Base Skins for Football Manager 2013
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.
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.
DOWNLOAD BASE 2013 SKIN
DOWNLOAD DARK BASE 2013 SKIN
DOWNLOAD BASE FMC2013 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)
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.
v.1.10 02/11/12 13:33 GMT - updated files of both skins for release version of FM (13.10)
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 a file called readme.txt.
Now copy the folder base2013 (base_fmc2013) 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 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.