diff --git a/desmume/src/frontend/windows/display.cpp b/desmume/src/frontend/windows/display.cpp
index a538bb336..ce5c04d2d 100644
--- a/desmume/src/frontend/windows/display.cpp
+++ b/desmume/src/frontend/windows/display.cpp
@@ -968,3 +968,28 @@ void TwiddleLayer(UINT ctlid, int core, int layer)
 	gpu->SetLayerEnableState(layer, newLayerState);
 	MainWindow->checkMenu(ctlid, newLayerState);
 }
+
+void SetLayerMasks(int mainEngineMask, int subEngineMask)
+{
+	static const size_t numCores = sizeof(CommonSettings.dispLayers) / sizeof(CommonSettings.dispLayers[0]);
+	static const size_t numLayers = sizeof(CommonSettings.dispLayers[0]) / sizeof(CommonSettings.dispLayers[0][0]);
+	static const UINT ctlids[numCores][numLayers] = {
+		{IDM_MBG0, IDM_MBG1, IDM_MBG2, IDM_MBG3, IDM_MOBJ},
+		{IDM_SBG0, IDM_SBG1, IDM_SBG2, IDM_SBG3, IDM_SOBJ},
+	};
+
+	for (int core = 0; core < 2; core++)
+	{
+		GPUEngineBase *gpu = (GPUEngineID)core == GPUEngineID_Main ? (GPUEngineBase *)GPU->GetEngineMain() : (GPUEngineBase *)GPU->GetEngineSub();
+		const int mask = core == 0 ? mainEngineMask : subEngineMask;
+		for (size_t layer = 0; layer < numLayers; layer++)
+		{
+			const bool newLayerState = (mask >> layer) & 0x01 != 0;
+			if (newLayerState != CommonSettings.dispLayers[core][layer])
+			{
+				gpu->SetLayerEnableState(layer, newLayerState);
+				MainWindow->checkMenu(ctlids[core][layer], newLayerState);
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/desmume/src/frontend/windows/display.h b/desmume/src/frontend/windows/display.h
index ea3662bf5..1c099c06e 100644
--- a/desmume/src/frontend/windows/display.h
+++ b/desmume/src/frontend/windows/display.h
@@ -105,5 +105,6 @@ FORCEINLINE void ServiceDisplayThreadInvocations()
 
 void UpdateWndRects(HWND hwnd, RECT* newClientRect = NULL);
 void TwiddleLayer(UINT ctlid, int core, int layer);
+void SetLayerMasks(int mainEngineMask, int subEngineMask);
 
 #endif
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/desmume/src/lua-engine.cpp b/desmume/src/lua-engine.cpp
index a75fdbef2..92527117f 100644
--- a/desmume/src/lua-engine.cpp
+++ b/desmume/src/lua-engine.cpp
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
 	#include "frontend/windows/main.h"
 	#include "frontend/windows/video.h"
 	#include "frontend/windows/resource.h"
+	#include "frontend/windows/display.h"
 #else
 	// TODO: define appropriate types for menu
 	typedef void* PlatformMenu;
@@ -3278,6 +3279,20 @@ DEFINE_LUA_FUNCTION(gui_settransparency, "transparency_4_to_0")
 	return 0;
 }
 
+// gui.setlayermask(int top, int bottom)
+// enables or disables display layers for each screen according to the bitfields provided
+// e.g. 31 (11111) shows all layers; 0 (00000) hides all layers; 16 (10000) shows only the object layer (layer 4)
+// this function is only supported by the windows frontend.
+DEFINE_LUA_FUNCTION(gui_setlayermask, "top,bottom")
+{
+#if defined(WIN32)
+	lua_Integer top = luaL_checkint(L, 1);
+	lua_Integer bottom = luaL_checkint(L, 2);
+	SetLayerMasks(top, bottom);
+#endif
+	return 0;
+}
+
 // takes a screenshot and returns it in gdstr format
 // example: gd.createFromGdStr(gui.gdscreenshot()):png("outputimage.png")
 DEFINE_LUA_FUNCTION(gui_gdscreenshot, "[whichScreen='both']")
@@ -3849,7 +3864,7 @@ DEFINE_LUA_FUNCTION(emu_registermenustart, "func")
 
 DEFINE_LUA_FUNCTION(emu_set3dtransform, "mode, matrix")
 {
-	extern int freelookMode;
+	extern int freelookMode;
 	extern s32 freelookMatrix[16];
 
 	int mode = luaL_checkinteger(L,1);
@@ -4861,6 +4876,7 @@ static const struct luaL_reg guilib [] =
 	{"transparency", gui_settransparency},
 	{"popup", gui_popup},
 	{"parsecolor", gui_parsecolor},
+	{"setlayermask", gui_setlayermask},
 	{"gdscreenshot", gui_gdscreenshot},
 	{"gdoverlay", gui_gdoverlay},
 	{"redraw", emu_redraw}, // some people might think of this as more of a GUI function