Quickstart

This guide covers initial setup and creating your first profile.

Welcome Assistant

When opening X-Plane Launcher for the first time, a setup assistant helps configure your simulator folder and data directory:

Screenshot of the Welcome Assistant window showing X-Plane 12 Installation and Central Data Folder paths

  1. X-Plane 12 Installation: Click Browse and select the folder containing X-Plane.app (e.g. /Applications/X-Plane 12). A green indicator confirms when X-Plane 12 is detected.

  2. Central Data Folder: By default, this is set to:

    ~/Library/Application Support/XPlaneLauncher/

    You can change this to any folder on an internal or external drive.

Click Get Started to finish setup.

Tip

You can reopen this assistant at any time from Settings > General > Show Welcome Screen….

Add-on Storage Layout

Place your add-on folders into their corresponding subdirectories in your Central Data Folder:

~/Library/Application Support/XPlaneLauncher/
├── Aircraft/       # Put aircraft folders here
├── Plugins/        # Put plugin folders here
├── Scenery/        # Put custom scenery pack folders here
└── LuaScripts/     # Put .lua scripts or script folders here

When you enable items in X-Plane Launcher, symlinks are created in your X-Plane 12 directory:

  • <X-Plane 12>/Aircraft/

  • <X-Plane 12>/Resources/plugins/

  • <X-Plane 12>/Custom Scenery/

  • <X-Plane 12>/Resources/plugins/FlyWithLua/Scripts/

Creating a Profile

  1. Click the Profile dropdown at the top of the window and select New Profile… (or click +).

  2. Enter a name (for example, Airliner or VATSIM).

  3. Select the items you want active for this profile:

    • In Aircraft, enable the aircraft you plan to fly.

    • In Plugins, enable relevant plugins.

    • In Scenery, enable and organize your scenery packs.

    • In Lua Scripts, toggle your FlyWithLua scripts.

  4. Click Save if the modified indicator appears.

Launching X-Plane

Click Launch X-Plane at the bottom of the window:

  • Any pre-launch scripts attached to the active profile run first.

  • Symlinks in your X-Plane directory are updated to match your profile.

  • scenery_packs.ini is updated with your scenery order and enabled state.

  • X-Plane.app starts, and the launcher exits.