This part of the guide will cover how to install skins, first note that skins will only work on the version of the game they are designed for, so FM21 skins will only work with FM21 not FM22 or FM20 for example.
After you have downloaded a file it will generally come in one of three formats: zip, rar or 7z file.
Zip files should be automatically supported by your OS and may show up as compressed folders, Rar and 7z files may require you to download some software to extract the files, the below software is recommended:
Windows: 7-Zip (Choose the most recent .exe)
MacOS: The Unarchiver
Linux: If you are using Linux hopefully you know how to download and locate programs for Linux already.
7-Zip is installed using the .exe you download, following the instructions on-screen. To install The Unarchiver simply double click on the .zip file you download from their website then drag the program it extracts (called 'The Unarchiver') into your apps folder.
Once installed, create a new folder somewhere you can keep track of (on your desktop for instance) and place your downloaded graphics zip, rar or 7z in it. Now we extract:
Windows: Right click on your zip, rar or 7z. Choose 7-Zip from the menu, then select 'Extract Here'.
MacOS X: Right click (or ctrl + click) on your zip, rar or 7z. Choose 'open with' then select 'The Unarchiver'.
Your file should extract and most probably create a folder in the same directory.
If you extracted an fmf file (or just straight downloaded one) this isn't a problem, these are just files that have been packed using the FM Resource Tool, and as an end user there is no need for you to mess around extracting these files, just think of these as the same as the folder you'd get from extracting the files.
Locating Your User Data Location
Once you have downloaded and extracted your files, you now need to move them over to your User Data Location so they can be read by the game.
First make sure you have run the game at least once (just getting to the start menu and exiting is fine) so the game can create the required folders for you.
Then the exact location depends on the OS you are using, and whilst both Steam and Epic versions should use the same location, the Game Pass (Microsoft Store) version does however use a slightly different location.
Windows
By default your User Data Location is located within the Documents\Sports Interactive\ folder. Inside this folder will be a Football Manager folder for each version of FM you have run on that computer.
You just need to open the folder that corresponds to the version you are using.
MAC Users:
By default your User Data Location is now located within the Users\[Your Mac Username]\Library\Application Support\Sports Interactive\ folder. Inside this folder will then be a Football Manager folder for each version of FM you have run on that computer.
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’
GAMEPASS/MICROSOFT STORE USERS: If you are using this version of the game then your User Data Location is in a slightly different folder, you'll need to open the Football Manager folder for the year of the game you are using and inside this folder you'll notice a Gamepass folder and this is the folder you need.
After you have opened the correct Football Manager 2022 folder you should see a list of folders and what you need to do is locate the folder called skins, if this folder doesn't exist then just create a new folder and call it skins.
Now open up your skins folder and place the files you extracted inside it.
If it is an fmf file you have downloaded then just place this file directly inside the skins folder.
If you have a folder after extracting the files then you need to make sure you are copying over the correct folder because if the skin files are nested inside another folder they will not work.
So you need to open the folders you extracted until you find a folder that is laid out like this with the skin_config file present;