A nice new thread for the new board
I reccomend you download this. It's the most recent Enhancement Pack. The game runs a lot better with it.
Links:
CM Skins / Backgrounds / Wallpapers - Highly reccomended
SI Games - Good forums
Albion Background Images:
Albion 1 (Fans)
Albion 2 (Withdean)
Albion 3 (Trophy)
Albion 4 (Goldstone)
Albion 5 (Stooooooooooooorer)
Shortcut Keys:
alt + <-- previous screen
alt + --> next screen
pg up previous screen
pg dn next screen
space continue game / read unread news (when on news screen)
ctl+c copy
ctl+v paste
ctl+x cut
ctl+z undo
ctl+sh+z redo (mac standard)
ctl+y redo
ctl+a select all
sh+insert paste
ctl+insert copy
sh+delete cut
ctl+q quit
ctl+s save
ctl+sh+s save as
TAB advance selection to next edit box
ctl+f fullscreen
alt+return fullscreen
F1 your squad
F2 your staff
F3 your finances
F4 your fixtures
F5 your transfers
F6 news
F7 default competition that you are in
F8 player/staff search
F9 manager chat
F10 game status
F11 training
F12 Quick Search
[NEWS]
up/down next/prev message
[DIALOGS]
return default button
esc cancel
[MENUS]
return choose selected item
esc cancel
up move selection up
down move selection down
pg up/dn move selection by page
home move selection to first item
end move selection to last item
CM4 Background Pictures F.A.Q.
All Quotes are references from Marc Vaughan's hints n tips download.
To resize your pictures try ‘IrfanView’ from download.com
So from this we know that the following can have pictures assigned to them:
- Clubs
- Default
- Players
- Stadiums
- Screens
Clubs
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/clubs/
Create a new folder. Call it the name of the club you which to match pictures with. E.G. Gillingham
Put pictures in this folder and they'll show when you are viewing this club within the game.
Default
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/default/
This is where you should put any pictures that are not related to clubs, players, stadiums or ‘screens’. Or pictures that are but you would like to see more often in the game.
Players
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/players/
To assign pictures to players create a folder, named after the player, in the above directory. Player names must be in full. Also please note you can assign pictures to managers, coaches etc.
Stadiums
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/stadiums/
Create a new folder. Call it the name of the stadium you which to match pictures with. E.G. Priestfield
Put pictures inside this folder and in the general stadiums folder. I say 'and' because this is how the pictures already in game are used and I presume you should do it this way. I have and it works.
Screens
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/screens/
This folder allows you to assign pictures to certain areas of the game such as: credits; Manager chat.
Marc’s guide suggests naming pictures after the screen will work. So ‘credits.jpg’ for example. I know some people have been working on this and I’ll update the F.A.Q. when I understand it better.
Q. I can only see the default background picture (the goalkeeper).
A.
Make sure that you have enabled ‘background changes’ in your game preferences.
Make sure you have the ‘enhancement pack’ installed.
Make sure that any ‘created folders’ are spelt correctly.
Still not working?
Uninstall the game – you won’t lose any saved games.
Reinstall the game and reinstall the enhancement pack.
Q. I’ve just added my own folders/pictures. However the game won’t load!
A. If a folder isn’t named correctly it may stop the game loading. Check your folders are named correctly (i.e. How the game spells the club, stadium or person). CM4 has a 26 character limit. Some folders such as: ‘The Kingfield Sports Ground’ are to long. Shorten these folders to the clubs, stadiums or persons short name. So ‘The Kingfield’ for example.
Q. When I return to the match screen after the game has been played I can’t see the stadium picture.
A. You’re doing nothing the wrong. This is how the game has been created by SI. It’s hardly a major drama though – is it?
Images can be found at:
www.cmskins.com
www.footballgroundz.co.uk
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPhotoGallery.jhtml?type=footballNewsUK
www.eurostadiums.com
www.groundhopping.de
http://www.stadionwelt.de
http://217.158.5.3/
So... Howz everybody doing?
I reccomend you download this. It's the most recent Enhancement Pack. The game runs a lot better with it.
Links:
CM Skins / Backgrounds / Wallpapers - Highly reccomended
SI Games - Good forums
Albion Background Images:
Albion 1 (Fans)
Albion 2 (Withdean)
Albion 3 (Trophy)
Albion 4 (Goldstone)
Albion 5 (Stooooooooooooorer)
Shortcut Keys:
alt + <-- previous screen
alt + --> next screen
pg up previous screen
pg dn next screen
space continue game / read unread news (when on news screen)
ctl+c copy
ctl+v paste
ctl+x cut
ctl+z undo
ctl+sh+z redo (mac standard)
ctl+y redo
ctl+a select all
sh+insert paste
ctl+insert copy
sh+delete cut
ctl+q quit
ctl+s save
ctl+sh+s save as
TAB advance selection to next edit box
ctl+f fullscreen
alt+return fullscreen
F1 your squad
F2 your staff
F3 your finances
F4 your fixtures
F5 your transfers
F6 news
F7 default competition that you are in
F8 player/staff search
F9 manager chat
F10 game status
F11 training
F12 Quick Search
[NEWS]
up/down next/prev message
[DIALOGS]
return default button
esc cancel
[MENUS]
return choose selected item
esc cancel
up move selection up
down move selection down
pg up/dn move selection by page
home move selection to first item
end move selection to last item
CM4 Background Pictures F.A.Q.
