Troubleshooting

Find your problem below and try one change at a time.

1 Common issues

The game won't launch

Let Steam finish updating, then launch with an empty Launch Options field.
Update your graphics drivers.
On Linux and Steam Deck, turn off Steam Play: right-click Microlandia → Properties → Compatibility, and untick "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool".
Try the launch option --webgl.

If Windows says the WebView2 Runtime is missing, install it from Microsoft.

Black screen with menus but no city

Try these one at a time:

--webgl
--disable-gpu-compositing
Windows: --webgl --opengl
Linux: --webgl --no-use-gl-angle, or --webgl --disable-features=Vulkan

Freezes that come and go while playing

Try --webgl.
Update your graphics drivers.
Remove --in-process-gpu if you set it.

Low frame rate

In Settings → Graphics:

Lower Render Scale to 0.75 or 0.5.
Turn off Shadows.
Set Anti-aliasing to FXAA or Off.
Lower Particle Quality.

The top of the panel shows the renderer. If WebGPU runs poorly, try --webgl.

Steam overlay is white or broken (Windows)

Try --disable-direct-composition.

2 Launch options

Launch options work on Windows and Linux. On macOS, use Settings → Graphics instead.

How to set them

Steam: right-click Microlandia → Properties → General, and type them in Launch Options, separated by spaces.
Windows without Steam: edit a shortcut to microlandia.exe and add them to the end of its Target field, after the closing quote.
Linux without Steam: run ./run.sh --webgl from the game's folder.

Add one option at a time and fully quit the game between tries. Remove the ones that don't help.

What each one does

Option	Effect
`--webgl`	Use WebGL2 instead of WebGPU. Same look, works with more drivers. The first thing to try.
`--webgpu`	Use WebGPU even if Settings chose WebGL2.
`--disable-gpu-compositing`	For a black screen with menus showing.
`--disable-vsync`	Less input delay, but the picture may tear.
`--opengl`	Windows. Draw with OpenGL; pair with `--webgl`.
`--webgl --use-angle=d3d11`	Windows. Draw WebGL2 with Direct3D 11.
`--dont-force-high-performance-gpu`	Windows. Let the system pick the graphics card instead of the faster one.
`--enable-sandbox`	Windows. Turn Chromium's sandbox back on; the game runs without it.
`--disable-direct-composition`	Windows. For a white or broken Steam overlay.
`--no-use-gl-angle`	Linux. Let Chromium choose how to draw, instead of ANGLE OpenGL.
`--disable-features=Vulkan`	Linux. Turn off Vulkan; pair with `--webgl`.
`--force-wayland`	Linux. Run on Wayland instead of X11. Uses WebGL2.
`--gpu-watchdog-timeout-seconds=60`	Give a slow GPU 60 seconds instead of 30 before the game gives up on it.
`--disable-gamepad`	Ignore all controllers.

Don't use --disable-gpu or --disable-webgl: the city can't be drawn without them.

3 Restoring a city from a backup

Each city is one file, <city>.sqlite, in the game's db folder. Put an older copy in its place and the city goes back to that moment.

Where the files are

The game's folder holds your cities in db and older copies in backups.

Windows: %APPDATA%\Microlandia
Press Win+R, paste the path and press Enter. %APPDATA% is C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Roaming, which File Explorer hides.
macOS (Steam): ~/Library/Application Support/Microlandia
In Finder, press Shift+Cmd+G and paste the path.
macOS (Mac App Store): ~/Library/Containers/games.informationsuperhighway.microlandia.macos/Data/Library/Application Support/Microlandia
Open it the same way.
Linux and Steam Deck: ~/.microlandia
A hidden folder: press Ctrl+H in the file manager to see it. With Flatpak Steam it's ~/.var/app/com.valvesoftware.Steam/.microlandia.

Which backups you have

Version 2 doesn't make backups. The backups folder only has copies from version 1: <city>.<date>.microlandia, up to 10 per city, and <city>.pre-grid2.sqlite, the city just before it moved to version 2. Restoring one loses everything built since, so keep your own copies.

Restoring a copy

Quit the game.
In db, move every file starting with <city>.sqlite somewhere safe, such as your desktop. Leftover -wal and -shm files would damage the restored city.
Copy the backup into db and rename it <city>.sqlite, for example arboria.2026-07-01T18-30-00-000Z.microlandia to arboria.sqlite.
Start the game. If Steam asks about a Steam Cloud conflict, keep the files on this computer.

Keeping your own copies

With the game closed, copy every file starting with <city>.sqlite from db to a folder of your own. To restore them, follow the steps above, but copy your files back without renaming them.

4 Get support

Ask on our Discord. Tell us your operating system, graphics card, game version, the launch options you tried, and whether the game never opens, shows a black screen, or fails loading a city. If it shows an error report, paste it.