[FM17] [RELEASED] Hide/Remove CA & PA star ratings and reference to CA & PA in skin - Download mod

[OUFC]

I have created a small mod to remove/hide any reference to CA or PA within the default skin. 

 

DOWNLOAD LINK [1732 FINAL]: https://www.mediafire.com/file/ygh4gmvbqu1si4w/data.rar/file

DOWNLOAD LINK [1730 BASIC]: https://www.mediafire.com/?mainrtfa88wkjit

 

I had found myself mindlessly focusing on star ratings regardless of performance and scouring the globe for 5-star potential players. Using this mod removes any reference to Current Ability or Potential Ability from the game.

 

I'd love for some people to try it out (and ideally try and 'break' it by finding areas where it is still possible to sort or view PA or CA) and let me know what you think. More than happy to answer questions too and of course, anything I've missed I will update and re-upload.

 

After downloading the file, unzip the data folder (which contains a sub-folder called 'updates'). There's a readme with instructions contained within, but in essence all you do is drop the main folder (called 'data') at the following location, or the equivalent location on your computer: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Football Manager 2017

 

You may need to clear your User AppData, sometimes called the cache, to ensure the mod is loaded. C:\Users\<USER_NAME>\AppData\Local\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2017

 

NOTE: PLEASE CREATE A BACKUP OF YOUR EXISTING DATA FOLDER FIRST! 

EDIT: Link updated, a few more screens/sections I'd missed the first time around now hidden. 

 

To complete the mod, you will need to make a small adjustment within your saved game too. In the screenshot below you can see the three categories you will need to disable in your backroom advice topics. To reach this screen navigate to Staff>Responsibilities>Backroom Advice. Then left-click the 'Player Development' topic. That will bring up the tickboxes below. Simply untick all six boxes for 'Potential Ability Changes', 'High Potential Players' and 'Current Ability Changes'. This will ensure your backroom advice doesn't reference CA or PA in any way.

 

NOTE: If you are having trouble getting the mod to fully work, please read the rest of the thread for troubleshooting. In particular have a look at the following post: 

 

Edited May 29, 2020 by OUFC
Added final download link/added extra info on install etc

[Galeg]

Do you hide the attributes as well?

[OUFC]

Nope, just CA and PA with this one. 

[Galeg]

47 minutes ago, OUFC said:

Nope, just CA and PA with this one. 

 

Ah, OK. I'm not sure which way would be more fun. Attributes and no CA and PA or the other way around. Or some combination.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Galeg

[OUFC]

If you wanted to hide attributes a bit more in combination with this, you could use visual attributes instead? It's a preference in the game settings. Hiding them completely involves editing xml panel files. 

[Galeg]

15 hours ago, OUFC said:

If you wanted to hide attributes a bit more in combination with this, you could use visual attributes instead? It's a preference in the game settings. Hiding them completely involves editing xml panel files. 

Yeah, I experimented with that once before. I couldn't get all of them and gave up. I think I'll give this a try though as I never considered hiding the CA and PA.

[d_alaka]

Is this working for fm 20?

 

[OUFC]

Hi, afraid this won't work on fm20. I'm actually enjoying playing with this mod so much I'm still playing Fm17 as a result! 

 

No plans at the moment to move to the latest version, but wouldn't want to go back to playing with CA and PA so visible. 

[d_alaka]

55 minutes ago, OUFC said:

Hi, afraid this won't work on fm20. I'm actually enjoying playing with this mod so much I'm still playing Fm17 as a result! 

 

No plans at the moment to move to the latest version, but wouldn't want to go back to playing with CA and PA so visible. 

 I've been trying to get it to work for fm 20, really want this mod, do you know any alternatives for fm20? I don't have fm17 unforunately.

[wkdsoul]

4 minutes ago, d_alaka said:

 I've been trying to get it to work for fm 20, really want this mod, do you know any alternatives for fm20? I don't have fm17 unforunately.

Just resave the icons in the star ratings folder as blank .png files

[d_alaka]

YA BEAUTAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!! It's worked! cheers wkdsoul, saved my fm save! 

[niklas88]

I modded a skin for FM20 by removing all references i could find to CA/PA.

It takes some time so I chose the skin that I liked the most and removed it everywhere I could.
And if I find CA/PA somwhere when playing i just remove it.

This should absolutely be an option out of the box. Makes the game much more enjoyable and I would never play without it.

One question though, how do you remove the squad comparison table on the coach report screen?
I can't find it in any file.
Another thought, in your screenshot of Mata, are the two empty fields referencing CA/PA?
If it is you kinda know they are great since they are sorted, maybe no other way around it though..