All Quotes are references from Marc Vaughan's hints n tips download.
Pictures
The game recognises a number of image formats, including .gif, .jpg, .png, and .rgn. However, a current limitation is that only .jpg files can be resized.
For this reason, any background images used must be in the jpeg format.
Background images are automatically stretched or shrunk to fit the current size of the window, which is 1024 x 768 in full screen mode. If you resize the window, or if you use images that are not 1024 x 768, the stretching may make them appear distorted or blurred.
To resize your pictures try ‘IrfanView’ from download.com
How the Game Locates A Picture
When you enter a screen, the game looks for a background or titlebar picture to use in a number of places.
For player screens, the game looks first for a file with the name of the player, in the following locations:
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/players/
cm4/data/graphics/pictures/players/
e.g: "cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/players/richard langley.jpg"
Similarly, for club screens the game looks for a file with the name of the team in:
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/clubs/
cm4/data/graphics/pictures/clubs/
e.g: "cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/clubs/arsenal.jpg"
And for match screens, the game looks for a file with the name of the stadium that the match is being played at in:
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/stadiums/
cm4/data/graphics/pictures/stadiums/
e.g: "cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/stadiums/loftus road.jpg"
If the above searches for pictures don't succeed, the game proceeds to look for a file with the name of the screen in:
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/screens/
cm4/data/graphics/pictures/screens/
e.g: "cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/screens/credits.jpg"
Finally, if a picture can't be found in any of the above locations, a default picture is used.
Default Pictures
By default, CM4 will show a random background picture whenever you enter a new screen (if background changes are turned on), or will show a single default background (if changes are turned off).
It will also display the CM4 or SI logo at the top-right hand corner of the screen (this is referred to as the titlebar picture, although some skins may display the picture in another place on the screen).
These default pictures are stored inside the CM4 application folder, at the following locations:
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/default/default.jpg
cm4/data/graphics/pictures/default/default.png
If background changes are turned on, CM4 will cycle randomly through the background pictures in the folder
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/default/
So from this we know that the following can have pictures assigned to them:
- Clubs
- Default
- Players
- Stadiums
- Screens
Clubs
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/clubs/
Create a new folder. Call it the name of the club you which to match pictures with. E.G. Gillingham
Put pictures in this folder and they'll show when you are viewing this club within the game.
Default
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/default/
This is where you should put any pictures that are not related to clubs, players, stadiums or ‘screens’. Or pictures that are but you would like to see more often in the game.
Players
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/players/
To assign pictures to players create a folder, named after the player, in the above directory. Player names must be in full. Also please note you can assign pictures to managers, coaches etc.
Using IDs instead of Names
The problem with names is that
a) they can be too long for the game (currently the limit is 26 characters)
b) they can be ambiguous - e.g. there is more than one Danny Murphy
c) they can change if you switch languages
Luckily, each object in the game has a unique number assigned to it - known as its ID. Since every player has a different ID, there can be no confusion about which player an ID refers to.
To make use of this feature, you can name the picture file for an object using its ID instead of its name, and CM4 will still find it. So for example, if you name a background picture:
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/players/5106680.jpg
it will get displayed whenever you view the Danny Murphy who plays for QPR, but it won't get displayed when you view the one who plays for some scouse team (so I hear).
So how do you find out what ID a particular game object has? In a future version of the game we will provide a special mode to allow you to do this easily and also make some special ID index files available online.
Stadiums
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/stadiums/
Create a new folder. Call it the name of the stadium you which to match pictures with. E.G. Priestfield
Put pictures inside this folder and in the general stadiums folder. I say 'and' because this is how the pictures already in game are used and I presume you should do it this way. I have and it works.
Screens
cm4/data/graphics/backgrounds/screens/
This folder allows you to assign pictures to certain areas of the game such as: credits; Manager chat.
Marc’s guide suggests naming pictures after the screen will work. So ‘credits.jpg’ for example. I know some people have been working on this and I’ll update the F.A.Q. when I understand it better.
Q. I can only see the default background picture (the goalkeeper).
A.
Make sure that you have enabled ‘background changes’ in your game preferences.
Make sure you have the ‘enhancement pack’ installed.
Make sure that any ‘created folders’ are spelt correctly.
Still not working?
Uninstall the game – you won’t lose any saved games.
Reinstall the game and reinstall the enhancement pack.
Q. I’ve just added my own folders/pictures. However the game won’t load!
A. If a folder isn’t named correctly it may stop the game loading. Check your folders are named correctly (i.e. How the game spells the club, stadium or person). CM4 has a 26 character limit. Some folders such as: ‘The Kingfield Sports Ground’ are to long. Shorten these folders to the clubs, stadiums or persons short name. So ‘The Kingfield’ for example.
Q. When I return to the match screen after the game has been played I can’t see the stadium picture.
A. You’re doing nothing the wrong. This is how the game has been created by SI. It’s hardly a major drama though – is it?
Images can be found at:
www.cmskins.com
www.footballgroundz.co.uk
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPhotoGallery.jhtml?type=footballNewsUK
www.eurostadiums.com
www.groundhopping.de
http://www.stadionwelt.de
http://217.158.5.3/
So... Howz everybody doing?