labels.lua not loading or applying — confirmed valid, no log entry, labels disappear when file present

[Stormheart]

I've spent over 8 hours trying to get a working labels.lua file to function in DCS (Steam version, stable branch).

The file is placed correctly at:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\Saved Games\DCS\Config\View\labels.lua

I have confirmed:
- The file is syntactically valid
- It’s encoded UTF-8 without BOM (Notepad++ verified)
- It works if I rename it or remove it (DCS uses default labels. I need bigger labels I can't see them.)
- When the file is present, all labels disappear in F2. I do see them on the map.
- The DCS log file (dcs.log) contains no mention of labels.lua being loaded or parsed
- Global gameplay settings are set to “Labels: Full”
- Mission settings are set to “Use Global”
- No mods are installed
- Fresh Config folder was generated (replaced Config, reset DCS)

This is not a formatting error or encoding issue — the file content is good. DCS is simply ignoring it and failing silently when it's present.

I’ve reinstalled configs, tested multiple missions, and verified behavior across reboots. Everything else works. But the moment labels.lua exists — labels are gone. Remove it, and DCS’s default label system works as expected.

I'm either running into a unique engine bug, or the label system is broken in this version and just nobody has looked closely enough to notice. If anyone else has this issue or if ED can test whether the label injection code is running — I’d appreciate it.
 

labels.lua

Edited yesterday at 01:19 AM by Stormheart

[PeneCruz]

Wrong forum?