Alchemy Factory 1.0 Known Issues & Fixes

Acknowledged by the developers (8 September 2026)

• Long load times and save freezes on large saves. Reports of five, ten and twelve minutes to load where twenty seconds was normal, and ten-second freezes on save. Developer reply: “We will fix this in the next update, thank you for your patience.”
• Spanish settings-menu text error. “We will fix it in the next version.”
• The new music. “We have noted the issues regarding BGM and sound effects.”

Fixed in Hotfix 1.0.4917 (8 September)

Drink-production crash; old saves refunding skill points multiple times; customers blocked by the shop entrance flip sign; chat window opening repeatedly; Knowledge Altar UI showing the wrong working time; building panel staying visible; Join Game UI improved. If you saw any of these on launch morning, update.

Not bugs: the Workbench move

“Where is the workbench?”, “Catapult?!”, “bridges and other things are away now?” and “Can’t Access other build hotbars” all trace to one 1.0 line: non-production devices are now unlocked at the Workbench, not the tech tree. A new save has a Workbench by the bed for 50 planks. An Early Access save that never unlocked it may need a new game; players in the thread said as much. Full detail on the 1.0 changes guide. The single-hotbar report is separate and had no reply at the time of writing.

Reported, no reply yet

• Currency balancers hoarding coins. “taking in coin and seemingly stockpiling it without off putting the correct amount? the only way to get the money back is to delete the balancer and you’ll get it all back at once.” Deleting the device returns the coins.
• Customers despawning with goods at day end without paying. Reported on day 2 and day 5 of a fresh 1.0 save.
• Multiplayer connections failing with firewall open, both invite and join code.
• Reputation shows zero after updating. Not a bug; buy Shop Recognition licences from the town shopkeeper. See the Shop Recognition guide.

Crashes at launch, with causes players found

• Windows PowerToys. “When Powertoys is running, the game seems to close at launch.” Close PowerToys before starting.
• Another dedicated server on port 27015. The game starts its own server code in the background even for single-player; if another game’s server holds 27015, it crashes before the menu. Stop the other server or move its port.
• Black screen after the D5 Copperhead logo, then exit (July 2026) and LowLevelFatalError on Play (August 2026) on AMD systems were reported without resolution on the board; the December 2025 crash wave has a “Temporary Alternative Solution” post that is the only official crash workaround published so far.

Older issues that still bite

• Alembic will not pipe out. A pipe segment accidentally placed inside the alembic while dragging blocks the output. Area-delete the pipe (select the alembic and pipe, deselect the alembic), or use B, select the machine, T to move it back into place, which unclogs it. The same move trick fixes a machine you fed the wrong item, such as fertiliser into a fuel slot.
• Grinder stalls on wood or stone. A July 2026 report needed the grinder replaced to restart.
• Gloomspore Sample quest not appearing. Usually a co-op partner already turned it in; build a second dispatch portal to see the contract.
• Motion sickness since the elevators patch and the game randomly going dark (July to August 2026) are open threads.
• “Failure. An error occurred while installing” on the demo is expected: the demo was removed at the Early Access launch and the link should not be used.

Sources: Steam Discussions, General, 7 to 9 September 2026 (developer replies quoted verbatim) and earlier threads dated inline; Hotfix 1.0.4917 and 1.0 Patch Notes (8 September 2026); “Temporary Alternative Solution for Players Experiencing Crashes” (21 December 2025).