Font Replacement

FM Skin Builder supports replacing Football Manager’s fonts with custom typefaces. This lets you change the typography throughout the game.

Supported Formats

FM’s Font System

Football Manager uses different fonts for different purposes:

Setting Up Fonts

Folder Structure

my-skin/
├── config.json
└── fonts/
    ├── my-font.ttf
    ├── my-font-bold.ttf
    └── mapping.json

Adding to Config

Include fonts in your config:

{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "name": "My Skin",
  "includes": ["fonts"]
}

Font Mapping

Create fonts/mapping.json:

{
  "my-font.ttf": "UIFont",
  "my-font-bold.ttf": "UIFont-Bold"
}

Finding Font Names

Bundle Viewer

Browse fonts in the Bundle Viewer:

Font Mapping Syntax

Basic Replacement

{
  "your_font_file.ttf": "original_font_name"
}

Example:

{
  "roboto-regular.ttf": "UIFont",
  "roboto-bold.ttf": "UIFont-Bold"
}

This maps:

• UIFont → fonts/roboto-regular.ttf
• UIFont-Bold → fonts/roboto-bold.ttf

Font Families

For fonts with multiple weights:

{
  "inter-regular.ttf": "UIFont",
  "inter-light.ttf": "UIFont-Light",
  "inter-bold.ttf": "UIFont-Bold",
  "inter-black.ttf": "UIFont-Black"
}

Choosing Fonts

Considerations

Recommended Free Fonts

Font Sources

• Google Fonts  - Free, open source
• Font Squirrel  - Free commercial fonts
• DaFont  - Free fonts (check licenses)

League-Specific Fonts

FM includes fonts for specific competitions. You can replace these as well.

Replacing League Fonts

{
  "my-ucl-font.ttf": "UCLFont",
  "my-uel-font.ttf": "UELFont",
  "my-pl-font.ttf": "PremierLeagueFont"
}

Note: These appear in specific competition contexts.

Practical Example

Goal: Custom UI Font

Replace the main UI font with Inter:

Step 1: Download the font

Get Inter from Google Fonts:

• inter-regular.ttf
• inter-bold.ttf
• inter-light.ttf

Step 2: Add to project

fonts/
├── inter-regular.ttf
├── inter-bold.ttf
├── inter-light.ttf
└── mapping.json

Step 3: Create mapping

fonts/mapping.json:

{
  "inter-regular.ttf": "UIFont",
  "inter-bold.ttf": "UIFont-Bold",
  "inter-light.ttf": "UIFont-Light"
}

Step 4: Update config

{
  "includes": ["fonts"]
}

Step 5: Build and test

Build your skin and verify the new font appears in FM.

Font Variants

Handling Bold/Italic

If a font has separate files for variants:

{
  "myfont-regular.ttf": "UIFont",
  "myfont-bold.ttf": "UIFont-Bold",
  "myfont-italic.ttf": "UIFont-Italic",
  "myfont-bolditalic.ttf": "UIFont-BoldItalic"
}

Single Font File

If using a variable font or single file:

{
  "myfont.ttf": ["UIFont", "UIFont-Bold"]
}

Note: Bold may not look correct if the font doesn’t have bold data.

Tips and Best Practices

Test Readability

Small UI text must be readable:

• Test at actual game resolution
• Check different zoom levels
• Ensure numbers and letters are distinct

Provide All Variants

If replacing UIFont, provide:

• Regular
• Bold
• Any other variants used

Missing variants may cause FM to use fallback fonts.

Consider Character Support

Ensure your font supports:

• Basic Latin (English)
• Extended Latin (accented characters for other languages)
• Numerals and symbols

Backup Original Files

Some font changes can make text unreadable:

• Keep your original skin
• Test on a save you can afford to corrupt
• Use restore if needed

Troubleshooting

”Font not appearing”

1. Check mapping.json syntax
2. Verify font file exists
3. Ensure folder in config includes
4. Try a different font file format

”Text looks wrong”

• Font may be missing bold/italic variants
• Add appropriate variant mappings
• Or choose a font with full family

”Characters missing”

• Font doesn’t support needed characters
• Choose a more complete font
• Check language/Unicode support

”Font looks blurry”

• Font may not be optimized for screen
• Try a different font designed for displays
• Check if FM’s text scaling affects it

”Bold text looks the same”

• No bold variant provided
• Map UIFont-Bold to actual bold font file

Next: Building - Learn about building and deploying your skin.