Sneep

Hi all, thank you for you patience in waiting for an update. This one was a big one, refactoring lots of internal functions, to allow for even easier installation of liveries. You can now install directly from downloaded archive files, and DCSLM will attempt to automatically recognize what unit the livery is for based on the description.lua. All units have had their parts field filled out to make this possible. I've also updated the unit defaults to include all the new modules, and fixed many bugs in the process. Let me know if anything no longer works! v1.2.0 (11/16/2023): Added installing directly from an archive file Added automatic unit detection from livery description.lua based on livery parts Added unit detection when the livery folder is already within a unit's folder Added installing to multiple units from one pack Added additional DCSLM upgrade method using DCS User Files Added F-15E, Black Shark 3 (Ka-50_3), Mirage F1BE to units Fixed FA-18C DCS User Files name Updated J-11A unit default parts

Thanks for reporting this issue, and my apologies for not getting to it quickly! I have released a hotfix to fix this issue, as well as another issue with the upgrade command that will unfortunately prevent users on previous version from being able to automatically upgrade and will have to download the latest version from https://github.com/pearcebergh/DCSLiveryManager/releases/. Release notes - v1.1.4 (4/10/2023): Fixed install error with incorrect DCS User Files download url Fixed upgrade unable to download new exe

It is supposed to read the description.lua file and find the files referenced within it and then remove the files in the livery's folder that aren't used. I made it with the assumption it would always used .dds files, but I learned later DCS works with a couple other file types. I may have not have fixed it entirely for .png's. Do you have a link to the livery you're trying to optimize?

Yup, just waiting for the F1 to be added to the User Files unit list then it'll be ready. And thanks for the bug report! I have that fixed for the next version. I may release it soon and include the F1 under the "Other" category it's in in the user files site if I get enough changes to do so.

A new update has been released with bugs fixed, formatting improvements, and clearer error messaging on missing files during optimization. v1.1.3 (7/18/2022): Added colors to units command to differentiate between official and unofficial modules Added reminder message to check for updates to liveries Added message of the day with info on registered liveries Added output of removed files during optimization Added progress numbering to install, uninstall, and optimization Removed forced width on console window Fixed extremely long livery names breaking livery list table Fixed error when listing liveries for units that no longer have a config Fixed break in uninstall preventing uninstallation of multiple liveries Improved error messaging when trying to hash missing file during optimization

Hmm, the exe should be able to run in any directory, and it closing immediately tells me it's unable to run in the first place. Can you try running it through a command prompt? This might display some errors that disappear right away when you run it outside the command prompt.

Thanks! And you are able to export any of the default unit configurations to a .json file through DCSLM with the units [unit] -e command. This will write out the config to a .json file that you can then rename and edit for a custom unit.

Apologies for the lack of replies from me recently, but here's some answers to your posts: Currently you cannot install from any source than the DCS User Files website. I plan on adding a feature to allow installing from local zip files. 1. This would probably require creating a new application, but it does remind me of my attempts to use the DCS model viewer to view liveries. I'll see if there's anything there for this sort of use. 2. I see the issue. Since I already plan on adding installing from a local zip, I'll see if I can try to have DCSLM register existing liveries that weren't installed by this app. a. I've thought about this, and I didn't want to add it to my application since there's already quite a few apps out there that already do just this. Definitely open to adding it to this if more people want it. b. Yeah I would love this feature too, but it would require support inside DCS from ED. This app can only go so far I believe the first is an issue from a fix I attempted in allowing other files than just .dds to be used for a livery, when it has been assumed before. I'll try to get it fixed soon Thanks for the image! I'll see if I can get that formatting fixed.

Quick reply for a new update with default unit configuration for the Apache. I will go back and answer questions in previous posts when I get a chance v1.1.2 Release Notes: Added Apache to default units and Mosquito DCS User Files name Fixed issue with installing livery with no root folder Added 'all' arg to 'uninstall' and 'optimize' commands Fixed optimize hash function only looking for .dds images https://github.com/pearcebergh/DCSLiveryManager/releases/tag/1.1.2

Thanks for the bug report! I was able to find someone have the same issue that fortunately had an error message to go along with it. I fixed a couple issues that may have been the cause for you with the 1.1.1 release. v1.1.1 Release Notes: Fixed failed parsing of datetime on github release page Fixed DCSLM exiting on failed github releases parse Fixed DCSLM trying to create unit folders without DCSLM root directory Fixed setting working directory from exe argument https://github.com/pearcebergh/DCSLiveryManager/releases/tag/1.1.1

