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Wednesday 3 December 2014

FM2015 Guide: How to Add Content to the Action\Menubar


It is possible in Football Manager 2015 to add back in some of the content from the FM2014 action bar, things such as the star rating, value and contract details for players that were in the actions bar in FM2014.

Before you start you will need to ensure you have a couple of things ready:

- A fully up-to-date version of Football Manager 2015.

- The Resource Archiver Tool, this is obtained via Steam from the Library -> Tools menu (note you need to own the retail version of Football Manager to have access to that versions Resource Archiver Tool). At the moment I reccommend you use the FM2013 version if you have access to it, as it shows file and folder icons to make navigating easier and there doesn't seem to be any functional changes since then. If you haven't used the Resource Tool before then there is a user guide installed with it that explains how to use it.

- If you haven't already follow this guide first: [FM2015 Guide] How to Extract Default Files & Understanding File Structure

- A Text Editor – Notepad is fine, however I’d recommend a program like Notepad++ or a web editor such as Kompozer – these have colour-coded code and line numbers that make it easier to edit the larger xml files.

You will need access to the files in the following locations:

Actions.fmf - Don't Need to edit has the code you need to copy from, the ones you are interest in are 'club actions.xml', 'competition actions.xml', 'default actions.xml', 'nation actions.xml', 'person actions.xml' and 'team actions.xml' depending on what you want to edit.

Panels.fmf - You may need to copy over and edit a couple of files in here to remove the recolouring properties from the items.

\skins\fm\sections - These are the files you need to edit, you want copy the ones you wish to edit to the sections folder for the skin you are using. (If using the FMC skin they will be found in the fmc folder).

The below instructions will tell you how to add the Scout Recomendation Star, Contract Expiry and Value items to the action/menubar for a player

First in the actions\person actions.xml locate the following lines:

<record id="Reco" action_id="ScpI" line_up_priority="110" line_up_index="10" default_widget_type="client_object_viewer_xml_panel" file="person recommendation info" dont_use_file_for_menu="true" />
<record id="CnEx" action_id="HPAs" line_up_priority="45" line_up_index="20" default_widget_type="client_object_viewer_xml_panel" file="person contract expiry info" dont_use_file_for_menu="true" />
<record id="Valu" action_id="AIIP" line_up_priority="45" line_up_index="21" default_widget_type="client_object_viewer_xml_panel" file="person value info" dont_use_file_for_menu="true" />


First line is for the Star Rating, Second Line is for the Contract Expiry Date and final line is for the Players Value.

Next we paste which of those lines we want into the sections\person sections.xml file, but before we do that you need to have a little understanding of how the code in that file is set out, when opening the file you will find lists of code that look like this:

<record id="Pprf">
<translation id="text" translation_id="258299" type="use" value="Overview[COMMENT: manager overview section name]" />
<list id="items">
<!--home-->
<record id="Psnp"/>
<!--profile-->
<record id="Plov"/>
<!--profile-->
<record id="PRet"/>
<!--attributes-->
<record id="Pply"/>
<!--profile-->
<record id="Pnpl"/>
<!--profile-->
<record id="Psof"/>
<!--profile-->
<record id="PAge"/>
<!--profile-->
<record id="Phum"/>
<!--information-->
<record id="Ppin"/>
<record id="----" />
<!--actions-->
<!--Set/Edit/Remove Nickname-->
<record id="nick" item_type="ACTT"/>
<record id="SUBS" item_type="ACTT"/>
<record id="USUB" item_type="ACTT"/>
</list>
</record>

This bit of code controls the Overview dropdown menu on the player screen, the next block of code controls the Contract dropdown etc... Basically the further down the file you get the further to the right the content will apear (you can also move the existing code around if you want to reorder stuff, but that is best left for another guide), so you just paste the code into the file where you want it to appear, however for it to work it needs to be pasted somewhere inbetween the following lines of code:

<properties>
<string id="text" value="Person"/>
<list id="items">

and

</list>
</properties>

Also don't paste the code within the record or list tags of one of the drop downs.

So for example if I wanted the Star Rating to appear first, the Contract Expiry Date to appear between the Overview and Contract dropdowns the and the Transfer Value to appear last I would paste the star rating code into the file here:

<string id="text" value="Person"/>
<list id="items">
<record id="Reco" action_id="ScpI" default_widget_type="client_object_viewer_xml_pane l" file="person recommendation info" dont_use_file_for_menu="true" />
<record id="Pprf">

I would paste the Contract Expiry date code here:

</record>
<record id="----"/>
<record id="CnEx" action_id="HPAs" default_widget_type="client_object_viewer_xml_pane l" file="person contract expiry info" dont_use_file_for_menu="true" />
<record id="----"/>

<record id="Pctr">

And finally I'd paste the Transfer Value code down near the bottom of the file here:

<!--Message other human-->
<record id="mooh" item_type="ACTT"/>
<record id="Valu" action_id="AIIP" default_widget_type="client_object_viewer_xml_pane l" file="person value info" dont_use_file_for_menu="true" />
</list>


A couple of further things to note when pasting in the code delete the bits of code that look like this: line_up_priority="45" line_up_index="21 as they aren't needed and will mess up the alignment of the menubar.

