Bugs and Other Misbehavior

How do I report a bug in X-Plane?

First: X-Plane is a complex piece of software with a pretty big learning curve and some non-obvious behavior. Unless you're an old-timer and are really up to speed on how it works, ask the folks on the tech list first. It's just possible that you're misunderstanding something or X-Plane just works different than what you think.

That said, if the folks on the tech list say it's a bug, or if you just know it's a bug, use the official X-Plane bug report page.

When I try to start X-Plane on Windows, I get the error "Missing export DSOUND.DLL:11".

You need to install DirectX 8.1 or later.

My computer crashes or freezes while X-Plane is starting up

This problem is almost always caused by buggy video drivers. X-Plane is a user-mode application and by itself is not capable of crashing the system. Contact either the manufacturer of your computer system or video card for up to date drivers.

X-Plane (or the entire system) crashes after I've been flying a few minutes

There have been a couple of cases reported where this problem is caused by sudden heat buildup. X-Plane runs your cpu and video card at maximum performance, which generates more heat than other forms of system use (word processing, surfing the web, etc.)

What is an unhandled exception in X-Plane and how do I fix it?

An unhandled exception is exactly that.. an error (exception) that was not trapped (handled) by the software. Two numbers are given. The first is a hex number that refers to the internal error number that occured. The second is address and points to the memory address in the code segment of the program where the exception occured.

Nothing much you can do about, unless you know how to find your way around a debugger to trace the problem. Report the error to X-Plane support and include exact details of what you did in X-Plane that resulted in this exception.

X-Plane crashes or hangs the system when I exit (Windows)

This is usually a problem with your OpenGL or video drivers. Make sure your drivers are up to date. In some instances you can work around this problem by manually setting your screen resolution to the resolution X-Plane will run in before starting X-Plane.

Suddenly the sound has stopped working in X-Plane (Macintosh)

This can happen if you use Audacity (a Macintosh sound editor). Audacity changes all the sound sample rates and other apps stop working. You need to run Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup and reset the sound sample rates to the default 44.1KHz. For details, see the discussion at X-Plane.org.

Problems in older versions...

I see no scenery on Mars (version 7.50)

This was a bug in 7.50; it's fixed in 7.61 and later versions.

When I cross a waypoint set up in the FMS, X-Plane 7.30 crashes

This is a known bug in version 7.30. If you have the autopilot slaved to the FMS (i.e., LNAV mode) X-Plane will hang, typically with a terrible noise in the audio) when you get within .3 to .5 miles of the waypoint. This problem is fixed in 7.41 and later. If you want to stick with 7.30, to circumvent the problem, when you're within 1.5 miles of the waypoint, manually advance to the next waypoint. (Thanx to Andrew Bright for the workaround.)
My joystick doesn't work under Mac OS 10.3!
Apple screwed up USB HID support in a serious way in 10.3. Get the current 10.3 update - the joystick problems were fixed in 10.3.2.
7.30 and later won't start on my iBook with 8MB VRAM
The increased panel size in 7.30 pushed VRAM requirements over the edge for Mac iBooks with 8MB VRAM and running OSX. It still works if you're running OS9, which uses slightly less VRAM for the same application load. (But it probably won't for long).
I can't edit obstacles in WorldMaker 7.21!
Neither can anyone else. It's busted. You'll have to use a different version.

I'm on the US west coast. Why does the GPS show Japan to the east?

Not anymore it doesn't!! (If you have 6.06 or later.)

In 5.66... Because X-Plane thinks the earth is a flat rectangle. The world ends at the international date line west of Hawaii and east of Japan and New Zealand.



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