Solving common graphic issues

[posila]

Version 0.17 or newer. Issues can be bad performance, broken graphics or the game simply failing to start.
Version 0.17 requires DirectX 10 capable GPU and uses Direct3D 11 by default on Windows and OpenGL 3.3 core on Linux and macOS. Make sure you have up-to-date graphics drivers, especially drivers older than major update of Windows you are using can cause issues. For nVidia GPUs on Linux, non-free binnary drivers seem to work better than free drivers in some cases.

Unfortunately on GPUs that no longer receive driver updates, you might run into graphics issues that we won't be able to work around. Most notably, OpenGL crashes on 2009 MacBooks with GeForce 9400M and macOS 10.11.6; or despite implementing many workarounds for Intel Sandy Bridge iGPUs (for example Intel HD Graphics 4000) you may experience crashes when using these GPUs.

Note: Version 0.17 heavily utilizes texture compression to greatly reduce VRAM requirements and improve performance by lowering GPU overhead of reading textures. If your GPU is weak, you should use "Low quality" texture compression graphics option, disabling compressing entirely by setting the option to "None" is discouraged even if you have powerful GPU, and you should not try it unless you have powerfull graphics card has with at least 4GB of VRAM.

If the game does not start you need to edit the config-file or use launch options.

How to edit the config-file

On Steam, you can use launch options. They can be edited in Factorio properties in Steam Library.

On non-Steam version you need to edit config file which is located in your Application Directory in config/config.ini. Exit the game, edit the config-file, start the game.

The file is in INI format, and config options that are set to default value are commented out - the line starts with semicolon ';'. When changing a value, make sure to delete the semicolon and following space at the start of the line you are changing.

If you were not able to launch the game at least once, config.ini won't exist on your computer, so you'll need to download following one and place it to location where the game expects it to be on your OS.

config.ini

(462 Bytes) Downloaded 949 times

Toggle flip presentation model - Windows only

If the game starts to menu, but crashes randomly, toggle "Use flip presentation model" option in graphics options.
If the game crashes before you are able to option graphics settings, use launch option

Code: Select all

--dxgi-blit-model

or edit config and change "use-flip-presentation-model"

Code: Select all

[graphics]
use-flip-presentation-model=false

Launch the game in graphics safe mode

If you can't start the game to menu, try to use launch option

Code: Select all

--gfx-safe-mode

.
Or edit following in the config.

Code: Select all

[graphics]
graphics-quality=normal
texture-compression-level=low-quality
video-memory-usage=all
max-texture-size=4096
gpu-accelerated-compression=false
gpu-accelerated-mipmap-compression=false
cache-sprite-atlas=false
lights-render-quality=0.25

Force OpenGL - Windows only

Try to force the game to use OpenGL instead of Direct3D, you can change it by changing the config to:

Code: Select all

[graphics]
force-opengl=true

This obviously only works on Windows.

Reduce Memory usage

Set video memory usage to a lower setting. This can also be set via config edit with:

Code: Select all

[graphics]
video-memory-usage=medium

Accepted values are: all, high, medium, low

Reduce Sprite Resolution

High sprite resolution needs at least 2GB of VRAM, set it to Normal otherwise. You can set it via config edit with:

Code: Select all

[graphics]
graphics-quality=normal

Accepted values are: high, normal

Reduce texture size

Some OpenGL drivers crash with texture size of 16384x16384, to workaround this edit the config to:

Code: Select all

[graphics]
max-texture-size=8192

This applies mainly for Linux and MacOS X.

Steam launch options

For Steam version some of the graphical options can be configured through launch options in properties of the game. They will override values in config.ini.

• --force-d3d
Equivalent of setting force-opengl=false in config. Use if you have graphics glitches (or random crashes) on AMD graphics card. (Windows only)
• --force-opengl
Equivalent of setting force-opengl=true in config. Use if you have graphics glitches (or random crashes) on nVidia or Intel graphics card. (Windows only)
• --fullscreen={true|false}
• --max-texture-size={0|2048|4096|8192}
• --graphics-quality={high|normal}
• --video-memory-usage={all|high|medium|low}

Note: --option={red|green|white} means there is switch --option which accepts values red, green or white. Example --option=green

Issues with capturing the game footage

Your capture software might record just black screen. This happens for example in OBS with Window Capture. You should use Game Capture instead. If you can't use Game Capture (or equivalent mode in other software), you can try to disable "Use flip presentation model" in graphics settings and restart the game.

If your issue can be solved by one of those measures, then there is no need to make a new report.

[posila]

Version 0.16.51 or older. Issues can be bad performance, broken graphics or the game simply failing to start.
The most common cause is not enough Video Memory or it being used by other processes.

If the game does not start you need to edit the config-file.

How to edit the config-file

It is located in your Application Directory in config/config.ini.
Exit the game, edit the config-file, start the game. On Steam, you can use launch options instead.

Reduce Memory usage

Set video memory usage to a lower setting. This can also be set via config edit with:

Code: Select all

[graphics]
video-memory-usage=medium

Accepted values are: all, high, medium, low

Reduce Sprite Resolution

High sprite resolution needs at least 3GB of VRAM, set it to Normal otherwise. You can set it via config edit with:

Code: Select all

[graphics]
graphics-quality=normal

Accepted values are: high, normal

Force opengl

Try to force the game to use opengl instead of d3d, you can change it by changing the config to:

Code: Select all

[graphics]
force-opengl=true

This obviously only works on Windows

Reduce texture size

Some OpenGL drivers crash with texture size of 16384x16384, to workaround this edit the config to:

Code: Select all

[graphics]
max-texture-size=8192

This applies mainly for Linux and MacOS X.

Steam launch options

For Steam version some of the graphical options can be configured through launch options in properties of the game. They will override values in config.ini.

• --force-d3d
Equivalent of setting force-opengl=false in config. Use if you have graphics glitches (or random crashes) on AMD graphics card. (Windows only)
• --force-opengl
Equivalent of setting force-opengl=true in config. Use if you have graphics glitches (or random crashes) on nVidia or Intel graphics card. (Windows only)
• --fullscreen={true|false}
• --max-texture-size={0|2048|4096|8192}
• --graphics-quality={high|normal}
• --video-memory-usage={all|high|medium|low}

Note: --option={red|green|white} means there is switch --option which accepts values red, green or white. Example --option=green

If your issue can be solved by one of those measures, then there is no need to make a new report.