X-Plane Launcher Documentation

X-Plane Launcher (XLauncher) is a native macOS manager and profile-based launcher for X-Plane 12.

It organizes add-ons in a central folder and creates symbolic links into your X-Plane installation based on your selected profile. This allows you to switch between configurations—such as online airliner flying, offline bush trips, or testing—without moving large folders or duplicating files.

Features

Profiles & Profile Manager

Save and switch configurations across aircraft, plugins, scenery packs, and FlyWithLua scripts. Manage, duplicate, compare, and import/export profiles from the profile manager window.

Storage Pools

Store add-ons across multiple internal and external drives with automatic fallback and drive tracking.

Symlink Management

Keep your X-Plane directory tidy. Add-ons remain in your storage folders and are linked into X-Plane on demand.

Scenery Ordering & Groups

Reorder scenery_packs.ini with drag-and-drop, group related scenery entries, and toggle packages without moving files.

Add-on Installer & Deletion

Install packages with drag-and-drop to any storage pool, and cleanly delete unwanted add-ons with automated profile and symlink cleanup.

Add-on Categorization & Tagging

Automatically categorize aircraft, scenery, and plugins with smart heuristics. Add custom tags, override categories, and filter your library instantly.

Add-on Diagnostics & Health Checks

Verify community scenery library dependencies, inspect plugin binary Mach-O architectures for Apple Silicon compatibility, and repair broken symlinks.

Disk Usage & Cache Cleanup

Analyze storage distribution across categories and storage pools, detect orphan packages, identify largest space hogs, and clear shader/crash caches.

X-Plane Log Analyzer

Inspect Log.txt to diagnose crashes, detect missing scenery assets, troubleshoot FlyWithLua/SASL errors, and profile startup times.

Add-on Updates

Check and install updates for add-ons that use SkunkCrafts Updater or X-Updater directly from the application.

Navigation Data (Navigraph)

Download and update AIRAC cycles directly from Navigraph for X-Plane and supported aircrafts.

CSL Packages & Lights

Install and update IVAO/X-CSL model matching packages, and optionally apply native X-Plane 12 lighting presets.

Pre-Launch Scripts & Launch Arguments

Run shell scripts before X-Plane starts with profile environment variables, or pass custom command-line launch arguments configured in Settings.

Menu Bar Companion & Process Monitor

Monitor X-Plane process status and elapsed flight time from the macOS menu bar, and configure automatic post-launch window behavior.

Flight Dispatch & SimBrief (Pro)

Import SimBrief OFPs, visualize routes, inspect interactive apt.dat airport diagrams, decode live METAR/TAF weather, and initialize flights directly.

Live Moving Map & Telemetry HUD (Pro)

Track flights in real time with 10Hz WebSocket telemetry on vector, satellite, or hybrid maps with live flight instruments, flight trail, and flight phases.

Airport Weather & Diagrams (Pro)

Check live decoded METAR and TAF weather with runway crosswind components, and browse interactive airport layouts and parking stands.

How It Works

X-Plane Launcher manages your add-ons by separating your source files from your simulator installation:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│             Storage Pools (Internal / External Drives)      │
│        (~/Library/Application Support/XPlaneLauncher, etc.) │
├──────────────┬──────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┤
│   Aircraft/  │   Plugins/   │   Scenery/    │  LuaScripts/  │
└──────┬───────┴──────┬───────┴───────┬───────┴───────┬───────┘
       │              │               │               │
       ▼              ▼               ▼               ▼
  [Symlinks]     [Symlinks]      [Symlinks]      [Symlinks]
       │              │               │               │
┌──────┴──────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────┐
│                    X-Plane 12 Directory                     │
│  • Aircraft/                                                │
│  • Resources/plugins/                                       │
│  • Custom Scenery/ (with scenery_packs.ini)                 │
│  • Resources/plugins/FlyWithLua/Scripts/                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

When you select a profile, X-Plane Launcher creates or removes filesystem symbolic links (symlinks) inside your X-Plane 12 directory pointing back to your storage folders. Your original add-on files remain untouched in their respective storage pools.

Contents

Getting Started

Advanced Features

XLauncher Pro