Football Manager 2022: How To Install Graphics

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.

You can find your user data location via this guide.

After you have opened the Football Manager 2022 folder you should see a list of folders and what you need to do is locate the folder called graphics, if this folder doesn’t exist then just create a new folder and call it graphics.

Now open up your graphics folder and place the files you extracted inside it.

For the most part the sub-folders you put the graphics into doesn’t matter, though it is best to separate the different types into their own sub-folders so you don’t accidentally overwrite your kits with logos for the same teams. The thing to watch out for when organizing are xml files called config. These are vital and should not be mixed and matched. A set of graphics will come with a config file that is unique to them in the same folder. Make sure they stay together, in the same folder and that new png files or config files are not added or overwritten into their folder.

Whilst for best results try to keep the folder names short and simple and avoid special characters where possible.

For example below is a screenshot showing what a typical end folder should look like if done correctly, note you have a config file along with several graphic files, with a short simple folder structure that stops you from accidentally overwriting the config file when installing other graphics:

Once you have added the graphics you wanted load up the game, and go into the Preferences Menu.

Then you can either select the Advanced option on the left and on the top right drop down select Interface, then scroll down the Skin section and untick ‘Use caching to decrease loading times‘ and tick ‘Reload skin when confirming changes in Preferences‘.

Or in the search bar at the top type in ‘Skin’ and in the listed results untick ‘Use caching to decrease loading times‘ and tick ‘Reload skin when confirming changes in Preferences‘.

Next select confirm and your new graphics should now display. (Once the graphics are loaded and you aren’t planning on adding any more you can turn the skin cache back on and untick the Always Reload button.)

If you want to add more graphics then just repeat the above steps, just making sure you put each pack you install into it’s own folder so you don’t accidentally overwrite the config files from your earlier packs.

It is also possible to replace other items in Football Manager, for the most part these are installed into various folders within your User Data Location.

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.

Windows

By default your User Data Location is located within the Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2022 folder.

MAC Users:

By default your User Data Location is now located within the Users\[Your Mac Username]\Library\Application Support\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2022 folder.

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’ -> ‘Football Manager 2022’

After you have opened the Football Manager 2022 folder you should see a list of folders and what you need to do is locate the relevant folder for the item you are wanting to install, for these items you are best checking the site or thread where you downloaded the item from as they should have provided details on the exact folder you need to place the files in.

Also note it is generally recommended to replace these items whilst the game is not running as refreshing the skin doesn’t tend to refresh the match related files.

Once you have added what you want then load up the game and go into the Preferences -> Interface menu and untick ‘Use Caching to decrease page loading times’ and tick ‘Reload Skin when confirming changes in Preferences’ then select confirm and your new graphics should now display. (Once the graphics are loaded and you aren’t planning on adding any more you can turn the skin cache back on and untick the Always Reload button.)

Nearly all user created graphics can be transferred from one version of Football Manager to the next, the exceptions are:

– Skins can only be used for the version of the game they were made for. It may seem that a skin from last year may initially work on the new game, however when you get to a new screen you are likely to get a broken/blank screen at best or even possibly you’ll cause the game to crash, so it is best to wait for the skin maker to update the skin (or make your own with permission).

– Mods that are modified xml files rather than full skins may or may not work, for these it depends on how much the underlying code has changed.
– 3D kits have changed various times over the years so for best results check the site where you obtained them from to see which versions they work with. Most recently the 3D kits were changed in both FM20 and FM18 , so whilst you can transfer 3D kits from FM18 to FM19 you cannot use your FM19 kits with FM20, or your pre-FM18 kits with more recent versions.
– Graphics that are released in the fmf format might not work across versions, if the later version of Football Manager cannot read the fmf files you’ll need to use the Resource Tool from the previous to extract the contents of the fmf file, and then either keep them extracted and treat as normal files or repack them using the Resource Tool from the current version.

There are two ways of transferring your graphics between versions of Football Manager;

1. Manually move your graphics folder (or the folders that contain the stuff you want transferring over) from the User Data Location of the current Football Manager, to the same location within the User Data Location of the new Football Manager. When transferring content over make sure it keeps the same folder structure (unless instructed otherwise).
2. Change the User Data Location of the new version of Football Manager to point to the location you were using for the current version. (Note if doing this you might want to move none graphical user files to another location to save you accidentally overwriting them with the new edition or you causing problems by trying to read older version files in the current edition.)

Once you have done that then:

Go into the Preferences -> Interface menu and un-tick ‘Use Caching to decrease page loading times’ and tick ‘Reload Skin when confirming changes in Preferences’ then select confirm and your new graphics should now display. (Once the graphics are loaded and you aren’t planning on adding any more you can turn the skin cache back on and un-tick the Always Reload button.)

Below are some basic troubleshooting steps you can try to see if they solve the issue you are having,

First Steps

• First please ensure you have read and followed any instructions provided with the item you downloaded.
• Second re-read the above guide to ensure you have followed each step.

Common Problems

• Not turning off the Skin Cache & Reloading Your Skin.
• When installing a Skin you have ended up installing the skin into a sub-folder.

Graphics Aren’t Showing

• Make sure you have followed the Install Instructions.
• Follow the instructions to turn off the skin cache and reload your skin.
• Make sure you have extracted the files.
• Check the pack to make sure it actually includes the graphics that aren’t showing (i.e. not all logo packs include small logos).
• If only a couple of graphics aren’t showing, check that the info in the config file matches with the filenames and that you don’t have duplicate entries in the config file.
• If you have installed several packs of the same type make sure they don’t include conflicting files.
• If you have trouble with multiple packs then remove them all and re-install and check them one at a time as most likely there is a conflict with one of the packs you are using.
• Check to make sure the pack is designed for the version of FM you are using, whilst graphics are generally transferable between versions this is not always the case.
• If none of the graphics are showing then try to manually delete your cache files.
• If you are now having issues with the default game files, then remove your custom graphics, manually delete your cache files (per above link) and try verifying your game files.

Problems with Your User Data Location

• You need to run the game first to generate the default folders.
• First check to make sure the game has created the default folders inside your location (skins, games etc…)
• If the game hasn’t created the default folders then check to make sure the path you set and the folder you are looking in are the same ones.
• With Windows the Library feature can sometimes combine several folders so you may be putting your content in the wrong location.
• With Windows 10 having OneDrive backing up your Documents folder may cause issues, try telling OneDrive not to index the Sports Interactive sub-folders or move your User Data Location.
• If you are having problems with your User Data Location then try moving it to a more simple path such as C:\FM22
• Also check your Anti-virus settings and Windows Defender settings if using Windows 10/11 to make sure access to the Documents folder isn’t be restricted.