Console
Overview
The Console is Factorio's command-line interface.
The in-game console is used for:
- Chatting with other players
- Running commands / scripts / cheats
- Occasional status updates
There are three types of command:
- Multiplayer - message filtering, banning users, etc.
- Information - display various information about the game
- Scripting/Cheating - run small Lua scripts (but they disable achievements for the save game)
Using the console
The console display can be toggled with the / (slash) or ~ (tilde) keys.
You can customize the keys via Options Menu -> Keyboard -> Toggle Lua console. When the console is open, you'll see a blinking cursor at the bottom of the screen; type your message or command and hit Return to send it (this will also close the console). Documentation about message and command prefixes can be found further down this page.
When console is closed, only the most recent messages/commands will be displayed, but they will gradually fade away (opening the console will immediately re-display all recent messages). Note that by default, all executed commands are made visible to all users. You can set the fade out time via Options Menu -> Other Settings -> Message Delay.
If you want to immediately hide the console, open the console and then press Escape key (or press Return without entering any message/command). This not only closes the console, but it also hides all the recent messages/commands. In Factorio 0.14.5 and later, you can clear the console with the /clear command.
Note that the console can also accept raw Lua code as well as game commands.
Console history
The console has an inbuilt history; it's a bit like a text editor where only one line of text is displayed at a time.
Use the ↑ and ↓ keys to scroll through the console history.
Use the ← and → keys to cursor through the currently displayed message or command, which you can edit (delete, insert, etc.) and resend (by pressing Return).
In Factorio 0.14.5 and later, the Tab key will auto-complete commands and player ids.
Multiplayer Chat
Send private message to specific player with /whisper (or /w):
/whisper <playerId> <message>
Reply to the most recently received private message with /reply (or /r):
/reply <message>
In Factorio 0.14.4 and later, group chat works like this:
hello my team!
/s hello all players!
/shout same as /s
In Factorio 0.14.3 and earlier, group chat worked like this:
hello all players!
/team hello my team!
These are just the main chat features - there are also options for banning, ignoring and muting players; see the console /help for a full list.
Commands
To see a list of all available commands, enter /help (or /h) in to the console. The available commands will depend on Factorio version and game setup.
/help
In Factorio 0.14.4 and later, the /help command will just display a list of commands - to get full details for a command add the command name (without slash) after /help (or /h), for example if you want help on the /evolution command, you'd type:
/h evolution
Scripting and cheat commands
You can run Lua script commands via the console. It works similarly to any command line interface or the JavaScript console for your browser.
This is a very powerful feature, which also allows cheating, and as such achievements will be permanently disabled for the save as soon as you use a script command.
To run a script, prefix it with /command (or /c), for example:
/c game.player.print 'hello me!'
If you're in a multiplayer game, the command will be echoed to all other players (so they can see if you're cheating).
In Factorio 0.14.5 and later, multiplayer server admins can use /silent-command (only via RCON/server console) instead of /c to avoid the command being echoed to all players.
/silent-command game.player.print 'only admins can use (and see) silent commands'
Mod developers can also take advantage of the special /measured-command which is like /c but will time how long the command takes to run. This is very useful for performance tuning your scripts.
/measured-command game.player.print 'how much time does this take to run?'
The game ignores newlines when pasting "scriptlets" in the console. This means they can be written in a human readable form in an editor and copy/pasted into the console, making understanding and editing a bit easier.
You can essentially fire any Lua command here, just as you would from a Lua program - Factorio Mods are merely Lua commands. Therefore you don't necessarily need "cheats" active per-se, as the console allows you full access to the game's internals. You only need a familiarity with the commands and types, as shown in the below examples and the Modding section.
Basic Command Examples
Large Screenshots
This is how you would take a large HD screenshot. As usual, replace the X and Y with the values you wish.
The file is put into a folder called "script-output", which is located in the same location as the mods folder. These pictures can be quite large.
/c game.take_screenshot{<parameter>=<value>,...}
The command takes the following parameters:
- showgui - Boolean value, true or false. True if GUIs should be included in the screenshot.
- resolution - Takes an x and y, in the form {x = <x-size>, y = <y-size>}.
- show_entity_info - Boolean value, true if alt info should be shown in the screenshot.
