Seeking advice for bulk editing

Hi folks,

I'm seeking advice on the best approach for building a large scale FM database, adding over 750 legendary players. Am I stuck using the official game editor to manually add (or duplicate then edit) players and related details, or are there better/easier ways to bulk add new players from an Excel spreadsheet or other document format? Are there other/better tools, or shortcuts for such a project?

I have a very detailed .xlsx file with the player details/attributes/history, etc, but I don't see a more efficient method beyond the very laborious/slow option of adding players one by one. I'll continue working on it that way if need be but I was hoping to find some better solutions before I sink too much time in.

Second question: once I have built out the database (currently working in FM2016, as an example), what is the best process for converting that database and any related files (i.e. face packs) to use in FM2019 or 2020?

Any advice or recommendations from experienced editors would be much appreciated.

First of all, there are no shortcuts - it's manual input all the way.

Secondly, as long as the file is solely data based (i.e. no league changes), then you should theoretically be able to carry it over from one version of the game to another. As part of my Maltese league file, I have a number of files including players and staff which I edit and add to every year without any issues at all. I may occasionally need to make some tweaks to the files, but I’ve been using them for 4-5 years now without any issues.

Facepacks may need a bit more work, especially if FM’s UID generating algorithm changes in years to come.

Hope this helps

as Mons says they should carry over
also worth taking a look around the usual places as there are usually files made with 'legends' added to the game with facepacks etc this may not be exactly what you want but may well have a lot of players done so save you a lot of work

if you find an old file from a previous version load it in current editor - search for failed changes and take a look at what needs tweaking if anything

Useful info - thanks to you both.

No problems