Further if you paste the following bits of code into the file:

<record id="----"/>

They create a seperator line between the content, so if done correctly your player profile screen should now look something like this:




However we are not down yet because as this is left over FM2014 code it is set by default to recolour to match the team text colour, however the FM2015 menubar is no longer recoloured by team so for the text to always show up white we need to edit a couple more files.

On the lines of code that you pasted into the file you'll note there was a bit of code that saide file="XXX" this tells the game to get the information needed from that file and these files are located in the panels folder, so locate each of these files and copy them into the panels folder for your skin, how in these files locate the code that looks like this:

<record>
<integer id="get_property" value="ttcl" />
<integer id="set_property" value="colr" />
</record>


And delete it, there should be two lots of that code in each file (one for each line of content) delete both lots and the game will now stop recolouring the text.

Editing the other screens is done in the same way, copy the relevant file from the sections folder, locate the code you want from the actions file paste it into the correct sections file, and then edit any linked panel files to remove the colour coding.

However if you are editing the screens for the club you are managing it is a little different, the screens for the club you are managing is controlled by the 'sidebar sections.xml file' (though your other squad screens are controlled by the 'sidebar team sections.xml' file)

The sidebar sections.xml coding is the same as the other files however all of the menubar content for the screens linked to the sidebar are controlled by this one file, so for example the squad page menubar is controlled by this load of code:

<!--squad section (club)-->
<record id="squC">
<list id="items">

<!--players-->
<record id="Play">
<translation id="text" translation_id="232113" type="use" value="Players" />
<list id="items">
<!--player list-->
<record id="TeSq" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--numbers-->
<record id="TeSN" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--registration-->
<record id="*ssl" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--all player list-->
<record id="Capl" human_object_type="HOTc" />
<record id="----" />
<!--actions-->
<!--contextual advice-->
<record id="Tcad" item_type="ACTT"/>
<!--Export-->
<record id="TExa" item_type="ACTT" human_object_type="HOTt" />
</list>
</record>
<!--squad depth-->
<record id="sddh" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--international-->
<record id="Inte">
<translation id="text" translation_id="227820" type="use" value="International" />
<list id="items">
<!--match reports-->
<record id="tifp" human_object_type="HOTc" />
<!--availability-->
<record id="TCii" human_object_type="HOTc" />
</list>
</record>
<!--loanee reports-->
<record id="lofp" human_object_type="HOTc" />
<!--on leave-->
<record id="tcth" human_object_type="HOTc" />
<!--team meeting-->
<record id="TeMt" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--group unhappiness-->
<record id="Trgu" item_type="ACTT" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<record id="----" />
<!--actions-->
<!--debug-->
<record id="TDbg" item_type="ACTT" human_object_type="HOTt" />
</list>
</record>

And if you want to add say the Job Status code you need to paste it inbetween the bold lines but not within a drop down menu, so if I wanted the Job Status to show after the Players Dropdown but before the Squad Depth item I'd paste the code into the file like this:

<!--squad section (club)-->
<record id="squC">
<list id="items">
<!--players-->
<record id="Play">
<translation id="text" translation_id="232113" type="use" value="Players" />
<list id="items">
<!--player list-->
<record id="TeSq" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--numbers-->
<record id="TeSN" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--registration-->
<record id="*ssl" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--all player list-->
<record id="Capl" human_object_type="HOTc" />
<record id="----" />
<!--actions-->
<!--contextual advice-->
<record id="Tcad" item_type="ACTT"/>
<!--Export-->
<record id="TExa" item_type="ACTT" human_object_type="HOTt" />
</list>
</record>
<record id="MnSt" action_id="HTIn" default_widget_type="client_object_viewer_xml_pane l" file="team container manager status info" dont_use_file_for_menu="true"/>
<!--squad depth-->
<record id="sddh" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--international-->
<record id="Inte">
<translation id="text" translation_id="227820" type="use" value="International" />
<list id="items">
<!--match reports-->
<record id="tifp" human_object_type="HOTc" />
<!--availability-->
<record id="TCii" human_object_type="HOTc" />
</list>
</record>
<!--loanee reports-->
<record id="lofp" human_object_type="HOTc" />
<!--on leave-->
<record id="tcth" human_object_type="HOTc" />
<!--team meeting-->
<record id="TeMt" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<!--group unhappiness-->
<record id="Trgu" item_type="ACTT" human_object_type="HOTt" />
<record id="----" />
<!--actions-->
<!--debug-->
<record id="TDbg" item_type="ACTT" human_object_type="HOTt" />
</list>
</record>

Which should make your squad screen look like this after you have also removed the recolouring code from the linked file:



Also be warned if editing this file ensure you save the game before hand as if you paste the code somewhere it doesn't like the game will crash.

Finally depending on what resolution you are using everything may not fit on the screen especially if you are using a smaller resolution or one of the zoom modes.





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