- zoom - The zoom level. 1 is normal, 2 is zoomed in to half the area, 0.5 is zoomed out to twice the area, etc.
Use it as calculator
/c game.player.print(1234*5678)
Mine faster
/c game.player.force.manual_mining_speed_modifier=1000
Craft faster
/c game.player.force.manual_crafting_speed_modifier=1000
Unlock and Research all Technology
/c game.player.force.research_all_technologies()
Undo this with:
/c for _, tech in pairs(game.player.force.technologies) do
tech.researched=false
game.player.force.set_saved_technology_progress(tech, 0)
end
Reset any modifiers to default
This includes Tech and speed alterations.
/c game.player.force.reset()
Zoom beyond normal bounds
Note that zooming too far out can cause performance hits. Be careful.
/c game.player.zoom=0.1
Inventory Manipulation
Refill resources (refill oil, iron etc.)
While holding the cursor over a resource tile in-game
/c game.player.selected.amount=7500
Add items to the player's inventory
Replace iron-plate with the internal name of the item desired.
/c game.player.insert{name="iron-plate", count=100}
For instance, here's a god-mode energy system interface:
/c game.player.insert{name="electric-energy-interface"}
Cheat mode
Allows for infinite free crafting. Disable by replacing true with false.
/c game.player.cheat_mode=true
World Manipulation
Reveal the map around the player
Reveals the map around the player, similar to a radar.
/c local radius=150
game.player.force.chart(game.player.surface, {{game.player.position.x-radius, game.player.position.y-radius}, {game.player.position.x+radius, game.player.position.y+radius}})
Change 150 to the desired radius, higher values take longer.
Turn off night
Enables eternal day.
/c game.surfaces[1].always_day=true
Change game speed
0.5 is half speed, 1 is default, 2 is double speed, etc. Minimum is 0.1. This can be used for a lot of things like when you know you will have to wait for long periods of time for something to complete. Increasing will decrease performance, be careful.
/c game.speed=X
Expensive (marathon) or normal mode
To change from normal to expensive mode preset (this changes the research cost and intermediate product cost):
/c game.difficulty_settings.recipe_difficulty=1
game.difficulty_settings.technology_difficulty=1
game.difficulty_settings.technology_price_multiplier=4
To change back to normal:
/c game.difficulty_settings.recipe_difficulty=0
game.difficulty_settings.technology_difficulty=0
game.difficulty_settings.technology_price_multiplier=1
Freeze Time Passage
Stops the advancement of the time if you replace "BOOL" with "true" or unfreezes it if you replace it with "false".
/c game.player.surface.freeze_daytime=true
Remove all pollution
/c local surface=game.player.surface
for coord in surface.get_chunks() do
surface.pollute({coord.x*32, coord.y*32},-10000000)
end
Add new resource patch
This creates a new 11x11 patch of resources, centered on the player character. The patch it creates is perfectly square but it randomizes the amount similar to natural generation, with fewer ore at the edges and more ore in the center. The default numbers result in a patch with 2500-3000 ore.
If you want a larger patch, change "local size = 5" to a larger number. A larger patch will have exponentially more ore. Entering a number above 30 is not recommended.
If you want a richer patch, change "local density = 10" to a larger number. Entering a very large number shouldn't hurt anything but you probably don't need to go above 100.
To choose which resource is spawned, change "stone" near the bottom to "iron-ore", "copper-ore", "coal", or "uranium-ore".
/c local surface=game.player.surface
local ore=nil
local size=5
local density=10
for y=-size, size do
for x=-size, size do
a=(size+1-math.abs(x))*10
b=(size+1-math.abs(y))*10
if a<b then
ore=math.random(a*density-a*(density-8), a*density+a*(density-8))
end
if b<a then
ore=math.random(b*density-b*(density-8), b*density+b*(density-8))
end
surface.create_entity({name="stone", amount=ore, position={game.player.position.x+x, game.player.position.y+y}})
end
end
Add new oil patch
This creates 9 crude oil patches in a 3x3 square.
/c for y=0,2 do
for x=0,2 do
game.player.surface.create_entity({name="crude-oil", amount=5000, position={game.player.position.x+x*7-7, game.player.position.y+y*7-7}})
end
end
or randomly without any collision:
/c local position=nil
for i=1,9 do
position=game.player.surface.find_non_colliding_position("crude-oil", game.player.position, 0, i/2+1.5)
if position then
game.player.surface.create_entity({name="crude-oil", amount=5000, position=position})
end
end
Count entities
Counts all entities whose name includes the string in local entity.
