Application directory
The application directory stores
The directory structure is self-explaining.
You can delete for example the configuration-file; it will be generated new with the defaults.
It is recommended to create backups from this directory, before you install a new version.
Windows
Installation by Zip-package
Application directory is the same as the unpacked factorio directory.
For example, if you unpacked the zip to
C:\Factorio
Then your saves can be found in
C:\Factorio\saves
and mods in
C:\Factorio\mods
Installation via Installer
Installation package follows UAC. For that case the factorio directory is where you install it (Program files by default) and the user data (saves, player data etc) are stored in
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Factorio
Windows Vista and newer (UAC active):
%appdata%\factorio
MacOSx
The application should be by default installed in the Apps-folder.
Whereas the data is stored under
/users/<replace with your username>/Library/Application Support/factorio
Which is equivalent to
~/Library/Application Support/factorio
You can type in this into the Finder (press SHIFT-COMMAND-G for goto folder) and put in exactly this line.' Or you can use in Finder the 'Find a folder' and write '~/Library/Application Support' (See Can't find Mods folder).
The factorio internal application-data can be found (when you have installed it) in
/Applications/factorio.app/Contents/data
Same directory structure as in Application support.
Linux
Data is stored under
__Game_Install_Directory__
Changing the application directory
The following discussion applies to version 0.11.13.
It is possible to change the application directory location for Factorio.
This can be done by editing 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.
If you want to move only the location of your save files you can change the the save directory using symlinks but this still means that all users of the computer will share the same data, including settings.
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.