[FM22] Early Access Beta Skinning & Graphics Information

[michaeltmurrayuk]

With the FM22 Early Access Beta now out this thread will contain important information regarding Skinning and Graphics in FM2022.

This thread will mainly cover any changes or issues that may arise from the Beta and will be slowly updated as information arises.

Though for the most part it looks like most of the information from previous versions will still apply to FM22 unless otherwise stated so in the meantime you can still check out the older threads.

Whilst if you need technical help then first check out the dedicated FAQ's provided by Sega and SI, if you have encountered a bug then please raise the issue for the new Bugs Tracker so it can be looked it and if you have any comments or suggestions about the changes made in FM21 then the best place to discuss them is in the General Discussion Forum as these are the most likely places that someone from Sports Interactive will see your comment.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

How To Locate Your User Data Location

Your User Data Location is where your game content (such as save games and exported tactics) are saved as well as the location to install custom graphics and skins.

The exact location will depend on the OS You are using.

Windows:

Your Default Location should generally be found within;

Documents\Sports Interactive\

MacOS

All your Football Manager game files can be found in the following location by default:

Users\[Your Mac Username]\Library\Application Support\Sports Interactive\

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’

 

Then in both cases you should have a sub folder for each version of Football Manager you have run, with the game creating the default files on first run of the game, so it is generally a good idea to run the game at least once before trying to access these locations.

Also the above locations will be the same regardless of whether you are using the Steam or Epic versions of the game, and whilst the Game Pass and Microsoft Store versions do use a slightly different folder it is still within those locations so you should be able to easily find it.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Changes to Graphics

I haven't had a chance to check the changes in FM22 yet, but normally;

2D items such as kits, faces, logos and trophies should all be reusable from previous versions, though some ids might need updating and for kits third kits might need adding/removing.

3D Match items such as 3D Kits, Adboards, match balls, player kits might work but sometimes need updating, if you are replacing game files then back them up first to save you having to re-download the game.

And as always skins from previous versions will not work in the new game. Whilst skin related mods might but it depends on whether the underlying code has changed, you can try these but for full compatibility you'll have to wait until the full release of the game as the code may change between now and release.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

How To Extract The FMF Files

The FM22 Resource Archiver Tool won't be released until after the full game is out on November 9th.

However it looks like (at the moment at least) you can use the FM21 Resource Tool to extract the FM22 files.

Though as always I advise caution when working with the Beta files as things may change between now and the full release.

NOTE: To use the Resource Archiver you also need to have the version of Football Manager for that release still installed, so to use the FM21 Resource Archiver Tool you need to still have FM21 installed, in addition if you have multiple steam library locations set you may need to install them both to the same location.

Edited November 5, 2021 by michaeltmurrayuk
added note about needing FM installed

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Competition Specific Match Balls

Not new, but worth repeating for anyone who missed FM21, but we can now have competition specific match balls.

I'll throw up a proper guide when I get a chance but for now the config xml entry looks like this:

<record from="<FILE_NAME>" to="graphics/pictures/balls/<COMP_ID>/default"/>

<record from="<FILE_NAME>" to="graphics/pictures/balls/<COMP_ID>/winter"/>

Graphics look to be just a plain png with 1024x1024 resolution.

The default licensed ball graphics can be found in the graphics\pictures\balls folder after you have extracted the graphics fmf file so you can use them as a reference point for creating new balls.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Transfer Values Showing Up as Zero

This issue is because the coding for the Transfer Value has changed in FM22, however this only becomes an issue if you are re-using files from older versions of FM.

The easiest way to solve this issue is to ensure you instead create or update your item to use the FM22 version of the file in question.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

An Easy Method to Hide the Attribute Values

In recent years it has become more popular to play the game without attribute values, so if this interests you then check out this guide by @keysi which gives you a quick method to remove them for nearly all skins: