Creating Custom Views - They Can Help You

[Cleon]

I posted these in one of my threads but not everyone will go into that so I thought I'd create a thread where people can share their own custom views and show those who might not be aware of them or familiar with how they can help someone out. So here goes;

I get a lot of PM's about the custom views and everyone wants to know what I use and why, so I thought I'd finally get around to sharing them with you all. The first time I set these up it took me around 4 hours to do because I was trying to make them the best I could for my own game. Now I'm not saying the way I set these up will suit everyone nor will everyone agree with what I have showing. It can be deemed as rather messy by having these stats shows on the page but I use them for analysis purposes.

They can be a great way of showing you information about the way your team is playing and is great for seeing this for the team as a whole rather than visiting every players profile individually.

Remember if you create any custom screens be sure to 'export' them so you can save them and have a back up.

Also ignore what they are currently learning or not learning, the screens are just for illustration purposes.

Training and Tutoring

This is the training and tutoring ones I use;

The way these are set up are easier than me visiting the training sections of the game as those pages aren't really customisable. So by creating the above screen it allows me to see everything that I consider important.

The things I have added to the screen are;

Personality –

This makes it 100% times easier for tutoring. By adding this to the screen I can see which players personality I'll want to change and can identify a good tutor for him with an appropriate tutor with the correct personality.

Potential –

I like to see this so I can try and keep a track of how they are rated.

Ability –

Pretty much the same reasons as above. I like to see how much more 'growing' they have to do compared to their potential.

Best Position –

Sometimes it's good to know what a players best position is. It can also help when trying to decide what focuses you should select when training them.

New Preferred Moves –

A great way of seeing who is learning what.

Focus –

This makes it very simple for working on which focus a player is currently learning. Whether it be an actual focus on a role or a specific attribute.

New Position –

At times I like to train new positions so here I can do it easy and keep a track of who is learning what.

Focus Intensity –

Seeing the focus intensity is good and ties in with the focus part I mentioned a bit further up.

[Cleon]

Pre-season

I use this screen a lot for pre-season and is a great way of keeping track of fitness and morale. Pre-season for me is all about fitness and morale. This screen allows me to see all those things.

Morale – I like to play easy teams in pre-season so my players can gain morale. So I have this showing so I can keep a track of how they are feeling.

Match Fitness – You should have everyone match fit before you start the season. If not then players will get tired quicker and earlier. So I have this showing so I can ensure I use my friendlies wisely to ensure everyone is match fit.

Fitness – This is so I can see how the players feeling. I don't want to play him if he's feeling tired and so on.

Injured on – So I know when the player was injured.

Injury – I like to know what type of injury someone has so I can see if it was related to training, match injury or just a general injury.

Time Out – A good way of managing who is injured by seeing how long they are out for.

General Happiness – I use this for seeing if a player is happy or not.

Long Term Plans – Some players might want to become staff members or something. So I can see keep track of this here and maybe talk to them about it.

Short Term Plans – As it's pre-season some players might want to leave the club due to wanting a new challenge, not getting enough games and so on. So again I use this to monitor that and maybe loan them out or sell them depending on if I'll be able to give them what they want.

[Cleon]

Goalkeepers

Keeper selection can be a very important decisions for me as the seasons get further in. I'll try and assemble at least three keepers who are good at different things. So I'll try and get a good mixture so I can play the keeper based on what I expect from the opposition. This set up allows me to do that;

Clean Sheets – Everyone likes to keep clean sheets, this allows me to do that

Goals Conceded Over 90 Minutes – Self explanatory.

Goals Leading to Mistakes – I like to keep a track of which players make a mistake and cost me goals. It's really important I keep track of them and see if it's a reoccurring thing or not.

Pass Attempts – I like to see how much time the keeper is seeing with the ball.

Passing Ratio – If this is low then I know it needs some work

Aerial Ability, Command of Area, Communication, Eccentricity, Handling and Kicking.

Having all these attributes showing allows me to make the decision on which keeper to select. If I know I'll face an onslaught of high balls then I'd need a keeper who is good with aerial balls and so on.

[Cleon]

Defenders

This is what I use for my central defenders.

Interceptions – Vital for knowing if they are doing a good job or not.

Mistakes – Again this is so I know how many mistakes a player is making.

Mistakes Leading to Goals – So I can keep track of it the mistakes are costing me goals or not

Headers Attempted – You have to be able to deal with any aerial threats at the back and this allows me to keep track.

Headers Won – We need to keep a track of if the defenders are winning headers or not.

