Installation Guide & Feature Overview

 

Credits
Quite a few to mention, and I'm sure there will be some that I've missed.  If I've inadvertently used something you believe I haven't credited please let me know!

 

tcsskin - An elder statesman of skinning, taught me a lot and been a wonderful sounding board.  All round solid fella.
keysi - For all the assistance to my many skinning queries.
Wozzie - Tad Twenty was the first skin I used.  Arguably to blame for me going down this rabbit hole!
Michaeltmurrayuk - For those base skins all those years ago.
wkdsoul - For all the assistance to my man skinning queries.
sebastian_starttrbts - For setting me down the path of pseudo-attributeless skinning.
Tyburn - Also for setting me down the path of pseudo-attributeless skinning.
_Ben_ - For being a fabulous sounding board and helping to push new ideas over the last 18 months.
Just Howie - For entertaining late night conversations on completely inconsequential skinning related nonsense.
Groot - For building my ego and helping me with various skinning queries.
Snowofman - For all the assistance to my many skinning queries.
a31632 - For being a master of buttons.
Jellico - For his consistent and constructive feedback.
VonTrips - For his consistent and constructive feedback, and assistance with Czech translations.
FERIA - For help with French translations.
Herr Jones - For help with Portuguese translations.

 

FAQs

What is a Pizza Chart

https://theathletic.com/2746113/2021/09/12/a-guide-to-smarterscout-and-understanding-the-athletics-pizza-charts/ (requires subscription)

 

In simple terms, it’s a chart showing a high level view of how often a player performs a specific action and how that ranks when compared to their peers.  The bigger the slice, the higher the player ranks.  A player in the 90th percentile for a category means they perform that action more than 90% of other players.

The pizza chart is calculated at 5% intervals, and each concentric circle represents a 20th percentile.  It is based loosely on the above article from The Athletic, adapted to work with the metrics available within FM.

 

I have analysed 26,000 players playing more than 900 minutes in the Top 20 domestic leagues, breaking down each metric by position.  Due to limitations this means the underlying data is static.  For example, an Attacking Midfielder who completes 4 dribbles per game will always be ranked in the 90th percentile, even if at that exact moment in your game world there may in fact more or less players better than them.

 

The same metrics are used for each position (except goalkeepers) to enable you to understand the tactical profile of a player.  Forwards will be involved in a defensive capacity, and defenders will be involved in an attacking capacity, and understanding how a player compares in his position in all aspects of the game is important.

 

What is an Archetype?

https://theathletic.com/3473297/2022/08/10/player-roles-the-athletic/ (requires subscription)

 

An archetype is another high level view of whether a player is elite at a particular combination of actions.  An archetype will become active when their statistical output meets the threshold to mark them out as special at their position

 

They are based loosely on the above article from The Athletic, refined into fewer archetypes and adapted to work with the metrics available within FM.  This utilises the same analysis from the pizza chart, and is once again static.

 

For example, a Quarterback is a midfielder who is above the 60th percentile in passes completed, progressive passes and open play-key passes.  As a combination, roughly only 10% of players will meet this criteria.

 

How Do I Change the Colour Scheme?

Included in the download is a folder called Mustermann Iconic Alt Files.  Inside here are the 12 colour schemes supplied.  Simply choose a scheme you want and copy the file into the Mustermann Iconic/settings folder.  Once done, delete the file “Mustermann Iconic settings” and rename the copied file to “Mustermann Iconic settings”.  Inside FM, reload the skin, turning off caching.

 

If you want to set your own Colour Scheme, you will want to edit lines 214-241 inside the aforementioned file, using a text editor such as Notepad.  Colours are defined as RGB values.  I heartily recommend using https://colordesigner.io/color-palettes if you need help deciding on a palette.

 

Where is Light Mode?

Light mode is not included in the original release.  Whilst I still intend to release a light mode for this skin, I do not anticipate this being before the New Year.

 

Some Words Are in English.  How Do I Change This?

Where possible, I’ve tried to utilise existing translations within the game.  Unfortunately this is not always appropriate.  For čeština, Français or Português, there are alternative translation files in the Mustermann Iconic Alt Files folder.  Just copy the files for your chosen language into the Mustermann Iconic/panels/player folder.

