Codes in War Thunder are a single-player convenience with strings attached, and the strings are the part people skip.

Short answer

They work in single-player only. Anything promising the same online is a scam or a ban waiting to happen.

  • Never enter anything into an online mode.
  • Expect achievements to lock for that save file.
  • Stop and reassess after two failed attempts rather than repeating the third.

War Thunder models more of the vehicle than it tells you about, and the grind punishes guessing. A code that softlocks a mission is a known risk in more than one of these games. Achievement locking is usually per-save rather than per-account, but not always.

What you give up

Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. Case and spacing matter more than the lists suggest. Anything that requires downloading a program is not a cheat code. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice.

Some effects stack in ways the developers did not intend and the game does not handle gracefully. Codes typically do not persist through a reload, which surprises people who use them for convenience. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds.

Codes that no longer work

Console entry uses button sequences with tight timing, and mistiming reads as a broken code. Where something depends on your platform or region, that is called out rather than glossed over. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

  • Save manually before using anything irreversible.
  • Re-enter the same code to toggle an effect off.
  • If a menu path does not exist for you, your build is older or newer than the one described.
  • Enter codes exactly, including spacing.
  • Ignore any list that asks you to install something first.

What each one actually does

There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see.

A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over.

Anything promising online effects

The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

War Thunder is not shy about hiding useful information two menus deep, so some of this is simply knowing where to look. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it. Everything below is framed around the current state of War Thunder rather than a launch-week impression.

How to enter them

Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different.

Where people go wrong

  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Downloading a helper tool for something the game already does in its own menu.
  • Treating a rare edge case as the normal behaviour and planning around it.
  • Trusting a video thumbnail that promises a result the video never actually shows.

War Thunder FAQ

Do the effects save?

Rarely. Most reset when you reload, which makes them convenience rather than permanent change.

Is this still accurate after the latest War Thunder update?

The method is; individual numbers may not be. If a value on your screen differs, trust the screen and keep the sequence.

Do achievements still unlock?

Generally no, for the save you used them on. Starting a clean save restores normal unlocking.

Do I need any mods or third-party tools for this?

No. Everything described here works with the base game on any supported platform.

If you only take one thing from this: the answer near the top is the part that matters, the rest is context.