Football Manager 2013 Base Skins

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Base Skins for Football Manager 2013

[if you are still using FM2012 see this thread: Football Manager 2012 Base Skins]

As with Football Manager 2012 for you to make certain changes in Football Manager 2013 you need to create a new skin.

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.

There are currently Three Base Skins to download:

Base 2013 Skin - This is the Default Base Skin and is identical in appearance to the Default FM2013 Skin.

**NEW Dark Base 2013 Skin - This is the Dark Base Skin and is identical in appearance to the Dark FM2013 Skin.**

Base FMC2013 Skin - This is the Default Base Skin for the new Football Manager Classic Mode (FMC mode) and is identical in appearance to the FMC Skin.

While FMC is a new mode for FM2013 skinning wise it seems to be done the same as previous skins you just need to use and edit the Base FMC Skin.

This year I have again included to make things easier for people:

- All the files included in the Default FM2013 Skins Folder.

- The Default Fonts for the FM2013 skin.

- Some commonly edited files. (Though not for the FMC skin)

Note that I won't be doing Base Skins for Background Changes this year as the skins are different from previous ones, and to see the background you need to edit pretty much all of the box files rather than just a handful of files, which won't really make it a base skin.

Change Log:

v2.0 03/03/13 13:58 GMT - updated files to that of patch 13.2.0 and released Dark Base Skin.

v1.3 27/11/12 16:50 GMT - updated files of both skins for verions 13.1.3 of FM13, Base2013 skin now includes support for background changes. I've also included a config file that should stop people having problems with the colours going wrong.

v.1.10 02/11/12 13:33 GMT - updated files of both skins for release version of FM (13.10) Download links remain the same.

Instructions:

When you extract the file you have have downloaded you should have one folder called base2013 (or base_fmc2013 for the FMC Skin) and two files one called readme.txt and another called config.xml.

Now copy the folder base2013 (base_fmc2013) and the config.xml file into your skins folder within your User Data Folder, by default this is:

For the Demo:

\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013 Demo\skins\

For the full game:

\My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013\skins\

If you already have a config file in the folder then you can ignore the one included with the downloads.

If you cannot find your User Data folder, load up the game and go into the Preferences -> Saving Screen, at the top of the screen should be a section headed 'Your Game's Files', 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. (If a skins folder doesn't exist create one)

For example my User Data location is: F:\Michael\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013 Demo\ 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:

And inside the base2013 you should have the following folders:

When you load the game up if the skin cache is off any skins in the above folder should appear in the skins menu like the below image NOTE That FMC skins will only appear when you are playing the FMC mode and normal skins will only appear when playing the normal mode:

If the skin cache is on you'll need to turn it off, exit the Preferences menu and re-enter it and any new skins should appear, if not tick 'Always Reload Skin on Confirm' and change skins, click confirm and go back in and your skin should appear.

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 2013\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\icons\stars\gold

Silver Stars:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013\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 2013\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\pitch\balls\

Popups:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\pitch\popup\

Nets:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\pitch\nets\

Player Icons:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013\skins\<SKIN_NAME>\graphics\pitch\icons\kit\

For example if you were previously using the default FM13 skin and wanted to add some new 2D balls to the game you would add them to:

My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013\skins\base2013\graphics\pitch\balls\

And select the Base 2011 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 again controlled by the <SKIN_NAME> settings.xml file located inside the settings folder.

For the Base 2013 Skin this is the ‘\base2011\settings\base2013 settings.xml’ file

For the Base FMC2013 Skin this is the ‘\base2011bg\settings\base_fmc2013 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.

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

For the Base 2013 Skin this is the ‘\base2011\settings\base2013 settings.xml’ file

For the Base FMC2013 Skin this is the ‘\base2011bg\settings\base_fmc2013 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.

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 -> Interface Menu and untick 'Use Caching' if it is ticked and then tick 'Reload Skin when confirming' then click confirm (or reload skin) and your changes should be applied.