Tackles Attempted – This tells me if the defenders are actually doing their main job and tackling.

Tackling Ratio – Tells me if the tackles above are successful or not.

Key Tackles – Helps me keep track of the key tackles the player attempts. I use it as another indication of if the player is doing his job or not.

I've also added the jumping, heading and tackling attributes to the panel as well. This helps me make decisions on who to play so I always try and have someone who can deal with crosses and head them clear.

[Cleon]

Fullbacks

This is one of the more simple views;

Condition –

It's important that I can keep a track of the condition as they are expected to get forward a lot. So if it's low I won't play them.

Interceptions –

The fullbacks job is to attack and defend so I can keep an eye on how he is fairing from a defensive stand point by checking this.

Passes –

I expect them to see a lot of the ball as they are a very important piece of all phases of play.

Passing Ratio –

If it's low I'll be able to check and see why and try and sort it out.

Key Passes –

This is good for seeing how effective they are from an attacking point.

Dribbles –

The fullbacks have to get forward so it makes sense to look at this on the custom views.

Dribbles Per Game –

It helps me keep a track of how adventurous they are with the ball at their feet.

Crosses Attempted –

So I can see if they are crossing from the byline or cutting inside and passing

Crosses Completed Ratio –

If I used a big strong targetman type who relied on crosses then this would be vital.

[Cleon]

Midfielder's

As the midfield is responsible for attacking and defensive duties I have both showing on the next lot of custom views;

Assists – I like to see who is involved with the creation of goals

Passes Attempted – Some of these players are the engine room for the side so will see lots of the ball.

Passing Ratio – Keeping an eye on this is always a good idea so you can see who is giving the ball away a lot.

Goals – This is used just to check who is chipping in with the goals.

Key Passes – The wide players are strikers all need the correct supply to thrive.

Interceptions – I expect everyone to help out with defensive duties and winning the ball high up the pitch is always a good thing.

Mistakes – Again, this is so I can keep an eye on who the most mistake prone are.

Shots – While I want the midfield to help with attacks I don't want them been wasteful and having to many shots.

Dribbles Per Game – Some of the midfield have to support the attacking players so they have some kind of support.

Key Tackles – Helps with the defensive side of things.

Tackles Attempted – I'll get to keep an eye on who are the ones doing the majority of the defensive work.

Tackle Ratio – If this is low then I know I have to worry and teams will be getting through me far to easy.

[Cleon]

Attacker's

Another straight forward view here;

Assists –

It's one of the main jobs of the attacking players so makes sense to see who is doing what.

Goals –

The same as above really.

Dribbles –

Players need to run with the ball sometimes.

Dribbles Per Game –

I can see if the players who are supposed to run with the ball are able to do it successfully.

Passing Attempted –

I need them to bring other players into play.

Passing Ratio –

With a bad passing ratio it means the ball isn't getting played to create attacking moves.

Shots –

All attacking players should be shooting.

Shots on Target –

I need to keep track of who is been wasteful.

Offsides –

It's really important I can identify who is causing me issues and making moves stall due to been to high up the pitch and getting caught out.

[Cleon]

I will add the others I use at some point but this should be enough to give you an insight into how I set mine up.

[gechal]

That is such good information. Didn't realise this was even possible.

I've got to stop reading tactics and training, it is turning me into an absolute football manager addict once again. Been playing this game since '97, love it as much now as I did then.

Keep up the good work.

[Cleon]

That is such good information. Didn't realise this was even possible.

I've got to stop reading tactics and training, it is turning me into an absolute football manager addict once again. Been playing this game since '97, love it as much now as I did then.

Keep up the good work.

Once you get hooked that's it you can't break away from it

[Falahk]

I dont use that many custom views, but I do have one that I really like and feel is worth mentioning here, namely I have my tactic screen and pre match squad selection screen displaying both condition and match fitness. Why is this so useful? it helps me decide when to rotate the squad (to make sure all of my players stay match fit or atleast close to it, this is particularly useful in a league with no reserve teams) and also to make sure that I dont pick a player in low condition due to him playing to many matches or having just returned from injuries

keeping your squad at peak fitness is invaluable, for understandable reasons, and it does pay of in the long run over the course of a season

note that this screen is from very early in the first season and I did not have time to fit in the regular 8-10 friendlies I would play most of the time

[blyzee1]

Absolutely brilliant! Nice work

[Bradz FM]

Lovely, I have a couple set up modelled on one of your posts from a year or two ago but couldn't find the posts when I was looking for them recently!

