Football Manager 2023 FM23 Graphics Installation Guide

Introduction

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Welcome to the Football Manager 2023 version of the Graphics Installation Guide

This guide will show you how to install the most common types of graphics (faces, logos, kits) and skins correctly into Football Manager.

In addition the instructions unless stated are generally the same regardless of whether you are using the Steam, Epic or Game Pass version of the game, are gaming on Windows, Mac or Linux or purchased a disk or digital copy of the game.

Please note you are advised as always to run a virus scan on any file downloaded from the internet. Sports Interactive or SEGA have no control over third party content and as such third party downloads are used at your own risk.

It is also advisable to read any instructions on the download page for the content you are installing (or found in the readme that comes with the download) as they may contain any extra instructions that are specific to that file. This is especially important for multi-part mega-packs that may need to be extracted in a certain order.

How To Install Graphics

This part of the guide will cover how to install 3D kits, 2D kits, facepacks, logos, trophies, backgrounds and stadium pictures and whilst each of these packs are slightly different the instructions to install them are exactly the same.

After you have downloaded a file it will generally come in one of three formats: zip, rar or 7z file.

Zip files should be automatically supported by your OS and may show up as compressed folders, Rar and 7z files may require you to download some software to extract the files, the below software is recommended:

Windows: 7-Zip[www.7-zip.org] (Choose the most recent .exe)

MacOS: The Unarchiver[wakaba.c3.cx]

Linux: If you are using Linux hopefully you know how to download and locate programs for Linux already.

7-Zip is installed using the .exe you download, following the instructions on-screen. To install The Unarchiver simply double click on the .zip file you download from their website then drag the program it extracts (called 'The Unarchiver') into your apps folder.

Once installed, create a new folder somewhere you can keep track of (on your desktop for instance) and place your downloaded graphics zip, rar or 7z in it. Now we extract:

Windows: Right click on your zip, rar or 7z. Choose 7-Zip from the menu, then select 'Extract Here'.

MacOS X: Right click (or ctrl + click) on your zip, rar or 7z. Choose 'open with' then select 'The Unarchiver'.

Your file should extract and most probably create a folder in the same directory.

If you extracted an fmf file (or just straight downloaded one) this isn't a problem, these are just files that have been packed using the FM Resource Tool, and as an end user there is no need for you to mess around extracting these files, just think of these as the same as the folder you'd get from extracting the files.

Locating Your User Data Location

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Once you have downloaded and extracted your files, you now need to move them over to your User Data Location so they can be read by the game.

First make sure you have run the game at least once (just getting to the start menu and exiting is fine) so the game can create the required folders for you.

Then the exact location depends on the OS you are using.

Windows

By default your User Data Location is located within the Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2023 folder.

MAC Users:

By default your User Data Location is now located within the Users\[Your Mac Username]\Library\Application Support\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2023folder.

By default this folder is hidden, so to access you need to do as follows:

- Open Finder

- Click ‘Go’ from the menu bar

- Press and hold down the ‘Option’ (Alt) key

- This will bring up the ‘Library’, click to enter then go to ‘Application Support’ -> ‘Sports Interactive’ -> 'Football Manager 2023'

After you have opened the Football Manager 2023 folder you should see a list of folders and what you need to do is locate the folder called graphics, if this folder doesn't exist then just create a new folder and call it graphics.

Now open up your graphics folder and place the files you extracted inside it.

For the most part the sub-folders you put the graphics into doesn't matter, though it is best to separate the different types into their own sub-folders so you don't accidentally overwrite your kits with logos for the same teams. The thing to watch out for when organising are the config xml files. These are vital and should not be mixed and matched. A set of graphics will come with a config file that is unique to them in the same folder. Make sure they stay together, in the same folder and that new png files or config files are not added or overwritten into their folder.

Whilst for best results try to keep the folder names short and simple and avoid special characters where possible.

For example below is a screenshot showing what a typical end folder should look like if done correctly, note you have a config file along with several graphic files, with a short simple folder structure that stops you from accidentally overwriting the config file when installing other graphics:

How To Transfer Files From A Previous Version

Nearly all user created graphics can be transferred from one version of Football Manager to the next, the exceptions are:

Skins can only be used for the version of the game they were made for. It may seem that a skin from last year may initially work on the new game, however when you get to a new screen you are likely to get a broken/blank screen at best or even possibly you'll cause the game to crash, so it is best to wait for the skin maker to update the skin (or make your own with permission).

Mods that are modified xml files rather than full skins may or may not work, for these it depends on how much the underlying code has changed.

