How to Use the Add Gold Command Skyrim Players Still Rely On

You’re standing in the middle of Whiterun. Your inventory is bulging with dragon bones, you’ve got a thirst for that Breezehome property, and your pockets are completely empty. It’s a classic problem. Honestly, we’ve all been there—staring at a vendor who wants 5,000 septims for a house while you’re sitting on a pile of iron daggers worth maybe twelve gold pieces. This is exactly where the add gold command Skyrim players have used for over a decade comes into play. It isn't just a cheat; for many, it’s a way to bypass the tedious grind that occasionally drags down the pace of an otherwise legendary RPG.

Bethesda games are famous for their "sandbox" nature. They give you the keys to the kingdom, but sometimes the kingdom’s economy is just plain annoying. If you’re on PC, you have the literal power of a god at your fingertips via the developer console.

Getting the Basics Right: How to Open the Console

Before you can actually shower yourself in septims, you need to know how to talk to the game. It’s not through a menu. You have to hit the tilde key (~). On most keyboards, it’s right there under the Escape key and next to the "1."

Once you tap that, the game freezes. A little translucent grey bar appears at the bottom of the screen. This is your command line. If you’re using a non-US keyboard, like a UK layout, you might need to hit the grave accent key (`) instead. It’s the same physical button, just a different name.

The Syntax Matters

The command itself is actually a variation of a broader "add item" script. You aren't just telling the game "give me money." You’re telling the game engine to add a specific quantity of a specific object ID to your character's inventory.

The exact string you need to type is:
player.additem 0000000f 1000

Wait. That’s a lot of zeros.

Here’s a pro tip that most people realize after their hundredth hour: you don’t need the leading zeros. The game engine is smart enough to recognize the ID for gold just by the "f." So, typing player.additem f 1000 does the exact same thing as the long version. It adds 1,000 gold directly to your pocket. No fuss.

🔗 Read more: Why Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is the Fighting Game Comeback We Actually Needed

Why 0000000f? Understanding the Logic

Skyrim identifies every single thing in its world—from a wheel of cheese to the literal sun—with a hexadecimal code. These are called FormIDs. Gold is categorized as a "misc" item. Its specific ID is 0000000f.

Because it’s a base-level item that’s been in the Creation Engine since the days of Oblivion, it has one of the simplest IDs in the game. It’s basically the fifteenth item ever defined in the core data. When you use the add gold command Skyrim recognizes that "f" as the hexadecimal representation of the number 15.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Spaces: If you forget the space between additem and f, or between f and the number, the console will just spit back an error saying "script not found."
• Targeting: Sometimes, if you accidentally click on a chest or a table while the console is open, you’ll see a hex code appear at the top of the screen (like "(00012345)"). If that happens, any command you type might apply to that object instead of you. If you type the command while a chest is selected, you might accidentally put the gold in the chest rather than your own inventory. To fix this, just click in an empty area of the console or type player. before the command to ensure it hits your character.
• Quantity Limits: Don't get greedy and type in nine billion. The game handles large numbers well, but if you go beyond the 32-bit integer limit, you can actually break your character’s weight or gold display. Stick to reasonable amounts like 100,000 at a time.

Breaking the Economy: The Moral Dilemma of Cheating

Is it actually "cheating"? That depends on who you ask in the community. If you go over to the Skyrim subreddits or the Nexus Mods forums, you'll find two very different camps.

One side argues that the struggle is the point. You’re supposed to feel like a broke prisoner who slowly builds a fortune. Selling enchanted jewelry and looting ancient burial urns is part of the "loop." When you use the add gold command Skyrim becomes less of a survival journey and more of a power fantasy.

The other side—usually the veteran players who have started their 50th character—just wants to get to the fun stuff. They’ve sold enough iron daggers to last three lifetimes. They just want to buy the house in Solitude, kit it out with alchemy labs, and get back to hunting dragons. Honestly, both ways are valid. It's your game. You bought it. If you want to be a billionaire Dovahkiin, go for it.

Alternative Ways to Get Rich (Without Console Commands)

Maybe you're on a console like Xbox or PlayStation where the tilde key doesn't exist. Or maybe you just feel "dirty" using a direct cheat. There are ways to exploit the game’s internal logic that feel more like "using the system" than breaking it.

