Troubleshooting Football Manager Data Update Installation - How to install Football Manager Databases

If you go to https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update you will be presented with the ‘Classic FM’ update (enhanced/paid) version automatically. Apologies if that was unclear.

There are full installation instructions at https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update. Please try to follow those and if you have done, please elaborate on what you have tried and share screenshots of your ‘editor data’ folder along with details of the experience when trying to start a new game. I will be glad to assist but need a little more to go on.

Hi guys, I'm keen to get this set up and pay the $5 for the full version, just wondering does this also have the future start date? How does all of that work? Sorry i'm a bit of a newbie.

Hey everyone, i downloaded the update  but for some reason FM doesnt recognise the file for england? When i go to set up a new save, all the files are in the list except the one for england despite it being in the folder with the rest. Anyone know why this happens? Thanks guys

I have the paid version, is it supposed to take a while to load and set up the game when you use all the dynamic files?

If you are attempting to use all of the dynamic files simultaneously, that is probably causing your database load to get stuck endlessly.

You need to use one each of the numbered (1-10) variations for any given save.

Having the same issue but what dynamic ones should you use?

You are free to use whichever numbered ones you wish. Or not use them at all - they are optional and designed to provide some variety.

In the main folder of the download, you'll find a file named “Classic FM - Non Dynamic Data.fmf”. This should be used/enabled if you don't want to use the optional, dynamic data files.

If you wish to use the optional, dynamic data files, “Classic FM - Non Dynamic Data.fmf” should not be used (i.e. it should be removed or disabled). In its place, you should use a total of three files from the ‘Optional Dynamic Data’ folder, specifically:

• one of the ten files named ‘Classic FM - Dynamic Data X.fmf' (where X can be 1-10)
• one of the ten files named ‘Classic FM - Dynamic New Players X.fmf' (where X can be 1-10)
• one of the ten files named ‘Classic FM - Dynamic Pre Window Budgets X.fmf' (where X can be 1-10)

Which one of each group of ten files you use is entirely up to you - you do not have to combine the three files numbered ‘1’ with each other; any combination is fine and, as I say, it is designed to add some randomness to your game world.

I've downloaded the paid update. 

When I start, I can't find, in Italy's Serie C, Inter U23, Ravenna, etc…

Boa tarde, tudo bem? 

Eu baixei o update para o 2024, já usava um do inicio desse ano, removi tudo da pasta e só adicionei os arquivos novos e ao chegar na parte de carregar a base de dados do jogo, fica eternamente carregando, alguma dica?

Obrigado. 

Hello!

I've noticed the ‘+2 Age and Contract Years.fmf’ file massively conflicts with the updated transfer/contracts changes file.

For example, if we take the Premier League - at the start of a new save, a lot of the newly transferred players from this summer have their contracts set to expire at the end of the first season (2024), and from what I have noticed, a lot of these newly transferred players are then just released after one season and the realism gets a little messy (for example Cunha, Mbeumo, Wirtz, Ekitike, Gyökeres, Zubimendi, Reijnders, Cherki - were all released at one point when test simulating the first season, amongst others)

I know it has been touched on from what I can see in the forum, and I know I can just remove/ignore the file when starting a new game, to not include the ‘+2 Age….’ file etc, but my question is, will there be a file that just includes “+2 age only” increase and ignoring the contract decrease changes?

From what I can tell it is the “contract” decrease in this file that is being prioritised over the ‘Changes’ file. I personally think on some level the contract decrease isn’t that relevant at this point in a 2-year-old database, but the +2 age increase is, especially when it comes to younger players already in game not being stuck in the U18 teams for 2 seasons lol!

Anyway, this is in no way criticism towards these files, as like many others, I fully appreciate the time and effort that goes into keeping the game as updated, and realistic as possible, but was just a query as to whether a ‘+2 Age Only’ file is in the works – assuming others are experiencing the same problem?!

Apologies if this has been answered elsewhere, but I don’t come on these forums too often and I did only find a few mentions of this issue from previous queries.

Much appreciated 😊

I haven't personally had a chance to delve into the situation with the Age/Contract offset file - but I do acknowledge it has been reported a few times. There is no doubt something that isn't quite right. I suspect it to be a sequencing issue - with the Age/Contract offset file loading first and then any contract that has been changed (i.e. any player who has had their contract record updated through the website and thus written into the main Changes file) overwriting whatever the value was set by the Age/Contract offset file.

I do not think there are specific plans to produce a “+2 Age” only file. This is not a variation that has been discussed. If the inconsistency associated with the overall Age/Contract offset file can't be resolved cleanly, then I suspect that may be what we fall back to.

