mods at once, submods and compatibility patches, translating another mod, and the optional per-mod workspace files.
• Outside VS Code - running the language server standalone from neovim, Zed, Helix, or embedding it in your own application.
• npm Packages - @px-lsp/server and @px-lsp/protocol: install, package layout, and a tested embedding quickstart.
• Embedding - the process contract, initialization options and document-sync conventions for hosting the server in an application.
• Protocol Reference - the method-by-method wire reference for the custom paradox/* requests.
• Upgrading - migrating from the old JDeffner.ck3-modding-toolkit listing.
• Credits - the upstream projects, data sets and communities this stands on.