Invictus Livery Manager 1.2.6

Invictus Livery Manager 1.2.6

VR Passthrough (Beta) improvements for simpits with physical displays, plus chroma stability fixes.

Screen mode (new)

For pits with physical display screens: a new Screen mode toggle on the VR Passthrough page hides the MFDs, DED, RWR, EHSI, CMDS, and UHF displays inside the virtual cockpit, so their symbology no longer floats over your real screens. Displays with an export viewport assigned in your DCS monitor configuration keep rendering there; the DED, RWR, CMDS, and UHF gain export viewport hooks that DCS does not ship on its own. The viewport names are LEFT_MFCD, RIGHT_MFCD, EHSI, DED, RWR, CMDS, and UHF_RADIO.

Leave Screen mode off if you do not have physical display screens; a hidden display without an export viewport is not visible anywhere. Turning it on or off edits display scripts in the DCS installation with backups kept, takes effect on the next DCS start, and does not trigger a shader rebuild. Strict multiplayer servers with pure-client integrity checks will flag the modified scripts; turn Screen mode off before flying on those servers.

Chroma stability

The cockpit lighting patch now stabilizes the key end to end: every magenta-hue pixel is snapped to the exact key color in DCS's final render pass, whatever its brightness. Texture filtering, anti-aliasing, exposure changes, and lit indicator overlays compositing over the key can no longer push pixels out of the chroma window. Lit indications (indexers, warning lamps) keep rendering normally.

Quality of life

• Re-applying the cockpit patch skips the shader rebuild when the shader files are already current, so livery-era updates apply in seconds.
• A popup now warns before any change that clears the shader cache (the one-time 10 to 30 minute rebuild on next launch).
• Patch and Screen mode actions report clear errors instead of failing silently when DCS is running or the app loses track of the installation.

Known issue

A thin pink fringe can remain at the passthrough boundary in the headset. It is produced by the video stream's color compression, not by DCS; HEVC 10-bit at high bitrate with VDXR minimizes it. A dedicated treatment is planned.

Credits

Thanks to Ron D for the shader passthrough approach.

Invictus Livery Manager v1.2.4

Invictus Livery Manager v1.2.4

The chroma key is now lighting-proof

The cockpit lighting patch gains a third piece: a chroma bypass in DCS's
cockpit shader. Previously, sunlight, shadows, and reflections shifted
the rendered magenta as the aircraft maneuvered, making surfaces "pop"
pink in flight as they crossed the headset's keying threshold. The
bypass detects the passthrough livery's magenta before any lighting is
applied and outputs it as a constant, so the key no longer moves with
the light: the keyed cockpit renders as one perfectly uniform color in
any lighting, at any angle. Full credit to beta tester Ron D, who
found and proved this fix.

Click Re-apply patch on the VR Passthrough page once after updating
to pick up the new piece.

IMPORTANT: one-time slow DCS start after applying

Applying (or restoring) the patch clears DCS's compiled-shader caches,
and the next DCS launch rebuilds them: DCS can sit at a
frozen-looking screen for 10 to 30 minutes. This is normal, happens
once, and must not be interrupted; do not end the DCS process. Every
launch after that is normal speed.

As before: the patch backs up every file it touches, Restore original
reverts all of them, strict multiplayer integrity checks will flag the
modified files, and DCS updates quietly undo the patch (re-apply
afterward).

Invictus Livery Manager v1.2.2

Invictus Livery Manager v1.2.2

VR Passthrough improvements (from headset testing)

• The night lighting patch is now the cockpit lighting patch. In
  addition to enabling night flying, it removes the magenta light bleed
  the keyed cockpit cast onto virtual parts (canopy frame, HUD arms) by
  taming the cockpit's image-based lighting. Recommended for all
  passthrough flying, day or night. Existing installs: click Re-apply
  patch once to pick up the new piece.
• Works together with cockpit livery v1.3 (the page offers the update),
  which makes instrument glass invisible: gauge faces key correctly in
  the pit, and exported screens are no longer tinted purple for simpits
  that drive physical displays from DCS viewports.
• Updated Virtual Desktop guidance from tuning: Similarity 35,
  Smoothness 1, video sharpening off.

Known cosmetic residual

Thin dark trim markings can appear on some panel edges in the keyed
cockpit. Purely visual; a fix is being investigated with the community.

Invictus Livery Manager v1.2.1

Invictus Livery Manager v1.2.1

Fixes

• DCS installs on secondary drives are now found. The install scan
  previously checked a short list of common paths on C: and D: only, so a
  DCS on another drive without a registry entry was missed and the VR
  Passthrough page's night lighting patch reported no installation. The
  scan now sweeps every fixed drive for the common install layouts
  (Program Files, Eagle Dynamics, DCS World, Games, and Steam library
  folders).
• Updated Virtual Desktop guidance from in-headset tuning: Similarity 35,
  Smoothness 1, video sharpening off.

