How to fix Stellarium Planetarium Application freezing when launched under Linux Ubuntu
Written with the help of ChatGPT, 14 August 2025:
If Stellarium isn’t responding when you launch it under Ubuntu, it’s often either a graphics driver issue, a missing library, or a stale configuration file.
Here’s a methodical way to diagnose and fix it:
1. Try launching Stellarium from a terminal
Open a terminal and run:
stellarium
Watch the output — errors here will often tell you exactly what’s wrong (e.g., OpenGL not supported, missing library).
2. Check your graphics drivers
Stellarium needs working OpenGL 2.1+.
- See which driver you’re using:
glxinfo | grep “OpenGL”
(If glxinfo isn’t installed, run sudo apt install mesa-utils.)
- If it shows llvmpipe or Software Rasterizer, you’re running in software mode — that’s too slow for Stellarium.
You’ll need to install proprietary NVIDIA/AMD drivers or update your Intel driver: - sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
3. Reset Stellarium’s configuration
Sometimes a corrupted config file causes a hang.
mv ~/.stellarium ~/.stellarium.bak
Then relaunch Stellarium — it will create a fresh config folder.
4. Try running in safe mode (minimal graphics)
stellarium –safe-mode
If that works, the issue is with your graphics settings; you can then lower detail in Stellarium’s settings.
5. Check for missing packages
Occasionally, the snap or apt version may have dependency issues. If you installed via snap, try the apt version instead:
sudo snap remove stellarium
sudo apt install stellarium
6. See if Wayland vs X11 matters
If you’re on Ubuntu 22.04+ with Wayland, Stellarium may behave badly on certain drivers. Try logging out, selecting “Ubuntu on Xorg” at login, and then running Stellarium.
If you can run it in a terminal and paste me the last 10–15 lines of output, I can pinpoint the exact cause.
Do you want me to give you the quick one-liner that tests if it’s just a graphics driver issue without reinstalling anything?
Got it — if Stellarium freezes at “Creating scene FBO with size 1024×768”, that’s almost always an OpenGL / Framebuffer Object issue, usually from:
- Driver problem (old, wrong, or using software rendering like llvmpipe)
- GPU can’t handle the default FBO settings in Stellarium’s config
- Wayland + GPU driver quirk
Here’s how to get past it:
1. Check what OpenGL Stellarium is seeing
Run:
glxinfo | grep “OpenGL”
If you see llvmpipe or “software rasterizer” instead of your GPU’s name, Stellarium will crawl or freeze.
➡ In that case, install/update your graphics driver:
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
Then reboot.
2. Force Stellarium to start without FBOs
Stellarium stores this in its config. Since it won’t launch, reset or manually edit it:
mv ~/.stellarium ~/.stellarium.bak
stellarium –safe-mode
If it now works, you can go into Configuration → Video and disable Frame Buffer Objects or lower rendering settings.
3. Manually edit config to disable FBO
If safe mode doesn’t appear, open:
nano ~/.stellarium/config.ini
Find:
useFramebuffers = true
Change to:
useFramebuffers = false
Save (CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X), then run stellarium.
4. Try forcing a smaller startup resolution
Sometimes Stellarium’s initial FBO size request fails. Try:
stellarium –safe-mode –width=800 –height=600
5. If using Wayland, test under X11
Log out → click the gear icon → select Ubuntu on Xorg → log in → run Stellarium.
Wayland can break FBO creation with some AMD/NVIDIA drivers.
Alright — here’s the quick Stellarium config tweak to skip the problematic Frame Buffer Object (FBO) step so it should launch every time.
1. Open Stellarium’s config file in a text editor
nano ~/.stellarium/config.ini
(If ~/.stellarium/ doesn’t exist because Stellarium hasn’t run yet, run it once with stellarium –safe-mode to generate it.)
2. Find and change these lines
Look for:
useFramebuffers = true
Change it to:
useFramebuffers = false
If you don’t see it, you can add it in the section:
useFramebuffers = false
3. Save and exit
Press CTRL+O → Enter → CTRL+X.
4. Launch Stellarium
stellarium
It should now skip the FBO creation step and jump straight into rendering.
If this still fails, you can also add a second safety tweak in the same section:
useShaders = false
This forces Stellarium into the most basic OpenGL mode.