In practice, I think the solution is tackling whatever the problem is. If it's a file sequence issue - that will be an easy solution.

As per your perspective - with which I agree - the target here is accuracy and the immersion that accuracy brings. The Data Update intends to represent the footballing world as it is currently (i.e. Summer 2025) at the corresponding in-game moment of Summer 2023 (i.e. the start of a new game). With that in mind, offsetting the ages and the contracts is the right thing to do. August 2023 in-game is equivalent to August 2025 in real-life and, therefore, if a real-life contract expires in June 2026, it should expire in August 2024 in-game.

Using only the Bryan Mbeumo example, I cannot see why he'd end up with a contract that expires in 2024. His original database contract is set to expire in 2026. The offset would put that at 2024, sure. But if someone is using the Changes.fmf file, which transfers him to Manchester United and sets a contract expiry of 2030, the offset should put him at 2028. I could understand if he was at Brentford with a contract expiring in 2024 - which suggests there is perhaps something else at play that is causing certain contract end dates in the Changes.fmf file to be ignored. I must stress, though, that is is entirely speculative right now on my part.

I am sure with a targeted effort we'll resolve whatever is causing the change not to apply as intended across the board. I will do my best to inspect the files in the next 24 hours and try and get a clear picture on where the conflict is coming from and the cause.

OK - and as a very simple follow-up, because I just loaded up the main ‘+2 years’ offset file. I think I can see what the situation is - and it is a simple explanation, but needs some action to tackle:

The content of the ‘+2 years’ file is not dynamic/iterated daily, based on the data that gets committed to the Changes.fmf file (which is driven from the website). It's a point-in-time offset based on what the data was at the time. Strictly speaking, the ‘+2 years’ file is not offsetting any contractual dates by two years, either - it is setting them to a specific date, which is identified as two years different from the original data.

So Bryan Mbeumo - at the time of creation of the ‘+2 years’ file - had a contract he signed in January 2022 which expired in June 2026. As a result, the ‘+2 years’ file sets these dates two years earlier - so a contract expiring in June 2024.

Now, the Changes.fmf file also supplies the database with an entry that changes his contract signed and contract expiry dates. Those are based on the dates that are supplied by the community through the website. However, there is logic that also offsets these by two years to match up - which makes sense. Bryan Mbeumo's contract expiry is set to June 2028 in that file. The Changes.fmf file is later in the load order than the ‘+2 years’ file and it absolutely should overwrite these values.

Essentially - and that is a long way around to say it - I concur with you that it would appear that the contract expiry is not being overwritten and that is probably the area to troubleshoot (i.e. why that is happening). Whilst blanket-removing the contract alterations in the ‘+2 years’ file may solve the problem for players who have contract changes in the Changes.fmf file, it would fail to apply an offset for players that don't have contract changes in the Changes.fmf file.

I don't really want to accept making a concession either way, hence there is some testing and work needed to tackle this. I'll report back when I've had a proper chance to test various scenarios and see if there is something logical that we can isolate here.

I found some time to try and replicate at my end - I am using the SortItOutSI Data Update, wholesale, with no extra files. Contracts appear to be correctly aligned. For example, Bryan Mbeumo's expires in June 2028.

Just to be certain, can you share screenshots of your Editor Data folder/confirm your setup, just so we can rule out some nuance associated with the combination of files you're using?

Can you please screenshot your editor data folder when reporting these errors. It seems improbable that this is happening to thousands of people and you're the only one reporting it, so I assume it must be an installation error.

Here is what Mbeumo looks like to me

And 10 years on no issues with any of the players you mentioned

@M.C and @Footygamer 

Thank you both for your feedback - I think I'll start afresh for the ‘editor data’ folder using only the files from the SORTITOUTSI Data Update - perhaps there is a duplicate or another anomaly somewhere that I may have missed (aka user error)!

Thanks again, and if I'm still having problems I'll come back with screenshots 👍

Anyone else not seeing Mbuemo and Sesko transfers completed? Updated with the latest files for 2025-08-26

Trying to start a new save with this editor data (I have the paid version) and its stuck forever on the “Setting up new game database” screen. I am using my normal settings and league selection as well as not using any dynamic files either, I don't understand what's wrong.

I'm having the same issue as above, takes an absolute age to set up the game database, using the latest one released today

I seem to be having issues when downloading the Database update for the 28th August 2025. The files download and everything seems to be there but when loading up a new game and setting up the database it’s very slow and doesn’t progress. My game loaded with the database download from the previous day and also works without any database edits at all. I’m wondering if there’s any sort of file corruption or anything I can look out for to get my game working again? thanks in advance

For those who are finding that the game appears stuck on ‘Setting up game database’, using the Data Update from 28/08/2025 or later:

I suspect there isn't a technical problem, as such - but that things are taking longer because of the reintroduction of the 'Player History' file; which updates all player histories. The file contains over 3,000,000 database changes and so it significantly slows down the game setup times.