Invictus Livery Manager v1.2.0

Invictus Livery Manager v1.2.0

New: VR Passthrough Cockpit page (beta)

Fly DCS with your real cockpit visible. The new VR Passthrough page sets up the complete mixed reality chroma-key pipeline for the F-16C:

• One-click cockpit livery install. Downloads the MR passthrough livery and installs it as the Cockpit_F-16C/default override in Saved Games, together with the small livery-scan mod DCS needs to load user cockpit liveries. Both remove cleanly.
• DCS settings audit. Checks the nine settings the chroma key depends on (reflections, shadows, SSAO, SSLR, cockpit GI, lens effects, motion blur) and applies them with one click while DCS is closed. Your settings file is backed up first.
• Night lighting patch (optional). DCS lights the F-16C cockpit in green at night, which breaks the chroma key. The patch recolors the cockpit model's night lighting to the key color so the pit keys after dark with the instrument lighting knobs up. This is the one feature that modifies a file in the DCS installation: it asks for administrator approval, keeps a pristine backup, and has a Restore button. DCS updates quietly undo it; just re-apply afterward.
• Headset guidance. Virtual Desktop settings for the Quest 3 (VDXR, HEVC 10-bit, chroma key values) right on the page.

Requires a Quest 3 (or similar) with Virtual Desktop passthrough and, naturally, a physical cockpit to sit in.

Notes

• The VR Passthrough page is marked beta in the app; feedback and issue reports are welcome via Report an Issue in the sidebar.
• The MR cockpit livery itself ships separately (the page downloads the latest automatically) so livery refinements don't require app updates.
• The Library now groups an aircraft's cockpit liveries with its regular skins, marked with a Cockpit badge.

Invictus Livery Manager v1.1.0

The Livery Manager now keeps itself up to date.

What's new in 1.1.0

• Self-updating: the manager checks GitHub at launch and shows a banner when a newer version exists, with one-click download and install. This is the last version you'll ever need to fetch by hand.
• New dedicated app icon, so the manager is easy to spot in a crowded taskbar.
• The DCS folder status pill on the Install page shows at a glance whether your Saved Games folder was found, and clicking it jumps to Settings, where you can now pick the folder manually if detection comes up empty.
• Open a livery archive directly with "Invictus Livery Manager.exe" --open <archive>.
• The install flow now reminds you to fully close and restart DCS before looking for a new skin (DCS only scans for liveries at startup).

Requirements: Windows 10/11, DCS World. 7-Zip (free) is needed only for .7z and .rar archives.

Documentation: https://docs.invictuscockpits.com/livery-manager/user-guide/

Invictus Livery Manager v1.0.0

The first release of the Invictus Livery Manager, a free DCS World livery installer from Invictus Cockpit Systems.

Drop a downloaded livery archive on the window and it lands in the right place, every time. The manager finds every livery inside the archive, works out which aircraft each one belongs to, and installs into your Saved Games folder. Nothing ever touches the game install, so liveries survive every DCS update and pass multiplayer integrity check.

Highlights

• Drag and drop .zip, .7z, or .rar straight from DCS User Files
• Automatic aircraft detection with a full catalog of correct livery folder names (F-16C_50, FA-18C_hornet, A-10CII, and the rest), cross-checked against your own DCS install
• Multi-aircraft packs, nested archives, and shared texture folders handled automatically
• Library view of your whole collection, grouped by aircraft, with sizes, provenance, and one-click removal
• Finds your DCS folder automatically (standalone or Steam, relocated Saved Games included), with a manual picker as fallback
• Liveries you installed by hand are recognized and never touched without confirmation

Remember: DCS only scans for liveries when it starts. If the sim is running when you install, fully close DCS and launch it again to see your new skin.

Requirements: Windows 10/11, DCS World. 7-Zip (free) is needed only for .7z and .rar archives.

Documentation: https://docs.invictuscockpits.com/livery-manager/user-guide/

MR Passthrough Cockpit Livery (F-16C) v1.5

F-16C passthrough cockpit livery v1.5.

• Counter drums cleaned up: the light and dark lines between the tumblers (altimeter, IN.HG, and friends) are keyed out.
• Canopy sill hose and hardware restored to render correctly.
• Numerous small mask corrections across the cpt02 and cpt07 sheets.

Install or update from the VR Passthrough page in Invictus Livery Manager.

MR Passthrough Cockpit Livery (F-16C) v1.4

Refined masking from continued testing: HUD-side hardware and surrounding panel regions now key correctly, plus assorted mask cleanups across the front panel. Pairs with Livery Manager v1.2.4. Update from the VR Passthrough page.

MR Passthrough Cockpit Livery (F-16C) v1.3

Major visual cleanup from in-headset testing: instrument glass now renders invisible instead of magenta (fixes violet gauge faces in the pit AND purple tint on exported screens for simpits using display exports), the exterior sill skin no longer mirrors the interior (dielectric reflectance), gauge shading discs and dust overlays are neutralized, and glow layers are silenced. Pairs with Livery Manager v1.2.2's cockpit lighting patch, which removes the magenta ambient light bleed. Known cosmetic residual: thin dark trim markings on some panel edges. Update from the VR Passthrough page.