 

How Do I Change Attribute Ranges?

Due to the way the skin works, you can’t change the ranges through preferences.  Instead you’ll have to use a text editor.  Inside the Mustermann Iconic/classes folder, you will need to change the values for all the files inside the attributes folder and the dna folder.  

 

In each file, you will need to edit the min_value and max_values to your desired ranges.  Let’s say for example, you wanted to increase the lowest range to 8, and then make the remaining bands be 4 attributes each.  You would set the first range from “1” to “8”, the second range would be “9” to “12”, the third range “13” to “16” and the final range “17” to “20”.  You would then need to repeat this for all the aforementioned files.  Once done, caching off, reload the skin.

 

Will You Make a “Normal” Version with Numerical Attributes?

No.  Sorry.

 

I Want [feature].  When Will You Add It?

I am always open to feedback and suggestions, so please let me know below.  Even if it is a good idea, however, I am not going to promise that it will be included.  With the exception of any critical bugs, I will be releasing updates a few weeks after SI’s official patches, and any additions will ultimately be at my discretion.

 

Changelog

v1.2

  • Introduction of Light mode
  • Expansion of customised home page widgets
  • Pizza chart graphics updated to include guidelines at 10th percentile and distinction between those metrics above and below the 50th percentile
  • Replaced heatmaps in match report with formation
  • Addition of bookmark button in titlebar
  • Addition of next unread, mark all as read, and save note buttons to inbox
  • Expanded pasty charts to include drill down by position
  • Addition of defensive actions, excitement factor and passing breakdown to player profile
  • Data Hub option added to performance section of player profile
  • Added an attribute key to player profile
  • Added bans as to player profile
  • Restored edit appearance button to manager profile
  • Added manager characteristics to manager profile
  • Added text for studying new qualification to manager and staff profiles
  • Added competition reputation history graph
  • Restored formation fluidity indicator to tactics pitch
  • Added player mugshots as option for custom views

 

v1.1

  • Added scouting knowledge indicator to player profiles for scouted players
  • Restored "Attributes" page - this is now the same as the "Profile" page, but with player's ability/attributes above performance
  • Added match preparation summary to training overview
  • Added contract end date to header on player profile
  • Added Russian alternative files (thanks @thebuildupplay)
  • Updated player dot icons in tactic screen during match to fit rest of skin
  • Increased width of player tactical instructions dialog box to better support non-English languages
  • Fixed missing text for stats and GK attributes in player profile
  • Fixed aggregated attributes erroneously showing as 5 stars for groups that should be 0.5 stars in training reports and player comparisons
  • Fixed missing team and competition filters from player form page
  • Fixed goalkeeping stat labels missing from form selector on player profile
  • Fixed home form showing up in match lineups for both teams

 

Usage Rights
This skin is completely free for personal use, but may not be sold or placed behind a paywall.  If you plan on using the skin publicly, or repurposing a unique element for your own released skin, please get in touch to discuss credit.
 

Donations
If, for whatever reason, you are so enamoured with this skin you want to send me a coffee, feel free to donate via PayPal.  I would like to stress there is no obligation whatsoever!

Comments
EUA
13 years ago
5 months ago
12

I love your skins, im going to wait for the light one. Amazing job. Keep going

Kaiser8
5 years ago
3 months ago
3

I just wanted to say that this skin is insane and I really appreciate the work you have done. This skin made me realize that 2 of my starters, who I thought we're doing great, are actually not that good at all at the roles I've assigned to them. 

This skin really makes you look at players in terms of their performances and not just seeing green numbers and think “you're a starter now!” 

It definitely takes some getting used to as it transforms the entire game. I had my youth intake and had no idea whether some of these players we're actually going to make it, but that's how it is in real life. You don't get those numbers for your youth intake. You might say“hey this kid is fast!” But you wouldn't know he's a 16 out of 20 for speed. 

I think I will stick with this skin for a while, like I said it will take some getting used to but it's incredible once you're adapted to it! 

Incredible work! 

