Steam shows ~800 hours for me but that's before I went all-in on various mods and just wrote my own launcher for easy switching between mod packs/saves/etc so thankfully I don't have the full numbers (though the vast majority of my playtime happened after that change so I know I'm probably around your number).

The install is completely portable on its own, so my solution is that I just have 10 or so copies of the game installed, with a folder of renamed shortcuts based on the modpack they run.

What does your launcher do?

Nothing special, it’s an Alfred workflow to list my installs which are just folders on the file system. Each folder has its own saves/mods and a link to launch the version of Factorio I want. It calls a script that symlinks the mods/saves to the right place and launches the game.

Do the blueprint stay between each copy?

One of the issues I have is that I have blueprints in every copy of the game now instead of in some central location :(

They are per-install I think. I normally create new blueprints per-run just cause. I have a handful of blueprints I store in notes to easily paste in.

Yeah, I've been getting more and more collecting for stuff I'm doing with the circuit network that I don't want to do again.

Trying to find a clean way to organize them and have it available in all the games, maybe just checking them into github is the way to go.

I'm sure it's great fun but please consider the astoundingly extraordinary privilege of having the skills and resources to invest in learning or creating or solving nearly anything you can imagine... and what it means to choose to spend it on shallow personal entertainment. You're capable of so much more. The world desperately needs you and others just like you to pivot, a hard reset of perspective and values, to put your amazing mind and self to work doing things that are essential and meaningful and helpful to others. Your future self will thank you for breaking the solo gaming habit. Better late than never. You won't get those 2000 hours back, but you just might find your soul by choosing to put your next 2000 hours of free time to a different purpose.

Wow. I was enjoying this thread but you really killed the vibe by thinking you’re a better determiner of people’s free time, not to mention you somehow think you know a stranger on the internet better than themselves?

Please tell me this is a copypasta and was just sarcasm.

Hey d1str0, Sorry (not sorry) to harsh your vibe. It wasn't sarcasm or "copypasta". My longer response to a sibling comment just now explains further. Have a great weekend.

> you just might find your soul by choosing to put your next 2000 hours of free time to a different purpose.

Like mindlessly browsing forums and shitting on things you don’t care about?

Hi oefrha, haha, good one. But for me this isn't about being judgmental or scoring points. You might be right to include time spent on HN in the category of addictive timesinks better spent elsewhere, so yes, maybe there's a touch of hypocrisy in my original comment. But nothing about my engagement with this topic is "mindless". On the contrary, I choose deliberately to do the uncomfortable / unpopular thing and encourage others to try to avoid slipping further into mindless activity, because I'm personally acutely aware of what's at stake. I wasn't "shitting on" nor singling out this game in particular. I don't care if it's Factorio, World of Warcraft, Magic: the Gathering, fantasy football, or anything else that has a strong tendency to become all-consuming. Life is too short as it is. I'm speaking from the heart as a cancer survivor who's had a chance to reflect deeply on nearly 50 years of life, and I'm so glad I quit World of Warcraft cold turkey when I did, when my oldest daughter was still an infant. Please, try to interpret my comments in the spirit they're intended. Thanks.

I know many other people who survived cancer who decided that life was too short to take it too seriously and now they are more care free, play more video games, smoke more pot, etc.

I’m glad you had a personal revelation that works for you (maybe), but being a cancer survivor doesn’t make you a better arbiter of other people’s time and energy.

I didn't say it did! I make no such claims. Rather my experiences (esp. with addictive pasttimes like WoW) led me to a place where I'm confident that encouraging people to consider their choices might help someone learn from my mistakes. YMMV. Each to his/her own. Enjoy your day!