The future of the Graphics & Skinning Hideout

The new FM 2009 is near - Will there be changes in graphics? I mean the size and style of the logos or player pictures or will they be the same as in FM 2008?

Schweigi: I hope they'll be less complicated. Probably the reason why it's been quiet in here?

Easy suggestion. Have the team logos as one size, then resize them within the program.

All this "one tiny one for the league, medium for the info box, larger for the top bar, even larger for the background" is just silly. Have one large one, then resize in software.

It would certainly help in getting people actually doing rather than just asking.

cut-outs should go to. I know they look flashy but it's really hard to make perfect cut-outs. You need a good source AND you need to be good at doing them. If we lose cut-outs we could also use the bright skin, which a lot of people don't seem to like. It's only there to hide the fact that even the faces SI included with the game were done poorly.

Hi Ter,

I think that the forum would be better served if the Editing board was merged with the Graphics board to create a kind-of "Customisation" area. I think we'd be better served by doing this

Will there be any changes to what's avaiable in skins?

i.e. Being able to retrieve team colours, etc. much more easily anywhere in the match screen.

Being able to retrieve either the left or right hand side background logo for teams on other screens,

Oh, and having competition logos available on the match screen, too.

As you may have noticed, this section of the forums has become a bit stagnant, mostly due to a lack of love and attention.

With the new forums just around the corner we're going to try and improve things around here and clamp down harder on the requests and not have them clogging up the place and get more and more people involved with creating skins and custom content for their games through tutorials and members helping each other out.

We're looking to bring in a new moderator or moderators to help things run smoothly in here and help people with their problems.

Also, instead of the never ending task of skinning guides, it's probably best to do these as a sort of FAQ or "How To" resource that we can build up over time that will eventually turn into a guide once there is enough content.

If anyone has any questions or suggestions then now is a good time as any. Fire away!

My Suggestion is that you have a thread were newbie skinners can ask for help from experienced skinners.

Hi Ter

I must admit that recently the graphics forum has been very quiet and very limited activity has been taking place..

maybe 2 rasons for this:

1) becuase FM08 has been out for a while, most people have already got all the graphics they need and there is no need to come into the forum

2) i have seen in the past many threads which people have not had answers for, and if people feel they are not getting the help they need, they wont come back anymore..

I also agree that this section does need new modarators..

Regards

Abdul..

Howsabout stucturing the G&S Hideout by graphic type?

e.g. have sub-forums for faces, shirts, logos, superpacks etc?

Then within each, have a sticky or thread for each nation?

So if you're looking for Scottish facepacks you just got to >faces > Scotland, and you should get them.

Should reduce the "can anyone give me a Premiership facepack?" type threads and make it easy to navigate.

Yeh i think everyone goes to sortitout

My Suggestion is that you have a thread were newbie skinners can ask for help from experienced skinners.

The problem with that is that newbie skinners usually start with 'How do I make a skin!', which isn't the easiest question to answer, as you've got no idea what their intentions are, or their level of competency.

Also, and this is one of my biggest bugbears, there has never been a guide to what you have available to you (in terms of colours settings, logos, etc.) or what various settings, widget id's etc. really do. The first time I attempted to change a skin (it's always better to have a tinker with an existing skin, before you start planning you FM graphical opus) I didn't have a single clue what did what, and made a right mess of things, and I gave up.

If you're planning on making a skin, look at an existing one, pick an xml file (the header's always a good place to start) and work out what each bit does, based on what you can see on the screen. After a while, you'll pick it up.

The best thing is to again have a couple of stickied threads (and if possible have them stand out in the hopes that people will read and follow them this time) covering the basics of where to put graphics, what goes in a config file, basics on logos and player pics - dimensions and what ones are possible). Also links to the SIBase articles on the main site - as not many people seem to know about them - whilst some are outdated most are still correct (after you change the game version in folder locations).

Have a thread that links to resources and places to download content (if your allowed that is?) - in the hopes that if people can see alternatives that won't need to ask (though the fact that they still request in here, rather than do a simple websearch doesn't bode well for this).

Have a Mod or someone from SI who can pin threads or an FAQ that can only be edited by Mods/SI that can quote helpful infomation that's been posted, or have the Mod rename some threads if they become useful (I remember several threads of useful infomation on thte old forum, that had random titles - such as Help? etc... that wouldn't stand out if someone is quickly looking for an answer).

Also the possability of Ter (or someone else from SI, or an experienced Skinner) writing up a quick beginners guide to skinning - covering either basic commands, or pointing out what files control what - I know this would be fairly time consuming (I don't know Ter if whilst your doing the skin for FM09 if it would be possible for you to add some more comments to the xml files? - simple one or two word comments just to point out some of the no obvious stuff would be a help)

Though a proper Skinning guide as you said Ter maybe better as an FAQ - possibly where something has been answered it can be quoted into a locked pinned thread, so over time you could have one big thread with all the skinning answers, then another for kits, logos, faces.

Also with the requests clampdown - are we still allowed to post links to the kits, logos and faces we've created (a thread for various styles, not one for each file - as that would clog the place up) or would you prefer to make the forum a skins and troubleshooting forum, rather than a place to obtain kits and logos aswell?

