diff --git a/src/rendering/v_video.cpp b/src/rendering/v_video.cpp
index f587d3d7f7..9beb8e36be 100644
--- a/src/rendering/v_video.cpp
+++ b/src/rendering/v_video.cpp
@@ -108,12 +108,16 @@ CUSTOM_CVAR(Int, vid_rendermode, 4, CVAR_ARCHIVE | CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG | CVAR_NOIN
 	// No further checks needed. All this changes now is which scene drawer the render backend calls.
 }
 
-CUSTOM_CVAR(Int, vid_enablevulkan, 0, CVAR_ARCHIVE | CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG | CVAR_NOINITCALL)
+CUSTOM_CVAR(Int, vid_preferbackend, 0, CVAR_ARCHIVE | CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG | CVAR_NOINITCALL)
 {
 	// [SP] This may seem pointless - but I don't want to implement live switching just
 	// yet - I'm pretty sure it's going to require a lot of reinits and destructions to
 	// do it right without memory leaks
 
+	// 0 - OpenGL
+	// 1 - Vulkan
+	// 2 - SoftPoly v2
+
 	Printf("Changing the video backend requires a restart for " GAMENAME ".\n");
 }
 
diff --git a/src/win32/hardware.cpp b/src/win32/hardware.cpp
index 4b3016834d..af6ab11887 100644
--- a/src/win32/hardware.cpp
+++ b/src/win32/hardware.cpp
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@
 #include "i_system.h"
 #include "swrenderer/r_swrenderer.h"
 
-EXTERN_CVAR(Int, vid_enablevulkan)
+EXTERN_CVAR(Int, vid_preferbackend)
 
 extern HWND Window;
 
@@ -129,11 +129,12 @@ void I_InitGraphics ()
 		// are the active app. Huh?
 	}
 
-#if 1 // always use poly backend on this branch, for now.
-	Video = new Win32PolyVideo();
-#else
+	if (vid_preferbackend == 2)
+	{
+		Video = new Win32PolyVideo();
+	}
 #ifdef HAVE_VULKAN
-	else if (vid_enablevulkan == 1)
+	else if (vid_preferbackend == 1)
 	{
 		// first try Vulkan, if that fails OpenGL
 		try
@@ -151,8 +152,11 @@ void I_InitGraphics ()
 	{
 		Video = new Win32GLVideo();
 	}
-#endif
 
+	if (Video == NULL)
+		Video = new Win32PolyVideo();
+
+	// we somehow STILL don't have a display!!
 	if (Video == NULL)
 		I_FatalError ("Failed to initialize display");
 	
diff --git a/src/win32/i_system.cpp b/src/win32/i_system.cpp
index 13859176dc..36e042b1f3 100644
--- a/src/win32/i_system.cpp
+++ b/src/win32/i_system.cpp
@@ -119,7 +119,8 @@ EXTERN_CVAR (Bool, queryiwad);
 EXTERN_CVAR (Bool, disableautoload)
 EXTERN_CVAR (Bool, autoloadlights)
 EXTERN_CVAR (Bool, autoloadbrightmaps)
-EXTERN_CVAR (Int, vid_enablevulkan)
+//EXTERN_CVAR (Int, vid_enablevulkan) // hack - we're just disabling it for now, this code does nothing
+uint32_t vid_enablevulkan = 0;
 
 extern HWND Window, ConWindow, GameTitleWindow;
 extern HANDLE StdOut;