DOWNLOAD PAGE FOR FM2013 BASE SKINS

ALT DOWNLOAD PAGE

(Each link contains links to all downloads)

You are free to do what you want with these Base Skins provided:

1. You don't advertise them as being exclusive to your website.

2. At least one of the download links is free to access and download.

[The Threadstarter]

Thank you. Can you (or anyone else) tell me which font size is allocated to the names that are hovering above players ingame (during 3d match)?

I wanna increase it.

[Super Bladesman]

Do fonts have to be *.otf format? I have tried adding in Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk BE Light.ttf, for example, and it won't work...

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Shouldn't need to, though it looks like in the various xml files the font is referenced as font.otf rather than just font, if you are using a ttf font renaming the font in the xml files to font.ttf seems to work.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Thank you. Can you (or anyone else) tell me which font size is allocated to the names that are hovering above players ingame (during 3d match)?

I wanna increase it.

The font used on the 3D players during a match isn't user editable.

[The Threadstarter]

I see, thanks for reply.

[Super Bladesman]

Shouldn't need to, though it looks like in the various xml files the font is referenced as font.otf rather than just font, if you are using a ttf font renaming the font in the xml files to font.ttf seems to work.

Ah OK, I didn't realise I had to go through every xml file...

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Ah OK, I didn't realise I had to go through every xml file...

It looks like you should just have to go through the xml files in the fonts folder in FM13 instead of having to search through random xml files like in the past.

[cemendur88]

Do these downloads contain all the files used by both skins, looking through some of the panel .xml files in the FM base skin, looks like some of them reference file names that don't seem to exist.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

No they only include the files that are included inside the FM2013 Skin (or FMC2013 Skin) folders, the rest of the files are located with the game files that'll you'll need to extract yourself from the various fmf files (instructions on how to extract the files are in this thread - its for fm2010 but the instructions are the same you just need to change the 2010's to 2013's, and you'll need to download the FM12 Resource Tool instructions on where to get it are here.

[Chicha_14]

Any plans to release a dark one of these michael?

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Dark Skins may be added at a later date if an official one is released

[Silverx]

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 -->

It doesn't look like editing this code is actually working - I've changed the excellent threshold from 16 to 15 but 15 is still not showing up as excellent. I've deleted cache/reloaded with no success. Has the code for this changed this year perhaps, or is there something else I might be missing?

[michaeltmurrayuk]

It doesn't look like editing this code is actually working - I've changed the excellent threshold from 16 to 15 but 15 is still not showing up as excellent. I've deleted cache/reloaded with no success. Has the code for this changed this year perhaps, or is there something else I might be missing?

It only seems to be working for the FMC mode for some reason.

[Silverx]

Do you believe it's a bug in that case?

[mortiis7]

''Note that I won't be doing Base Skins for Background Changes this year as the skins are different from previous ones, and to see the background you need to edit pretty much all of the box files rather than just a handful of files, which won't really make it a base skin.''

is that that big problem or?

game is just not the same without background pictures...they give game a whole new dimenson ...i just hope someone will make this when full game comes out

[Dutch Guy]

Can you make the logo's instead of kits show up in the match screen avaiable? And how do I do that again. I know I had to extract something from the resource archiver and edit some lines in those files?

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Base skins have been updated with code from release version of the game (13.10)

Base2013 - menubar.xml and non player profile.xml files have been updated, if you are not planning on editing them I reccommend just deleting the two files from the panels folder (or you can redownload the skin).

Base_fmc2013 - I recommend redownloading as various files have changed.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Can you make the logo's instead of kits show up in the match screen avaiable? And how do I do that again. I know I had to extract something from the resource archiver and edit some lines in those files?

Download this file (make sure it keeps the name 'match incidents small.xml') and put it into the panels folder for the base skin (or the skin you are using), note this will only show the logos on the splitview overview screen rather than kits as as neither currently show on the other overview screens.

[Dutch Guy]

Thanks mate

[cachirro]

does anyone knows how to change the squad view background color to the same as in the FMC version?

in fmc when on your squad list, the background is kind of white, and in regular fm is way darker, making it hard to see.

[martyyyyy]

Still no idea how to fix the attribute threshold??

