X-Plane on a Mac: why the install is so large, and how to keep only the scenery you fly
X-Plane's global scenery is most of its size, and you can install it by region. How to measure each part and remove what you do not fly over.
X-Plane is one of the few flight simulators that runs natively on a Mac, and it is large. The base simulator is a few tens of gigabytes, and the full global scenery adds far more. Published figures put a full install at well over 80 GB before any add-ons. The good news: most of it is scenery, and scenery is installed by region.
Measure it
X-Plane installs wherever you chose during setup, often a folder named X-Plane 12 in your home folder or on an external drive.
cd ~/X-Plane\ 12 # adjust to your install
du -sh "Global Scenery" "Custom Scenery" Aircraft Resources Output 2>/dev/null | sort -h| Folder | What it holds |
|---|---|
Global Scenery | The default world, split into regions |
Custom Scenery | Airports, photo scenery and ortho tiles you added |
Aircraft | Default and add-on aircraft |
Output | Screenshots, replays, logs |
Remove regions you do not fly
Run the X-Plane installer again and choose to add or remove scenery. Untick the regions you never fly over and it removes them. Reticking later downloads them again, so this is reversible.
Custom scenery is usually the bigger surprise
Photo scenery and ortho tiles are far larger than default scenery for the same area. If Custom Scenery is larger than Global Scenery, sort it by size and remove the areas you no longer fly. Keep a list of what you removed so you can download it again.
Running it from an external SSD
X-Plane runs from a fast external SSD. Move the whole folder, then start X-Plane from its new location. Loading times depend on the drive, so use an SSD rather than a spinning disk. Our guide to running apps from an external drive covers what to check.
For games in general, see Mac storage for gamers.
Common questions
How much space does X-Plane 12 take on a Mac?
Tens of gigabytes for the simulator, and much more with global scenery. Published figures put a full install above 80 GB before add-ons. Installing only the regions you fly reduces it a lot.
How do I remove X-Plane scenery?
Run the X-Plane installer again, choose to add or remove scenery, and untick the regions you do not need. You can add them back later the same way.
Can X-Plane run from an external drive on a Mac?
Yes. Move the whole X-Plane folder to a fast external SSD and start it from there. A spinning hard drive works but loads scenery much more slowly.