Here’s the one-liner that will disable both FBOs and shaders in Stellarium’s config so it should start even on the most stubborn systems, even if Stellarium refuses to open:
mkdir -p ~/.stellarium && \
sed -i ‘/\/a useFramebuffers = false\nuseShaders = false’ ~/.stellarium/config.ini
What it does:
- mkdir -p ~/.stellarium → makes sure the config folder exists.
- sed -i → edits the config.ini, adding the two lines right after the section.
- Forces Stellarium to skip the FBO stage and avoid shader-related GPU calls.
After running that, just start Stellarium:
stellarium
If this works, you’ll get into Stellarium even if the graphics driver is still in software mode — just not with fancy effects.
Do you want me to also give you the driver check command so we can confirm your GPU is actually being used instead of llvmpipe? That would prevent future freezes.
Yes — at this point the next logical step is to confirm whether your GPU driver is actually being used.
If Stellarium is still freezing even with FBOs and shaders disabled, it’s often because Ubuntu is falling back to llvmpipe (software rendering), which is very slow and buggy for Stellarium.
1. Install the tool if you don’t have it
sudo apt install mesa-utils
2. Check your active OpenGL driver
glxinfo | grep “OpenGL”
Look at the “OpenGL renderer string” line.
What you should see:
- For NVIDIA: something like OpenGL renderer string: NVIDIA GeForce …
- For AMD: something like AMD Radeon … (RADV …) or AMD … (amdgpu)
- For Intel: something like Intel UHD Graphics …
What you don’t want to see:
OpenGL renderer string: llvmpipe (LLVM …)
That means you’re running entirely in software mode — Stellarium will choke no matter what.
If it is llvmpipe, we’ll need to install the correct GPU driver (proprietary NVIDIA or AMD open driver, or updated Intel stack) and reboot.
Do you want me to walk you through automatic driver installation for your exact GPU, or do you already know if it’s NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel?
You can find out your GPU model in Ubuntu with one quick command:
lspci | grep -E “VGA|3D”
This will show something like:
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 620
01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP107M [GeForce GTX 1050 Mobile] (rev a1)
- If you see NVIDIA → you’ll likely want the proprietary NVIDIA driver.
- If you see AMD/ATI → use the AMDGPU driver (usually already built-in, but can be updated).
- If you see Intel → use the Mesa Intel driver (also built-in, but can be updated).
Once we know this, we can match it with the correct driver installation method.
Do you want me to give you the exact command that will read your GPU model and tell you which driver Ubuntu recommends in one go? That’ll save a step.
Perfect — your GPU is Intel UHD Graphics 630. That’s an integrated GPU from the Coffee Lake generation. Stellarium should work on it, but it requires the proper Mesa/OpenGL drivers rather than falling back to software rendering (llvmpipe).
Here’s what to do next:
1. Make sure your system and Mesa drivers are up to date
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install mesa-utils mesa-vulkan-drivers -y
2. Check which OpenGL renderer you’re using
glxinfo | grep “OpenGL renderer”
- If it says llvmpipe → you’re still using software rendering.
- If it says Intel UHD Graphics 630 → GPU is active, good.
3. Force Ubuntu to use hardware acceleration (if still using llvmpipe)
Intel GPUs use the i915 kernel driver. Make sure it’s loaded:
lsmod | grep i915
If you don’t see i915, the driver isn’t loaded — but normally on Ubuntu it is automatically.
4. Optional: update Mesa to latest version
If Stellarium still freezes, your Mesa version may be too old. You can add the Ubuntu PPA for the latest stable Mesa:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
Then reboot. This often fixes FBO and shader freezes on Intel GPUs.
After doing this, run Stellarium again:
stellarium
Check if it still freezes at Creating scene FBO.
I can give you the exact one-liner to check if Stellarium will see your GPU correctly before launching — this saves trial-and-error. Do you want me to do that?
Here’s a quick one-liner to check if your Intel GPU will be used by Stellarium before actually launching it:
glxinfo | grep “OpenGL renderer” && echo “If this shows Intel UHD Graphics 630, Stellarium should use your GPU; if it shows llvmpipe, it’s using software rendering.”
What it does:
- Prints the active OpenGL renderer.
- Gives a clear reminder of what’s good vs. bad for Stellarium.
If this shows llvmpipe, you’ll need to update Mesa (as described) or check that the i915 driver is loaded.
If it shows Intel UHD Graphics 630, your GPU is active and Stellarium should launch correctly with FBOs enabled.