A commercial magnesium alloy was processed through multi-pass and multi-directional (unidirectional, reverse, and transverse tool movements) friction stir processing (FSP). Based on the FSP location, the dominant prior-deformation basal texture was shifted along the arc of a hypothetical ellipse. The patterns of deformation texture developments were captured by viscoplastic self-consistent modeling with appropriate velocity gradients. The simulated textures, however, had two clear deficiencies. The simulations involved shear strains of 0.8 to 1.0, significantly lower than those expected in the FSP. Even at such low shear, the simulated textures were significantly stronger. Microstructural observations also revealed the presence of ultra-fine grains with relatively weak crystallographic texture. Combinations of ultra-fine grain superplasticity followed by grain coarsening were proposed as the possible mechanism for the microstructural evolution during FSP. © 2016, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International.