Softlock when loading mods with improper dependancies.

[somepersondontask]

08-11-2025, 22-49-41.png (20.06 KiB) Viewed 174 times

When attempting to launch Factorio with the base mod and the Science Group mod (already reported the issue to the mod author) the game tweaks out and softlocks, leading to this screen that closes the game. Since you aren't able to access the mod menu, the only way to fix this is to either wipe the mod folder or manually edit the mod-list JSON to disable the offending mod.

This happens because despite listing Space Age as an optional dependency, the mod has the "space-travel-required" feature flag enabled, causing the engine to assume the Space Age feature suite. This causes the issue when attempting to load the mod without Space Age enabled, since the dependency is listed as optional and thus not enforced by the game.

[robot256]

In summary: the mod in question (Science Group) erroneously enable the space-travel feature flag without Space Age or any substitute mod enabled. The resulting error dialog does not include the options normally found in the mod error dialog.

This dialog should at least have the "disable all mods" button. I've seen it come up before and confuse people greatly. I think this should be posted as a bug report, or a suggestion.