liveryfixer

A small CLI utility to inspect, fix, list, find, and package Microsoft Flight Simulator livery packages. Supports five main operations: extract, fix, pack, list, and find.

Requirements

• .NET Framework 4.7.2
• MSFSLayoutGenerator.exe (the specific version included with this repository/package) available on PATH or in the working directory (used to regenerate layout.json during fix)

Build

• Open the solution in Visual Studio or build with MSBuild/dotnet build for the project targeting .NET Framework 4.7.2.
• The compiled executable is liveryfixer.exe in the bin output folder.

Command-line arguments

• Arguments use the form --key value.
• The program expects keys to be provided lowercase and without spaces (for example, --sourcedir not --Source Dir).
• If a key is not provided on the command line the program will prompt for it interactively.

Common keys

• --options <path> — Load an options JSON file. If omitted the program will use default options.
• --operation <extract|fix|pack|list|find> — Select the operation to run instead of typing it interactively.
• --sourcedir <path> — Source directory used by extract, fix, pack, and find operations.
• --outputdir <path> — Output directory used by extract and pack operations.
• --outputfile <path> — Output file used by the list operation.

If a value contains spaces, quote it: "C:\My Liveries".

Examples

Interactive

liveryfixer.exe
# respond to prompts: Operation:, Source Dir:, Output Dir: etc.

Non-interactive

# Extract all .zip files recursively into an output directory
liveryfixer.exe --operation extract --sourcedir "C:\path\to\zips" --outputdir "C:\path\to\out"

# Fix liveries under a directory using options.json
liveryfixer.exe --operation fix --sourcedir "C:\path\to\liveries" --options "C:\path\to\options.json"

# Pack detected livery packages into .zip files (and optionally extract thumbnails)
liveryfixer.exe --operation pack --sourcedir "C:\path\to\liveries" --outputdir "C:\path\to\outputzips"

# Create a JSON file listing detected liveries
liveryfixer.exe --operation list --sourcedir "C:\path\to\liveries" --outputfile "C:\path\to\liveries.json"

# Enter an interactive registration lookup session
liveryfixer.exe --operation find --sourcedir "C:\path\to\liveries"

Operations

extract

• Recursively finds .zip files under the provided Source Dir and extracts each into the provided Output Dir.
• Extraction is executed in parallel.

fix

• Scans each immediate subfolder of Source Dir and treats folders containing both layout.json and manifest.json as livery packages.
• Validates manifest.json has content_type equal to livery and reads creator and title.
• Looks under SimObjects\Airplanes for aircraft folders, parses aircraft.cfg (using CfgFile) and any texture.cfg files to build an internal model of packages, groups, and liveries.
• Runs a sequence of fix/inspection routines (see list below) and prints results to the console.
• Attempts to regenerate layout.json for each package by invoking MSFSLayoutGenerator.exe <path-to-layout.json> and prints any output or errors. The generator must be the specific MSFSLayoutGenerator.exe distributed with this package to ensure compatible output.

Fix/inspection routines executed by fix (in order):

• CheckRegistrations — Detects missing or duplicate registrations across all liveries.
• ListTypes — Groups liveries by ui_type and prints their paths.
• VerifyICAOs — Checks that each livery has an icao_airline value.
• FixTextureFallbacks — Adds/removes texture fallback entries in texture.cfg based on options (and writes updated texture.cfg when changes are made).
• RenameFolders — Optionally renames package folders based on their contained liveries and Options settings.
• ListCreators — Groups and prints liveries by creator from manifest.json.
• FixManifests — Applies configured creator name corrections to manifest.json files.

All routines print actions taken or detected errors to the console.

pack

• Identifies valid livery packages under Source Dir (same detection logic as fix) and creates a .zip archive for each detected package into Output Dir.
• Packing runs in parallel over the list of detected packages (not raw top-level folders).
• Optionally extracts thumbnail.jpg from the first livery texture folder and copies it beside the generated .zip as <packageName>.jpg when extractThumbnailWhenPacking is enabled in the options.

list

• Scans Source Dir for valid livery packages and writes a JSON array of detected packages to the provided Output File.
• The JSON output contains the internal LiveryPackage model (title, path, creator, groups, liveries, and texture fallback lists).

find

• Starts an interactive prompt to search liveries by registration.
• Requires Source Dir pointing to the root folder containing livery packages. The tool will build its internal package list and then prompt repeatedly for a Registration: value.
• Enter a registration (e.g. N12345) to search. Matching liveries are printed with package title and livery path.
• Enter quit to exit the find loop.
• When a match is found the tool attempts to open the livery folder using Process.Start(<livery folder path>) (on Windows this opens File Explorer). This may fail on non-Windows platforms or restricted environments.

Options (options.json)

You can pass an options JSON file with --options to control behavior. Fields (and defaults) are:

• renamePackage (bool, default: true) — enable or disable automatic package renaming during RenameFolders.
• packagePathPrefix (string, default: empty) — prefix to apply when renaming package folders.
• requiredTextureFallbacksByType (object) — dictionary keyed by livery ui_type (or empty string for defaults) with arrays of required fallback paths.
• unneededTextureFallbacksByType (object) — dictionary keyed by livery ui_type (or empty string) with arrays of fallbacks to remove.
• creatorNameCorrections (object) — mapping of incorrect creator names to corrected names used by FixManifests.
• extractThumbnailWhenPacking (bool, default: false) — when true, the pack operation will try to copy thumbnail.jpg from the first detected texture folder of the package into the Output Dir alongside the generated .zip (named <package>.jpg).

Example options.json

{
  "renamePackage": true,
  "packagePathPrefix": "",
  "requiredTextureFallbacksByType": {
    "": ["CommonTextures\\base"],
    "airliner": ["AirlinerFallbacks\\common"]
  },
  "unneededTextureFallbacksByType": {
    "": ["old_fallback"]
  },
  "creatorNameCorrections": {
    "old_creator": "Correct Creator Name"
  },
  "extractThumbnailWhenPacking": false
}

The program will create a default Options instance if loading the JSON file fails.

Implementation notes

• CfgFile is a lightweight INI/CFG parser used to parse aircraft.cfg and texture.cfg sections and lines.
• LiveryPackage.GetLiveryPackages builds the internal model used by the fix routines and list output.
• The application is intentionally conservative: it prints errors and actions rather than silently overwriting many things.

Troubleshooting

• Ensure the specific MSFSLayoutGenerator.exe included with this repository/package is reachable for fix to regenerate layout.json successfully.
• The find operation attempts to open livery folders with the system default application; this works best on Windows where Process.Start(path) opens File Explorer.
• Provide command-line keys in lowercase without spaces to avoid interactive prompts being required.
• Review console output for details about what the tool changed or detected.

Contributing

Open issues or PRs in the project repository for bugs, feature requests, or improvements.