Update 07.04.2026:
Update to version 5.1
For updates and further information, please check here
To install the skin, do this:
- Download the bundles archive
- Locate your game directory. For steam this will usually be:
\Steam\steamapps\common\Football Manager 26\fm_Data\StreamingAssets\aa\StandaloneWindows64\ - For Gamepass installations it should be
\XboxGames\Football Manager 26\Content\fm_Data\StreamingAssets\aa\StandaloneWindows64\ - Make sure you have an unmodded Game, as you will otherwise create an unhealthy mix of modded files and those from this skin
- In case you're unsure, verify your gamefiles first!
- Copy and paste the files form the skin archive into the above game directory. When asked, choose to overwrite/replace the existing files.
The mirror links will now directly point to the Skinbuilder site - where you can download them and directly manage the Skin (including easy updates!) in the tool.
For some quick guidance, you might want to check here.
Credits:
My special thanks goes to lotsgon, sic, MW90, MrTini23, LuckyLuke - and in general to the community on FMML discord, for massive support and sharing stuff and ideas while trying to work into this new environment, as well as ongoing - as this is and has been incredibly valuable - and finally to my old friend Flut who teached me so many things in the past. To show my respect, I selected two of his backgrounds for the Startmenu.
Additional credits going to
- TinyHips for sharing his prematch lineups
- Ferrigi97 for providing a load of additional prematch lineups as of V3.0
Enjoy.
This is a call to the FM26 player community…
Support FMSB Development
If you’d like to support ongoing development of FM Skin Builder and help cover hosting, tooling and research time, you can do so via https://ko-fi.com/lotsgon. The builder will remain free to use — contributions simply help keep the project online, stable and improving over time.
Comments
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moonwalker699
Darkside63. Your skins are so recommendable, and I have recommended your skins on the danish FM-community! Great Work!
jeffnijmegen
Great skin! Only have 1 problem. When i play the game it just shuts off after 10 minutes maybe, With the other skins this was never a problem?
Some other people have this or?
Thanks
xxx Darkside xxx
Up from this version - only a windows bundle version will be available.
Adjusted Portal
Added Finance information to clubsite
Added finance information to not-managed clubs as well
Adjusted match in between highlights screen
xxx Darkside xxx
On X (former Twitter) I'm currently running a poll about the Skinbuilder version.
Feel free to jump onto and make yourself heard.
ARookieKeeper
I don't have a Twitter account, but my answer would be ‘Yes’.
Don't get me wrong, I do like the skin a lot. But there's a few tweaks that I would want to do for my own use (for instance, have different things for each save: ad boards, main background, lineups graphics etc.). And that's not something I would want to pester you everytime I want these little tweaks made. I respect the fact that you are doing this on your own time and I'd prefer to do these tweaks myself, since I managed to figure them out rather easily.
I would understand if you would prefer not to put forward the template version, for whatever reason(s) you may have. But I thought I would put my own personal thoughts forward here, since I can't vote on that poll.
titou13210
Bonjour
Merci pour ce superbe taf, petite question quand je télécharge le skin j'ai pas les dossiers Darkside j'ai seulement un dossier avec 19 fichiers Bundle dedans?
xxx Darkside xxx
Yes, for now it's only the bundlefiles… Just copy them into your game directory, where the original bundlefiles are. Make sure to do a backup of the orirignal files before that…
Feeps
Hi mate, i am trying your skin right now, looks very good! 🙂 Can we add in the future yellow cards, injuries to the highlights and maybe (i) on the list of players during the match so you can check their statistics right away while playing? I missed those features from FM24, the highlights window especially cause it is feel so empty with only goals, no other info. Thank you!
xxx Darkside xxx
Version 3.7 almost ready, coming soon…
Update highlights:
With Version 3.7, Skinbuilder version will be back. Additonal bundle version (windows) will be available as well.
ARookieKeeper
Much obliged. Looking forward to it!
xxx Darkside xxx
Quick update:
Due to SI having announced a potential update being released tomorrow, I will defer the skin update to after the SI patch release. With that I want to verify that all is working as expected and bundle version will be based on latest original gamefiles.
So if all goes well, you can expect the skin update either tomorrow evening or somewhere on Wednesday…
ARookieKeeper
No update preview yet on the SI forums, but if it's not tomorrow, it's probably in 2 days or sometime this week … In any case, it's imminent.
We'll wait.
xxx Darkside xxx
No preview right, but an announcement …
ARookieKeeper
Yeah, spotted that one.
EDIT 11/2: Now we have the preview. Time to switch to the originals.
xxx Darkside xxx
Version 3.7 Skinbuilder and bundles (Windows) available now.
See update notes!
Damien 14
Thank you! Grateful for you.
ARookieKeeper
“Due to some changes in SI code, the messages pictures are not replaced any longer.”
That's a shame. I did like those.
Hopefully someone can figure out a way to get them back.
Also, thank you for the new version (including the skinbuilder one)!
xxx Darkside xxx
They do still work but they removed a layer - so I disliked the visual experience. Will try bringing them back for one of the next versions…
ARookieKeeper
Roger that. Thank you for the explanation!
ARookieKeeper
Um … they seem to be still working.
I didn't place the tick on Messages in the builder … and yet …
xxx Darkside xxx
I know they do work - but they are too bright… That's because the layer which used to be on top of the pics have been removed…
ARookieKeeper
Background doesn't change to default, if I remove the modified bundles
Neither does the Start Menu stuff and a few other things
I guess that's also part of the code change. Or I am doing something wrong.
EDIT: Problem solved after verifying files integrity
And that made the message pictures (which were stuck from the previous version) go away. Much better
xxx Darkside xxx
No. Besides the annoyance with the messages pics, I hadn't seen any issues yet. Everything should working fine, including the passmaps ;-)
ARookieKeeper
Yeah, it all looks fine without those pics (no, haven't checked the passmaps, but I'm sure those are fine too 🙂 ). Thank you so much for your work
The pics were just stuck there from the previous version … after the file integrity check, they went poof. So now I can just enjoy the skin without them
xxx Darkside xxx
Great, glad to hear!
Yeah, passmaps work fine. You should find them in the data-hub as well as in the 3d game. Just click through the tile showing the formation… It should be the 4th option…
xxx Darkside xxx
Step one done… Looking much better already ;-)
l3en
Has it been updated to be used in new patches on fm?
xxx Darkside xxx
Good news, messages pictures will return ;-)
ARookieKeeper
🙂
Your work is very much appreciated, but … Don't forget to rest too, yeah?
rfsm89
Hi, great work. Do i need to download both files, the bundles and the skin builder or only the bundles one and replace the bundles form the original files?