diff --git a/src/common/platform/posix/cocoa/i_video.mm b/src/common/platform/posix/cocoa/i_video.mm
index 9a2737ccf..88c1b9b7e 100644
--- a/src/common/platform/posix/cocoa/i_video.mm
+++ b/src/common/platform/posix/cocoa/i_video.mm
@@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ public:
 		if (fb == nullptr)
 		{
 #ifdef HAVE_GLES2
-			if(V_GetBackend() == 2)
+			if(V_GetBackend() != 0)
 				fb = new OpenGLESRenderer::OpenGLFrameBuffer(0, vid_fullscreen);
 			else
 #endif
diff --git a/src/common/platform/posix/sdl/sdlglvideo.cpp b/src/common/platform/posix/sdl/sdlglvideo.cpp
index 326a5c9d9..86a31c0c3 100644
--- a/src/common/platform/posix/sdl/sdlglvideo.cpp
+++ b/src/common/platform/posix/sdl/sdlglvideo.cpp
@@ -315,7 +315,7 @@ DFrameBuffer *SDLVideo::CreateFrameBuffer ()
 	if (fb == nullptr)
 	{
 #ifdef HAVE_GLES2
-		if (V_GetBackend() == 2)
+		if (V_GetBackend() != 0)
 			fb = new OpenGLESRenderer::OpenGLFrameBuffer(0, vid_fullscreen);
 		else
 #endif
diff --git a/src/common/platform/win32/win32glvideo.cpp b/src/common/platform/win32/win32glvideo.cpp
index ebeb13cc9..c972940a5 100644
--- a/src/common/platform/win32/win32glvideo.cpp
+++ b/src/common/platform/win32/win32glvideo.cpp
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ DFrameBuffer *Win32GLVideo::CreateFrameBuffer()
 	SystemGLFrameBuffer *fb;
 
 #ifdef HAVE_GLES2
-	if (V_GetBackend() == 2)
+	if (V_GetBackend() != 0)
 		fb = new OpenGLESRenderer::OpenGLFrameBuffer(m_hMonitor, vid_fullscreen);
 	else
 #endif
diff --git a/src/common/rendering/v_video.cpp b/src/common/rendering/v_video.cpp
index 47caad55e..7c79e8bea 100644
--- a/src/common/rendering/v_video.cpp
+++ b/src/common/rendering/v_video.cpp
@@ -93,7 +93,7 @@ CUSTOM_CVAR(Int, vid_maxfps, 200, CVAR_ARCHIVE | CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG)
 	}
 }
 
-CUSTOM_CVAR(Int, vid_preferbackend, 0, CVAR_ARCHIVE | CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG | CVAR_NOINITCALL)
+CUSTOM_CVAR(Int, vid_preferbackend, 1, 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