How to Fix X-Plane 12 Crashing, Stuttering, Low FPS, and Lag Issues

This page will be covering the solutions on how to fix X-Plane 12 crashing on startup, lag, FPS drop, and performance issues that have been appearing in the game

X-Plane 12 is the latest game by developer Laminar Research. Since its release, many players are complaining about the X-Plane 12 crashing, lagging, and sometimes, black screen. While the developer has been continuously releasing new updates to fix these kinds of concerns, it seems that not every loophole has been fixed. While we are still waiting for a new update to fix these issues, here are the recommended methods to fix the X-Plane 12 in-game issues.

Known X-Plane 12 Issues

Here is the list of issues that have been reported by many players while playing X-Plane 12:

  • Crashing
  • Black Screen
  • Lag
  • Screen Tearing
  • Stuttering

Recommended Fixes for X-Plane 12 Issues

There are lots of factors that may cause X-Plane 12 crashes, black screen, lag, screen tearing, and stuttering. If you’re one of the X-Plane 12 players having at least one of the mentioned issues, here are the recommended steps that you need to do to fix and address the problem.

Check X-Plane 12 System Requirements

One of the main reasons for having X-Plane 12 crashing and black screen issues are not meeting at least the recommended system requirements of the game. If you downloaded X-Plane 12 without checking the requirements first, you can find the full system requirements below:

X-Plane 12 Minimum Requirements

  • OS: Windows 10 or 11
  • Processor: Intel Core i3, i5, i7, or i9 CPU with 4 or more cores, or AMD Ryzen 3, 5, 7 or 9.
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: A Vulkan 1.3-capable video card from NVIDIA or AMD with at least 2 GB VRAM
  • DirectX: Version 12
  • Storage: 23 GB available space
  • VR Support: SteamVR or Oculus PC
  • Additional Notes: NVIDIA: GeForce 900 or newer, driver version 510 or newer AMD: AMD Radeon RX 500 or newer, driver version Adrenaline 22.2.1 or newer.

X-Plane 12 Recommended Requirements

  • OS: Windows 10 or 11
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 8600k or Ryzen 5 3500 or better
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: A DirectX 12-capable video card from NVIDIA or AMD with at least 4 GB VRAM
  • DirectX: Version 12
  • Storage: 23 GB available space

For those who meet the requirements but still getting the issues mentioned above, below are the fixes that you can try.

Update Your Drivers

X-Plane 12 is released in a good condition. If you meet the minimum requirements of the game, it’s likely that your outdated graphics driver is the main reason why X-Plane 12 is crashing. We highly recommend getting the latest update for your PC. You can visit your hardware manufacturer’s official website to get the latest update for your device.

Manually downloading and installing drivers for your PC is time-consuming. For some, updating drivers may be a little bit complicated. For those who want an easier method, we recommend trying IObit’s Driver Booster to automatically download and fetch the latest and needed driver update for your PC. In our case, we used Driver Booster to update and fix the crashing and performance issues in X-Plane 12. You can follow the steps below on how to use the software:

  1. Download Driver Booster.
  2. Once downloaded, install and run the software.
  3. Click the Scan button and let Driver Booster scan any outdated drivers on your PC.
  4. If the software found any outdated driver, click the Update Now button located on the upper left of the window.
  5. Wait until the Driver Booster finished the driver download and installation process.

Driver Booster

Note: Your PC may restart several times depending on the drivers that are being updated. Worry not, as this is a normal process for the Windows operating system.

After the driver update completion, try running X-Plane 12 and see if you still encounter the issues that you have earlier.

Verify Game Integrity

Assuming that you tried the two methods above but still experiencing some X-Plane 12 issues, you can try verifying the game integrity of X-Plane 12. Using this process, Steam will scan all the needed files or fix any corrupted files associated with X-Plane 12.

  • Open Steam and go to Library.
  • Select X-Plane 12 from the game list on the left side.
  • Right-click and select Properties.
  • Click the Local Files tab.
  • Click the Verify integrity of game files… button.

Check out the image below for the steps.

Steam

Right after clicking the verify button, all you have to do is wait until Steam completes the file verification for X-Plane 12.

Kill Resource-Hogging Applications

Chances are you have lots of applications installed on your PC. Some of these applications have been constantly using the resources that possibly trigger X-Plane 12 crashing. We highly suggest closing the software that you are not using while playing X-Plane 12.

Some of the most popular software that eats lots of resources while in the background are Media Players, web browsers such as Firefox and Chrome,  and more. You can close these applications by closing them using the Task Manager.

Disable Antivirus

Another reason why X-Plane 12 keeps on crashing on PC is your antivirus. Antivirus companies have been usually updating their software to enhance security. There’s a chance that X-Plane 12’s executable file (.exe) is being marked as a virus. Disable or temporarily disable your antivirus or any security programs on your computer. If you download the X-Plane 12 from the official store, we’re 100% sure that the game files are safe. So, you have to exclude the .exe of X-Plane 12 and see if the problem has been solved.

Contact the Official Support

If you’re still having some X-Plane 12 issues after trying all the recommended fixes above, you can always reach the official support team of X-Plane 12. You can visit their official website or join the discussion on the X-Plane 12 discussion community on Steam.

About the author

Editorial Staff at Game N Guides is a team of video game lovers covering press releases, announcements, updates, and more. You can reach us using the contact form.