Controller Troubleshooting in X-Plane 11

Is your USB controller not playing nice with X-Plane? Here are some troubleshooting tips!

If none of these suggestions resolve your issue, the controller manufacturer is the best resource for additional direction.

Controller not recognized by X-Plane 

If your controller is not recognized by X-Plane at all, here are some things to consider:

• You may need to download special drivers/plugins from the hardware manufacturer. Saitek/Logitech controllers are particularly prone to this requirement.
• Double check that your controller is plugged directly into your computer, not a USB splitter, keyboard, etc.
• Ensure compatibility between the controller and your operating system. Each controller manufacturer has specific details on this. An example of this is the fact that many Saitek/Logitech units are not compatible with MacOS.
• Try switching USB ports, occasionally dust or other debris can render USB ports inoperative.

Controller giving incorrect input to X-Plane

Sometimes the calibration/configuration of controllers can be confused in X-Plane. The best way to resolve this is by recalibrating the controller axis (directions of motion) and ensuring the proper assignment of buttons, etc. We have instructions for that here.

If recalibrating your controller does not fix this issue, your next best bet is to delete the controller configuration in X-Plane to start fresh. Here are the steps to do this:

1. Locate your X-Plane 11 folder
2. Navigate to X-Plane 11 → Output → Preferences
3. Delete the X-Plane Joystick Settings.prf file

Multiple Axes

If you have duplicate axis assignments when using multiple devices, you will see a magenta error like this:

Duplicate axes must be corrected before attempting to fly with the simulator as the devices will not work properly.

Fine tuning controller input

Every pilot has a sense of how their aircraft should respond to control input. To meet those expectations in X-Plane, we created a means of fine tuning controller input. We call this the response curve - you can learn more about this here.