[michaeltmurrayuk]

It can only be fixed by SI as the game isn't currently taking the values from the xml files unless you are in the FMC mode.

[Mintah]

It can only be fixed by SI as the game isn't currently taking the values from the xml files unless you are in the FMC mode.

Hopefully this is fixed sooner rather than later. It is a minor thing, but having the thresholds at 11 and 16 instead of 10 and 15 bugs the hell out of me for some reason.

[Dutch Guy]

Download this file (make sure it keeps the name 'match incidents small.xml') and put it into the panels folder for the base skin (or the skin you are using), note this will only show the logos on the splitview overview screen rather than kits as as neither currently show on the other overview screens.

Hi michael. I don't believe it's working. I placed your file in the panels folder of the base skin, but it's not working, see:

I believe last year I used an edited match incidents.xml as well next to the match incidents small.xml

[Dutch Guy]

Never mind, problem solved. Forgot to select the downloaded base skin in the menu

[cachirro]

thanks for the great skin.

can anyone please tell me what changes to make in order to change the main squad view background?

it has a darkish bgn, and i wanted it to be white like the rest of the skin, and like in news background, it shows a whitish color that makes it easier to read. thanks.

it seems to exist some kind of layer, that covers the players list in a darker background then the rest of the screen content.

[Mintah]

It can only be fixed by SI as the game isn't currently taking the values from the xml files unless you are in the FMC mode.

Has this been fixed in the new update?

[Silverx]

Nope! Still doesn't work.

[Mintah]

Nope! Still doesn't work.

Given that it works for the FMC skin and worked in FM12, you would think that it would be a very easy fix to implement.

[Alexpuk2002]

Any chance of you creating another base skin now SI have fixed the backgrounds showing up after the latest patch. Works ok in the default skin but looks like it could be made better

[matthewKett]

Can someone tell me what part of the config in the base skins folder I'll have to edit to make the grey(ish) colour on the Squad screen.

I've attached a pic and highlighted the section to further explain what I'm referring to.

Thanks

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Can someone tell me what part of the config in the base skins folder I'll have to edit to make the grey(ish) colour on the Squad screen.

I've attached a pic and highlighted the section to further explain what I'm referring to.

Thanks

They are contolled by the graphics in the following locations (depending on the selected status of the player):

\skins\fm2013-widgets\graphics\table\row

\skins\fm2013-widgets\graphics\table\custom\lineup\subs\row

\skins\fm2013-widgets\graphics\table\custom\lineup\outside squad\row

Which you'll need to extract from the skins.fmf file and copy into the same location for the base skin and then edit.

Though if you just want them all to appear as one of the default row colours then you just need to edit these lines in the 'team squad.xml' file located in the panels folder:

<!-- Starting XI Styles -->

<flags id="stxi" value="table/row"/>

<!-- Subs Styles -->

<flags id="subs" value="table/custom/lineup/subs/row"/>

<!-- Sent off Styles -->

<flags id="soff" value="table/custom/red/row"/>

<!-- Not in squad Styles -->

<flags id="nisq" value="table/custom/lineup/outside squad/row"/>

Changing the bolded bits to which of the four graphics you want to use.

[matthewKett]

Great. Thanks for your help.

[cachirro]

thanks for the tip, i hated that background color, so i've replaced those 3 folders by the FMC versions, now the screen is readable again.

[Alexpuk2002]

Will you be updating your Base Skins now that the background pictures show up??

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Base Skins have been updated for patch 13.1.3 (links in opening post) so they should now support background changes like the default skins, I've also included a config file which should hopefully solve the problem some people are having with the text colours going crazy, just copy the config.xml file into the skins folder, if you already have a config file in there then you can ignore this file.

[rmfarey]

Hi,

I have downloaded the base skin to make some amendments.

But once selected non of the logos and player pictures are now appearing. It must be something simple i'm missing. But any help would be a great help.

Many thanks!

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Try clearing the skin cache and also make sure you have installed the graphics into the correct place.

[rmfarey]

Thanks for replying.

