diff --git a/openage/__main__.py b/openage/__main__.py
index 60c1c1bb4f..7e96be74ef 100644
--- a/openage/__main__.py
+++ b/openage/__main__.py
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ def main(argv=None):
     multiprocessing.freeze_support()
 
     # openage is complicated and multithreaded; better not use fork.
-    multiprocessing.set_start_method('spawn')
+    if mmultiprocessing.get_start_method(allow_none=True) is None:
+        mmultiprocessing.set_start_method('spawn')
 
     sys.exit(main())