[FM2010: TEMPLATE] BASE SKINS (for changing colours adding 2D pitch graphics)

Base Skins for Football Manager 2010

(If you are still using FM2009 see this thread: [Template] FM09 Base Skins (for editing colours, adding 2D pitch graphics))

As with FM2009 for you to make certain changes in FM2010 you need to create a new skin, whilst this has largely stayed the same as FM09, a couple of changes have been made to the settings file that controls the text colours and style. So to make things easier for people I've put up some base skins that are identical to the default skins that come with the game, so you can add new files/graphics to these without messing up the original skins, and anything that isn't located in these new skin folders will be taken from the default locations within the game.

If you have bought or installed FM2010 via Steam and have had patch 10.2.0 or later applied to your game you now have access to the FM2009 style skin, again to make things easier for people I have made a base version of the FM2009 skin (both left and right sided).

PLEASE ENSURE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE DOWNLOADING OR ASKING QUESTIONS AS ALL POINTS SHOULD BE COVERED:

NOTE: THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE THE SAME REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOU ARE USING STEAM OR NOT.

WARNING: IF YOU ARE NOT USING STEAM THE FM2009 BASE SKINS WILL NOT WORK!!! IF YOU DOWNLOAD THEM AND DON'T USE STEAM APPLYING THEM WILL CRASH THE GAME, THE BELW DOWNLOAD DOES NOT ADD THE FM2009 SKIN TO THE GAME, IT JUST MAKES EDITING THE SKIN EASIER.

Instructions:

When you extract this file you should have two folders: base2010 and base2010 dark as well as this readme.txt file. If you have downloaded the FM09 style base skins for Steam then you will have a base2009 and a base2009r folder instead.

Now copy the two folders into your skins folder within your User Data Folder, by default this is:

For the full game:

\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\skins\

If you cannot find your User Data folder, load up the game and go into the preferences -> General Screen, at the bottom of the screen should be a section headed User Data Folder, there should be a folder location listed in the box, this is the location of your user data folder, if you browse to that location on your computer (not through FM) there should be a skins folder located within that folder, this is where you put your downloaded skins.

For example my User Data location is: F:\Michael\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\ as shown by the below screenshot:

You can also change the location of your User Data folder if you wish or reset its location to default. (you’ll need to reload the game for it to take affect)

If done right your skins folder should look something like this:

When you load the game up if the skin cache is off they should appear in the skins menu like the below image:

If the skin cache is on you'll need to turn it off, select always reload skin and reload one of your existing skins, now the new skins should appear in the drop down menu.

To Replace Graphics

To replace the following graphics you need to copy the graphics you have made or downloaded into the correct folders within the folder for the skin you are using:

Gold Stars:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\icons\stars\gold

Silver Stars:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\icons\stars\silver

To get the 2D pitch icons (balls, nets, players) into the game they need to go into the following folders within your skin:

Balls:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\pitch\balls\

Popups:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\pitch\popup\

Nets:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\pitch\nets\

Player Icons:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\pitch\icons\kit\

For example if you were previously using the default FM10 skin and wanted to add some new 2D balls to the game you would add them to:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\skins\base2010\graphics\pitch\pitch\balls\

And select the base2010 skin in game, and your new ball would show on the 2D pitch.

(NOTE: this is just for the classic 2D view, the 3D view graphics are controlled by different files)

To edit the fonts

The font settings for each skin are now controlled by the <SKIN_NAME> settings.xml file located inside the settings folder.

For the Base2010 skin this is the ‘\base2010\settings\base2010 settings.xml’ file

For the Base2010 Dark skin this is the ‘\base2010 dark\settings\base2010 dark settings.xml’ file

For the Base2009 skin this is the '\base2009\settings\base2009 settings.xml' file

For the Right Sided Base2009 skin this is the '\base2009r\settings\base2009r settings.xml' file

For the base skins I have copied in the relevant coding for you to change the various text settings – style, size etc, you just need to open the <SKIN_NAME> settings.xml file scroll down to the bottom of the file until you see the TEXT SETTINGS text and edit the relevant code below that line.

To change the actual font used by the game, you will first need to copy the relevant font file into the fonts folder for your skin and then change the font name in the settings file.

To edit the game colours

The colour settings for each skin are now controlled by the <SKIN_NAME> settings.xml file located inside the settings folder.