The graphics were working, so I haven't changed the location but once I put the base skin on they stopped working. I have deleted it now and gone back to the skin on the game and the Cut outs and club badges still aren't showing. I have tried clearing the skin cache and still no luck

[michaeltmurrayuk]

Make sure you have installed the graphics in the correct place: FM 2011 Graphics & Skin Installation Guide

[rmfarey]

I have somehow fixed it. I didn't move then graphics as they were working before ok. Dunno what happened.

Thanks for your time.

[lobbyrhino]

Hi michael. I don't believe it's working. I placed your file in the panels folder of the base skin, but it's not working, see:

I believe last year I used an edited match incidents.xml as well next to the match incidents small.xml

i want mine to look like that pic with the panels black i am using alavanja 13 universal skin and its transparent iand i dont like it anyone ideas pal

[lobbyrhino]

hi how do i change the background in teamtalk and the panels in match highlights to black because i am using the alavanja 13 universal and there transparent and i where glasses and making my eyes hurt please help me cheers

[lobbyrhino]

They are contolled by the graphics in the following locations (depending on the selected status of the player):

\skins\fm2013-widgets\graphics\table\row

\skins\fm2013-widgets\graphics\table\custom\lineup\subs\row

\skins\fm2013-widgets\graphics\table\custom\lineup\outside squad\row

Which you'll need to extract from the skins.fmf file and copy into the same location for the base skin and then edit.

Though if you just want them all to appear as one of the default row colours then you just need to edit these lines in the 'team squad.xml' file located in the panels folder:

<!-- Starting XI Styles -->

<flags id="stxi" value="table/row"/>

<!-- Subs Styles -->

<flags id="subs" value="table/custom/lineup/subs/row"/>

<!-- Sent off Styles -->

<flags id="soff" value="table/custom/red/row"/>

<!-- Not in squad Styles -->

<flags id="nisq" value="table/custom/lineup/outside squad/row"/>

Changing the bolded bits to which of the four graphics you want to use.

hi how do i change the background in teamtalk and the panels in match highlights to black because i am using the alavanja 13 universal and there transparent and i where glasses and making my eyes hurt please help me cheers

[The Threadstarter]

@michaelmurrayuk

out of the many colors I've been able to change, one set remains the same. What do you have to edit to change the colour of "Inbox- number of messages" headline, also news headline color (of the article you're reading on the right of the screen, when clicking on it), and the titles(players stats,league table, etc. whichever you choose..) above the brackets in the manager overview. They seem to be connected? (all the same colour) Havent been able to modify and I did a lot of trial and error. Thanks.

[therealdoug]

Is there a base skin for 13.2? I just updated to 13.2 and I'm using the 13.1.3 base FMC skin. Unfortunately, there's a problem with viewing player attributes: http://i49.tinypic.com/2v9vuz4.png

[murray]

@michaelmurrayuk

out of the many colors I've been able to change, one set remains the same. What do you have to edit to change the colour of "Inbox- number of messages" headline, also news headline color (of the article you're reading on the right of the screen, when clicking on it), and the titles(players stats,league table, etc. whichever you choose..) above the brackets in the manager overview. They seem to be connected? (all the same colour) Havent been able to modify and I did a lot of trial and error. Thanks.

This isn't in the settings files, you need to change the "panel title" file in the fonts folder. As it has a gradient, you may need to edit both upper and lower parts of this as shown in the file.

[Q.P.R]

Is there a base skin for 13.2? I just updated to 13.2 and I'm using the 13.1.3 base FMC skin. Unfortunately, there's a problem with viewing player attributes: http://i49.tinypic.com/2v9vuz4.png

I have this too with the base skin .. on FMC it is all wrong .. please someone delet from the opening post .. the FMC Base skin is not working after the new patch

[The Threadstarter]

This isn't in the settings files, you need to change the "panel title" file in the fonts folder. As it has a gradient, you may need to edit both upper and lower parts of this as shown in the file.

yes, thank you, I have figured it out after some more trial and error. After some resarch i found also this has changed since fm 12 which when this was controlled by title in skin settings.xml