/c local entity="belt"
local surface=game.player.surface
local count=0
for c in surface.get_chunks() do
for key, ent in pairs(surface.find_entities_filtered({area={{c.x*32, c.y*32}, {c.x*32+32, c.y*32+32}}, force=game.player.force})) do
if string.find(ent.name,entity) then
count=count+1
end
end
end
game.player.print(count)
Enemy/Evolution
Check how far the biters have evolved
Note that commands that do not start with "/c" do not disable achievements.
/evolution
Set evolution factor
Ranges from 0 (new game) to 1.
/c game.evolution_factor=X
In 0.15, use the following command instead:
/c game.forces["enemy"].evolution_factor=X
Disable time-based evolution & increases pollution-based evolution
/c game.map_settings.enemy_evolution.time_factor=0
/c game.map_settings.enemy_evolution.pollution_factor=game.map_settings.enemy_evolution.pollution_factor*2
The "2" at the end of the last command will double the default pollution factor. You can substitute another number to increase (or decrease) the pollution factor further.
Kill all biters on the "enemy" force
Note that this will kill only mobile units and worms, spawners will not be killed.
/c game.forces["enemy"].kill_all_units()
Kill all enemies
This will kill all biters, bases and worms. Anything that is an enemy will be completely destroyed. This only affects enemies in the explored world, so any unexplored parts of the map which still need to be generated will still have enemies.
/c local surface=game.player.surface
for c in surface.get_chunks() do
for key, entity in pairs(surface.find_entities_filtered({area={{c.x*32, c.y*32}, {c.x*32+32, c.y*32+32}}, force="enemy"})) do
entity.destroy()
end
end
Enable peaceful mode
Peaceful mode prevents biter attacks until provoked. Substitute false for true to disable.
/c game.player.surface.peaceful_mode=true
Disable biter expansion
This prevents biters from creating new spawners.
/c game.map_settings.enemy_expansion.enabled=false
Player Character
Commands concerning the player directly.
Get Player Position
Prints coordinates of your current position.
/c game.player.print(game.player.position.x .. ", " .. game.player.position.y)
Teleport player
Moves the player to the specified location. You should be able to teleport to a specific player if you obtain their coordinates via them executing the previous command and giving them to you.
/c game.player.teleport({X, Y})
To teleport to the world's origin, use 0,0.
Change Player color
Note that commands that do not start with "/c" do not disable achievements. Replace COLOR with the name of a color. Available names are: Black, blue, brown, cyan, gray, green, orange, pink, purple, red, white, and yellow
/color COLOR
Enable god mode
God mode removes your player character allowing you to fly over obstacles and take no damage.
Disassociate your controls from the player:
/c game.player.character=nil
Then, hover the mouse over the useless player and destroy it by typing:
/c game.player.selected.destroy()
To undo, spawn a player character. This will spawn a new player at the spawn point of the world, and connect your controls to it.
/c game.player.create_character()
Research
Enable faster research
/c game.player.force.laboratory_speed_modifier=1
1 is normal speed, 2 is double speed 3 is triple etc. I think it goes up to 100.
Enabling specific technologies
Enabling technologies (forums)
/c game.player.force.technologies['electric-energy-distribution-1'].researched=true
/c game.player.force.technologies['steel-processing'].researched=true
Enabling specific recipes
/c game.player.force.recipes["electric-energy-interface"].enabled=true
/c game.player.force.recipes["rocket-silo"].enabled=true
/c game.player.force.recipes.loader.enabled=true
Finish research immediately
/c for name,technology in pairs(game.player.force.technologies) do technology.researched=technology.enabled end
Command Line Parameters
As of Game Version 0.14.21
Command line parameters can be used to set settings in the command line before the game launches, this is useful mainly for advanced users or server hosts.