Because some people also mention the step before you select playable leagues, here's a broad overview of how things flow:

In general, the initial step (before you select playable leagues) will visually go to 100% on the progress bar and then process all of the Data Update files. At this stage, it has to read all the files and process the ones that make changes to what leagues are available/playable (because the player is going to then choose which ones to enable for that save). So this step takes longer than vanilla and because the in-game UI shows the progress bar at 100%, people think it is stuck. It is doing its thing. On my machine, vanilla takes about 2-3 seconds to do this step and with the Data Update that is more like 40-45 seconds.

The next bit is where there is a significantly longer wait time because 'Setting up game database' involves reading and executing all of the Editor Data files that make database changes. This was already a high number and is now an extra 3,000,000+ to apply the player histories. There is no magic fix for this going faster - the option people have is to remove/disable this file if it is too long to wait.

In your Editor Data folder, you're looking for a file named either 'sortitoutsi.net FM24 Data Update - Player History.fmf' (free version) or 'Classic FM - Player History.fmf' (paid version). Hope that helps.

If it helps with making a decision about whether to use the file, whilst the game setup process will take significantly longer, once in-game there should be no difference to the game speed.

Hi everyone, 

I just downloaded files about the updates but i have an issue. I couldn't pick or choose any of these countries that have a empty blank. 

,

Is there any solutions ? 

The cause of not being able to select certain nations is typically because you have multiple files trying to update the structure/rules of the same nation. The most common cause is because you have installed files from multiple updates.

Given the widespread number of nations, I am certain you have files from different updates. The SortItOutSI Data Update is intended as an all-in-one solution and can't be used alongside other data updates that provide the same functionality.

You can identify the individual files that clash by looking at the list of Editor Data files enabled (as shown in the screen snippet below). Where you have more than one file trying to adjust the same nation, both of those files will have the warning triangles against them.

Can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong here please? 2 screenshots attached - can't seem to unzip as already done for me, and all in the folder so unless I am missing something?

Hi all,

I had a question about the CA/PA updates to the database. I'm playing on Classic FM - Non Dynamic Data and have all the relevant files downloaded for the paid version, however my CA/PAs do not seem to reflect the most recent update changes in the forum. For example, Adam Wharton has a CA of 142 in my save when the most recent approved update has him at a 149 CA.

Any help or clarification would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Hello! Any help for a MacBook Pro user please?

I downloaded and unpacked a paid for Classic FM update for FM24, and moved my fmf files into the editor data folder as directed.

When I start a new save, however, nothing is updated.

All as per summer 2023. 

Any ideas? 

Screenshot shows where I placed the fmf files in the editor data folder. 

fm 24 güncellemeniz çok güzel ama türkiye süper liginde kayserispor, fatih karagümrük, konyaspor gibi kuluplerde transfer cezası görünüyor. ancak transfer cezaları yok bu kuluplerin. bunlar güncellenirse çok iyi olur.

I just paid for the enhanced data update and now whenever i try to start a save i am getting these errors how do i fix it 

forgot to attach the second screenshot 
 

You are trying to use the SortItOutSI Data Update alongside at least one other overhaul (TheNotoriousPr0 one). Between them, they provide a lot of overlapping content/functionality - you can't use both at the same time. Specifically, you cannot use two files that both alter the structure of a nation/its competition rules together. Any file like this will have the name of the country next to it.

When the game detects more than one file enabled that alters the same nation, it'll show you the red exclamation mark icon - which can be seen in your screenshot for each of England, Albania & France. Indeed, even within your screenshot, you can see two files for England.

If you want to use the SortItOutSI Data Update, you should disable all of the files provided by the other update, as a starting point. You can, of course, choose to use a mixture of files from the two - following the rule of ‘one file for each nation’ as a guide.

One specific nation to mention, from the SortItOutSI Data Update perspective, is Greece. If you enable an up-to-date structure (such as the one in your screenshot called “FM24 Greek G Ethniki (TheNotoriousPr0)”, you will probably need to disable the “sortitoutsi.net FM24 Data Update - Greece (League)” file. Whilst it doesn't change the advanced rules, it does restructure teams between divisions; but this is a work-in-progress and doesn't yet reflect the 2025/26 structure (it is coming soon!). As a result, the number of teams won't match up to the updated structure the other update provides.