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By EUA 30 November 2023 - 16:39 PM UTC 

I love your skins, im going to wait for the light one. Amazing job. Keep going

 

Hopefully should be in the new year.  Light mode is approximately an extra 1,200 files at least to edit, so it will take a while.

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By Hamada Alghulbi 01 December 2023 - 15:01 PM UTC 

I just wanted to say that this skin is insane and I really appreciate the work you have done. This skin made me realize that 2 of my starters, who I thought we're doing great, are actually not that good at all at the roles I've assigned to them. 

This skin really makes you look at players in terms of their performances and not just seeing green numbers and think “you're a starter now!” 

It definitely takes some getting used to as it transforms the entire game. I had my youth intake and had no idea whether some of these players we're actually going to make it, but that's how it is in real life. You don't get those numbers for your youth intake. You might say“hey this kid is fast!” But you wouldn't know he's a 16 out of 20 for speed. 

I think I will stick with this skin for a while, like I said it will take some getting used to but it's incredible once you're adapted to it! 

Incredible work! 

 

Thank you for the kinds words, and I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as I do!!  There is something super liberating about not worrying about minor attribute differences!

calvg
18 years ago
4 weeks ago
22
By gimn85 30 November 2023 - 14:36 PM UTC 

Suggestions are always welcome (I just make no promises they'll be implemented).

 

Contract expiry dates I'll consider.  These used to be in, using the piece of code that formats it as "[wage] until [date]".  I recall there being an issue between FM22 and FM23 with this particular bit, so I'll revisit and see if I can get it working.

 

I'm not sure on the kits at the bottom.  I'll consider, but I'll be transparent with my current thoughts: the kits haven't been changed from the default size, and I can't necessarily see a reason to increase them.  I play at 2560x1440 (when I'm not recording) and it doesn't look out of place to me, but I do accept that by moving the tactical options into buttons, I've increased the width for each player, and definitely confers more benefits to those at lower resolutions.

 

What I will do is send you an alternative file.  The attached xml would need to go in panels/widgets folder.  This moves things around to give more prominence to the kits, but you will probably need to tweak this further to your preference:

 

 

thanks again for this the shirt size is much better 

something I should flag thou is that yellow cards do not show anymore, so that would need to be adjusted if you plan to use.
(sorry for HDR)
 

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By calvg 02 December 2023 - 15:43 PM UTC 

thanks again for this the shirt size is much better 

something I should flag thou is that yellow cards do not show anymore, so that would need to be adjusted if you plan to use.
(sorry for HDR)
 

 

That's good to know.  I'll see if I can look into it, but might not be for a little while.  First up…actually play the game.  Then…finish off updates relating to the patch on Thursday.

calvg
18 years ago
4 weeks ago
22
By gimn85 02 December 2023 - 17:01 PM UTC 

That's good to know.  I'll see if I can look into it, but might not be for a little while.  First up…actually play the game.  Then…finish off updates relating to the patch on Thursday.

you can probs save it for your next version

 

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By calvg 02 December 2023 - 17:14 PM UTC 

you can probs save it for your next version

 

Just for transparency - it won't be a part of the official download, as it wouldn't be a friendly setup to lower resolutions, but when I get a chance I'll have a look nonetheless and provide guidance for how you can implement it.

delta3000
1 year ago
6 hours ago
5

Ein Super Teil gut gemacht

 

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By delta3000 02 December 2023 - 21:32 PM UTC 

Ein Super Teil gut gemacht

 

Danke

(sorry, that's about all the German I know)

calvg
18 years ago
4 weeks ago
22

What's the current thinking behind not showing progress arrows(or something equivalent) in skills (attribute groups)?

normally coach's could see X player has improved in their ball control.

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By calvg 04 December 2023 - 19:52 PM UTC 

What's the current thinking behind not showing progress arrows(or something equivalent) in skills (attribute groups)?

normally coach's could see X player has improved in their ball control.

 

  • It's not possible in the chosen layout
  • It's far too granular.  The arrows show attribute change of 0.1.  On a scale of 1-20, that means arrows are showing when there is an improvement or regression of 0.5%.
  • You can see broader progression from the player's development page
Kaiser8
5 years ago
3 months ago
3

Hey again! 

