Troubleshooting

First stop: e3x-core doctor

Almost everything below shows up in one place. From the install folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\EmreliaE3X\core on Windows, ~/.local/opt/emrelia-e3x/core on Linux):

e3x-core doctor

It checks the install tree, the browser engine (including missing Linux shared libraries), the data pack and its cycle dates, and the license status. It also checks your X-Plane plugin wiring and the sim version. It prints the paths of every log file mentioned below.

Startup and display

The display window never appears (X-Plane)

Most likely cause first:

1. The loaded aircraft is not set up for the E3X. The plugin starts the E3X only for an aircraft with an e3x.json beside its .acf. See Aircraft Configuration.
2. The plugin is not installed or its config is missing. doctor prints [plugin installed, cfg present] per X-Plane install. If it prints anything else, re-run e3x-core install xplane --no-copy --root "<X-Plane folder>" (with X-Plane closed).
3. The core started and exited at once. The core is the E3X’s main program. The reason is at the top of e3x-core.log in the data directory’s run/ folder (doctor prints the exact path). The most common reason is the license gate (the activation check). See below.
4. The browser engine cannot run. On Linux, doctor lists any missing shared libraries. The Linux installer (install.sh) prints the apt/dnf line that installs them. With no bundled engine and no installed Chrome/Edge, nothing can open the window.

The core exits with “needs an activated license”

The live simulator sources need activation. An unactivated machine refuses --source xplane at startup with:

--source xplane needs an activated license on this machine (status: UNLICENSED; ...)
Activate this machine with:  e3x-core license activate <KEY>
The fake and replay sources run without one.

When the sim launched the E3X for you, there is no console to read. The message lands in run/e3x-core.log, and on X-Plane the plugin also announces in the sim that the core exited, quoting the log’s last line. Activate with your key and start the sim again. Demo mode (the fake and replay sources) always runs, but shows a red UNLICENSED banner.

A port-in-use error at startup

The E3X uses two local ports (WebSocket 8765, HTTP 8000 by default). On X-Plane the plugin moves to the next free pair when those are taken, so a clash there is rare. When one does happen, the E3X deliberately refuses to move ports silently. It exits with a message naming the occupied port and, where the OS allows, the process holding it. Usually that is a leftover E3X from a previous session or a second copy running, so stop that process and start again.

The window opens but shows nothing

The display server has no built UI to serve. This almost always means a broken install. doctor shows the web root as missing. Reinstall.

The PFD or MFD window shows a gray “no signal” screen (X-Plane)

The window is X-Plane’s. The picture comes from the E3X core. Gray means the core is not running or not feeding. See the entries above (e3x-core.log names the reason, the license gate being the usual one).

The PFD/MFD windows come back on the wrong monitor (Linux)

X-Plane on Linux detects only one monitor, so it pulls a window saved on another screen back to the main one at launch. Start X-Plane with --monitor_bounds=… describing your screens. The how-to, and Laminar’s own article on it, are in Install: X-Plane → Linux: more than one monitor. Log.txt shows whether it took: with the argument, X-Plane lists every monitor as I/WMG: Monitor 0, Monitor 1, … at startup.

A PFD/MFD window creeps down the screen, or loses full screen, each launch

X-Plane’s own restore places the window a title-bar height low and forgets the maximized / full-screen state. The plugin corrects both once after each launch (X-Plane’s Log.txt says e3x companion: unit N: … correction step / window manager full screen sent). If it does not, delete Resources/plugins/e3x_companion/<platform>/e3x_companion.windows with the sim closed and place the windows again. Then quit X-Plane normally so they are re-recorded.

Data

The map is blank, or nothing can be found outside a small area

The data pack is not installed (or not found), and the E3X has fallen back to its tiny bundled sample dataset. doctor reports no data pack in that state. Install or reinstall the pack. See Data Packs.

Plates or frequencies look out of date

Your data cycle has lapsed. Menu → Tools → Database Information lists the expiry date of every product. The Navigation tab of Menu → Setup → Databases shows only the navigation and base map rows. Download the current cycle over the top from the Databases window.

License and activation

For how activation works, see License & Activation.

“This key is already active on all of its allowed machines”

Both activation slots are in use. Either:

• run e3x-core license deactivate on a machine you no longer use, or
• sign in to your account page, find the key, and deactivate the machine there. This is useful when the old machine is dead or inaccessible.

Then activate the new machine again. Sometimes one of the listed activations is actually this machine under an old name (a reinstall, say). In that case, license activate recognizes its own fingerprint and releases the stale slot automatically. A dual-boot PC usually counts as two machines, one per OS.

“This license has already been moved twice in the last 30 days”

We limit deactivations to two per rolling 30 days to prevent key sharing. Occasional machine moves never hit this. If you have hit it for a legitimate reason (hardware failure, say), write to [email protected] and we will sort it out.

The display shows a DEACTIVATED banner

This machine’s activation was released remotely, from the account page or because the key was disabled or refunded. If it was a machine move you made yourself, nothing is wrong. Activating again binds the machine again (e3x-core license activate <KEY>), taking a free slot. If you did not deactivate anything, sign in to your account page and check the key’s status, or contact support.

“The license service is not reachable”

Activation and deactivation need a connection. Day-to-day flying does not (the E3X verifies the activation offline at every start). If deactivation fails because the machine is offline or being retired, release its slot from your account page instead.

What does e3x-core license status show?

The stored activation, this machine’s name and fingerprint, the activation limit, and whether the live sim sources can run. It is a one-command answer to “why will it not start”.

Something else?

Write to [email protected]. Include your sim, OS, what you saw, and (ideally) the output of e3x-core doctor.