A new update v1.1.0 has been release with some fixes and a couple additions. The download on DCS User Files has been updated and you can also grab the executable from the GitHub release page. Unfortunately, the upgrade feature was broken after v1.0.0 was released due to updates to the GitHub website so you won't be able to upgrade from within DCSLM. This has been fixed in v1.1.0. Release Notes v1.1.0 (1/1/2022): 7-Zip will now be the preferred program for extraction if installed Fixed path generation for WinRAR Fixed parsing GitHub release page for upgrade information Added verbosity (-v, --verbose) to install command Added screenshots (-s, --screenshots) to install command to download livery screenshots from DCSUF Added executable arguments for running commands on launch (use help for more info)

I had another user with this issue. Do you have 7-Zip installed? Do you also have WinRAR installed? It's trying to use WinRAR instead of 7-Zip if this is the case. I currently have a fix for that where DCSLM will prefer 7-Zip over any other programs but I haven't released it just yet as I work on additional features. For now you could uninstall WinRAR if it is conflicting with 7-Zip.

I like the idea! You're right that it would require support from ED, but that's entirely up to them if this is something they'd want to pursue . Luckily, this application makes any livery on DCS User Files OVGME/mod manager compatible. I think a good compromise would be to at least let servers create their 'pack' of liveries which would just be a list of urls/IDs from DCS User Files. That way they it could be fairly simple to install the liveries and keep them up to date. I might not be able to make the enabling/disabling of the pack through OVGME automated but I could at least install them under one entry so it's just one click instead of going through all the liveries individually.

Ah, I see what you mean with the screenshots. I think something like that would be possible! I will see if I can implement it. I think it would be something that's part of the livery install command as an optional flag. For your second request, I might take a look in to that...you'd probably have to select with units and liveries you'd want to optimize between. How it works is it finds .dds files that are the exact same between the livery folders (easy to know which folders when they are installed together in a pack), and then chooses one for all of the liveries description.lua files to reference. It's just changing the filepaths from something like: {"MiG-15_MAIN", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC ,"MiG-15_DIF_ussr_RoughMet",false}; Into something like: {"MiG-15_MAIN", ROUGHNESS_METALLIC ,"../29 Sqn - Generic/MiG-15_DIF_ussr_RoughMet",false}; DCS accepts this as a valid relative filepath and the result is they all now look at the same file on disk. Thank you! Glad you like it. For your idea I've had a similar thought, but the first thing it requires is actually installing this as a more proper application instead of just having an .exe you drag in to your DCS Saved Games/OVGME directory since it requires editing/adding an entry to the windows registry. If I were to go down the path of creating a GUI I think this would be more viable so I'll keep it in mind. I will note that you can install multiple liveries at once, so you could just copy and paste all the URLs of the liveries you want to install in to one line and use that with the install command to do it all at once.

Unfortunately I don't think I can display an image inside a console/terminal. Ideally you are getting these livery URLs/IDs yourself by browsing the DCS User File site so you would have screenshots of the livery open already. I have thought of this for if I ever make a GUI for this application, though! For your other ask, I've thought about that feature too, but it risks messing up a lot of liveries that aren't managed by my application and could be hard to fix. When you install a livery through my tool, it keeps track of what ones were installed together (whether it's a livery pack or multiple units) which makes it easy to optimize when it knows what livery folders to look at. And if the optimize command happened to break something it's easy to reinstall and fix the liveries through my tool as well. It's not an impossible idea, but not really advisable. If you still think it's something you'd like to use feel free to let me know and I'll put some more thought in to it

