How to Find Minecraft Logs and Crash Reports in GDLauncher

Where logs actually live on disk

GDLauncher and Minecraft each write their own logs to different places. Knowing which is which saves time:

• GDLauncher per-instance log: <instance>/logs/<timestamp>.log. Covers the launcher's view of the launch, Java arguments, asset downloads, mod loader install, exit code. This is what the View Logs UI shows.
• Minecraft's own game log: <instance>/instance/logs/latest.log. Rotated to <date>-1.log.gz on the next launch. This is what the game writes once it starts up.
• Minecraft crash report: <instance>/instance/crash-reports/crash-<date>-<side>.txt. Only created when the game crashes hard.
• App-wide GDLauncher log: <runtime_path>/__gdl_logs__/<timestamp>.log. Used for anything not tied to a single instance (account sign-in, updates, settings changes). Up to ten most-recent are kept.

Reading a crash report

Crash reports have a predictable shape. The first useful line is usually a few paragraphs in, prefixed with Caused by: or java.lang.…Exception. Right after that is the stack trace; the top of the stack is the actual point of failure. If the top mentions a mod's class name (something like com.example.modid.…), that mod is the suspect.

Common patterns:

• OutOfMemoryError: not enough RAM allocated. Raise the slider in instance Settings.
• NoClassDefFoundError / NoSuchMethodError: mod compiled against a different version of another mod. Check mod versions match.
• Mixin apply failed: typically a Fabric mod conflict; the report tells you which mixin and from which mod.

Attaching logs to a support request

When you ask for help, attach the entire log, not just the line you think is the error. The full file usually contains the missing context. Use a paste site like mclo.gs (designed for Minecraft logs) for big files, or attach as a file in Discord.

Before sharing, skim for personal info, your Minecraft username and UUID appear in the logs. Both are public information already, but you may want to redact your home directory path on Linux/macOS if it contains your real name.

Clearing old logs

Logs and crash reports are append-only and safe to delete. To reclaim disk space, open the instance folder and delete the contents of logs/, instance/logs/, and instance/crash-reports/. The launcher recreates them on the next launch.