Running a modern game from floppy disks is no simple task, but one developer has managed to do just that with Factorio, using over 1,250 of them. The project, which involved creating a custom file system called Fluster, demonstrates both the technical complexity and financial burden of such an approach.
The game Factorio typically occupies around 1 GB to 1.5 GB of storage space once installed. However, with each floppy disk holding only about 1.5 MB, the developer needed a way to manage this data efficiently. The solution came in the form of Fluster, a file system written in Rust that divides each disk into 512-byte blocks, allowing for the distribution of game files across multiple disks.
� Factorio storage: 1 GB to 1.5 GB• Floppy disk capacity: ~1.5 MB• Number of floppy disks used: 1,250
The financial cost of this project is substantial. A single set of 10 old-stock floppy disks costs around $23, meaning that 1,250 disks would theoretically cost approximately $2,975. The developer managed to source the disks for an undisclosed price from a supplier, though they turned out to be old AOL dial-up internet trial disks.
Loading Factorio from these disks is not just a technical challenge but also a time-consuming process. It takes over a week of continuous operation to load the game, working from sunrise to sunset. Despite the lengthy loading times and some functional limitations, the developer managed to complete a playthrough in under nine hours once the game was loaded.
The project highlights both the ingenuity involved in overcoming such technical hurdles and the impracticality of using floppy disks for modern applications. The Fluster file system is now open-sourced, allowing others to attempt similar feats without having to code their own solution from scratch.
