Application directory
Overview
Depending on your installation method and OS, you will have one or two directories that contain Factorio assets, and one that contains user data, such as saves and mods.
User data directory
The user data directory is where personal files are stored:
- Save files
./saves - Mods
./mods - Script-output, e.g. from /screenshot
./script-output - Local scenarios
./scenarios - Local settings
./config/config.ini - log files
factorio-*.log - Crash dump files
factorio-dump-*.dmp
Locations
Search your computer for the directory location, or type the path into your file manager address bar.
Windows:
%appdata%\Factorio
- The
%appdata%shorthand translates to your local version ofC:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming
MacOSX:
~/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 and player-data.json can also be found in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\userdata\[user number]\427520\remote
Application directory
The application directory stores three things:
- Factorio executables
./bin - Data for vanilla Factorio
./data - API documentation
./doc-html
Locations
Windows:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Factorio C:\Program Files\Factorio
MacOSX:
~/Library/Application Support/Steam/steamapps/common/Factorio/factorio.app/Contents /Applications/factorio.app/Contents
Linux:
~/.factorio
Changing the user data directory
You can create a file config-path.cfg to configure Factorio to any directory.
In order to change the user data directory, user must edit the location of the "write-data" entry in the file (Game install directory)/config/config.ini. This affects the location of mods, scenario and temp.
macOS
Create factorio.app/config-path.cfg with the following contents:
config-path=__PATH__executable__/../config use-system-read-write-data-directories=false
Update factorio.app/Contents/config/config.ini
[path] read-data=__PATH__executable__/../data write-data=__PATH__executable__/..
Please see this discussion (for older versions of macOS, but may work on any other OS).
Linux
Update __Game_Install_directory/config-path.cfg
use-system-read-write-data-directories=true
Update __Game_Install_directory/config/config.ini
[path] read-data=__PATH__executable__/../../data write-data=.local/share/factorio
You could set the write-data value to .factorio if you prefer.
Once you have done this, you can remove write permissions to the entire game installation directory except for config/config.ini, which must be writable by all people who wish to play the game.
Note that if someone changes any options, in-game, those option changes will apply to everyone who plays on the same computer.
Installation from Zip File
The unzipped Factorio directory.
A list of all things found here:
- Save games (as zip files)
- User-installed/created Mods.
- User-installed/created scenarios.
- User configuration and settings storage
- Log file (factorio-*.log)
- Player data (player-data.json)
Note: Deleting the configuration file will result in a default replacement being generated upon the next Factorio launch.
It is recommended to create backups from this directory (of saves, config, etc) before installing a new version.