diff --git a/include/IrrCompileConfig.h b/include/IrrCompileConfig.h
index 24972ca7f..fbd7c7904 100644
--- a/include/IrrCompileConfig.h
+++ b/include/IrrCompileConfig.h
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
 #define IRRLICHT_VERSION_SVN alpha
 #define IRRLICHT_SDK_VERSION "1.9.0" IRRLICHT_VERSION_MT
 
+#if RENDER_HEADLESS // from https://github.com/EleutherAI/irrlicht
+#define _IRR_COMPILE_WITH_SDL_DEVICE_
+#endif
+
 #include <stdio.h> // TODO: Although included elsewhere this is required at least for mingw
 
 #ifdef _WIN32