[Cleon]

I dont use that many custom views, but I do have one that I really like and feel is worth mentioning here, namely I have my tactic screen and pre match squad selection screen displaying both condition and match fitness. Why is this so useful? it helps me decide when to rotate the squad (to make sure all of my players stay match fit or atleast close to it, this is particularly useful in a league with no reserve teams) and also to make sure that I dont pick a player in low condition due to him playing to many matches or having just returned from injuries

keeping your squad at peak fitness is invaluable, for understandable reasons, and it does pay of in the long run over the course of a season

note that this screen is from very early in the first season and I did not have time to fit in the regular 8-10 friendlies I would play most of the time

It's always useful to have one of those to keep track of players fitness

[tomtuck01]

This is the view I use most;

It's not especially fancy, just as it says; General Info And Contract Details. I now have it all on one screen and I don't have to flick between the default General Info screen and Contract screens to see players ages, positions, and contract expiry date.

[Taipan]

Warning to all.

I had a number of these set up, and then I was fiddlng with the options screen, and clicked the "restore default settings" button or whatever its name is. Lost ALL my pre-set custom setting like above, the ones I spent ages setting up and expanding as I understood FM13 more and more. I expected just the basic FM setting on the optiions menu to go back to normal, not loose all my custom views! Was not a happy chappy at all. I am told my screams could be heard as far away as Sydney.

[Falahk]

This is the view I use most;

It's not especially fancy, just as it says; General Info And Contract Details. I now have it all on one screen and I don't have to flick between the default General Info screen and Contract screens to see players ages, positions, and contract expiry date.

really like this one , might even nick it

[Cleon]

Warning to all.

I had a number of these set up, and then I was fiddlng with the options screen, and clicked the "restore default settings" button or whatever its name is. Lost ALL my pre-set custom setting like above, the ones I spent ages setting up and expanding as I understood FM13 more and more. I expected just the basic FM setting on the optiions menu to go back to normal, not loose all my custom views! Was not a happy chappy at all. I am told my screams could be heard as far away as Sydney.

That's why you should export them after creating one

[Seagullfan]

I have some great ones set up in my tactics screen but i imported them from a different skin and cant seem to find them to import them into the standard skin. any ideas where I can find them?

[Cleon]

I have some great ones set up in my tactics screen but i imported them from a different skin and cant seem to find them to import them into the standard skin. any ideas where I can find them?

Did you save them? You have to export them and then you just load them from whatever folder you used. For me its C:\Users\Username\Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2013\views

[Seagullfan]

on fm10 so it may be different. the views are in the tactics screen but there is no import/export in this view so i guess they have to be manually dropped in the correct folder. if i load the other skin then they are available but with the normal skin they are not. I have looked in the skin folder but can!t seem to find them anywhere. what extension do the files have.

[Cleon]

on fm10 so it may be different. the views are in the tactics screen but there is no import/export in this view so i guess they have to be manually dropped in the correct folder. if i load the other skin then they are available but with the normal skin they are not. I have looked in the skin folder but can!t seem to find them anywhere. what extension do the files have.

I can't remember that far back but I thought you could still save them...

[furiousuk]

This a great thing to write about as it is so so useful, I tend to go even further and fiddle with the XML (or used to) to get the views that I wanted that is probably taking it too far!

[Cleon]

This a great thing to write about as it is so so useful, I tend to go even further and fiddle with the XML (or used to) to get the views that I wanted that is probably taking it too far!

I used to do a simliar thing for creating custom roles before the TC was introduced but now it doesn't work

[to_madeira]

I have many views but mostly use 3:

[Cleon]

Anyone else got any to share?

[DBurns]

I have main ones I would use, the first is for when I start a new game or join a new club to get to know the players:

The next one is similar to yours for training and tutoring:

My third screen is for all the transfer and contract information so I can easily see who's contract is expiring, their wage, their transfer status as well as their personality so I know whether its worth extending an older players contract for them to tutor my youngsters:

My final one is the probably the most important as its the one I use to pick the team on a Saturday (or in Liverpool's case, a Thursday and Sunday):

[iman2213]

Very good threat! Thx everyone.

[DrizzitD]

Brilliant thread!

Thank you Cleon and everyone else who has shared keep up the great work

[Britrock]

I customised my General Info screen on the squad page to look like this, so I have all the important info on one screen

I've also customised my tactics screen to look like this, so I can pick the best players (CA) in the best form, with the best morale and in the best condition