Three questions for you; 

  1. What kind of updates (if any) do you have planned? How do we get those updates? I usually just download a skin and run with it throughout the life of FM so I've never really updated a skin. Do we just re-download it?
  2. Not sure about the coding aspect of things, but would it be possible down the road to make it so that the skin automatically changes colors judged on the team you select?
    1. I'm very VERY new to coding. Just started it myself about 1 month ago or so but it would be helpful if you could release a quick youtube tutorial on how to change colors yourself. It's on the main video but I'd rather not mess anything major up haha
  3. Which color palette is the default one? Just in case I switch and don't like it? Baciccia - Blues?

Thanks in advance! 

 

Edit: This Skin ruined FM for me… every time I use a regular laid-out skin now, I'm looking for the most important information and it's a pain to figure out “How has the player been playing”. So you should add a disclaimer to this that once you start to understand and enjoy this skin, you won't go back to regular ones hahah

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By Kaiser8 06 December 2023 - 14:06 PM UTC 

Hey again! 

Three questions for you; 

  1. What kind of updates (if any) do you have planned? How do we get those updates? I usually just download a skin and run with it throughout the life of FM so I've never really updated a skin. Do we just re-download it?
  2. Not sure about the coding aspect of things, but would it be possible down the road to make it so that the skin automatically changes colors judged on the team you select?
    1. I'm very VERY new to coding. Just started it myself about 1 month ago or so but it would be helpful if you could release a quick youtube tutorial on how to change colors yourself. It's on the main video but I'd rather not mess anything major up haha
  3. Which color palette is the default one? Just in case I switch and don't like it? Baciccia - Blues?

Thanks in advance! 

 

Edit: This Skin ruined FM for me… every time I use a regular laid-out skin now, I'm looking for the most important information and it's a pain to figure out “How has the player been playing”. So you should add a disclaimer to this that once you start to understand and enjoy this skin, you won't go back to regular ones hahah

 

Thank you for the kind words.  In response to your questions:

 

  1. Yes, it's just a case of redownloading.  The version number will be updated, so technically you could have multiple versions in your skin folder, but I will always recommend against doing that, just in case there ends up being a conflict with some of the files.
  2. Club colours is very tricky, especially with the design style I've opted for.  When you use a club's primary colour as a background to a section, then you have to use the club's secondary colour for the text.  This is because you cannot identify if the club's primary colour is going to be light or dark and change the text on top of it conditionally.  If you view the Club Info page for a team such as FC Augbsurg you will understand why I decided against doing this!
    1. From a coding point of view, though, it is possibly.  Renaming red_replacement="mustermann3" (or whatever colour I chose for a specific element) to red_replacement="primary" in various places will allow you to do so.  These will be files like panels/player/player overview panel.xml, for example.  But there are a lot of files that will need going through, and you'd then need to also change colour="text" on the all the relevant text fields to colour="secondary".
  3. I doubt I will be doing any further YouTube videos on skinning in the near future.  My focus is to start playing and continue the content that has previously been on the channel.  That is not to say there will never be anything, but it is not likely to be soon.  
    1. In terms of changing colours, it is very simple - change the RGB value for the colours you want.  I have made the colour scheme very simple for this purpose.  The “mustermann” values are the main accent colours - often used for header backgrounds.  mustermann3 is the central value, the lower numbers are darker shades of that colour, the higher numbers are lighter shades of that colour (e.g. mustermann4 is lighter than mustermann3).  The “gimn” values are the complementary accent colour - often used for titles.  This follows the same rules, gimn1 is slightly darker, gimn2 is the central value, gimn3 is slightly lighter.
    2. After the theme colours are two more sections.  The first section is custom colours I've defined.  These mostly then refer back to the scheme colours.  I have tried to name them in a way that is clear what they are used for.  For example pizza_attack is the colour for the pizza chart for the attacking category.  The next section is colours already defined in game that I have changed.  This is things like attribute colours and form colours.  Deleting these rows entirely will revert back to the default colours used by FM.
  4. The default colour scheme with the download is Martyr - Blue and Gold.