Edited May 15, 2020 by niklas88
added a question

[USASoundersFan]

Can you help me? I can't figure out how to install this. I've tried everything, including completely uninstalling FM17 from my computer as well as clearing out the AppData folder. Nothing works. The star ratings are still there, and I don't know what else to try.

I also don't know how to "resave the icons in the star ratings folder as blank .png files" as was suggested by wkdsoul for those playing 20. Where is the star ratings folder?

For what it's worth, it seems to be partially working as some players have blank spaces under their "pros" and "cons" under reports. But the star ratings are still there.

I wanted to start a 17 game and was thinking of how I didn't like how some attributes are highlighted for players and coaches, but that's an easy fix. Then I started thinking how great it would be to remove the star ratings too, found your thread, and here I am.

[OUFC]

Hi, as you say, sounds like it's mostly worked if the pros and cons have gaps in now. Sounds like the issue is with the star images only? 

 

Have you downloaded any other mods that affect star ratings? I'm wondering if there's a folder in your My Documents area, or similar, that might be taking precedent? 

 

I don't have my laptop to hand at the moment, so can't help with specific folder locations, so if anyone else has any ideas as well, please chip in. 

[USASoundersFan]

Thanks for responding.

Unfortunately, it's nothing in My Documents. I temporarily moved everything Football Manager 2017-related out of My Documents and then created a new save, and it was the same as before: star images showing with some missing pros and cons. (Is there something else related to this skin that I should check if it's working or not?)

Before, the only things that I had in My Documents were Editor changes that were solely text-based, only affecting the names of nations, clubs and competitions.

[OUFC]

OK, have just downloaded it again to have a look. My Readme is a little unclear actually, so can I confirm that you've dropped the unzipped Data folder in the correct place? It should overwrite the graphics.fmf and skins.fmf files as well as the panels.fmf, sections.fmf and skins.fmf files in 1730, 1731 and 1732 Updates folders. Maybe check you haven't dropped it one level higher or lower than intended.

 

If it's worked completely correctly then you shouldn't be able to see stars at all as they have been removed from the skin itself.

[USASoundersFan]

Let me make sure.

In Program Files (x86)-Steam-steamapps-common-Football Manager 2017-data, the three things that have been overwritten are graphics.fmf (date modified of July 8, 2017), panels.fmf (Sept. 10, 2017) and skins.fmf (June 9, 2017). All of the other files have a date modified of May 26, 2020, when I reinstalled FM17.

In the updates folder are three folders: update-1730, update-1731 and update 1732. In 1730 are panels.fmf (July 8, 2017) and sections.fmf (June 4, 2017). In 1731 are graphics.fmf (July 8, 2017) and update-1731 (July 8, 2017). In 1732 are graphics.fmf (Aug. 11, 2018) and panels.fmf (Aug. 11, 2018).

The only things in any of the folders at Documents-Sports Interactive-Football Manager 2017 is config in the editor data folder and a test game and config in the games folder.

[OUFC]

Hmmm, that sounds like everything has installed in the right way. They're the only files in the download so it should be working. 

 

What version number is your FM and what skin are you using? 

 

I am on 17.3.2 and the skin is 'Football Manager' 

[OUFC]

Would also be good if anyone else who's watching this thread would try install it themselves if they haven't already to see if it works for them. 

[USASoundersFan]

Same for me (17.3.2 and "Football Manager" skin).

Here's a screen shot.

[OUFC]

OK, try this:

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/xbnbnl1wt2abygp/panels.fmf/file

 

The only file I have updated on my own laptop since providing this download is the panels.fmf file from the Update-1730 folder.

 

Give this a go and let me know how you get on.

[USASoundersFan]

Okay, I went into the update-1730 folder and replaced the panels.fmf with the one that you sent me in your last post, cleared my cache and reloaded the skin, but nothing changed - still star images are showing and some pros and cons are blanked out.

Thanks so much for trying to figure this out. Should I use the resource archiver and dive into one or more of these fmf files? Or is there a simple way that I can erase the star ratings? Even if CA and PA are mentioned at times, it'd still be a major improvement to not ever see those star ratings filled out for anyone.

[OUFC]

OK, sorry, let's have one last go. I borrowed someone else's laptop and did a fresh install and then compared to my own. I think I've identified the culprit.

 

In the folder 'update-1732' you may have three files: graphics.fmf, panels.fmf, and then a config file called 'update-1732'. Can you delete this config file leaving just the two .fmf files, then clear your cache completely and reboot FM. You should find it now picks up the right .fmf files and the mod should fully work.

