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Welcome to the Factorio Access Wiki!

This wiki provides supplementary information for playing Factorio with the Factorio Access mod. It is written and maintained by the mod's developers and community.

Getting Started

If you are new here, reading through the rest of this home page first is recommended as the introduction.

Just Exploring or Considering to Play Factorio Access?

Then you are at the right place!

Pages that may interest you the most are:

This home page, introducing the mod, the game, and all available information sources.
Frequently Asked Questions - Frequently Asked Questions
Factorio Access Features - Briefly introduces mod features from scratch
Navigation - Pages are listed and introduced here in multiple ways to make them more discoverable

Ready to Install and Start Playing?

After you have purchased Factorio, use the README steps to install and use the launcher. The launcher automates most of mod setup and walks you through the config choices and map setup.

Pages that may interest you the most are:

FA README - Introductory info to start from
Launcher Features - Details about the launcher features including map setup
Compass Valley - Info about the optional map preset that has the same geography and settings for everyone (while normally maps are randomly generated)
Tutorial Transcript - The text for the in-game tutorial, which itself works like a mini in-game wiki
FA Docs - Lists of keystrokes with accompanying explanations. Good for quick reference

Already Playing?

If you are well into the tutorial or have finished it, further info can be browsed on or from this wiki. Notably, strategy pages and quick reference pages may be helpful.

Pages that may interest you the most are:

FA Docs - Lists of keystrokes with accompanying explanations. Good for quick reference
Factorio Access Features - Briefly introduces mod features from scratch
Navigation - Pages are listed and introduced here in multiple ways to make them more discoverable

About Factorio Access

Factorio Access (FA) is a free and open source modification that makes Factorio playable without vision. The mod reads the world and behavior inside Factorio, translating visual information into audio and text-based interfaces. The mod is an unofficial volunteer project written in Lua using the official Factorio modding API.

Core Philosophy

The mod preserves the original Factorio experience while providing information that would normally be obtained visually. Most features work the same way as vanilla Factorio, with the mod providing contextual information through unique features like audio menus with keyboard navigation, sonofiers, and info beeps.

Accessibility Coverage

The accessibility coverage of this mod is very extensive:

All core features of the base game are covered.
All advanced features of the base game such as circuit networks are covered.
Several other Factorio mods, especially the ones that do not add custom mechanics, are automatically covered because of using the same framework.

Meanwhile, there is still room to cover further:

Multiplayer gameplay is technically covered but it is a very laggy experience due to structural reasons that we cannot mod away. Your experience may vary. (Multiplayer documentation coming soon.)
Some features of the Factorio Space Age expansion are not covered and we do not officially support it... yet...
Some side features such as achievements are only partially covered.
Several other Factorio mods that have custom mechanics that would require accessibility features of their own are not covered.

About Factorio

Factorio is a game where you build your own factory piece by piece. You assume the role of an engineer whose spaceship has crash-landed onto an alien planet. You find yourself on a landscape with trees, lakes, various rocks and ores, and sometimes also communities of large alien insects collectively known as the "biters". Your goal is to gather and process resources to conduct research and eventually build a rocket and escape. The game features:

Top-down perspective on a 2D tile-based world
Gathering and processing resources such as wood, metal ores, and oil
Logistics systems like converyor belts, automatic trains, and flying robots
Various electric generation methods for powering everything else
Technology research and progression from basic surivial tools to fully automated factories
Modules for tweaking machines (optional)
Circuit network systems for controlling machines with programmable logic (optional)
Pollution as a side effect to keep track of (optional)
Combat against the biters, who don't really appreciate your pollution (optional)
Excellent sound design throughout it all

For comprehensive information about game mechanics, see the official Factorio wiki.

About This Wiki

Wiki pages are grouped into four categories:

General Reference - This includes handy pages like the FAQ, Launcher Features, Compatible Mods List, Mod history, and Contributing guides.
Mod Features - These pages cover the mod's specific features in depth.
Game Features - These pages introduce core features of Factorio in an accessibility-focused way. Each page then links to the relevant official Factorio Wiki pages.
Strategy - These pages offer recommended strategies from players for progressing in the game as opposed to explaining content in a neutral way. For example, Factory Building Guidance covers several design conventions.

These pages are directly accessible from the Wiki Sidebar. They are meant to supplement other information sources about Factorio Access, in ways that are described next.

Information Sources Overview

This wiki is a part of a wider information ecosystem for Factorio and the Factorio Access Mod (FA):

The FA README - This is the first stop for exploring the mod.
This Wiki - This is where all the information is organised. If the info has a page elsewhere, it is linked from here. Otherwise it has a page here.
The in-game tutorial - This is the recommended resource for learning about game mechanics and mod features. Open it in-game or use the linked transcript.
FA docs pages - These are quick pages about game controls and accompanying explanations. They are tightly version controlled to keep them in sync with the code.
FA LLM docs pages - These pages are made by AI and for AI studying the mod code. The pages have some usefulness for humans but MIGHT contain inaccuracies.
The official Factorio Wiki - The wiki is comprehensive and well-maintained by the wider Factorio community. Most pages of this mod's wiki link to relevant official wiki pages.
The Factorio Mod Portal page for FA - This page is important for making this mod represented and discoverable in the official mod portal. It has limited info.
The FA Discord Server - When other sources do not have what you seek or you want to create or join discussions about the mod, feel free to join us at the server.
Official Factorio Community Sources - The official website, Forums, Discord Server, and subreddit welcome all players.
FA GitHub Issues Page - The issues page is used by developers to track mod bugs and feature development (although a lot of discussion also happens on Discord).
FA Changelog - When mod updates are released, the changes are explained here.