EU4 Save Location, Screenshot & Mods Folder

Europa Universalis IV is the fourth installment in the Europa Universalis series, released on 13th August 2013. In gameplay, players are given control over a land to develop and rule into a leading global empire. They must do so by ensuring the effective management of the provinces within their nation, making decisions with the resources they are provided with to balance diplomacy, manage their economic growth and military organization.

The game was published by Paradox Interactive, also known for games such as Heart of Iron and Crusader Kings. Users can currently access Europa Universalis IV on the following platforms: macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Macintosh operating systems.

With a favorable response from players, Europa Universalis IV has received strong ratings of 87% on Metacritic and 91% on PC Gamer. Highlights of the game have been said to include its vast amount of content, strong strategy element and re-playability, with it being hailed as a leader in the strategy simulation game market.

EU4 Save File Location

With some EU4 saves taking hundreds of hours to build up, the thought of losing a save to a seasoned player is nothing short of a nightmare. Taking a minute or two to create copies of your saves can save you from this trauma. In order to do this, you'll need to know where your save files are located. Thankfully, Save Location (us!) has the answer. See help for your operating system below.

Windows

On Windows, your Europa Universalis IV save files will be in the following folder:

%UserProfile%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV\save games

To access that path, just paste it into the address bar of a File Explorer window and hit enter, like so:

Mac

If you're playing EU4 on a Mac computer, your save games will be in this directory:

~/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/save games

Simply open up a Finder window, press COMMAND + SHIFT + G, paste the above path into the text field and hit Go to quickly go to that folder.

Linux

For players on Linux-based operating systems, you can find your saves at this path:

~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/save games

EU4 Screenshot Folder

Right, so first we've gotta' clear up some misconceptions. There isn't only one screenshot option in most games. In the case of EU4, there are two: those taken through Steam (F12 key), and those taken via EU4 (F10 key). See help for your type of screenshot below:

Steam Screenshots

Screenshots taken with the F12 key are Steam screenshots. See this guide to locate these sorts of screenshots. Once you know how to find them for one Steam game, it's super easy to find them for all your others!

EU4 Screenshots

If you've taken an EU4 "whole map" screenshot with the F10 key, you can find the image file saved in the following location:

Windows:

%UserProfile%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV\screenshots

Mac:

~/Documents/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/screenshots

Linux:

~/.local/share/Paradox Interactive/Europa Universalis IV/save games

EU4 Mod Folder

If you're installing a mod, or have previously installed a mod (and forgotten where it's saved), you'll need to know where the mods folder is located. It's easy to access this folder, but the location varies based on your OS, so see help specific to your device below.

Windows

Mods for Europa Universalis IV on Windows PCs should be saved in the following folder:

%HomePath%\Documents\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis IV\mod

Paste the above path into the address bar at the top of a File Explorer window and hit ENTER to go to it. Alternatively, go into your Documents folder, then Paradox Interactive > Europa Universalis IV > mod.

Mac

For Mac editions of EU4, mods should be placed in this directory:

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Europa Universalis IV/mod

To access that path, just open up a Finder window, press COMMAND + SHIFT + G on your keyboard, paste ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/SteamApps/common/Europa Universalis IV/mod into the text field and hit the Go button.

Linux

Playing EU4 on a Linux-based OS and want to know where your mods folder is? We've got you covered! You can find it at the following path:

~/.steam/steam/SteamApps/common/Europa Universalis IV/mod