diff --git a/apps/openmw/main.cpp b/apps/openmw/main.cpp
index 5bbc0211c1..adf50bea0e 100644
--- a/apps/openmw/main.cpp
+++ b/apps/openmw/main.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include <components/fallback/fallback.hpp>
 #include <components/fallback/validate.hpp>
 #include <components/files/configurationmanager.hpp>
+#include <components/misc/osgpluginchecker.hpp>
 #include <components/misc/rng.hpp>
 #include <components/platform/platform.hpp>
 #include <components/version/version.hpp>
@@ -228,6 +229,9 @@ int runApplication(int argc, char* argv[])
 
     if (parseOptions(argc, argv, *engine, cfgMgr))
     {
+        if (!Misc::checkRequiredOSGPluginsArePresent())
+            return 1;
+
         engine->go();
     }
 
diff --git a/components/CMakeLists.txt b/components/CMakeLists.txt
index 4b3a661253..9868a8fdf9 100644
--- a/components/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/components/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -43,6 +43,24 @@ endif (GIT_CHECKOUT)
 
 list (APPEND COMPONENT_FILES "${OpenMW_BINARY_DIR}/${VERSION_CPP_FILE}")
 
+# OSG plugin checker
+# Helpfully, OSG doesn't export this to its CMake config as it doesn't have one
+set(OSG_PLUGIN_PREFIX "")
+if (CYGWIN)
+    SET(OSG_PLUGIN_PREFIX "cygwin_")
+elseif(MINGW)
+    SET(OSG_PLUGIN_PREFIX "mingw_")
+endif()
+list(TRANSFORM USED_OSG_PLUGINS PREPEND "${OSG_PLUGIN_PREFIX}" OUTPUT_VARIABLE USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES)
+list(TRANSFORM USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES APPEND "${CMAKE_SHARED_MODULE_SUFFIX}")
+list(TRANSFORM USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES PREPEND "\"" OUTPUT_VARIABLE USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES_FORMATTED)
+list(TRANSFORM USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES_FORMATTED APPEND "\"")
+list(JOIN USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES_FORMATTED ", " USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES_FORMATTED)
+
+set(OSG_PLUGIN_CHECKER_CPP_FILE "components/misc/osgpluginchecker.cpp")
+configure_file("${OpenMW_SOURCE_DIR}/${OSG_PLUGIN_CHECKER_CPP_FILE}.in" "${OpenMW_BINARY_DIR}/${OSG_PLUGIN_CHECKER_CPP_FILE}")
+list(APPEND COMPONENT_FILES "${OpenMW_BINARY_DIR}/${OSG_PLUGIN_CHECKER_CPP_FILE}")
+
 # source files
 
 add_component_dir (lua
@@ -277,8 +295,8 @@ add_component_dir (esm4
 
 add_component_dir (misc
     barrier budgetmeasurement color compression constants convert coordinateconverter display endianness float16 frameratelimiter
-    guarded math mathutil messageformatparser notnullptr objectpool osguservalues progressreporter resourcehelpers rng
-    strongtypedef thread timeconvert timer tuplehelpers tuplemeta utf8stream weakcache windows
+    guarded math mathutil messageformatparser notnullptr objectpool osgpluginchecker osguservalues progressreporter resourcehelpers
+    rng strongtypedef thread timeconvert timer tuplehelpers tuplemeta utf8stream weakcache windows
     )
 
 add_component_dir (misc/strings
diff --git a/components/misc/osgpluginchecker.cpp.in b/components/misc/osgpluginchecker.cpp.in
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b570c8f858
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/misc/osgpluginchecker.cpp.in
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+#include "components/misc/osgpluginchecker.hpp"
+
+#include <components/debug/debuglog.hpp>
+#include <components/misc/strings/conversion.hpp>
+
+#include <osg/Config>
+#include <osg/Version>
+#include <osgDB/FileUtils>
+#include <osgDB/PluginQuery>
+
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <array>
+#include <filesystem>
+#include <string_view>
+
+namespace Misc
+{
+#if defined(OSG_LIBRARY_STATIC) || defined(__APPLE__)
+
+    bool checkRequiredOSGPluginsArePresent()
+    {
+        // assume they were linked in at build time and CMake would have failed if they were missing
+        // true-ish for MacOS - they're copied into the package and that'd fail if they were missing,
+        // but if you don't actually make a MacOS package and run a local build, this won't notice.
+        // the workaround in the real implementation isn't powerful enough to make MacOS work, though.
+        return true;
+    }
+
+#else
+
+    namespace
+    {
+        constexpr auto USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES = std::to_array<std::string_view>({${USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES_FORMATTED}});
+    }
+
+    bool checkRequiredOSGPluginsArePresent()
+    {
+        // work around osgDB::listAllAvailablePlugins() not working on some platforms due to a suspected OSG bug
+        std::filesystem::path pluginDirectoryName = std::string("osgPlugins-") + std::string(osgGetVersion());
+        osgDB::FilePathList& filepath = osgDB::getLibraryFilePathList();
+        for (const auto& path : filepath)
+        {
+#ifdef OSG_USE_UTF8_FILENAME
+            std::filesystem::path osgPath{ stringToU8String(path) };
+#else
+            std::filesystem::path osgPath{ path };
+#endif
+            if (!osgPath.has_filename())
+                osgPath = osgPath.parent_path();
+
+            if (osgPath.filename() == pluginDirectoryName)
+            {
+                osgPath = osgPath.parent_path();
+#ifdef OSG_USE_UTF8_FILENAME
+                std::string extraPath = u8StringToString(osgPath.u8string_view());
+#else
+                std::string extraPath = osgPath.string();
+#endif
+                filepath.emplace_back(std::move(extraPath));
+            }
+        }
+
+        auto availableOSGPlugins = osgDB::listAllAvailablePlugins();
+        bool haveAllPlugins = true;
+        for (std::string_view plugin : USED_OSG_PLUGIN_FILENAMES)
+        {
+            if (std::find_if(availableOSGPlugins.begin(), availableOSGPlugins.end(),
+                    [&](std::string_view availablePlugin) {
+#ifdef OSG_USE_UTF8_FILENAME
+                        std::filesystem::path pluginPath{ stringToU8String(availablePlugin) };
+#else
+                std::filesystem::path pluginPath {availablePlugin};
+#endif
+                        return pluginPath.filename() == plugin;
+                    })
+                == availableOSGPlugins.end())
+            {
+                Log(Debug::Error) << "Missing OSG plugin: " << plugin;
+                haveAllPlugins = false;
+            }
+        }
+        return haveAllPlugins;
+    }
+
+#endif
+}
diff --git a/components/misc/osgpluginchecker.hpp b/components/misc/osgpluginchecker.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2f5ea09700
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/misc/osgpluginchecker.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#ifndef OPENMW_COMPONENTS_MISC_OSGPLUGINCHECKER_HPP
+#define OPENMW_COMPONENTS_MISC_OSGPLUGINCHECKER_HPP
+
+namespace Misc
+{
+    bool checkRequiredOSGPluginsArePresent();
+}
+
+#endif