For the Base2010 skin this is the ‘\base2010\settings\base2010 settings.xml’ file

For the Base2010 Dark skin this is the ‘\base2010 dark\settings\base2010 dark settings.xml’ file

For the Base2009 skin this is the '\base2009\settings\base2009 settings.xml' file

For the Right Sided Base2009 skin this is the '\base2009r\settings\base2009r settings.xml' file

For the base skins I have copied in the relevant coding for you to change the various colours used by the skin – you just need to open the <SKIN_NAME> settings.xml file and locate the relevant line for the colour setting you wish to change – the colour names and comments should explain what the majority of the colours control.

The colours are declared in RGB values, that range from 0-255 where Red=255 Green=255 Blue=255 is white and Red=0 Green=0 Blue=0 is black.

To locate the RGB value of a colour you want to use you can either use a image editing program to obtain the RGB Value of the colour or type rgb values into google and it will bring up several websites that list the RGB Values for various colours.

Various examples for Custom Attribute Colours Thread

To edit the Attribute Threshold

To edit the Attribute thresholds you need to edit the ‘player attributes panel.xml’ (for players) and ‘non player profile.xml’ (non-players) files that I have included in the panels folder for each of the base skins.

The code you need to change is this, which should appear at the top of the file:

<!-- attribute colouring -->

<integer id="exca" value="16" />

<!-- excellent threshold -->

<integer id="excn" value="11" />

<!-- normal threshold -->

<integer id="excl" value="6" />

<!-- low threshold -->

For your changes to take affect

If you have made any changes to the base skins (colours, fonts, graphics) to get your changes to show you’ll need to go into the Preferences -> Display & Sound Menu and untick ‘Use Skin Cache’ if it is ticked and then tick ‘Always Reload Skin On Confirm’ then click confirm and your changes should be applied.

UPDATE:

- Added FM2009 style base skins for Steam users.

- Checked to make sure original base skins work fine with patch 10.2

Thanks for these, they are a lot easier to use than using the Resource Archiver to extract them and have all the different folders!

I've changed the attribute values, colours and font. But one thing I can't change the font of is the title, where it says my team name.

Everything else has changed to Comic Sans, but the title stays as the default 'vera'.

The code is

	<!-- default title text settings -->
<flags id="title_font" value="fonts/comic" />
<integer id="title_style" value="semi_bold" />
<integer id="title_size_large" value="16" />
<integer id="title_size_normal" value="15" />
<integer id="title_size_small" value="11" />

What would I have to do to change the title font?

Cheers

Looks like the font for that text is still controlled by the titlebar.xml file, you'll need to extract it from the skins.fmf file for the fm2010 or dark skin, depending on which one you are using and then edit this line:

<!-- title area -->

<widget class="text" id="sect" alignment="left,top" size="14" font="fonts/verabd" multiline="false" auto_size="horizontal">

Looks like the match header and scoreboard fonts are still controlled by the match title bar.xml file aswell - so you'll need to extract that file aswell if you want to change the match screen fonts.

Thank you, changed it to

<!-- title area -->

<widget class="text" id="sect" alignment="left,top" size="14" font="fonts/comicbd" multiline="false" auto_size="horizontal">

and it now works - cheers

Can you upload it on a different place please?

Thanks.

I've added an alternative download link to the opening post.

right now i changing my skin , but loading is too long

The colours are declared in RGB values, that range from 0-255 where Red=255 Green=255 Blue=255 is white and Red=0 Green=0 Blue=0 is black.

To locate the RGB value of a colour you want to use you can either use a image editing program to obtain the RGB Value of the colour or type rgb values into google and it will bring up several websites that list the RGB Values for various colours.

Or, easier, you can open Paint -> Colours -> Modify colours -> Custom colours

Thanks for the skins & guide. Really helpful

The code you need to change is this, which should appear at the top of the file:

<!-- attribute colouring -->

<integer id="exca" value="16" /> <!-- excellent threshold -->

<integer id="excn" value="11" /> <!-- normal threshold -->

<integer id="excl" value="6" /> <!-- low threshold -->

In the game, there are 4 different colours. Why only 3 "levels" in your file ? How can i change it back to 4 ?

There has only ever been three thresholds, three thresholds = four levels.