 

 

 

kidvishis
16 years ago
3 weeks ago
8

Beautiful, I used your 23 version exclusively and it'll be the same this year

 

May I ask how you removed/disabled the players overview > attributes page? I've wanted to do that on other skins.

 

Looking forward to seeing how this develops

 

 

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By kidvishis 07 December 2023 - 11:51 AM UTC 

Beautiful, I used your 23 version exclusively and it'll be the same this year

 

May I ask how you removed/disabled the players overview > attributes page? I've wanted to do that on other skins.

 

Looking forward to seeing how this develops

 

You need to edit [skin name]/sections/person sections.xml, changing <record id="Pply" /> to <!--<record id="Pply" />-->.

 

Most skins, however, won't have that file in them.  You'll need to extract it using the Resource Archiver.

EUA
13 years ago
5 months ago
12
By gimn85 01 December 2023 - 16:04 PM UTC 

Hopefully should be in the new year.  Light mode is approximately an extra 1,200 files at least to edit, so it will take a while.

 

My eyes will be thankfull then the waiting is over. Even if it take one more month, thanks for your work to the people who hate/cant have dark skins

calvg
18 years ago
4 weeks ago
22

If anyone does change the configs for primary and secondary colours, please post for sharing (if that's okay) as i would also be interested 
As based on what @gimn85  said its not just another settings file we can insert.

StevenBell
1 year ago
2 days ago
1

Hi I love the skin, if I was to vary the skin a bit, how would I transfer the touchline tablet which you use across to my own personal version of the skin ?Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By StevenBell 16 December 2023 - 19:26 PM UTC 

Hi I love the skin, if I was to vary the skin a bit, how would I transfer the touchline tablet which you use across to my own personal version of the skin ?Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

You'd need to copy over the match/in between highlights panel.xml along with the touchline tablet panel.xml.

 

In the touchline tablet panel.xml - you'll see the other files it references, you'll need to copy those, too.  And any panels those panels then reference.  You will probably also need the classes/mustermann_tabbed along with the graphics it references.

Kaiser8
5 years ago
3 months ago
3

Hey, it's me again! Still only using your skin. Sometimes I swap in and out just to see some stats, but I'm realizing that if I wasn't basing my decisions off of the information in this skin… I probably wouldn't have bought, let alone start most of the people that have been doing well for me. I'm in the Premier League right now with Bristol City and made some signings I would have never made just by looking at their attributes and they've all been doing a solid job for me! 

Now, let's get to my questions 🙂 

  1. Kind of a silly question, but the possession lost section. Is it the more filled it is the more often the player loses possession, or do you want this to be big? The higher the less possession loss

2) Like many of us, when scouting for wonderkids, the Pizza chart doesn't fill up, because I assume they don't play for the starting 11. So what would you base your decision on whether this kid is good or not? The little attribute bars at the bottom? I do use the little attribute bar bottom right too, but I've been noticing that if a player doesn't play, the pizza chart doesn't have data to pull from correct? Even if I fully scout the player?

 

Thank you in advance! 

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By Kaiser8 18 December 2023 - 14:19 PM UTC 

Hey, it's me again! Still only using your skin. Sometimes I swap in and out just to see some stats, but I'm realizing that if I wasn't basing my decisions off of the information in this skin… I probably wouldn't have bought, let alone start most of the people that have been doing well for me. I'm in the Premier League right now with Bristol City and made some signings I would have never made just by looking at their attributes and they've all been doing a solid job for me! 

Now, let's get to my questions 🙂 

  1. Kind of a silly question, but the possession lost section. Is it the more filled it is the more often the player loses possession, or do you want this to be big? The higher the less possession loss

2) Like many of us, when scouting for wonderkids, the Pizza chart doesn't fill up, because I assume they don't play for the starting 11. So what would you base your decision on whether this kid is good or not? The little attribute bars at the bottom? I do use the little attribute bar bottom right too, but I've been noticing that if a player doesn't play, the pizza chart doesn't have data to pull from correct? Even if I fully scout the player?

