How to force OpenGL in Factorio

Factorio 2.0.68 left some Mac users unable to start the game after the update. A thread on the official Factorio forums highlights a hidden setting and a simple configuration edit that can force the engine to use OpenGL, enabling the game to boot on affected machines.

Instructions for locating the local config files can be found on the Factorio application directory wiki. The forum post includes the relevant path of all OS:

Windows:

%appdata%\Factorio

The %appdata% shorthand translates to your local version of C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming

macOS:

~/Library/Application Support/factorio

Linux distributions:

~/.factorio

When using the Flatpak version of steam, all paths start from ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/ instead.

When using Steam on Windows, the config.ini, achievements.dat, modded-achievements.dat, player-data.json, and a compressed copy of blueprint-storage-2.dat(.zstd) can also be found in

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\[user number]\427520\remote

On macOS, the equivalent folder can be found in

~/Library/Application Support/Steam/userdata/[user number]/427520/remote

On Linux, the equivalent folder can be found in

~/.steam/steam/userdata/[user number]/427520/remote

Then when you edit the file via notepad or any other text editor, make sure you find the following line and change it to true:

; force-opengl=false

Remove the leading semicolon and change false to true To force the game to use OpenGL. A hidden in-game option also exists. Holding Ctrl-Shift while clicking Settings will reveal an “Other” submenu that exposes additional toggles, including the OpenGL switch; however, this method requires the game to launch successfully.

One user reported that changing force-opengl to true In the config, allow the game to boot on a MacBook Pro. The forum post also notes that Wube Software has discussed plans to remove OpenGL support eventually, but the setting can buy extra time for users who cannot upgrade hardware right away.

Share your experience if forcing OpenGL helped or if another fix worked for a particular Mac configuration, and please follow us on X, Bluesky and subscribe on YouTube.