Sid Meier's Civilization IV PC Cheats Guide

Get more player gold and more

Overhead view of gameplay from Civilization IV

2K Games
By
Jason Rybka
Jason Rybka
Writer
Jason Rybka is a PC and Console gaming writer with expertise in gaming exploits. Jason was also the developer/owner of Xbox Solution and other web properties.
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Updated on 01/17/20

Sid Meier's Civilization IV is a turn-based strategy game, that's part of the Civilization series, published on Windows PC by 2K Games in 2005. Like other entries in the series, it tasks you with building an empire and conquering your neighbors through warfare, diplomacy, and more. If you're looking for some assistance on your way to world domination, here are some cheats and developer codes that can help.

This guide is for Sid Meier's Civilization IV on PC.

How to Enable Cheats in Civilization IV

Using cheats in Civ IV involves making changes to the game's civ4config file. Here's how:

Tweaking the game files can corrupt or break the files. Make a backup copy of files before making changes.

  1. Locate the civconfig file in the game folders and open the file using a text editor.

  2. Find the following lines of code: 

    ; Move along
    CheatCode = 0

  3. Change those lines to the following: 

    ; Move along 
    CheatCode = chipotle

  4. Save the changes and load the game.

Civilization IV Cheat Codes

Once you enable cheats using the above steps, activate the cheats in-game. Open the developer console with the tilde (~) key, then enter game.toggledebugmode. This activates debug mode. Then, press Shift+T to open the cheat dialog and enter the code or hotkey.

Cheat Code Effect
Ctrl + Shift + Left Click Insert unit/city
(Select a Unit) Ctrl + "+" Level up a unit
(Select a City) "+" Immediately complete whatever the city is producing
(Select a City) Ctrl + "+" Add 10 to city culture
(Select a City) Shift + "+" Add one to city population
Ctrl + W Open the world editor
(Select a Unit) Shift + [ Decrease highlighted unit's strength by 0.2
(Select a Unit) Shift + ] Increase highlighted unit's strength by 0.2
Ctrl + 4 Increase gold by 1,000
Ctrl + D Display the debug menu
help Display all console codes
Sound.noMusic Stop music
Sound.reload Reload audio scripts
Sound.stopSoundScape Stop soundscapes from playing
Graphics.ReBuildTerrain Rebuild terrain and lighting
Graphics.SetHillScale <number> Set hill scale
Graphics.SetPeakScale <number> Set peak scale
Player.setGold <player #>, <amount> Set player's gold amount (0 is active player)
App.crash Crash the game
Game.AIPlay <turn #> Force AI to play a certain number of turns
Game.toggleTextureAccessInfo Toggle output of texture loads/accesses to debug output
Xml.reloadArtDefines Reload the Civ4ArtDefines.xml file
Xml.reloadLandscapeInfo Reload the Civ4TerrainSettings.xml
Xml.reloadGameText Reload the Game Text xml files
Console.CreateDocumentation <filename> Write HTML documentation for the current console commands
Console.Clear Clear the console
Console.History Dump console command history
Profile.morphGlobe <integer> Morph the globeview count times.
Profile.rebuildCity <x coordinate>, <y coordinate>, <integer> Rebuild city indicated number of times
Profile.rebuildPlot <x coordinate>, <y coordinate>, <integer> Rebuild plot indicated number of times