The default levels are:

1-5

6-10

11-15

16-20

Changing the low threshold to say 8 will give you:

1-7

8-10

11-15

16-20

etc...

pls help , i trying to replace attribute colors and add some background but it won't work .

I do like i read in this topic but when i apply my changes in game , nothing happend , background stay default , and attribute colors too.

anyone know what is problem ?

There has only ever been three thresholds, three thresholds = four levels.

The default levels are:

1-5

6-10

11-15

16-20

Changing the low threshold to say 8 will give you:

1-7

8-10

11-15

16-20

etc...

Oooooh, i see. Thanks mate

Hi Michael.

Last time for FM09, you kindly helped me learn how to make my transparent skin, so I could use my backgrounds.

Could you please tell me which areas I need to edit this time for FM2010 to make my main UI screens transparent?

Thank you for your time, much appreciated as always.

Benn.

SI : Thank you complicate the task of skinmakers with "tables/heading" folder again. Two hours of lost for nothing. Please do something next time. Thanks

Ignore... I didnt read the full title.

Hi Guys.

What is value to make the attributes to have the same colors as is on FM07?

Michael,

Great info!

I have edited the threshold levels from 16 to 15, 11 to 10, and 6 to 5. They appear fine in the player and non-player screens, however when I go to player comparison screen they are back to their original levels (16 for excellent, 11 for medium etc.).. Nothing biggie, but being the obsessive-compulsive person I am, I find it distracting Any ways to fix this?

Thank you!

Looks like you also need to edit the 'player comparison.xml' file from the panels folder to edit the attributes on the comparison screen - you'll need to extract the panels.fmf file included with the demo or full game if you have it yet, and copy the above file into the panels folder for your skin, and edit it like you did with the other files.

Looks like you also need to edit the 'player comparison.xml' file from the panels folder to edit the attributes on the comparison screen - you'll need to extract the panels.fmf file included with the demo or full game if you have it yet, and copy the above file into the panels folder for your skin, and edit it like you did with the other files.

When editing font, can someone tell me which line specifically refers to the attribute numbers in player profiles?

Thanks.

It's the first block of coding in the settings file under the comment profile attribute colours:

<!-- profile attribute colours -->

<colour name="low attribute" red="55" green="64" blue="71" alpha="100"/>

<colour name="normal attribute" red="55" green="64" blue="71" alpha="200"/>

<colour name="good attribute" red="52" green="88" blue="168" />

<colour name="excellent attribute" red="19" green="40" blue="87" />

<colour name="special attribute" red="55" green="64" blue="71" />

<colour name="attribute label" red="55" green="64" blue="71" />

<colour name="special attribute label" red="55" green="64" blue="71" />

is there a .psd file of fm10 dark skin?

Looks like the font for that text is still controlled by the titlebar.xml file, you'll need to extract it from the skins.fmf file for the fm2010 or dark skin, depending on which one you are using and then edit this line:

Sorry for sounding daft, where is the skins.fmf file, and once i find it, how do i extract it?

Thanks

You need to use the Resource Archiver Tool that is installed in the Tools folder of the folder where you installed FM2010 (There's a pdf in the folder with full instructions on how to use it).

You then use the Resource tool to extract the skins.fmf file from the data folder of where you installed FM2010. (DO NOT extract the skins.fmf file into a location used by FM2010)

Then you need to go to the skins/fm2010/panels (or skins/fm2010 dark/panels) folder and copy the titlebar.xml file to the panels folder for the skin you are using.

ive put the comic sans font file into skins/base2010/fonts, but when i start the game, it says that it cant find the resource fonts/comicbd.

this is after ive changed the font in the main settings.xml file. the rest of the writing is in comic sans, but now, instead of the title being in vera, there's nothing there

Make suire the font name in the xml exactly matches the name of the font you have copied into the fonts folder - the font it cannot find is comicbd so make sure you have a font called that in your fonts folder or change the filename in the settings folder.

finally got it working, thanks a lot for your help!!

How do I add a .jpg file as a background? I'm new to this and have no idea where to start.

The file is: http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7813/defaultqa.jpg

Cheers Michael.

Hi, i'm very nearly there..

I've downloaded the Base skins, and have the base2010 dark settings.xml open in front of me, but i cannot edit any of the values for the attribute colours.

