Fix X-Plane 12 crashes by reading Log.txt, isolating plugins and scenery, repairing files, and resolving Vulkan, VRAM, driver and hardware faults.
X-Plane 12 usually crashes because of an incompatible plugin or aircraft, faulty scenery, damaged files or preferences, GPU-driver/Vulkan trouble, exhausted memory, or unstable hardware. Copy Log.txt immediately after the crash, reproduce it with a default aircraft and no third-party add-ons, then restore components one at a time.
What causes X-Plane 12 to crash?
The crash pattern is often the quickest way to identify the responsible component.
| Crash pattern | Likely cause | Best first test |
|---|---|---|
| Before reaching the main menu | Global plugin, preferences, damaged files or graphics driver | Follow our startup and launch-failure diagnostic sequence |
| Only with one aircraft | Aircraft systems plugin, incompatible aircraft or livery | Load a default X-Plane 12 aircraft |
| At one airport or the same geographical point | Airport, orthophoto, mesh or scenery-library problem | Repeat the flight with that custom scenery removed |
| After raising graphics settings or in dense areas | VRAM pressure, driver reset or excessive rendering load | Reduce texture quality, anti-aliasing and output resolution |
VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST or device-loss message | Vulkan driver, GPU instability, overlay or VRAM problem | Use the dedicated Vulkan device-loss checks |
| Whole computer restarts, freezes or shows a stop error | Driver, temperature, power, RAM or overclock instability | Return the system to stock settings and inspect OS hardware logs |
How do I fix repeated X-Plane 12 crashes?
The reliable method is to preserve the evidence, establish a clean baseline and change one variable at a time.
- Save the crash log. Copy
Log.txtfrom the top-level X-Plane 12 folder before launching the simulator again. Each launch replaces the previous log. - Record the trigger. Note the selected aircraft, airport, weather, flight phase and the last add-on, driver or setting changed. A reproducible crash is much easier to isolate than a seemingly random one.
- Run a default test. Select a default aircraft, an unmodified airport and simple weather. Temporarily move third-party plugin folders out of
Resources/plugins, leaving X-Plane's supplied components untouched, and restart the simulator. - Remove the relevant add-on category. If the crash follows one aircraft, investigate that aircraft and its bundled plugins. If it happens at one location, move the associated packages out of
Custom Scenery. Back upCustom Scenery/scenery_packs.inibefore rearranging scenery so its loading order can be restored. - Reset preferences safely. Move
Output/preferencesto a backup location and let X-Plane create fresh preferences. This resets graphics, display and control configuration, so do not permanently delete the old folder. If the reset works, restore control profiles selectively rather than copying every old preference back. - Repair the simulator files. Verify the installation through the platform that installed X-Plane, or run the X-Plane installer in update or repair mode. Our installer and damaged-file repair steps cover failures at this stage.
- Check the graphics stack. Install a stable graphics driver appropriate to the GPU and operating system, disable recording overlays and return GPU or VRAM overclocks to stock. On macOS, Metal driver updates arrive with operating-system updates rather than a separate graphics-driver package.
- Reduce memory pressure. Lower texture quality first, followed by anti-aliasing and unusually high display resolution. Close memory-heavy background programs, retain a system-managed Windows page file and ensure the drive has free space. If X-Plane starts reducing texture detail before the crash, use our VRAM and texture-quality diagnosis.
- Test hardware stability. Remove CPU, GPU and memory overclocks, including aggressive memory profiles, and check temperatures. An application crash can come from an add-on; a complete system reboot or hardware error points much more strongly towards drivers, RAM, power or thermal instability.
Where is X-Plane 12 Log.txt, and what does it show?
Log.txt is in the main X-Plane 12 installation folder and records the simulator, aircraft, scenery and plugins loaded during the most recent session.
Read upwards from the bottom, but do not assume the final named file caused the crash. A line explicitly identifying a plugin is strong evidence; an ordinary scenery-loading line immediately before an abrupt ending is not. If the path points inside an aircraft's folder, the culprit may be that aircraft's bundled plugin rather than a global plugin.
Repeated warnings about missing objects or deprecated commands deserve correction, but they do not automatically explain a crash to desktop. When the log stops without a useful X-Plane error, inspect the operating system's application and hardware records because an external driver or unstable component may have terminated the process before X-Plane could record the cause.
How do I find which plugin or scenery is crashing X-Plane?
Restore disabled add-ons in batches until the crash returns, then divide the failing batch until one component remains.
- Restart X-Plane after every plugin change; unloading a plugin during a running session is not always a valid test.
- Keep the aircraft, airport, weather and graphics settings identical between tests.
- Test plugins, aircraft and scenery separately rather than restoring all three categories together.
- Once identified, use an X-Plane 12-compatible release or leave the component disabled. Renaming a folder without moving it outside a scanned add-on directory may not disable it.
A mistake we see constantly is changing the driver, deleting preferences and removing several add-ons simultaneously. That may stop the crash, but it also destroys the evidence needed to identify what actually failed.
Why does X-Plane 12 crash only during a flight?
In-flight crashes usually point to scenery being loaded, an aircraft plugin reaching a particular state, growing memory pressure or a graphics-driver failure.
A crash at nearly the same coordinates warrants a scenery test. One tied to a single aircraft or cockpit action points towards that aircraft's systems plugin. Crashes that appear later in demanding flights, especially after stuttering or reduced texture detail, make VRAM, system memory and driver stability the stronger suspects.
When should I reinstall X-Plane 12?
Reinstallation should be a last resort because reinstalling core files may leave the faulty preferences, plugins, aircraft or scenery untouched.
Repair or verify the simulator first. Consider a clean installation only if a default aircraft, default scenery, fresh preferences and no third-party plugins still crash after file verification and driver checks. If a clean installation works, copy add-ons back in controlled batches rather than transferring the old installation wholesale.