The Hidden Merchant Chests

There are literal chests buried under the map geometry that hold the entire inventory of certain merchants. The most famous one is in Dawnstar. If you go to the Iron-Breaker Mine and look near the rocks to the left of the entrance, you can actually interact with a "hidden" chest that belongs to the Khajiit caravan.

It’s full of gold and high-end gear. You can take it all, wait 48 hours for the merchant to reset, and do it again. It’s technically a glitch, but it doesn't require typing any commands.

Transmute Mineral Ore

This is the "honest" way to get rich. Find the "Transmute" spell tome (usually found in Halted Stream Camp, north of Whiterun). This spell turns iron ore into silver ore, and silver ore into gold ore.

👉 See also: Stardew Valley Chicken Coop: Why You’re Probably Doing It Wrong

1. Buy all the iron ore from every blacksmith.
2. Cast Transmute until your fingers bleed.
3. Smelt the gold ore into ingots.
4. Craft gold rings.
5. Enchant those rings.
6. Sell them for a massive profit.

This method levels up your Alteration, Smithing, and Enchanting all at once. It takes longer than a console command, but it feels earned.

Managing Modded Economies

If you’re running mods like SkyUI or Immersive Overhaul, you might find that your gold is handled differently. Some mods add weight to gold. In a "realistic" playthrough, carrying 100,000 septims would actually weigh you down so much you couldn't move.

If you use the add gold command Skyrim while running a gold-weight mod, you might accidentally pin yourself to the floor. Always check your mod list before giving yourself a fortune.

Beyond Gold: Other Essential Commands

Once you start using the console, it’s a slippery slope. You’ll realize that the same logic applies to almost everything.

Need Lockpicks? player.additem a 100 (The ID for lockpicks is 0000000a).
Need a specific Daedric Artifact? You can find those IDs on the unofficial elder scrolls pages (UESP).

The UESP is basically the holy grail for this stuff. It’s been maintained since the mid-90s and is far more accurate than any other wiki out there. If you ever need a specific ID for a quest item that got glitched, that’s where you go.

👉 See also: Marvel Rivals Upcoming Skins: What Most People Get Wrong

The Technical Impact on Save Files

A lot of people worry that using the add gold command Skyrim will "corrupt" their save or disable achievements.

On PC, using console commands does usually disable Steam achievements for that session. However, if you save the game, exit, and restart, achievements are usually re-enabled. Or, better yet, just install the "Achievement Mods Enabler" from Nexus Mods. It fixes that problem entirely.

Regarding save corruption: adding gold is very safe. It’s a simple variable change. It’s not like spawning 500 dragons in the middle of a city, which will absolutely tank your frame rate and potentially crash the game engine. Adding items is one of the "cleanest" things you can do in the console.

Real-World Advice for the Wealthy Adventurer

If you do decide to give yourself infinite money, remember that it changes the game's balance. Suddenly, training becomes trivial. You can just pay every skill trainer in the game to level you up to 100. You can buy every ingredient and potion.

While this sounds great, it can sometimes lead to "player burnout." Part of the fun of Skyrim is the sense of progression. If you remove the financial barrier, you might find yourself getting bored faster.

My recommendation? Use the gold command to skip the "annoying" stuff—like buying a house or getting enough materials to build a library in the Hearthfire DLC—but try to keep your equipment progression somewhat natural.

Practical Steps to Take Now

If you are ready to jump in and modify your wealth, follow this exact sequence to ensure nothing goes wrong:

1. Hard Save: Before you touch the console, make a manual save. Do not rely on an autosave.
2. Clear Your Selection: Open the console (~) and click on your character to make sure you see the (00000014) code, which is the player’s ID. This ensures the command targets you.
3. Test a Small Amount: Type player.additem f 10 first. If you see "Gold (10) added" in the top left corner, the syntax is correct.
4. Go Big: Now type your desired amount, like player.additem f 5000.
5. Check Your Inventory: Press 'Tab' and look at your gold count.

By following this, you avoid the most common pitfalls of the developer console. Skyrim is a game about your personal story. Whether that story involves a rags-to-riches grind or a "trust fund" dragonborn is entirely up to you. Just remember that the power of the console is a tool—use it to enhance your fun, not to bypass the parts of the game you actually enjoy.