New to Skinning etc - In preparartion for FM11, how to add Faces

[Connor]

I have recently got interested in trying to add player faces (facepacks) into my FM game and as a test for FM11, I have successfully done this on FM10.

What I am trying to prepare now for is FM11 and to understand what EXACTLY I will need to do to utilise that same facepack in the new FM11.

On FM10 I had to:

a) Download/Create and add a new Skin

b) Download and add the Facepack to that new skin (within the graphics folder if i recall correctly)

For FM11, would I need to?:

a) Download/Create a new skin

b) Copy facepack file into new skin's graphic folder for FM11

Thanks to confirm, as the below instruction guide I found in FAQ did not clarify whether I would need to Create/add a new skin, but appears to simply state I can copy facepack file to graphics folder)

FACES

These need to be added to a folder within your user data folder called 'graphics'. The folder may already be there or it may need to be created - do that if you need to. So for example in Windows XP it would be:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\graphics\

Simply drag your folder from or fmf file into the graphics folder. Faces need to be within the 'graphics' folder but it does not matter exactly where they are placed. You can organise things into sub-folders to keep your faces neat. For instance you could have a 'faces' sub folder within 'graphics'. Within that you might have sub folders for the different coutries, then within those the different leagues, and so on. Graphics you've downloaded are often already in some sort of order too.

One thing to watch out for when organising are files called config.xml. These are vital and should not be mixed and matched. A set of .png graphics will come with a config.xml 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.xml files are not added or overwritten into their folder.

If your graphics are .fmf format then you can still create sub folders and organise them how you wish.

[radestock]

You don't need to create a skin to add face graphics to.

Like the guide says you simply need to add them to a 'graphics' folder within your user data folder. It should be exactly the same process for FM11.

You can add faces to a skin and they'll work fine but they would only work with that specific skin. If you add them to a graphics folder in your user data folder then they work with ALL skins.

[Connor]

Hi Radestock

Thanks for your reply, sounds like it is very straightforward. So simply the process would be when I get FM11 installed would be:

* Copy my existing Facepack folder from FM10 folder

* Paste into a Graphics folder at: - C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2011\

Is that correct, will that then work?

[radestock]

Yeah, presuming there are not changes to how it works in FM11 (which are unlikely). Just need to make sure you untick 'use skin cache' in preferences and tick 'always reload on confirm' before pressing confirm.

[Octavianus[GER]]

I would recommend (instead of copying your files once again all over your HD) to set the 2010-folder as your new standard preset folder from FM11. Just an idea.

So the new (old) user folder would look like this for FM11:

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2010\

[radestock]

I wouldn't recommend that at all. The User Data Folder doesn't just contain graphics, it also contains all the other stuff (Old FM10 Tactics, Save Games etc) so just pointing FM11 at it isn't going to be a good idea. You'd be mixing the data together from both games which is just plain confusing. Keep things separate.

The point about copying files doesn't hold true either. If the user data folder for FM11 is on the same physical drive then if you cut and paste the graphics files across it'll be almost instantaneous. None of the data would move from it's physical location on the drive, just the links to it would be changed.

[Octavianus[GER]]

Okay. Cutting is an option if you don't want to play FM10 anymore. But what if you want to play both games?