DCS Livery Manager on DCS User Files DCS Livery Manager Source Code on GitHub Introducing DCS Livery Manager (DCSLM)! This console/terminal UI program is meant to make installing liveries from the DCS User Files site as easy as possible. There is no standard to how liveries are uploaded to DCS User Files; the archive format, the folder hierarchy within, or livery packs can all vary. With this application, all you need to do is pass it the URL or ID of the livery and it will figure all of that out for you! You are also be able to install to multiple compatible units when applicable, like the A-10A, A-10C and A-10C II, which can all use the same liveries. Additionally, DCSLM can check for updates to installed liveries from DCS User Files. Another key feature is optimizing installed livery packs, or liveries across multiple units. Many packs share the same textures across the liveries that are included, and the optimize command can detect those shared files, update the description.lua files to point to the same one, and remove the duplicate files. This helps keep the size on disk of your liveries low as some liveries can be hundreds of MB in size. Pre-Requisites DCSLM relies on you having an archive application installed to be able to extract the files. While other programs can work, it's highly recommended you install 7-Zip (https://www.7-zip.org/download.html) which is a free, open-source application that can handle every archive file type you will encounter on DCS User Files! This also requires that 7-Zip is able to be found on your Windows envrionment path, which a proper install will do. If DCSLM can't find 7-Zip a message will be displayed on launch. Windows Defender may incorrectly flag DCSLM as a trojan as it is an unsigned application, but I promise you nothing funky is going on in this program! You will need to add an exception for this program to your Windows Defender, or other anti-virus applications, if it keeps removing it. You can view all of the source code on the github page. Installation Place DCSLM.exe in to your DCS Saved Games directory (ex. C:\Users\pearc\Saved Games\DCS). Do NOT place it in your core DCS install directory as it will not work properly there. You can also use DCSLM in conjunction with with a mod manager (i.e. OVGME, JSGME) by placing DCSLM.exe in the folder that is configured to be installed to your DCS Saved Games directory. DCSLM will create a root folder for each livery installed to make them work properly with your mod manager. Usage To install a livery you simply use the install command followed by 1 or more livery URLs or IDs from DCS User Files. This will attempt to download and install the livery. See the first image above for a livery installation example. The uninstall command will remove a livery installed through DCSLM. There are many more commands available to you within DCSLM. You can learn more about these by using the help command, which will provide you with a list of commands as well as their flags and arguments, as well as descriptions of them. Below are some of the commands and their function: info Displays information about the given installed livery ID, such as their DCS User Files data, what unit(s) it was installed to, the names of liveries installed with it, and the installed livery paths. list Prints a list of the liveries installed and registered through DCSLM. units Shows the list of all units that are configured to be installed to. Currently, this is all of the player flyable aircraft modules. It's possible to add your own configuration files (see readme on GitHub for more information) so that you can install to mods and AI aircraft, as well as ground or sea units. When passed a specific unit, this command will print the configuration for that unit. A properly configured unit needs all this information to make sure liveries get installed correctly. There are more command explanations on the GitHub page for DCSLM: DCS Livery Manager Source Code on GitHub DCS Livery Manager on DCS User Files Release Notes - v1.2.0 (11/16/2023): Added installing directly from an archive file Added automatic unit detection from livery description.lua based on livery parts Added unit detection when the livery folder is already within a unit's folder Added installing to multiple units from one pack Added additional DCSLM upgrade method using DCS User Files Added F-15E, Black Shark 3 (Ka-50_3), Mirage F1BE to units Fixed FA-18C DCS User Files name Updated J-11A unit default parts v1.1.4 (4/10/2023): Fixed install error with incorrect DCS User Files download url Fixed upgrade unable to download new exe v1.1.3 (7/18/2022): Added colors to units command to differentiate between official and unofficial modules Added reminder message to check for updates to liveries Added message of the day with info on registered liveries Added output of removed files during optimization Added progress numbering to install, uninstall, and optimization Removed forced width on console window Fixed extremely long livery names breaking livery list table Fixed error when listing liveries for units that no longer have a config Fixed break in uninstall preventing uninstallation of multiple liveries Improved error messaging when trying to hash missing file during optimization v1.1.2 (4/30/2022): Added Apache to default units and Mosquito DCS User Files name Fixed issue with installing livery with no root folder Added 'all' arg to 'uninstall' and 'optimize' commands Fixed optimize hash function only looking for .dds images v1.1.1 (1/8/2022): Fixed failed parsing of datetime on github release page Fixed DCSLM exiting on failed github releases parse Fixed DCSLM trying to create unit folders without DCSLM root directory Fixed setting working directory from exe argument v1.1.0 (1/1/2022): 7-Zip will now be the preferred program for extraction if installed Fixed path generation for WinRAR Fixed parsing GitHub release page for upgrade information Added verbosity (-v, --verbose) to install command Added screenshots (-s, --screenshots) to install command to download livery screenshots from DCSUF Added executable arguments for running commands on launch (use help for more info) Hope you enjoy the program! If you have any questions feel free to post them in this thread. Any issues can also be reported on the GitHub page under the issues tab.