The first line i have is:

<colour name="low attribute" red="255" green="255" blue="255" alpha="100" />

So i click on the first value, 255, but cannot change it. Typing does nothing...

Help!

You need to open the xml files in notepad not your web browser.

You need to open the xml files in notepad not your web browser.

Awesome, thank you.

(That wasn't in the walkthrough )

I have question.

Firstly does this Base Skin has the Kits on match screen and logos on the headers?

Also I tried the rotated logos working on Fm10 but small issues, some small clubs logo appear the stadard instead of small rotated logo. But on the header the logos appear too small (Fm10 has the FM08 syndrome of rotated logos). How can I make it bigger on the base skin?

Also the kits personally feel that is also too small, where I can resize it?

Thanks for your time.

Cheers

i dont have bg logos all i see is the default bg logos how can i get my club bg logo too show instead of default one

Whats the point of telling people how to change fonts if you don't also tell them how to re-adjust the column widths so that they fit in properly. May aswell remove that part of the sticky as its pointless

Michael,

I do not have folders within my documents/skins for base skin and base skin dark and hence no xml file.

I am also warming to the vitreous skin. I have an xml file for this skin within my documents but the xml file is very short and has nothing to do with attribute colours in it. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You need to download the above files.

Any difference between demo and full game skins?

No the demo, retail and patch 10.1 files are the same (just need to update the screenshots when I get a chance).

You need to use the Resource Archiver Tool that is installed in the Tools folder of the folder where you installed FM2010 (There's a pdf in the folder with full instructions on how to use it).

You then use the Resource tool to extract the skins.fmf file from the data folder of where you installed FM2010. (DO NOT extract the skins.fmf file into a location used by FM2010)

Then you need to go to the skins/fm2010/panels (or skins/fm2010 dark/panels) folder and copy the titlebar.xml file to the panels folder for the skin you are using.

I tried doing this, but I can only find the titlebar.xml for the fm2010 skin. The fm2010 dark skin doesn't have the titlebar.xml in the panels folder. The only file in the folder is the edit bookmarks.xml.

Any helpful hints anyone?!

It'll use the file from the fm2010 skin - The dark skin inherits files and graphics from the normal skin to save duplicating the files, the only files that'll be in the fm2010 dark skin folders will be files that are different to those used by the default light skin. (Some of the files can also be hidden away within the widgets skins and the other skins in the skins.fmf file).

hi all, im obviously doing something wrong

when i open the skins folder nothing is there, im assuming ive got to download a skin? but i like the current original skin hjust want to change the attribute colours any ideas

thanks

p.s where can i download new skins from

Luke

Hi to all,i have a question and i don't want to open a new thread.If somebody could answer me,i would really appreciate it.Is there some skin,or settings that make going through the game menu screens more responsive?If there is a way,i would like to know how can i do it.Is there some skin for FM that is more Championship Manager looking,less robotic than FM's.FM's interface looks much tougher to get used to,while CM's is simpler although CM is very very old game.Thanks in advance!!

How would i go about editing the various headers like Mental Attributes, Techniccal Attributes etc on the Player Profile page? Causing me some problems at the moment, it's the only thing i can't seem to get my head around!

I've updated the opening post to reflect the fact that the base skins work fine with the full game (plus patch 10.2) - if you already have them you don't need to redownload them.

I've also uploaded base skins for the fm2009 style skin, (both left and right versions are in the file) - instructions to use and edit are the same as the other base skins. Download link is in the opening post.

The fm2009 style base skins will only work if you are using Steam and have applied patch 10.2 (i.e already have access to the default FM2009 skin) the download DOES NOT add the FM2009 skin to non-Steam versions of the game, if you download them whilst not using Steam you will crash the game.

Thanks Michael - do you know the code to enable backgrounds? I have the base2010 dark skin and the only thing I want to change is that my backgrounds show.

I am basically looking for the Base2010 Dark layout exactly as it is, but instead of the permanent grey background I'd like my own stadium backgrounds to show, which the Dominion skin let's you have....

If this is do-able, do you know how I can do this?

Somehow I'm not able to change the font in the titlebar (manager name, team name etc.) to bold or change the font size.

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Agree. I like default skin, but the only thing I want to add is to make background images visible for different competitions (Champ League, Europa League, etc.) In what xml file changes must be made? Please answer. Thanks in advance

where do i get the program to create a skin please