3D kits have changed various times over the years so for best results check the site where you obtained them from to see which versions they work with. Most recently the 3D kits were changed in both FM20 and FM18 , so whilst you can transfer 3D kits from FM18 to FM19 you cannot use your FM19 kits with FM20, or your pre-FM18 kits with more recent versions. Whilst FM23 has made some changes to how the competition sleeve badges work, so for best results you'd want kits designed for FM23.

Graphics that are released in the fmf format might not work across versions, if the later version of Football Manager cannot read the fmf files you'll need to use the Resource Tool from the previous to extract the contents of the fmf file, and then either keep them extracted and treat as normal files or repack them using the Resource Tool from the current version.

There are two ways of transferring your graphics between versions of Football Manager;

1. Manually move your graphics folder (or the folders that contain the stuff you want transferring over) from the User Data Location of the current Football Manager, to the same location within the User Data Location of the new Football Manager. When transferring content over make sure it keeps the same folder structure (unless instructed otherwise).

2. Change the User Data Location of the new version of Football Manager to point to the location you were using for the current version. (Note if doing this you might want to move none graphical user files to another location to save you accidentally overwriting them with the new edition or you causing problems by trying to read older version files in the current edition.)

Displaying Graphics In-Game

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Once you have added the graphics you wanted either by transferring them or downloading them fresh, load up the game, and go into the Preferences Menu.

Then you can either select the Advanced option on the left and on the top right drop down select Interface, then scroll down the Skin section and untick 'Use caching to decrease loading times' and tick 'Reload skin when confirming changes in Preferences'.

Or in the search bar at the top type in 'Skin' and in the listed results untick 'Use caching to decrease loading times' and tick 'Reload skin when confirming changes in Preferences'.

Next select confirm and your new graphics should now display. (Once the graphics are loaded and you aren't planning on adding any more you can turn the skin cache back on and untick the Always Reload button.)

If you want to add more graphics then just repeat the above steps, just making sure you put each pack you install into it's own folder so you don't accidentally overwrite the config files from your earlier packs.

Troubleshooting

Below are some basic troubleshooting steps you can try to see if they solve the issue you are having,

First Steps

First please ensure you have read and followed any instructions provided with the item you downloaded.

Second re-read the above guide to ensure you have followed each step.

Make sure the content is designed or will work with the version of FM you are using.

Common Problems

Not turning off the Skin Cache & Reloading Your Skin.

Not installing graphics into the correct location - some graphics need to be in a specific location, whilst mega-packs may have specific install instructions.

Graphics Aren't Showing

Make sure you have followed the Install Instructions.

Follow the instructions to turn off the skin cache and reload your skin.

Make sure you have extracted the files.

Check the pack to make sure it actually includes the graphics that aren't showing (i.e. not all logo packs include small logos, and older packs may not contain graphics for teams that have changed divisions).

If only a couple of graphics aren't showing, check that the info in the config file matches with the filenames and that you don't have duplicate entries in the config file.

If you have installed several packs of the same type make sure they don't include conflicting files.

If you have trouble with multiple packs then remove them all and re-install and check them one at a time as most likely there is a conflict with one of the packs you are using.

Check to make sure the pack is designed for the version of FM you are using, whilst graphics are generally transferable between versions this is not always the case.

If none of the graphics are showing then try to manually delete your cache files.

If you are now having issues with the default game files, then remove your custom graphics, manually delete your cache files (per above link) and try verifying your game files.

Problems with Your User Data Location

You need to run the game first to generate the default folders.

First check to make sure the game has created the default folders inside your location (skins, games etc...)

If the game hasn't created the default folders then check to make sure the path you set and the folder you are looking in are the same ones.

With Windows the Library feature can sometimes combine several folders so you may be putting your content in the wrong location.

With Windows 10 having OneDrive backing up your Documents folder may cause issues, try telling OneDrive not to index the Sports Interactive sub-folders or move your User Data Location.

If you are having problems with your User Data Location then try moving it to a more simple path such as C:\FM23

Also check your Anti-virus settings and Windows Defender settings if using Windows 10/11 to make sure access to the Documents folder isn't be restricted.

Redistribution Terms

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3. My username and blog address are included: http://michaeltmurrayuk.blogspot.co.uk/

If you like my work then feel free to send me a donation[www.paypal.me] this is completely optional all of my content is and will always be free to access.

Also if you have any questions then the best place to ask them is in the Skinning Forums[community.sigames.com] at the Official SIGames Forums where I can be found most days.

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FM23 Graphics Installation Guide