[2.1.15] Steam Achievements not unlocking despite earning in-game achievement

[threefold]

I have been playing (over 250 hours) on experimental 2.1 versions. A few days ago I received the achievement for visiting Aquilo for the first time on version 2.1.14 as normal. I've had three or four achievements in this playthrough just fine until today.

I got research with the Cryogenic Science pack for the first time, which unlocked the achievement and gave me the notification in game, but didn't unlock the Steam achievement, despite being signed in, up to date and online.

I have a suspicion this is because I unlocked this science pack achievement on version 2.1.15 (released in the afternoon of the 24/08) which has now been unlisted from Steam. It is no longer available for download due to the release of 2.1.16. I believe what happened is I earned the achievement in this 2.1.15 which is not on Steam and therefore didn't count towards my accounts progress of the Factorio achievements.

As far as I know there isn't any way (without deleting all achievements) to reset the in game achievements and have them resync with steam? I have no mods installed and everything else apart from the version difference is exactly the same as when I unlocked the previous Aquilo achievement just a few days ago. I've been playing Factorio since 2017 and have been working on the achievements since then. Does this now mean I'm permanently unable to get this Steam achievement?

Unlocked in Factorio. Locked on Steam. No Mods installed.

Screenshot 2026-08-24 221957.png (94.13 KiB) Viewed 840 times

[Rseding91]

Can you please provide the save file?

[threefold]

Most recent manual save just before the achievement for the research unlocked.

[Rseding91]

It looks like it failed to attach. Maybe you could send it through something like google drive, one-drive, dropbox?

[threefold]

It looks like it failed to attach. Maybe you could send it through something like google drive, one-drive, dropbox?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iJ-4nl ... drive_link

[Rockets]

I also just had this happen in 2.1.16 during my current run, without playing on 2.1.15 at all. I'm playing multiplayer with a friend to help him finish up achievements he's still missing, and he unlocked Lazy Bastard ingame just now without getting the steam achievement. I can send our saves if Threefold's aren't enough to reproduce it, but mostly I just wanted to let you know that playing on 2.1.15 didn't cause it for us.

[Rseding91]

As far as I know achievements logic hasn’t changed since pre-2.0 (several years ago). So I have no idea what to do next with this.

[threefold]

Well that's very disheartening to hear and really has made the prospect of working to earn the rest of the Factorio achievements feel meaningless if I will always be left with one that is permanently locked and unachievable despite having it unlocked in the game list. I don't see any way this will be able to be resolved retroactively. What do I do from here? Continue the save? Or will I potentially need to roll back to this save point I uploaded..

[Rseding91]

That’s the thing: as far as I’m aware the game already retroactively applies Steam achievements when loading save files like this.

So I have no idea why it wouldn’t be *for you*.

[Rseding91]

Actually, 2.1.15 updated the Steam library so maybe it’s related to that. Is your local Steam install up to date? Can you provide a log file? I wonder if the game library version is newer than your installed version can handle.

[threefold]

Actually, 2.1.15 updated the Steam library so maybe it’s related to that. Is your local Steam install up to date? Can you provide a log file? I wonder if the game library version is newer than your installed version can handle.

Which log file is relevant here? My steam client is up to date.

[threefold]

factorio-current.log

(8.38 KiB) Downloaded 14 times

I assume you mean the Factorio log file. This is from this morning. I've run and closed the game multiple times since the issue occurred now on 2.1.16 (since 2.1.15 is no longer available to play).

[Seppel33]

We also had the same problem on the latest experimental version. Unlocked two achivements in game but not on steam.

[threefold]

We also had the same problem on the latest experimental version. Unlocked two achivements in game but not on steam.

It is at least a little relieving to know it isn't just me who experienced this issue. I'm sorry to hear about your achievements.

I can only assume that it is somehow related to the way that the change to the inserters tech requirement was handled in 2.1.15?
"Added technology prerequisite to "Transport belt capacity 2": it now requires "Inserter capacity bonus 7" to be researched."

Hopefully there is a solution and the achievements can be either re-earned or retroactively applied. I just don't know what to do now. Is it safe to keep playing, or should we wait for more answers...

[chrisstroud]

I'm also seeing this issue on the latest experimental build (2.1.16). I started the game on an earlier experimental build (2.1.11) and have just completed the Express Delivery achievement. It registered with the in game achievements but not the steam achievements.

I have confirmed that my Steam Client is up to date. I'm running the game on Linux in case that's related.

Screenshot_20260825_125706.png (76.27 KiB) Viewed 365 times

[Rseding91]

It looks like this is due to the steam SDK update and not handling the changes done in the latest steam SDK properly.

[Rseding91]

This is now fixed for the next release.

[threefold]

This is now fixed for the next release.

Amazing! Thank you for looking into this. But could you clarify what happens with our achievements stuck in this state of being locked by steam but unlocked in the game list? Will they be retroactively unlocked when loading a save in the new version?

Thanks again

[Rseding91]

This is now fixed for the next release.

Amazing! Thank you for looking into this. But could you clarify what happens with our achievements stuck in this state of being locked by steam but unlocked in the game list? Will they be retroactively unlocked when loading a save in the new version?

Thanks again

As far as I can test; they will be retroactively unlocked when loading the save in the new version.

[DonZari]

Another data point, plus a question about recovery.

Factorio 2.1.16 (build 87294, linux64, steam, space-age) on Fedora with KDE, Steam client up to date. Single player, freeplay, default settings, no console commands. Mod list holds only base, space-age, quality, elevated-rails and recycler, everything else disabled. The save is definitely not flagged, since /editor still gives me the "using the Map Editor will disable achievements" warning. The log shows "Initializing Steam API", so the Steam connection itself looks fine.

Affected are the last four I was missing: Trip to the shattered planet 1, 2 and 3, and Research with promethium. All unlocked in game with the normal notification. Steam has been stuck at 84/88 for over 24 hours. I put around 100 hours into finishing exactly these four, so that was a rough evening.

Before finding this thread I tried to fix it myself, and that is where my question comes in. With Steam Cloud disabled I moved achievements.dat out of the userdata folder to force a reset. Factorio showed "Failed to load local achievement data" and then re-awarded several achievements in game, including the distance ones. Steam received none of them, which makes sense given the SDK issue.

So: will the retroactive unlock in the next release still work for someone who wiped their local achievements.dat? Or did I make things worse? I still have the original file backed up. Happy to provide the save or the full log.

Unrelated to the bug: thank you for making the best game in the world. 3269 hours and still counting. These four were the last ones I needed, and the whole plan was to finally be done with achievements so I could go back to playing heavily modded. Seeing a developer diagnose and fix this within a day of the report is exactly why this game has the reputation it has.