All great information, guys. Thanks!
@Motosuwa and @OuterMarker,
While we test, can you both do me a favor here? Let's rename your plugins folder to plugins_bak, then create a new folder called 'plugins'. Move SilverLining and Gizmo64.plugin from plugins_bak to plugins.
Now start X-Plane. Does this in any way improve the situation? Can you both also tell me which version of Gizmo you opted for?