Where Are Europa Universalis 4 Save Files Located?
Where Europa Universalis IV keeps campaigns, mods and settings on Windows, macOS and Linux, in the standard Paradox layout.
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Europa Universalis 4 follows the standard Paradox layout: campaigns sit in a save games folder under Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV, one .eu4 file per run. The pattern matches Crusader Kings 3, Stellaris and Hearts of Iron 4 with only the game name changed.
Old campaigns pile up fast because every manual save is a separate file, often tens of megabytes each. Sort the folder by date once a year and archive finished runs elsewhere. Linux again uses ~/.local/share regardless of XDG overrides.
Where Europa Universalis IV stores this, by platform
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV\save games
Paste %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV into Explorer. Campaigns are in save games, mods in mod, graphics and gameplay options in settings.txt.
~/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/save games
Same layout as Windows, under your Mac Documents folder. Reach it in Finder with Go > Go to Folder.
~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/save games
XDG_DATA_HOME is ignored by the game, so look here even on customized systems. Delete settings.txt to reset graphics options if the game stops launching.
Frequently asked questions
How do I back up a Europa Universalis 4 campaign?
Copy the .eu4 file out of save games with the game closed. Ironman runs live in cloud storage instead of the local folder, so a missing campaign is usually a cloud file, not a deleted one. Achievements need unmodded Ironman.
Where is the Europa Universalis 4 mod folder?
They live in the mod folder beside save games: one .mod descriptor file plus one folder per mod. The launcher reads both, so migrating means copying the pair, not just the folder.
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