 

Let me know how you get on this time.

[USASoundersFan]

It worked!

Thanks so much for figuring out what the issue was. Much appreciated.

First, before I did your last suggestion, I decided to start everything from scratch again: completely uninstall FM17 and delete all connected folders everywhere and reinstall the game and redownload your files, including inserting your newest panels file in the relevant place. I then very carefully followed your instructions. (Before, part of what I did was replace the former "updates" folder with yours, which isn't exactly what you said to do.) However, after doing all of that, the star ratings were still showing.

At that point, I removed that update-1732 file, completely deleted everything related to FM17 in AppData and in My Documents that had been created over the past few minutes, got FM17 going again, and, this time, all of the star ratings are gone!

So, it was in fact that update-1732 file that was causing the issue.

[OUFC]

Brilliant! That's how it's meant to look, very glad it's working. 

 

Would be really good to hear from you in a few weeks time to see how you're enjoying using it. 

 

Hopefully this helps anyone else who tries to install this in future too. 

 

I'm still playing this version with this mod as I'm enjoying it so much. Don't think I could go back to playing without it, but don't think I've got the energy to remake it on a later version! Maybe one day. 

[OUFC]

For the record there is only one remaining reference to CA and PA in the game which is impossible to remove. It's a news item that you occasionally receive from your coaches telling you about a player's development and it references his development in reference to the league his ability is at e.g. "He is now a leading League One defender" etc. 

 

They're infrequent enough that it doesn't make a big difference, but you can also try to avoid reading them if you spot them in your inbox. 

[OUFC]

On 15/05/2020 at 09:06, niklas88 said:

I modded a skin for FM20 by removing all references i could find to CA/PA.

It takes some time so I chose the skin that I liked the most and removed it everywhere I could.
And if I find CA/PA somwhere when playing i just remove it.

This should absolutely be an option out of the box. Makes the game much more enjoyable and I would never play without it.

One question though, how do you remove the squad comparison table on the coach report screen?
I can't find it in any file.
Another thought, in your screenshot of Mata, are the two empty fields referencing CA/PA?
If it is you kinda know they are great since they are sorted, maybe no other way around it though..

Hi Niklas, 

 

Sorry I missed this post.

 

Afraid I can't remember how I removed the Squad Comparison stuff, it was very much trial and error at the time!

 

Regarding the screenshot of Mata, I deliberately removed more than just the CA and PA references. I removed some other aspects that I didn't think were particularly important, or that I personally wouldn't care that much about e.g. their ability to adapt to playing in a different country. I think I removed about ten of these altogether for exactly the reason you pointed out. That way if I only see blanks on one side, I still can't be sure what it might be referring to. 

[niklas88]

Decided to try and remove last pieces of CA/PA that i could not find earlier.
I found and removed the icons but how did you remove the text in the scouting pros and cons?

regards Niklas

[OUFC]

For this I had to edit the icon picture itself. So I elongated the width of the picture so that it obscures the text. Hope that makes sense. 

[niklas88]

Yes, i tried that yesterday.

Maybe i made it too narrow

Did you make it transparent and wider?

 

[CottageMong]

On 09/04/2020 at 04:51, wkdsoul said:

Just resave the icons in the star ratings folder as blank .png files

Can this work for fm21? And how to do it !

[CottageMong]

@wkdsoulwhere can i find the icon folder ? Or the star folder ?

[wkdsoul]

15 minutes ago, CottageMong said:

@wkdsoulwhere can i find the icon folder ? Or the star folder ?

oyu cant for 21, you'll have to wait for base skins to be released at launch. 

[Kegz1987]

On 08/04/2020 at 21:51, wkdsoul said:

Just resave the icons in the star ratings folder as blank .png files

How do you do this? I hate the stars

[Kegz1987]

On 15/05/2020 at 09:06, niklas88 said:

I modded a skin for FM20 by removing all references i could find to CA/PA.

It takes some time so I chose the skin that I liked the most and removed it everywhere I could.
And if I find CA/PA somwhere when playing i just remove it.

This should absolutely be an option out of the box. Makes the game much more enjoyable and I would never play without it.

One question though, how do you remove the squad comparison table on the coach report screen?
I can't find it in any file.
Another thought, in your screenshot of Mata, are the two empty fields referencing CA/PA?
If it is you kinda know they are great since they are sorted, maybe no other way around it though..

How do you do this? I'm trying on Fm21, thought I cracked it by changing all the colours in the stars the same but there's a outline and you can just make it out. I'd love to get rid of all reference. Totally agree this should be a option in preferences