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 eight hours  broken up by other things at times.

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.

 

P.S I originally posted this in the wrong forum. I don't think I can delete it.

labels.lua.text

[silverdevil]

5 hours ago, Stormheart said:

I've spent over 8 hours trying to get a working labels.lua file to function in DCS (Steam version, stable branch). The eight hours  broken up by other things at times.

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.

 

P.S I originally posted this in the wrong forum. I don't think I can delete it.

hello. here is my file from 2018. looks like you need more content in the file.

Labels.lua

[Stormheart]

7 hours ago, silverdevil said:

hello. here is my file from 2018. looks like you need more content in the file.

Labels.lua 4.04 kB · 2 downloads

Thanks. I will take a look and give it a try. You're using this now?

[Stormheart]

14 hours ago, silverdevil said:

hello. here is my file from 2018. looks like you need more content in the file.

Labels.lua 4.04 kB · 3 downloads

Sadly, it didn't help. No labels. ChaGPT looked over your file and noted what you added and it all made since. It gave me more suggestions that I will try  but I have been using it for days. Soemthing is wong.  And sometimes ChatGPT is an idiot. 

 

[silverdevil]

1 hour ago, Stormheart said:

Sadly, it didn't help. No labels. ChaGPT looked over your file and noted what you added and it all made since. It gave me more suggestions that I will try  but I have been using it for days. Soemthing is wong.  And sometimes ChatGPT is an idiot. 

hmm. odd. i am sure you know this though you know missions can have labels turned off too right? and surely you are using the toggle hotkeys?

[Stormheart]

2 hours ago, silverdevil said:

hmm. odd. i am sure you know this though you know missions can have labels turned off too right? and surely you are using the toggle hotkeys?

Yes, I created a new mission to test but the key is if I delete the file they show up. They are just tiny. That is odd. I'll double-check the missions but I have to stumble may way through those. I may not be looking in the correct place. They could be on globally, thus I see the tiny text but off in the mission? I do need to look at that again. Bedtime but I will check. But, I don't think that's it because I do see labels in the mission if I have no label.lua so they must be on.

Edited 15 hours ago by Stormheart

[silverdevil]

48 minutes ago, Stormheart said:

Yes, I created a new mission to test but the key is if I delete the file they show up. They are just tiny. That is odd. I'll double-check the missions but I have to stumble may way through those. I may not be looking in the correct place. They could be on globally, thus I see the tiny text but off in the mission? I do need to look at that again. Bedtime but I will check. But, I don't think that's it because I do see labels in the mission if I have no label.lua so they must be on.

do not worry. you are not crazy. labels have been weird for me from the beginning. 

if you have F-16, the caucuses instant action has labels on by default. you can open that with ME too even not owning F-16.