diff --git a/src/gl/system/gl_interface.cpp b/src/gl/system/gl_interface.cpp
index 90e6d58c8..0545981ed 100644
--- a/src/gl/system/gl_interface.cpp
+++ b/src/gl/system/gl_interface.cpp
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ static double realglversion;	// this is public so the statistics code can access
 
 EXTERN_CVAR(Bool, gl_legacy_mode)
 extern int currentrenderer;
+EXTERN_CVAR(Int, vid_renderer);
 CVAR(Bool, gl_riskymodernpath, false, CVAR_ARCHIVE|CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG)
 
 //==========================================================================
@@ -190,7 +191,8 @@ void gl_LoadExtensions()
 		// Don't even start if it's lower than 2.0 or no framebuffers are available (The framebuffer extension is needed for glGenerateMipmapsEXT!)
 		if ((gl_version < 2.0f || !CheckExtension("GL_EXT_framebuffer_object")) && gl_version < 3.0f)
 		{
-			I_FatalError("Unsupported OpenGL version.\nAt least OpenGL 2.0 with framebuffer support is required to run " GAMENAME ".\n");
+			vid_renderer = 0;
+			I_FatalError("Unsupported OpenGL version.\nAt least OpenGL 2.0 with framebuffer support is required to run " GAMENAME ".\nFalling back to software renderer.\n");
 		}
 		
 		gl.es = false;
diff --git a/src/win32/win32gliface.cpp b/src/win32/win32gliface.cpp
index b7d591e48..ce82dceaf 100644
--- a/src/win32/win32gliface.cpp
+++ b/src/win32/win32gliface.cpp
@@ -854,14 +854,16 @@ bool Win32GLVideo::SetupPixelFormat(int multisample)
 
 		if (pfd.dwFlags & PFD_GENERIC_FORMAT)
 		{
-			I_Error("R_OPENGL: OpenGL driver not accelerated!");
+			vid_renderer = 0;
+			I_Error("R_OPENGL: OpenGL driver not accelerated! Falling back to software renderer.\n");
 			return false;
 		}
 	}
 
 	if (!::SetPixelFormat(m_hDC, pixelFormat, NULL))
 	{
-		I_Error("R_OPENGL: Couldn't set pixel format.\n");
+		vid_renderer = 0;
+		I_Error("R_OPENGL: Couldn't set pixel format. Reverting to software mode...\n");
 		return false;
 	}
 	return true;
@@ -917,7 +919,8 @@ bool Win32GLVideo::InitHardware (HWND Window, int multisample)
 			m_hRC = wglCreateContext(m_hDC);
 			if (m_hRC == NULL)
 			{
-				I_Error("R_OPENGL: Unable to create an OpenGL render context.\n");
+				vid_renderer = 0;
+				I_Error("R_OPENGL: Unable to create an OpenGL render context. Reverting to software mode...\n");
 				return false;
 			}
 		}
@@ -929,7 +932,8 @@ bool Win32GLVideo::InitHardware (HWND Window, int multisample)
 		}
 	}
 	// We get here if the driver doesn't support the modern context creation API which always means an old driver.
-	I_Error ("R_OPENGL: Unable to create an OpenGL render context. Insufficient driver support for context creation\n");
+	vid_renderer = 0;
+	I_Error ("R_OPENGL: Unable to create an OpenGL render context. Insufficient driver support for context creation. Reverting to software mode...\n");
 	return false;
 }