Removing Add-Ons is a Diagnostic Step

When we get bug reports or tech support requests, the first thing we usually recommend is: remove third party add-ons (plugins, scenery, airplanes).

This is not intended as a cure, only a diagnostic! The goal of removing add-ons is to identify whether a problem occurs due to an interaction with a particular third party add-on or within the base simulator package.

If an add-on induces the problem, we can then look at whether the add-on had problems on old versions of X-Plane. (If not, we can look at how we broke third party compatibility, and fix it.) If the add-on has always had problems, we can look at the content or contact the author.

If the problem is in the base simulator, we can compare results from a number of different users; the base simulator gets used a lot, particularly in demo downloads, so defects that aren't reported frequently are typically due to configuration issues like new drivers.

So if tech support asks you to remove add-ons, don't despair - it's just a diagnostic step, not a cure.