General options:
-h [ --help ] display help --version show version information -v [ --verbose ] enable verbose logging -c [ --config ] PATH config file to use --no-log-rotation don't rotate log file --mod-directory PATH Mod directory to use
Running options:
-s [ --map2scenario ] arg map to scenario conversion -m [ --scenario2map ] arg scenario to map conversion --apply-update arg immediately apply update package --create FILE create a new map --map-gen-settings FILE Map generation settings for use with --create. See data/map-gen-settings.exampl e.json --start-server FILE start a multiplayer server --start-server-load-scenario FILE start a multiplayer server and load the specified scenario --start-server-load-latest start a multiplayer server and load the latest available save --until-tick TICK run a save until given map tick --mp-connect ADDRESS start factorio and connect to address --load-game FILE start Factorio and load a game in singleplayer --benchmark FILE load save and run benchmark --benchmark-ticks N (=1,000) number of ticks for benchmarking. Default is 1000 --force-opengl use OpenGL for rendering --force-d3d use Direct3D for rendering
Server options:
--port N network port to use --bind ADDRESS[:PORT] IP address (and optionally port) to bind to --rcon-port N Port to use for RCON --rcon-password PASSWORD Password for RCON --server-settings FILE Path to file with server settings. See data/server-settings.example.json
As of Game Version 0.15.13
0.15.x Adds in a couple of new command line options.
General options:
-h [ --help ] display help --version show version information -v [ --verbose ] enable verbose logging -c [ --config ] PATH config file to use --no-log-rotation don't rotate log file --mod-directory PATH Mod directory to use --check-unused-prototype-data Print a warning for all prototype values that were not accessed
Running options:
-s [ --map2scenario ] arg map to scenario conversion -m [ --scenario2map ] arg scenario to map conversion --apply-update arg immediately apply update package --create FILE create a new map --map-gen-settings FILE Map generation settings for use with --create. See data/map-gen-settings.example.json --map-settings FILE Map settings for use with --create. See data/base/prototypes/map-settings.lua --preset arg Name of the map generation preset to be used. --generate-map-preview FILE Generate preview images of the map --map-preview-size SCALE (=1,024) Size (in pixels) of map preview --map-preview-scale SCALE (=1) Scale (meters per pixel) of map preview --map-preview-offset X,Y (=0,0) Offset of the center of the map, in meters --start-server FILE start a multiplayer server --start-server-load-scenario FILE start a multiplayer server and load the specified scenario --start-server-load-latest start a multiplayer server and load the latest available save --until-tick TICK run a save until given map tick --mp-connect ADDRESS start factorio and connect to address --load-game FILE start Factorio and load a game in singleplayer --benchmark FILE load save and run benchmark --benchmark-ticks N (=1,000) number of ticks for benchmarking. Default is 1000 --force-opengl use OpenGL for rendering --force-d3d use Direct3D for rendering --fullscreen BOOL start game in windowed mode (saved to configuration) --max-texture-size N maximal size of texture that the game can use (saved to configuration). Should be power of two greater than 2048 --graphics-quality arg accepted values: normal, low, very-low --video-memory-usage arg accepted values: all, high, medium, low --gfx-safe-mode resets some graphics settings to values that should work on most configurations --shader arg enable/disable shader postprocessing (saved to configuration) --disable-audio Disable audio. Mainly for faster startup during development.
Server options:
--port N network port to use --bind ADDRESS[:PORT] IP address (and optionally port) to bind to --rcon-port N Port to use for RCON --rcon-password PASSWORD Password for RCON --server-settings FILE Path to file with server settings. See data/server-settings.example.json --server-whitelist FILE Path to file with server whitelist. --server-banlist FILE Path to file with server banlist. --console-log FILE Path to file where a copy of the server's log will be stored --server-id FILE Path where server ID will be stored or read from
Multiplayer
--start-server SAVE
Will start a Headless (Dedicated) server, with no GUI.
--mp-connect ADDRESS
ADDRESS is the IP:port of the remote host. Port is optional. Examples:
./factorio --mp-connect 192.168.1.101 ./factorio --mp-connect 192.168.1.101:2345
As above, port can be specified by placing the port number after a colon in the address.
--map2scenario SAVE
Converts a save game to a User Scenario, allows saved game state to be loaded into map editor. Assuming that save game name is "foo.zip", executing './factorio --map2scenario s1' will result in Factorio loading, opening the save file, and saving the scenario into the scenario folder.
See also
- http://lua-api.factorio.com/latest/ - Factorio API reference for latest version
- http://lua-api.factorio.com/ - links to specific versions of API reference