 

Thank you in advance! 

 

  1.  The bigger the slice, the better the player is at that action.  For possession lost, this mean they lose possession less frequently.  So the smaller the number, the bigger the bar will be.
  2. Yes, unfortunately statistical analysis isn't available for non-senior games.  It's weird because you can view the stats from a youth competition page, but if you go into a youth player and try to get for example, one of the data hub reports, they're not available either.  In a weird way, I kind of like this - because at a youth level there is often such a great disparity in talent, that the stats might actually be misleading.  That said, personally, I use the DNA attributes to make my judgement.  Is the player competent in the areas that I prioritise, and then do they have potential to grow (is there a big difference between current ability rating and potential ability rating according to my scout)
Pitarch
1 year ago
3 days ago
1
By Darkside63 28 November 2023 - 18:07 PM UTC 

It works more or less straightforward…

 

 

Great addition to this already great skin! What do you do to get this? Which one of the various “tactics icon info panel overview” XML files of the FLUT skin do you copy in the tactic folder?

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165

v1.1 released

  • Added scouting knowledge indicator to player profiles for scouted players
  • Restored "Attributes" page - this is now the same as the "Profile" page, but with player's ability/attributes above performance
  • Added match preparation summary to training overview
  • Added contract end date to header on player profile
  • Added Russian alternative files (thanks @thebuildupplay)
  • Updated player dot icons in tactic screen during match to fit rest of skin
  • Increased width of player tactical instructions dialog box to better support non-English languages
  • Fixed missing text for stats and GK attributes in player profile
  • Fixed aggregated attributes erroneously showing as 5 stars for groups that should be 0.5 stars in training reports and player comparisons
  • Fixed missing team and competition filters from player form page
  • Fixed goalkeeping stat labels missing from form selector on player profile
  • Fixed home form showing up in match lineups for both teams
kyanos
16 years ago
3 months ago
1

I'm loving this skin even though I must miss 90% of its goodness due to being new to the stat world, however on my save I never seem to have any post match, on the overview panel, data, see below:
 

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I have all the analysts I can get and this is the only bit on the skin that isn't working as it should. Help?

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By kyanos 05 January 2024 - 21:40 PM UTC 

I'm loving this skin even though I must miss 90% of its goodness due to being new to the stat world, however on my save I never seem to have any post match, on the overview panel, data, see below:
 

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but I have all the analysts I can get and this is the only bit on the skin that isn't working as it should. Help?

 

You see the little up arrow next to the name of each statistic.  Click on it to sort it descending (e.g. highest value first)

squirrel442
8 years ago
9 months ago
26

Great skin as always. Never played like this, it makes the game more challenging & more engaging.

Deleted Account #2117667

Had my doubts at first but honestly this style of play is so much more fun. I've seen myself lean more on my staff than I ever have had. Great work, you have made a converter out of me.

There is one thing I have noticed though - when praising the player's training using the Individual > Detailed > Select Multiples the thumbs up and thumbs down do not disappear after praising so I can pretty much keep praising player repeatedly. 

gimn85
13 years ago
2 hours ago
165
By boniboyblue 09 February 2024 - 16:50 PM UTC 

Had my doubts at first but honestly this style of play is so much more fun. I've seen myself lean more on my staff than I ever have had. Great work, you have made a converter out of me.

There is one thing I have noticed though - when praising the player's training using the Individual > Detailed > Select Multiples the thumbs up and thumbs down do not disappear after praising so I can pretty much keep praising player repeatedly. 

 

Would you be able to send me the save file (upload to Mediafire or somewhere and send me the link)?  I've had someone else mention this, but when I've checked on my own saves, I'm unable to replicate the issue.

Deleted Account #2117667
By gimn85 09 February 2024 - 20:53 PM UTC 

Would you be able to send me the save file (upload to Mediafire or somewhere and send me the link)?  I've had someone else mention this, but when I've checked on my own saves, I'm unable to replicate the issue.

 

Of course - I'll send you a PM with the link of the save file and a video of it happening.

 

Another thing to note just in case it matters, I am playing on the macOS version of the game.

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