To the people suggesting sub-forums for skins, faces, kits etc... I'm not sure that's a good idea, as if traffic is low undesirable posts would on the front page longer, if it's all in one forum then requests and locked threads should disappear quicker. Also with subforums stuff maybe missed or duplicated, making the place a lot messier.

How about making an official skinning wiki where both SI guys and the skinning pros could post articles/info/whatever about skinning, making it THE reference guide for people interested in skinning? I think this has been done with success for other companies that supports modding.

I'm decent enough at Photoshop and I've tried making skins before, but not knowing anything about how the XML files are structured, what tags are available, etc made it a painful experience. I just gave up on converting my mockup(s) from Photoshop to an actual FM skin. If I had a decent reference guide, with tutorials and examples I would've released at least two skins for FM08 by now.

whats the best website to download facepacks from ?

whats the best website to download facepacks from ?

Have you read anything on this thread?

I'd agree with a lot of what michaeltmurrayuk has said tbh.

I'd say the biggest thing for me is that this forum gets the moderation it needs. It has been neglected for a long time. I don't think it appeals to users as much if they don't feel there is the interaction with people who know their stuff. Nothing against the guy but Andersson is/was a moderator on here and just doesn't seem to post at all. There really needs to be more active moderation, people with the ability to gauge the mood, change or create stickies and just give the users a feeling that their requests or problems are noticed.

In terms of content and FAQ's, I think we could do a lot lot worse than a wiki od some sort. Kind of an extended and more accessible SI Base. It could very easily have all the guides and the more obvious questions and answers. Most of all it could be maintained by users (perhaps some default locked SI articles) and kept up to date.

One thing I'd hate to see though is too much moderation. I cite the FM Online forum - for me a whole page of locked threads and a bad attitude towards new users makes it unfriendly and a daunting place to post.

So I think what we need is good moderation but in moderation

That makes things too slow. With things like the popup menus in the breadcrumbs it can take up to 15 seconds for the menu to appear if it has to resize every logo in the menu. We've tried it.

what about a build pictures button on the preferences page, so by default it'll be shadows, but if you run the rebuild, it'll use all the current logos and create the different versions for each (much like in ootp, where you can choose to rebuild pictures for your team, the whole league, or as you access things (which is slower).

Have you read anything on this thread?

I think he was being sarcastic.

ive dowloaded skins and put them into the the skins folder but now i dont know what to do?

Any news on changes Ter?

After the fresh start it's already gathering the usual questions and requests. There aren't any stickies, guides or rules at all. Maybe a few temporary notices until it's decided what to do?

Just a thought. I realise that requesting graphics is not allowed for various reasons but I think some sort of resource thread would be a decent idea. SI still do the fansite affiliate scheme right? Would a thread with links to affiliate sites cross the line?

Obviously it's not what this forum is aimed at but if you're after graphics for FM, the official FM forums are the logical first port of call. I think 99% of the graphics requests in here are new gamers who don't realise fan sites exist and don't know where else to go.

Both the Affiliate and Fansites forums appear to be rather empty, if they are not being discounted, then a link to them could be put in the forum header telling people to look there for fansites rather than creating a new thread requesting stuff - this then may encourage people to look in those forums which would then encourage fansite owners to post their site in that forum.

Exactly my point. Just a simple resource links sticky. "Here are some graphics centred affiliate sites".

I would say its went quiet for the reason Abs UK pointed out....FM08 has been out for a while and everyone has what they needed by now. Its not a case of new suggestions if you ask me....

As soon as FM09 is released this place will get busy yet again with new skins etc etc

I am one of those new to all this and its only been through this forum I learnt how to add the extra graphics to the game and I thank everyone of the members who helped me. I can't believe I never done any of this in my previous games because I thought it was too much hassle or to technical.......thanks to the hard work of people in here my experience of FM has got so much better.

Stagnation is what Ter mentioned in the initial post rather than it being quiet.

It's never been a busy forum because of the subject matter so it's not a problem of numbers of visitors. You can't really have debates in here like you can in GQ for instance that attract viewers and contributors. People are in with a problem then out with a out again.

I am not sure if this is the right place or not (so apologies if it is in the wrong place) but I was hoping someone who knows about skinning and the visual side of FM could tell me whether changes to screens like the player history is skinning or whether this is actually more to do with the base structure of the programme itself?

I love FM but my biggest bugbear for ages has been the player history and how stupidly untidy it gets (anal i know) and would really love to change it (or see it changed) but I'll be completely honest in that even if it was skinning i'd never be able to do it myself.

If there is anyone who knows about this stuff i'd love to hear from you (kevgaleuk@btinternet.com) - I have put lots of suggestions of the various other forums but given how many of those the powers that be must receive I'd be suprised if they have been seen

cheers

I agree with the post further up about separation.

SKINS

FACEPACKS

LOGOS

KITS

I've enquired about trophy graphics in the past. I would really like to have trophy come up in background once you win it

e.g. finish the match and once you click to news and says congratulations..... in background the trophy is there. Id like that a lot cos it just reminds you how that great feeling I'm sure that it is when picking up/winning trophies.

Anything new from SI on this?

With the demo launching soon and then FM09 coming a fortnight later this board is going to be full of new users with requests - ie full of junk. I think it's about time something got sorted, new game, new start.

We need at least some updated info and perhaps a resource thread linking to SI affiliate sites (somewhere to direct requests). Has the idea of a couple of new mods been quashed?